My DIY Art Videos on YouTube

Between November and December 2025, I uploaded four short YouTube videos showcasing my abstract paintings.

Why did I make these DIY art videos?

Honestly, I’m still not entirely sure. Curiosity, I suppose. That irresistible urge to try something new, even when you have no idea what you’re doing.

This isn’t a tutorial or how -to guide. I’m not going to teach you the secrets of successful video making because, quite frankly, I don’t know them. This is just a light little story about my experience making simple DIY art videos as an abstract artist who prefers paint brushes to cameras.

The Short DIY Art Videos Experiment

In the space of about a month, I created and uploaded four short DIY art videos. And when I say short, I mean proper short. We’re talking 44 to 49 seconds each. They all follow the same format: art slideshow videos containing nine images of some of my abstract paintings.

Each image shows for just a few seconds before moving on to the next. Simple, straightforward and requiring absolutely no speaking on my part. Perfect for someone who’d rather let their art do the talking.

Here’s the first one, Lost in the Chaos – Colourful Abstract Acrylic Art (45 seconds):

The title pretty much sums up both the paintings and my approach to video making at the time. There’s a certain honesty in chaos, I think. Creating DIY art videos without any professional video production experience meant embracing the imperfections.

Now, here’s the thing. I’m not particularly experienced in video making, but I do have a strong preference as a viewer. I actually prefer longer videos where I can absorb more information rather than a few seconds that may not tell me much about the subject. Give me a 20-minute deep dive over a 30-second snippet any day.

But I also recognise short videos have their own purpose. They’ve become widely available now for good reason. People’s attention spans have shifted, social media algorithms favour them and sometimes you just want a quick hit of visual inspiration. Horses for courses, I suppose. Different formats for different audiences and different purposes.

The second video I uploaded was Chaotic Colour – Busy Abstract Acrylic Paintings (45 seconds):

You might notice a theme emerging in my titles. Apparently, I’m quite fond of the word ‘chaotic’. Perhaps it’s a reflection of my painting style or my studio organisational skills, but not my general approach to personal life. When you’re creating DIY art videos as a beginner, you tend to stick with what feels authentic.

So why did I make these short ones when I actually prefer longer content?

Like I said, curiosity. I wanted to see what it was like, how they performed, whether they felt natural to create. Spoiler alert: they didn’t particularly feel natural to me, but that’s part of the learning process, isn’t it?

Here’s the third, simply titled Abstract Art  Showcase | The Beauty of Simplicity and Chaos (46 seconds):

There’s that word again. Chaos. At least I’m consistent.

These DIY art videos might not be polished productions, but they represent an honest attempt at sharing my work through video content.

And finally, Abstract Paintings Slideshow (49 seconds):

By this point, I’d clearly run out of creative energy for titles. Sometimes, straightforward is best. This art showcase video took the same approach as the others, letting the paintings speak for themselves through simple transitions.

The Music Disaster (That Was Actually Hilarious)

Right, let’s talk about the ‘best’ part of these DIY art videos. And by ‘best’, I actually mean the complete opposite. The music.

If you’ve watched the videos above, you’ll know exactly what I mean. The music was totally out of tune and sounded so weird in a funny way. It’s the kind of sound that makes you wonder if your speakers are broken or if someone’s cat is walking across a keyboard somewhere.

But here’s why it happened.

As you probably know, everything on YouTube must respect copyright of any elements of the video. You can’t just slap a popular song on your content and hope for the best. YouTube’s copyright detection system is remarkably efficient and the last thing I wanted was a copyright strike or my videos being muted or taken down.

I couldn’t think of a short piece of copyright-free music that would avoid infringement and I didn’t bother to look for royalty-free music that artists can use. There are plenty of resources out there offering free music for videos, but I was feeling … let’s call it ‘adventurous’. Or perhaps ‘foolish’. The line between the two is often quite thin.

So I decided to make my own music for my DIY art videos.

Yes, you read that correctly. I, an abstract painter with precisely zero musical training, decided to compose and perform the soundtrack for my DIY art videos.

I found a few websites that teach you how to play different instruments and that’s where I created the video music.

The result? Well, you’ve heard it. It’s enthusiastically amateur, charmingly discordant and absolutely perfect in its imperfection. My wife said it had ‘character’. I’m pretty sure that’s polite British code for ‘that’s absolutely terrible but I love you anyway’.

The funny thing is, the music has become my favourite part of these DIY art videos. Not because it’s good, but because it’s so authentically me trying something new and failing spectacularly at it. There’s something quite liberating about creating something imperfect and putting it out into the world anyway.

My First DIY Art Video Adventure (July 2022)

These four short DIY art videos weren’t actually my first attempt at video making. I’d dipped my toe into the YouTube waters a few years earlier, experimenting with artist video content before I really understood what I was doing.

The first video I made and uploaded was back in July 2022. It was about an art show at a local gallery which I participated in. Running at just 34 seconds, it was even shorter than my recent efforts. I created a blog post about the exhibition experience called “Top Story – Contemporary Art Exhibition in Teesside”.

That first DIY art video was very much a test.

Could I figure out how to use video editing software?

Could I actually upload something to YouTube without breaking the internet?

Could I create something that at least vaguely represented my work at the exhibition?

The answer to all three questions turned out to be ‘sort of, just about, with a fair amount of swearing and several cups of tea’.

The Real Challenge: My 24-Minute ASMR Video (September 2022)

If the short DIY art videos were dipping my toe in the water, the video I made in September 2022 was diving into the deep end. Fully clothed. In the middle of winter.

This was the longest DIY art video I’d ever created and it presented a real challenge on multiple fronts. I had filmed myself painting, which meant setting up the camera, checking angles, making sure the lighting wasn’t completely awful and then somehow remembering to actually paint whilst all of this was happening.

Then came the editing and formatting. Remember, I had no experience in making videos, editing them, uploading them or any of the technical bits that people who actually know what they’re doing take for granted.

It was all completely new to me. I spent hours watching tutorial videos about video editing, which is quite meta when you think about it. Learning video production as an artist is its own creative challenge.

The original video I captured was far too long. We’re talking multiple hours of footage. So I managed to speed it up and the final result became a 24-minute video. Still too long in my opinion, especially in today’s world of eight-second attention spans, but significantly better than the alternative.

I didn’t speak while making this painting video. Instead, I just used the natural noise around me. The brush on MDF board. The scraping of a palette knife. The occasional muttered curse when something didn’t go to plan. The sounds of my studio doing what studios do.

This approach is known as ASMR, which I think translates to “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response”.

It’s a phenomenon that gained popularity on social media platforms in the past several years, though I’m not sure if it’s still as popular today. It refers to a tingling sensation that some people experience in response to certain stimuli, such as whispered voices, tapping sounds or gentle touches.

For me, ASMR wasn’t about chasing a trend in my DIY art videos. It was simply the most authentic way to capture the painting process.

Speaking to the camera whilst painting felt unnatural and distracting. I wanted viewers to feel like they were standing in my studio, watching the work develop in real time (well, sped-up real time). This artist vlog approach felt more genuine than trying to narrate my process.

And if you make it to the 20:49 mark, you’ll discover an unexpected guest appearance that I definitely didn’t plan for. Let’s just say that creative spaces sometimes attract curious visitors. See if you can spot what happens.

I wrote a blog post about this experience called “ASMR Abstract Painting in my Studio”. Creating that DIY art video taught me more about patience, technical problem-solving and my own creative process than I’d expected.

What I Actually Learned from Making DIY Art Videos

Looking back at my brief and somewhat chaotic journey into video making, I’ve picked up a few things along the way about creating artist content for YouTube.

• First, making DIY art videos is significantly harder than it looks. When you watch polished YouTube content, it’s easy to forget the hours of filming, editing, colour correction, sound balancing and general faffing about that go into even a simple video. I have newfound respect for content creators who do this regularly and make it look effortless.
• Second, the technical learning curve for video editing is steep. Video editing software seems designed by people who’ve never met a minimalist interface that didn’t want to complicate. Uploading, formatting, creating thumbnails, writing descriptions that might actually help people find your content … it’s a whole skill set separate from the art itself. When you’re a beginner making DIY art videos, you’re learning both the technical and creative sides simultaneously.
• Third, copyright is no joke when creating art videos for YouTube. YouTube takes intellectual property seriously and rightly so. This is why I ended up creating my own hilariously terrible music rather than risking using someone else’s work. Better be safely awful than illegally excellent. Understanding copyright-free music options is essential for any artist making video content.
• Fourth, sometimes you just have to try things. I didn’t make these DIY art videos because I had a grand strategy or because I thought they’d go viral. I made them because I was curious. Because I wanted to see if I could. Because sitting in your comfort zone forever is comfortable but also quite boring.
• And finally, there’s genuine joy in DIY creativity, even when the results are imperfect. Especially when the results are imperfect. My out-of-tune music isn’t going to win any awards, but it makes me smile every time I hear it. And isn’t that worth something?

The Journey Continues

These DIY art videos are part of my creative exploration, nothing more and nothing less. They’re imperfect, experimental and entirely authentic to where I was at the time I made them. They’re not professional productions and they were never meant to be. They’re simply an artist’s honest attempt at sharing work through video content.

Every artist’s journey includes unexpected detours. Sometimes those detours lead somewhere interesting. Sometimes they lead to you making music that sounds like a cat learning the piano. Both outcomes are valid when you’re experimenting with DIY art videos.

I haven’t decided whether I’ll make more art videos in the future. Part of me thinks I should focus on what I do best, which is painting. Another part of me quite enjoys the occasional foray into new territory, even if I’m unqualified for it. Perhaps I’ll try different types of artist video content or maybe I’ll stick to what I know.

For now, these DIY art videos exist as small digital snapshots of my work and my willingness to experiment. If even one person watches them and thinks, ‘well, if they can do it, so can I’, then that’s probably enough.

After all, the whole point of sharing DIY art videos is to show that you don’t need professional equipment or training to start documenting your creative process.

Now, It’s Your Turn

Have you tried making DIY art videos of your own work?

What was your biggest challenge with video creation or building your YouTube art channel?

Do you prefer short-form content or long-form when viewing art online?

Ever made your own music for videos? How did it turn out?

Share your experience. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s attempted this with zero training.