About deviantart, tumblr, etc

[David_tigereye]

So, for awhile now, I’ve been thinking I need to join a website to post art on, like DA, tumblr, instagram, etc. Right now, any art I post is here on tapas, or my facebook page. Before I do, though, I want to ask, is there anything I need to know? Like general stuff, things you wish you knew before? Any advice would be great!

[mintycanoodles]

you'll probably get more visibility for original art on deviantart, and there's a pretty strong culture of you watch me/I watch you. make friends, engage with others and their works, and you will probably get decent engagement back. there's tons of groups to join and plenty of ways to participate, so despite how weird DA can be, I still think it's a p good site.

tumblr favors fanart generally. I'd say most people on tumblr are there for fandoms, so if you do fanart you'll get eyes on it pretty easily if you tag right. but sraly, tag it right. tumblr people are....a sensitive bunch. and a tip - people respond to things on tumblr with tags more often than they'll actually reblog with a comment, so don't forget to check tags!

I don't know as much about instagram, but for me it seems more like a, if you want to see my art and nothing else, here it is.

[Pandastrophic]

I feel like instagram is the strongest platform for art (original and not) right now, it has a good community of people supporting eachother, you can more easily discover artists on it through multiple ways, like after following an artists you get similar acconts, you can find people through the discover page, there is also a function that shows you a similar post to the one you like. These are all ways your art can be seen by other people.

Not sure being on Deviantart would help you in anyway, unless you're making adopts or joining a specific type of community (like RP or something). The website hasn't really developed in years, they don't have an algorithm with is tailored to people's interests and it feels like art just gets posted in a vaccume because there is so much of it and it's not organised. I personally wouldn't recommend it right now. Tumblr is a little better, yeah it's popular for the fanart but you can always use fanart as a way for people to discover you, a lot of people who find me through fanart end up sticking around. I like the asks because it allows you to easily interact with your followes.

[LoboSong_Hitaka5Ever]

Tag things accordingly so that people can locate your stuff easier. On Tumblr, only the top 5 tags will appear in the "tagged/" search function and "search/" includes any and all keywords in your post. I also suggest making a side blog strictly for art so that it can be found through your art blog easier without all your personal posts/reblogs

Instagram has a new algorithm out or coming out soon that will make people with low traffic not get their stuff seen as easily as long-time.popular users (their hashtag system is changing) so I'd advertise your IG stuff as much as possible on other platforms (I will gladly follow your instagram if you have one!)

For Twitter, you can use hashtags with important keywords, so list as many as you can when you upload art

Hope that helps and good luck!

[YangKoete]

Huh, never knew that about Tumblr. owo'

[Rhombik]

I like Tumblr. It's where most my followers are. That being said, there's a big language scene on there and my comic is for ESL so I have the advantage.

I wish the engagement was a bit higher though. People tend to comment a bit more on Tapas and I like the chats.

Whatever you're using, tags are super important and get involved in other people's stuff.

[zetina]

if you're using tumblr, don't follow anyone lol. this is a joke. but what i mean is that some blogs drag shit onto their blogs that has to do with somesuch drama from thatsuch political scene or in some cartoon industry and it can be infuriating to be brought to your attention a lot if you're the type to get empathetic over that. some people forget that they shape a large part of their own tumblr experience. i don't browse tags or follow a lot of people, so i only see some whisperings from time to time and the occasional informative post addressing some issue. the trouble starts if the rude people find your blog and find issue with you or some part of your work and decide they get to dump on you - if so, disable anonymous messages, don't engage with any of it. maybe close inbox and messenger entirely. but i doubt you'd get into that level of trouble.

when using tumblr, "New XKit" is essential. you can blacklist tags, make notifications display retags on your posts... nice things.

[David_tigereye]

So, I have accounts on Tumblr and IG now, under https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dols-d-tigereye, and https://www.instagram.com/dols_b_tigereye/ . Thanks everyone for replying!

[David_tigereye]

but what i mean is that some blogs drag shit onto their blogs that has to do with somesuch drama from thatsuch political scene or in some cartoon industry and it can be infuriating to be brought to your attention a lot if you're the type to get empathetic over that.

That’s literally the internet! But seriously, is that like a major problem? I mean, does it happen often?

[David_tigereye]

I'd say most people on tumblr are there for fandoms, so if you do fanart you'll get eyes on it pretty easily if you tag right. but sraly, tag it right. tumblr people are....a sensitive bunch.

What do you mean tag it right? And how sensitive a bunch?

[nadis]

The best starter platform is Paigeeworld. when i was 11 and my mom made me delete my deviantart, i made an account woth Paigeeworld a year later. the community isn’t as harsh as others and they have a tooooon of events that get everyone involved. they also have loads of art tutorials, and once you gain a following there, then move to another platform.

their mod team also responds very fast if you have an issue!

[LCT_m_a_d]

Groups on deviant art are the thing right now. My exposure and activity dropped steadily and drastically since DA really went away from messaging network to group. Find groups related to your art themes and post there if you want to be on the radar.

[zetina]

i suppose it's the internet? i mean... more petty things too? people talking about or engaging with awful people. my main point was that it's easy to avoid if you're picky about who you follow. i follow like 50 blogs, only 5 of which post regularly and all of which are run by swell people, so to me "tomblr iz t0xic" is hilarious. i live stress-free and happy there haha

[Jenny-Toons]

i follow like 50 blogs, only 5 of which post regularly and all of which are run by swell people, so to me "tomblr iz t0xic" is hilarious. i live stress-free and happy there haha

Amen to that. Just recently, I went from 118 to 95 blog that I follow because a lot of them were too focused on drama and very depressing things. Like, sometimes, I don't wanna hear about that. Sometimes, I wanna just chill for a bit and let my mind rest.

People who say that allow themselves to fall too far down the rabbit hole until it's too hard to climb back out. I used to do that at 14 years old. Nowadays, I ain't listening to that mess.