Having left the forums for a long time

[DualDragons]

And having met a lot of people and other content creators online, I realised how much of a closed off space the forums here are. It feels very timeless in a sense that although people join and leave, it doesn't change too much. Though on a first glance it looks like promotion became more intense over time.

Which I think is honestly rather fruitless, since the forums are kind of an echo chamber. Most, if not all of us here are creators. And while yes it does scratch that itch of people following each other, not always is it out of pure interest of your work.

I realised that because outside of tapas, on other media like instagram and twitter (even newgrounds sometimes) people can get interested in your characters, if you know what you are doing. And some people are interested in your characters and world but don't like consuming comics or novels.

Uhh my takeaway from this is probably to touch grass interact more outside the forums and give them things to look at or talk about. It is not my intention to empty the forums of course but I do think you have more succes out there. Try to get people interested in your stuff in different ways than saying "read my shit" or link dropping.

[NekoSensei]

So true, sadly. :< The problem is that a lot of us don't know what we're doing. I, for example, have an Instagram account as well, but I hardly get any interaction, so I decided to try Tapas forums just in case.

[DualDragons]

Yup I getcha. I guess part of it is just luck, people are fickle creatures. They will often also lurk, looking at content without ever interacting in any way whatsoever (which is their right of course).

They are also lazy. People usually don't go out of their way to visit links to check stuff out, when on social media it is presented on a silver platter.
I think if you can manage to get on people's timeline and talk with them it may be a good start to get them interested in your stuff

[Kann]

I used to be a regular a while back, but some familiar faces started leaving, most of new topics are focused on self-promo and I kind of lost interest. There's nothing wrong with self-promo, but you won't get much fish from fishing in a same puddle.

On other hand, sitting in one place is comfy and constantly trying out new social media to see if it sticks is exhausting.

Anyway, most of us just throw stuff and see what sticks. But yeah, at least trying other places won't hurt. it's not like we're forced out of one website if we go on another. xD

[SagaHolmgaard]

I also returned recently and notices that it's almost only promotions nowadays. It was a lot of that when I was active before too ofc, but it's a shame because this really could be such a cool place to talk about art and the creative process. There aren't a lot of forums like this around these days and it really could be so much more than just people trying to promote their comics.

[ButterflyEmpress]

I filtered out the promo threads because of how overwhelming they got for me. It's pure choice fatigue. There's still interesting discussion threads, but they're mostly lead by one person.

I'm still having issues with Instagram and Twitter. It feels like I'm shadow-banned and that was before I took a year hiatus. I really hate the changes Insta made so far. You can't filter search results by date, so only the popular images appear and I can't look up new contests/art events. Scammers are at an all time high. The worst part is I get notifications for other people's accounts!!! Why do I need to know that Billy said Susan's photos looks cute? They trick you into thinking you have engagement, when it's for someone else.

The only place I seem to have any mild success on is reddit since you can target specific niches

[cherrystark]

I still lurk the forums for the occasional conversation. I've honestly had better luck moving my work to other platforms. You still have to deal with the fatigue of promotions and wondering if your story is hitting, but it definitely helps when you're getting paid real money every month for your work.

[SumireHime]

Tried social media. People don't give af. Then I get shadow banned for no given reason. I see constant growth as I promote here. Much exponentially more than any other platform I've ever posted on.

[DualDragons]

Unfortunately yeah social media does suck, I can't think of any particular site that's great for artists atm. Newgrounds is kinda dead, Deviantart has become an AI fest as of late, Instagram is just shitty nowadays and Twitter is well...

Also I hate that Twitter sends out these purple star notifications of completely unrelated people's posts.

I think for me its less about how well social media works for me (cuz it doesn't barring a few exceptions), and more about the people I meet who get interested in my stuff. At the end of the day that's really what matters for me, not the digital numbers people chase.

[MartaTod]

What is Reddit like? I wanted to try it few years ago but people were warning not to talk about your comics there because some Redditors liked to downrate comics they didn't even read just because you posted a link to your comic.

I left Instagram and Twitter, because I feel like it's pointless. I came back on these forums last week, after a year or so being away, and it feels like everything is just Promotion threads. Which, as someone already pointed out, is really confusing because most of us here are creators. And just having subs doesn't mean anyone's reading the stories.

I want to share my comic and art with others but it's becoming harder and harder to do it. I'm honestly losing the motivation to draw comics with how much it takes to do it and feel like no one is reading it.

[NickRowler]

I am a bit fatigued from social media. I hate politics and drama. When I use social media, I want to see nice things that don’t make my mental health worse.

I never had much luck promoting on social media. I guess I am not as chronically active on it, so it never really clicked with me. I don’t feel like I am good at engaging with other people. I tried cross posting on Instagram with not much luck.

I just feel tired and exhausted, trying to also deal with stuff IRL has just left me emotionally drained. I would prefer to just draw my comic and not have to deal with all the other horrible stuff.

[ButterflyEmpress]

There are subreddits for comics like r/webcomics, r/comics, and r/webtoons and some others, but I haven't heard much of downvote bombing yet.

r/comic and r/webcomics are more for one off gag comics, but people do post long running stories there as bits and pieces, with a link to the rest in the comments.

r/webtoons is more of a discussion forum for loved and hated webtoons. People do share their work and ask for feedback & advice there too. But you're only allowed to promote on weekends or if you're looking for specific advice(character design, covers, logos, etc)

I haven't posted to the comic subreddits since I don't have a comic to share yet. The only places I have mild success is magicalgirls, clipstudio, copic, and furry. Pretty much any subreddit specific to the topic you're drawing.

I know r/artistlounge gets a lot of posts of people frustrated with social media. Most common piece of advice they get is to network in real life, but that's something I have yet to try.

I'm constantly bouncing back and forth with my motivation to draw, so I unfortunately can't lend any advice for that. I came back to insta after a year for MaydenDressUp, but I might leave again afterwards. I kinda felt happier just drawing with no audience, but that's just me... on a good day. I can't speak for others.

[AmazementComics]

You’re not lying.

I think the forums are a hollow shell of what they once were, (having studied the flow of traffic on the Tapas server for years now). There’s only two solutions to gaining a decent following outside of this website: you either have to already be established on social media or work really hard to make reels of your work and follow all of this week's rules on how to be seen in order to have any success on instagram or TikTok. Other than that, the other socials are dead. For now, we either have to go back to having no dopamine hit and doing art for ourselves, or find a local art group to get involved in and get rare/minor dopamine hits—among other things—that way.

I quite a few artists IRL who are often anti-social media because a "like" doesn't mean anything and it’s true, but I remember seeing likes and comments pour in after posting a piece I was proud of and it did feel at least like encouragement that fueled my next piece. It's not substantial, but still nice to have. And after doing that for three years or so, we have to re-wire our brains and how we think of accomplishments in art.

[DualDragons]

I would also like to add that it is way easier to get a following on doing stuff for a already existing IP rather than original content. I say this because for more than half a year now I have been drawing Pokémon on instagram and that does waaaay better than my normal stuff

[KevinReijnders]

Oh yeah, that's been a golden rule for years now. If you seek to achieve growth on a platform, you find yourself a fandom and churn out fanart.

With one caveat, you gotta like that fandom and like making fanart. Otherwise the cynicism will be woefully apparent. Plus, what's the point making something you don't enjoy (unless it pays the bills of course haha)

I have the bad luck that I dislike making fan works. Then again, I don't chase followers either.

[NickRowler]

I would also like to add that it is way easier to get a following on doing stuff for a already existing IP rather than original content. I say this because for more than half a year now I have been drawing Pokémon on instagram and that does waaaay better than my normal stuff

I do notice that some people build following by picking a fandom and just drawing that.

I used to do that back in the day for Naruto and MLP. Tho it is a bit of a struggle when you no longer want to draw that kind of art.

[MartaTod]

I used to do this but gave up when I realised majority of those followers wanted to see only specific story's fanart. There were maybe a handful of people who were interested in my original works, everyone else would just leave at a hint I might be posting less fanart.

[DualDragons]

Yeah this is why I made a alt acc for my fandom stuff

[Thumber]

Having left the forums for a long time

Best time of your life...