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Dec 2018

I tried doing fan art now but I can't seem to garner enough attention even with hashtags. I feel like my art isn't unique enough or interesting to get anybody besides my so few followers. So I improve my art style, draw porn, or so more fanart?

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    Dec '18
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    Dec '18
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Become shameless and promote yourself more.
No, really, you gotta promote more. There's always going to be people out there that's interested in your work, you just need to show them that your work in fact, exists.

But if that doesn't work out(I doubt it) you could look back and analyse what exactly went wrong, like you've said yourself. Might be art style, might be not enough engagement.
Don't force yourself to do another thing just because that is the more popular thing. A.K.A drawing porn as you've suggested. That's just not the way to go as a creator, and it might just kill the creative mind inside you.

Either way, I hope you garner more attention now that you've made a post about it :slight_smile:You can do it if you try!

You can A) spam your content everywhere through social media sites, eventually people will notice.

You can B) be more selective to who it is you give your art away to and render your services for, with specific communities, such as this forum and websites such as Deviantart, being examples of places where people will appreciate this type of service and be more likely to return to/remember you later.

You can C) create a work that has all the characteristics of something that will be popular, and if it hits the right note, it will be popular regardless of the actual quality of the product itself.

You can D) Be tactful and tactical about it, sneaking in references to your book, comic, etc. naturally through carefully placed and disguised plugs.

I hope that helps you,

-Pablo, Author of INTERMINUTE

Like with comics, it's hard to gauge what will be a hit with people. So it's best to just create things you want to create and are actually into (aside from commissioned work). What turns out to be popular may surprise you in the end. But then it's difficult to replicate—can't catch lighting in a bottle. Usually it takes lots of grinding out consistent work so that you do have a higher chance of getting hits, and then slowly building up a following.

I agree with @joannekwan .
Additionally, there´s one thing that will always attract followers, and that you can always impprove: Pretty and clean Art. Work on Anatomy, colours, Composition (I´m saying this into the blue, but it´s always good to just keep on practicing)
And well then, Consistency is Key :wink:

Great tips from everyone. Ii'd like to reiterate some of those points as well as offer my own insights...

  1. As @Merle suggested, work on your craft. Keep improving. When you have something eye-catching, the promotions will be much more effective. I can promote a turd as often as I want, but no one's going to want to buy it if it still looks and smells like a turd. (I am NOT implying your work is turd-like. I was merely making an analogy that can apply to anyone.)

  2. Find threads dedicated to promoting your work and post there. Yes, it will get lost in the pile, but you're bound to catch a few eyes when the next few people come along wanting to post their own work. They'll have to scroll through all the postings to get to the reply form, and maybe they'll notice yours. This is why practicing your talent is important. Gotta have something good to catch their eyes with!

  3. Participate in various parts of the forums. Make yourself seen. No need to mention your work all the time. In fact, people frown on the constant self-promotion in areas that aren't dedicated to it. This is a place to be social, so be social. When you pique someone's interest as a person, they'll click on your profile. Just make sure your profile has links to your work!

  4. Post regularly. The ranking system takes post frequency into account, so one tactic you can try is to create a bunch of pages in advance. Don't post them all at once. Post nothing for a few weeks if you must while you prepare. If you have no views anyway, a little extra time won't matter. Then schedule the posts for twice a week. When it pops up on the lists, more people will see it. People who are looking for things to read. Again, having great-looking work is important for catching people's notice and for keeping them as subscribers, so never stop improving.

I'm a novel-writer, but I think these tips apply to both comics and novels.

If you really want to go the fanart route, I found that game fanart is huge. Has large consistent communities that don't phase out in a few months because a new hit animation came out. People play the same game for years and more readily put up money to have art commissioned for it. I still have some followers on my DA that were from games I was playing back in 2008. Be active and consistent, but also enjoy the game itself (and therefore the art.)

Smashing two universes together always seems to make people happy. Video game characters in a book universe like Harry Potter or popular cartoon characters from different shows hanging out comes to mind.