Building a Twitter following is slow work. The best way, both ethically and enjoyment-wise, is to just engage with other artists! I have a few ridiculously skilled artist mutuals on Twitter who became mutuals because I'd left a comment on their art, or chatted with them on their text posts.
Some other artists I follow who aren't mutuals will nevertheless respond to or retweet insightful comments, or sometimes click onto your page and retweet a recent piece of art as a kind of 'thank you'. One webcomic artist (whose work I am a HUGE fan of) must have been online when I followed her, because five minutes later she'd retweeted one of my recent posts promoting my comic, and complimented my art.
(We're not mutuals, but MAYBE ONE DAY, A GAL CAN DREAM.)
You really get out what you put in on Twitter. It's not a gallery, it's a community engagement platform. As such, the best way to grow is to engage with the community.
DO
- Join in on any art share posts you see. (These are the most practical way to gain followers.)
- Retweet the art of other artists, particularly if they're at a peer level similar to yourself. This is a great way to gain mutuals and friends!
- Leave comments on the art of others.
- Retweet your own art posts for your alternate-time-zone followers. There's no shame in it. It's like bumping a forum post.
- Post stuff other than comic updates. I post sketches, the occasional single panel from an upcoming page I'm proud of, other illustrations (when I have time to make them) and so-on.
- If there's something you'd really like some visibility on, ask your followers to retweet it! I don't retweet much, but if a friend has just posted something they're super proud of, and they've asked their followers to help boost its visibility, YOU BET I'm going to retweet that!
DON'T
- Follow and unfollow other people. These are people, not numbers, it hurts when someone does that to you.
For transparency's sake, I only have 670 followers on Twitter. I'm still a tiny account. But I definitely grow faster the more I engage. (And I didn't get retweeted by WEBTOON for Canvas day either, haha. Those events are always worth a shot, though!)