# help gaining a following/ making a name



## Firewolfgirl (Dec 4, 2013)

Hi this is my first time posting on here so sorry for any mistakes

I'm a artist that has been producing art with the intent on improving for just over a year now. I started mainly on Sofurry and I've just came back to FA after finding that some people liked my work well enough to pay me. Now I'm on here and it's huge. I dont know how to increase my view/fave/watch rate or just to even get some kind of more commissioner-ey type interest. Ite just so eay to get lost in the massive infux of amazing work (btw FA artist you guys are amazing and give me the serious jellies). 

Does anyone have a good suggestion on how to find people that like your stuff? 

I used to do freebies when i was starting out last year but now i feel that i take too long and since I cant find a decent job it just feels kinda awkward to spend the type of time that could possibly be making me Â£15 on a freebie

Any advice is greatly appriceated 

Thank you in advance and I hope everyone is having a good day <3


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## Aleu (Dec 4, 2013)

Upload art a lot
participate in the forums

that's pretty much it.


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## Fay V (Dec 4, 2013)

Be social, comment on other stuff, build relationships. 

Post regularly.


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## Teal (Dec 4, 2013)

Post lots of art, comment on stuff.

Buy an ad. :I


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## Socks the Fox (Dec 4, 2013)

Post ALL the art!

Comment on other people's art and journals. Preferably people with similar styles. Simple things like "This is sweet!" or more in depth things like "how did you do XYZ effect?" but never ever anything spammy.

Use an icon drawn by yourself for a while, while commenting on other people's art and journals.


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## Smuttymutt (Dec 4, 2013)

Do the forums actually help that much?

Answer peoples comments. Post on sofurry.


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## Fay V (Dec 4, 2013)

Smuttymutt said:


> Do the forums actually help that much?
> 
> Answer peoples comments. Post on sofurry.



It was a substantial bump for me in my early days.


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## Deo (Dec 4, 2013)

Smuttymutt said:


> Do the forums actually help that much?
> 
> Answer peoples comments. Post on sofurry.


Most people in the fandom only know of me as FAF's rage generation system. So forums were how people found out who I was. Not in a positive way all the time, more of a shock factor and a "let's watch this crazy angry bitch train wreck eight threads, get the popcorn".

But it did give me about 500 watchers in my first few months on FA.

(Looks at OPs gallery to comment on art)
Snuff porn? Really? à² _à²


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## Fay V (Dec 4, 2013)

Deo said:


> Most people in the fandom only know of me as FAF's rage generation system. So forums were how people found out who I was. Not in a positive way all the time, more of a shock factor and a "let's watch this crazy angry bitch train wreck eight threads, get the popcorn".
> 
> But it did give me about 500 watchers in my first few months on FA.
> 
> ...



Sex and violence. that's the way to get attention.


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## Firewolfgirl (Dec 4, 2013)

ive been posting all my work in progress pics which seems to help. Is there any specific time when its best to upload?


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## Firewolfgirl (Dec 4, 2013)

Deo said:


> Most people in the fandom only know of me as FAF's rage generation system. So forums were how people found out who I was. Not in a positive way all the time, more of a shock factor and a "let's watch this crazy angry bitch train wreck eight threads, get the popcorn".
> 
> But it did give me about 500 watchers in my first few months on FA.
> 
> ...




the snuff stuff is a commission :3 i have very few sqicks so i dont mind drawing that kind of stuff. And the commissioner is a nice guy who pays well :3 its only one commission though so feel free to take a look at the other stuff if you want.


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## Firewolfgirl (Dec 4, 2013)

Smuttymutt said:


> Do the forums actually help that much?
> 
> Answer peoples comments. Post on sofurry.



Sofurry is my most active account - Annawolfdragon :3 i follow you lol


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## Firewolfgirl (Dec 4, 2013)

Socks the Fox said:


> Post ALL the art!
> 
> Comment on other people's art and journals. Preferably people with similar styles. Simple things like "This is sweet!" or more in depth things like "how did you do XYZ effect?" but never ever anything spammy.
> 
> Use an icon drawn by yourself for a while, while commenting on other people's art and journals.



i feel really creepy commenting 'out of the blue' but ill definately try to do it more often :3


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## Firewolfgirl (Dec 4, 2013)

Teal said:


> Post lots of art, comment on stuff.
> 
> Buy an ad. :I



do the ads really work?


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## Teal (Dec 4, 2013)

Firewolfgirl said:


> do the ads really work?


For some people.

For the love of all that is holy, DON'T MULTI-POST.


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## Firewolfgirl (Dec 4, 2013)

Teal said:


> For some people.
> 
> For the love of all that is holy, DON'T MULTI-POST.



whats multi posting? (im still not used to FA)


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## Teal (Dec 4, 2013)

Firewolfgirl said:


> whats multi posting? (im still not used to FA)


See how you posted repeatedly in a row? That's multiposting.

Here's a problem.


*Submissions:* 54
*Comments Given:* 167

You're not that active.


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## Firewolfgirl (Dec 4, 2013)

Teal said:


> See how you posted repeatedly in a row? That's multiposting.
> 
> Here's a problem.
> 
> ...




ok, so each time i update ill put the old ones in my scraps

unfortunately i am pretty new here and unless i post all my older work then i need to wait until ive finished my newer commissions and personal stuff which takes me much longer now


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## Teal (Dec 4, 2013)

Firewolfgirl said:


> ok, so each time i update ill put the old ones in my scraps
> 
> unfortunately i am pretty new here and unless i post all my older work then i need to wait until ive finished my newer commissions and personal stuff which takes me much longer now


You can post art repeatedly. I was talking about forum posts. 


Personally I think you should worry less about popularity and focus on improving your artwork.


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## Fay V (Dec 4, 2013)

interest comes with improvment. Just practice, post regularly, and people will come.


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## chesse20 (Dec 5, 2013)

I give out free art of peoples fursonas and that gives me a substantial amount of followers


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 6, 2013)

chesse20 said:


> I give out free art of peoples fursonas and that gives me a substantial amount of followers



Don't troll here please because I can ban you from the art forums.


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## Smuttymutt (Dec 6, 2013)

Deo said:


> Most people in the fandom only know of me as FAF's rage generation system. So forums were how people found out who I was. Not in a positive way all the time, more of a shock factor and a "let's watch this crazy angry bitch train wreck eight threads, get the popcorn".
> 
> But it did give me about 500 watchers in my first few months on FA.
> 
> ...



I've felt rage once in my life and I never plan on again. I also would not want to be known for such a negative and unpleasant feeling or as a generator of it so if thats what it takes to get peoples attention on here I kindly pass. 

@Firewolfgirl
Maybe jump on the chat in SF once in a while. I like to while I draw. I may not have gotten a billion fans just from that but I think I gained my loyalist ones and even some friendships. (and theres a room for crits/art talk) You dont have to RP but thats pretty popular on there.

@fay v
Were you doing free art /blackmarketing?


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## Fay V (Dec 6, 2013)

For a time. For a brief stint in this forum's history, a majority of the avatars had been drawn by me for free. Occasionally I would do the black market reverse auction thing to get commissions. 

Mostly the art just cemented relationships. It was a starting point to talk to people, interact, get to know people. It was also something that tested my boundaries, had me producing regularly, and got me active. Consistently uploading the art drew in more watchers and it snowballs. 

It's something for starting out. I wouldn't do that now for watchers and attention. I don't need it. I don't need to go bid for a commission or whatever, but that's because I earned a fanbase. 

You don't need to be mean, you don't need to be nice. You can get by with either. 

What's important is being consistent and present. People get to know you, people see your work, you improve and you get a foundation under you to grow.


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## Zeitzbach (Dec 6, 2013)

Fan Arts and porns. It sucks that these two are the most effective ways to start off on your account. Some people will watch you because of one random single fan art pic and anything close to a great porn = huge watch.

But remember that the moment you stop drawing those two, the watcher pool will start going dry. It's kind of hard to find the watchers that really like your art for what it is. The early start is always like that. The big pieces I spend over 10 hours on that I really like will get much  less fav compared to that random 1 hour splash of fan art. My watcher count is slowly decreasing because I've drawing nothing but my own sonas. 

Also the female chars will always get favs and watches faster than male chars.

And with that in mind, I guess I better start drawing fan arts again to earn some watchers back to make up for those that left me for having a horribad style.


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## Fay V (Dec 6, 2013)

Zeitzbach said:


> Fan Arts and porns. It sucks that these two are the most effective ways to start off on your account. Some people will watch you because of one random single fan art pic and anything close to a great porn = huge watch.
> 
> But remember that the moment you stop drawing those two, the watcher pool will start going dry. It's kind of hard to find the watchers that really like your art for what it is. The early start is always like that. The big pieces I spend over 10 hours on that I really like will get much  less fav compared to that random 1 hour splash of fan art. My watcher count is slowly decreasing because I've drawing nothing but my own sonas.
> 
> ...



This just sounds detrimental...

If you like fanart, or you like porn then awesome. Follow your bliss and draw what you like. If you find something you like to be more popular then draw it more often. 

However it sounds really iffy to suggest that someone should make themselves draw something they may not enjoy for the sake of watches, an arbitrary number on the internet, particularly for suck fleeting gains. If it's something where you consciously have to pick it up because you stopped and all your watchers fled then whats the point? 

That sounds like the fastest way to get burnout, just focusing on doing the song and dance for watchers rather than actual enjoyment. 

There's also the point that, it takes a long time to build a proper base, but that base sticks around if you do it right. I've been around for years and had to earn my base (you can do it without porn just fine, you just don't get instant gratification) but I have the luxury that I can draw what I like and it's not a concern on whether or not people will suddenly bugger off

If it works it works, but don't sell your soul for the internet.


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## Zeitzbach (Dec 6, 2013)

It's pretty much a shortcut suggestion. You can't really get your original pieces and sonas out there without a starting fund, and in the world of arts, those watches are the fund and the fanart/porns/requests are fund raisers.


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## Fay V (Dec 6, 2013)

Zeitzbach said:


> It's pretty much a shortcut suggestion. You can't really get your original pieces and sonas out there without a starting fund, and in the world of arts, those watches are the fund and the fanart/porns/requests are fund raisers.



Again, this is sort of assuming that watchers are most important. One could make the suggestion that mastery of a skill is what is important. If you are in it purely for attention, you want people to flock to you and praise your work then...sure but it will be a shortlived victory, you will have to build up again and again. It's...building a house of sand vs stone. 

Porn/fanart/ requests work as shortcuts, but if it makes you miserable or even if it's just not your thing then you can easily just not do it. It really isn't that hard to be a clean artist in this fandom. It isn't worth it to work like a dog on something you don't like to hope for internet points.


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## Zeitzbach (Dec 6, 2013)

But at the same time, it's really heart breaking to see your works go unnoticed because no one knew about you. It works more as a "short-term boost" or some sort to get you going unless you're really that type of "I must be praised for everything" which is kind of bleh.

The only thing that can really make people miserable is probably the porn. Requests are actually nice when you see some people thank you for the work. You can limit yourself on those and it doesn't really hurt unless you go "I take 20 requests all at once and holy shit most of the design makes me bleed" or some sort. That's just self-torture. Fan art, you will probably have an anthro crush or something that got you hooked up into the fandom and drawing your fav anthro char kind of falls under "enjoyable to work with" category.


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## Tailmon1 (Dec 6, 2013)

I'm hardly famous on FA. I don't draw but I do write and I commission works and put them up 
with my story's and such. Right now I'm doing a Plushie Christmas for everyone to enjoy. I was 
never after watchers but I have been gaining them and I wonder how many read my daily journal.


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 6, 2013)

Draw porn is such a copout suggestion. It doesn't even work anymore, there's a lot of people on FA that can do that. You're trying to be unique and show skill. Think about how many people others are watching so if you're just doing the default there's really no reason to watch you.

I want to open up a restaurant. 
Kids are into pizza these days open that because it will sell.
Suggestion is made so much 50 stores open up in your neighborhood selling pizza

Sure you like pizza, but now about any store has it, you can afford to be picky about where to get pizza.

That's how the "Draw porn/fanart" suggestion works. You're just flooding the place with the same shit people can easily access. What's not easy to access is skill.


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## rjbartrop (Dec 8, 2013)

Firewolfgirl said:


> i feel really creepy commenting 'out of the blue' but ill definately try to do it more often :3



Unless you starting going on about all the things you want to do to somebody's character, I can't imagine anyone viewing a comment on their page as "creepy".   However, spamming other people's pages with ads is annoying as hell.  Don't do it.

People will click on your icon, if only out of curiosity.  I know I did.  However, make sure there's something to see when you get there.  I'd say your first priority should be on improving your craft.


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## PurryFurry (Dec 9, 2013)

Ok I don't have any new information to add, but here's my experience on FA watchers:

I'm fairly new to FA and I haven't posted a whole lot of artwork yet, but I'd say the one thing I did that got me the most watchers buying an ad from FA.  It has about tripled my watchers so far, and at the rate its going I might have up to 7 or 8 times the watchers I had before I bought it.  Enough about that, I don't want to turn into an ad for buying ads 

If you don't want to spend money, I think posting a lot of artworks of good quality is a great place to start.  The way I understand it, when you post a new artwork its on the front page of everyone browsing but then as other people post stuff your new art gets pushed further and further in back.  The more you post, the more you'll be on the 'front page' of FA browsers.  However, don't post 1000 half-hearted artworks to achieve this goal either- nobody wants to watch that person.  Make something good, unique, and worth sharing.

That, and talking to people both on the forums and on FA itself.  I've had a few watchers tell me they saw me found me on the forums.


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## FireFeathers (Dec 9, 2013)

It honestly doesn't matter what you do, being active's probably the best way to go about it- forums help too, but if I had to compare that to other means, it's only so helpful.  Ads really do help the most- comparatively, considering the size of the audiance that sees an FA ad, and how much it costs, it's a fantastic deal.  Ad for a month is 20 bucks- An ad for a month in a small run national pet fancy art thing was 1500 for a 2 x 3 square for a week. FA's a goddamn steal. (I was trying to sell pet portraits at the time) 

First time I ran an ad, I gained about 6-700 watchers over the span of a month. 

That being said, make sure you're up to snuff first, you can gain some bad feedback if you're selling stick figures for fiddy bones.


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