Method 3: Draw porn. Lots and lots of porn. And sell it, too.

Well, technically, that comes under 1)...

No skill, socialisation or actual creativity required.

Now, now. I don't see stick figure porn selling very well.

You're taking me way too literal there.

Besides, I've seen just about everything. And you get praise for just about anything.

I'll take your word for it. Hasta be really QUALITY porn to get my seal of approval, though.

Quality isn't objective...for me, if it's recognisable, shows solid anatomical research and contains <user_obsession> I can appreciate it.

(nods) True enow.

Or churn out the same kind of images over and over and over, ideally generic Photoshop pictures of more common species anthro characters with their dicks out.

I sense a trend, here.

Method 1 seems about innovation and being socially open enough for networking. The most popular don't do either of those things very well.

Oh, I dunno. For every artist who's drawn the same thing over and over since 1993, there's a dozen brilliant newcomers who make their mark rapidly by being pleasant.

You've been doing a bit of both.
Being pleasant over and over since... probably birth-ish.

Aw, SHUCKS!

I prefer method one. Its worked for me well. Made many many great friends along the way.

Quite so. One has to wonder about someone who feels the need to spend that kind of dough to pick up new watchers. Now, mind you, I HAVE done stunts in the past to get new watchers and viewers for friends, but...

And it's another commentary on the state of Furry when I see literally dozens of journals plugging the chap. Can't fault his salesmanship, I s'pose, but just the same, it...well, doesn't feel RIGHT. Are we that financially impoverished as a group that something like this will cause all those folks to eagerly snap at the bait?

I can say that without a doubt... Any money blown my way is always a small godsend. Its why i joined. But i just don'r like the smell... Its huge... But i will post a journal for friends in need or those who ask me. But this is hige. I mean the 100$ was big. This is like.. Wow. My one friend said its cause he is using his college fund to piss off his parents and one of those... Annoying con going bratty types. You know... Has had it all handed to them type of person .

Wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. Certainly sounds that way.

On the other hand, there are genuinely nice folks out there who like spreading the wealth...

Agreed. And on the Genuine part.... Its hard to find them. I know that I've broken down and begged here, and there for small a miracle.. SOmetimes... one comes up and does help, but never enought. *Chuckles* but I know its rare these days.

True dat.

Prezackly. And, in turn, I've done plugs and such 'cos I figure folks are interested in seeing interesting new material.

Well, keep plugging away at it! Heck, I've been at it one way or another for over a quarter-century...

Hoorah! Good show!

Ni-ni! ^.^

1) Be worth watching.

Well put and succinct.

It's a variation on something my grandfather told me when I was a preteen. I'd asked him what it takes to get a good wife, and he said, "Be worth one." Ever since then, that advice (in various forms) has aided me in various endeavors of life.

Ironically, I never married. Go fig.

Heh. It's still good advice.

Common sense always is. Sadly, it's gone out the window in the generations since.

True dat.

-put some artwork on e621 I discovered several artists there and followed the link to their FA site

-get a webcomic going, if you have a story and are fast enough to get it done at least weekly with your other art

Indeed! Both of which come solidly under 1).

They do, but a webcomic is a time-consuming endeavour and not for every artist. The main word with it is schedule. Once you have one, you better keep it.
In contrast, e621 is an easy, practically effortless way for some promotion.
So, I thoguht I mention them seperatly

Oh, I manage a weekly webcomic. 'Course, it's mostly writing...

http://couchkitties.comicgenesis.com/

Well, it was mostly some adivce for other artists reading this.

Yeah, the purty pitcher squad DOES have the advantage, there...unless you're good at writing certain types of porn (see various screeds above).

I have to commission all my arts, but I write visually appealing characters. :p

That you do!

What are these types of porn again? Wait, lemme get my note pad first.

Though, I'm pretty sure I'm already writing those types, and every other type under the sun. If only I was a wee bit more productive.

You simply have to get your nose to the grindstone, then!

That's the problem with writing erotica, you get distracted by imagining your nose (and other bits) being pressed against all sorts of other things.

(sobs) It's TRUE! It's all TRUE!

It's just the nature of the fandom. In science fiction circles, artists exist to decorate the works of writers, or at least that's what the criteria for the Hugos would have you believe. However, it is worth noting that art still gets made.

Yes. Yes, it does.

Sooo...I guess having something of yours faved by an artist who has a ton of watchers from drawing a metric buttload of porn fits in somewhere around 1-ish?

More or less, I should think. Definitely comes under "networking".

3. Screen capture two avatars having sex in Second Life. Spend maybe 15 minutes setting it up and uploading. Have art and stories you have spent months on and sweating bullets over be completely ignored. Lose faith in humanity.

3a. "Herm With Big Tits". 'Nuff said.

It depends.
If this were about business, where more watchers translate to mare commissions, which translate to rent and and groceries, then throwing out some cash to speed up the process would be a sound investment. Of course, you still have to have something worth looking at when they get there. What they're offering would buy you ad space on FA for the rest of the decade, and would also send the admins some cash to help keep the site running.
However the guy doesn't look like he's actually selling anything, so it seems like an awful lot of money just to try and rack up the high score on FA.

(nods) Agreed. I mean, even if he picks up a hundred new watchers, spending $10 a pop to do it? (headshakes)

Looks like he gained a hundred watchers just in the time it took me to go out and shovel the walks, though it will be interesting to see how many remain after the raffle is over. All the same, my list of better things to do with that kind of money is pretty long.
I suppose my big question is, why does it even matter? Are these numbers really the measure of your worth as a furfan and a human being? I think the pursuit of fannish fame is mostly harmless, and I've long given up trying to understand what turns some people on, but when people start getting this nuts about their place in the fannish pecking order, maybe it's worth taking a step back and thinking why you're doing this.

Hear, hear. This is major league sheeshery.

The really important thing here is that he isn't doing this with my thousand bucks.

Good point. :)

Method 1 takes so long but feel so good i have meet a lot of friends here. I really love all of them so much.
Horray for method 1!

Yus!

I think it's cute how everyone says porn right off the bat, but tell me, how many of them fave porn on a regular basis?

Also if being unique and for the odd species was accepted why aren't I popular on IB, with my chimeras and stuff? Oh thats right because even if these people claim to hate it,they all fall for it and love the generic popular thing, because it is popular for a reason

Heh. I, for one, fave porn on a regular basis, as long as I like it.

i always thought "to each is their own" "draw what you want" "fave what you want" as long as you enjoy what's going on and it doesnt hurt anyone then why the hell not!!

Eyup!

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5263969/ -- updated

I agree the whole thing's kinda tawdry. What doesn't add up though, is where the heck did a Furry get all that spare cash?

Well, the odds are we're gonna get ONE rich guy once in awhile.

I knew a rich kid about the time I got into Furry. She wasn't a Furry; she was into something else I also liked at the time. She was really nice, though, a truly decent human being. She baked yummy cookies, played guitar really well, knew philosophy well enough and was smart enough to successfully argue with a neocon atheist* about God... Most of all, she was capital-N NICE! She was a great friend, I was lucky to know her!

One day at a convention, she was playing guitar for a crowd of friends. (It was a programming item, I forget just what, this was years ago.) Somebody walked in on her and yelled that she was a rich b***h and she only had friends because she'd bought them. Everybody stared at him as if he'd grown a second head as he rushed back out again. Yes, she came from a wealthy family, but she didn't have to buy anything or anybody, she was worth liking! She went on to marry one of the sweetest guys in the area, (Carebears in love people called them), get her teaching degree and have three kids last I heard. I tell no lies, she deserved it all.

Apparently we're not naming names; probably a good idea. This four-figure raffle that's spreading like wildfire, he doesn't have to do it. He never really had to do any of his raffles, he's a perfectly good artist, he could make himself known by Method 1. So what the heck?

*(I know one of those, too; rather unpleasant fellow. I avoid him.)

What the heck indeed?

Sounds like your friend was a sweetie!

She was. So was her husband. I haven't seen either of them in more than a decade, though. I'm assuming they both gafiated in favour of their family.

(nodnods)

Well, the odds are we're gonna get ONE rich guy once in awhile.

They are out there. Somebody has to be buying all those Blotch paintings.

Sad but true.

I don't know if I'd call it sad. They do some quality work, and it's nice to see that they're rewarded for their efforts.

Ye-es, well, I really can't say I like art such as "Penis Party" and the like. I will grant the craftsmanship.

Not my thing either, but when it's not about the sausage, they do some very nice stuff. I could have just as easily said Dark Natasha, Nambroth, Goldenwolf, or any number of top notch furry artists who command prices that are in line with the quality of their work.
There are furfans out there who are willing to pay well for quality art that isn't even porn, and I say, good on them.

Hear, hear.

You're on that list, too, by the way...

You're too kind, sir. I think I'm more in the category of "still working on it."

As far as I know, it's illegal to hold a raffle over state lines without federal approval. It violates federal gambling law.

Good thing I'm not endorsing any such raffle, then!

Wonder if anyone has notified the authorities...

Lmao Funny thread =:3

^.^