That is sad. I sherish the piece you made for me it is still having a place above the bed. I hope you stay. But then I am one of them who rarely post mainly because I due to time zone stuff hardly ever catch you artsing and am out of the loop characterwise. Still They are are fantastic.

I'm always a bit touched honored by the esteem that folks place on personal pieces I have done for them: it remains bit of an odd feeling knowing that something you created has a place in someone's home.

But isn't it the point of art to be shown off? Over time I obtained a lot of art a lot of it smut some of it clean. While the smut art is kinda a guilty pleasure hidden away in the naughty drawyer to be enjoyed in secrecy the non smutty one is there to be shown it is put on walls throughout the den. Hope others do the same. It surprises me when artist feel strange about that. I mean you guys are visiting art exhebitions, no?

People just comment less these days, in general. Particularly on pieces that are mostly just pinups, there isn't really much to say about them other than some variation of 'that's hot', which feels a little redundant after a while. Actively responding to comments does help a lot, though; feedback is a two-way street.

Yeah, this is where I'm at: if all I can say is "Oh, that's hot!", then I generally say nothing. If this is what someone would like me to do, though, I have no problem doing it! I just figured it would be annoying, but I could be wrong.

Like I said to Nicoya, that's completely fair, if the *only* comment is ever going to be "That's hot!", then the fave is fine! I was more wondering if I was doing somethign wrong because I almost never get more elaborate comments anymore at all.

"People just comment less these days, in general."

This. I think it happened to most of us across most sites.

Yeah, it's difficult to make coherent comments to art, as a non-art-making person.

I don't want to come off as a crazy-eyed, leering and drooling, elbows-above-head crazy keyboard hammering loon, leaving disjointed slobbering horny responses

But on the other hand I have as much knowledge of art as I do aluminium smelting or pastry baking, so my commentary on any of those fields will be equally useless.

So better to hold my tongue and thought a fool, I suppose?

I get what you're saying there, but I also don't think people should limit what they say because of some implied or perceived barrier to commenting because you aren't deeply informed about a subject: sometimes an earnest and honest statement is just as powerful as a more eloquent and learned statement. I'm often enthralled by comics by new/young artists not because of their art skills, but because the honesty and candor: without all the preconceptions they speak from the heart.

Reading through the other responses, the reduction in engagement does seem to be a "thing" across the board, perhaps just indicative of our changing world and a changing internet. And you're on-the-nose about just constantly commenting with little 2-3 word comments like "That's hot!", you start to notice the people who do it, and it *does* become kind of meaningless noise after a while, although it still has some weight from people that seldom or never do it, normally.

I can definitely agree on feedback from the artist mattering. It's a nice feeling to be noticed! Though it also helps for the artist's comments as well to have variety, as difficult as that might be sometimes. It feels less special to get the same "Thanks for the support!" as everyone else does, but also thinking of new stuff to say to all the "That's hot!" or " " posts can be taxing.

It's like that across the board and has been for a while I have noticed. Comments and engagement have taken a nosedive in the past 5 years or so. The only thing that gets consistent reactions is fan art/R34

Other folks appear to agree with you. I wonder why that is? Or even if it's truly so? I should put that question to some of the folks that are actual scientific types studying the fandom, might become someone's thesis. :)

Oh man, I’m sorry you’re feeling this way.

If you wish to retire, that’s you’re choice, but do know you do some fantastic works. You and some others inspired me to create my Yeen girls, the Corduroys. I hope you stay, but like I said before, it’s for you to decide.

Godspeed man.

It's not so much "wish to" as "am I just in a treadmill", churning out stuff which people dutifully click on: for me, a major part of the fun is the reaction, the chuckle, the happy squeak, the getting pelted with rolled up newspapers for the horrible visual pun. If it's all just Ben Stein "That's nice.", then there's not much for me to get enthused about.

Oh man, I'm sorry you feel this way; If I don't comment, it's either because I don't know what to say, or me just being a wuss in case I say something wrong.

I don't know what to say. My work largely doesn't generate much interest, favs, clicks or comments. The most popular things in my archive other people made.

I made a point to only start posting inked/coloured pieces, and putting pencils in my scraps, so at least my front page appears finished.

Not sure if it matters, but I have a hard time commenting on pieces when a bunch go up at once. Yours, other artists, a whole bunch are hard to come up with anything meaningful to say. I've made a point of spacing mine out, one every other day or so, so I can get the most conversation per piece.

Overall, love you work, any pics of my chars in the past are greatly appreciated and still treasured. I quite enjoy seeing the few FurryMuck RPers that use your pics as their representation.

As for other places, Ha, I got suspended on Twitter and never use facebook. Even DeviantArt is a second-site for me.

Yeah, inking and higher-definition scans and not mass-posting are suggestions multiple people have made, and are definitely now in the "idea box". And I admit I am amused at how wrong I was about the various other social media sites: I'm pretty frequently directed to twitter feeds where I find lots of really nice art in someone's feed, but until now it hadn't struck me I'm having to be directed to those feeds by other people.

It cycles I've found, some times folks comment a lot, sometimes they don't. And FA is still the best place for this, navigating Twitter/Facebook for art is awful.

Also, I'm a big fan of yer art and style-

That's rough! Yeah, I've been on FA for about 15 years now, and I can definitely say that engagement is way down. When I first started, there were sincere comments and critiques, even on small blurbs. Now even my 'big swings' only get a few, if any replies. It can be disheartening when folks don't engage much, and I've had little luck fighting the algorithm on Twitter.

I feel a bit like it's not so much changing of the times, as it is peoples' dwindling attention spans. The Fave button is right there, whereas thinking up a comment takes time.

That said, I wouldn't really retire from FA. There's no other real furry 'hub' quite like FA, and with the increasingly puritanical guidelines on other major content sites, FA alone stands as a bastion for all content - SFW or otherwise. No good answer, I guess... :P

I hadn't even *thought* about the "puritanical" aspect of things and how other social media sites have often gotten all picky about what you can post: FA's not *entirely* great about being a "bastion for all content", or at least it's sometimes really inconsistent about it, but it's definitely better than most.

Agreed. It's pretty uneven, but being that FA is run by folks in the community, for folks in the community, I can appreciate that they aren't beholden to corporate sanitization. With Twitter, Tumblr, dA, and now even pay intermediaries like Paypal are going after NSFW, I figured that I would even get a FA+ membership just to make sure FA can stick around.

Thankfully, there are plenty of offshoot sites as well. SoFurry, Inkbunny, FN, etc etc. that do some things better, some things worse. If FA weren't around, I don't know that any of those sites could handle the load that FA does, so it's kind of a devil's bargain. It would be great if FA were better, but you can't change horses mid-river. XD

Your art is and has always been awesome, so it would really be a sad sad day if you said goodbye..

Love your stuff, but I've never been that much of an commenter, since whenever I comment they usually end up as those generic ''awesome/amazing/lovely art'' comments and I don't know how much use/appreciation people get from them..

I believe it's a combination of things, FA definitely isn't the center of attention that it was before.

Unfortunately, getting comments these days is very difficult in general. It's sad, but it's how it is, and outside of FA it's generally even worse.

I guess we are all, or almost all somewhat at fault for this. I make a point of trying to leave a comment on all the pictures i appreciate, but in truth... i don't quite react to all of them.

"and everyone's more Twitter/Facebook social-media now?"

Good god, definitely not this one. Twitter and Facebook are HORRIBLE as art galleries and I wish artists would stop using them entirely. As for comments, well... I try to leave them when I have something to say, but a lot of the time it's just "Really good art" or "Wow, that's incredibly sexy", in which case it feels like the fave gets that across. Better no comment than a boring comment, in my opinion.

Omg same, there's artists I like that only post to twitter, and I only check on them every couple of months when I remember. Trying to follow somone on twitter is a big pain.

I think it's predominantly the move to Twitter etc. That said, if Elon Musk goes through with buying that platform and/or they keep getting more puritanical then the audience will have to switch to something else. I think people won't realize what they've lost in gallery sites like FA until it's gone.

I don't think FA will be going away any time soon. If *VCL* is still around, I think we're going to be here a while yet. :D

That's fair. Though I definitely don't visit VCL with the frequency I used to, and we have lost some prominent sites (Furnation for instance) over the years.

Seems like people moved off of FA for "social" features.

>Is the problem *what* I'm drawing?
Possibly. "Oldschool furry" art like you and EWS seem to be going away, which is a shame. Not sure if it's because yall ain't posting as much or because it's not what the majority of new furries want, but there are a lot less "big titty furry calendar girls" than there used to be. Besides Fox Pop I don't think anyone really does this sorta thing anymore.

I don't think FoxPop counts as "big titty furry calendar girls" by the old-school definitions of "big titty", but I do love their art! :D

I came for the lovely furry art and have been following your page for years. You have a distinct style and it would be a shame to lose it in general.

I sometimes only have time to fave if I'm at work or something. I think it's just how much content there is nowadays too, like between FA and twitter I might see 100+ images a day that catch my eye, but there is no way I could leave comments on all of them, and it would come off as spammy or bottish as they would probably be very similar given time constraints.

another thing is as people's tastes become more specific the longer they stay in the fandom, and yours are less specialized and more general (not saying that's a bad thing though). I'd assume I get more engagement from a significantly smaller audience since my tastes are more fringe or whatever

Fair point: the ever-increasing size of the fandom carries with it an ever increasing volume of content: I have to keep that in mind frequently, that there's not more of any one thing specifically, there's just more of *all* of it and thus statistically more of any single component, and *everyone* has to deal with the ever-increasing signal.

It's not you, by far. And it's not what you're doing. Folks activities have shifted.

Pen and paper artists are a dying breed.
With all the digital art, and even AI now, makes us look obsolete and childish talent in comparison.
I have felt similar feelings to yours, but in the end, what do you draw for? For your own fun and amusement, or for others?
If you like drawing, keep doing it! It may not give you the internet fans and attention, but will at least for sure make you feel happy.

Oh, I won't ever stop drawing until they put me in the hole and throw dirt on my face! It was just more a question of "should I keep posting here?"; if people aren't enjoying my work, I can devote more time to just drawing for fun and improving my skills, instead of wasting my time posting stuff nobody wants to see. The response has been more along the lines of "people still like to see it, just nobody has time to comment anymore."
Espero que esteja bem, faz tempo que não conversamos!

At least the real artists know better than the AIs that hands don't have a dozen fingers

A friend is playing heavily with the whole AI-art thing, and we're both noting that the AI isn't really doing art, the art is learning how to tell it the right parameters to get somethign *good*.

Honest answers:

- FA is pretty much a ghost town. The majority, for some stupid reason decided twitter was better.
- you tend to post in big batches, so when presented with 15 uploads from ya, to comment on each and everyone, even if half of those earned a click, would just be fatiguing to the viewer.
- as others have mentioned, people comment less in general these days anyhow. page shouts are pretty much a thing of the past here too.

As an addendum, I'd like to add: I'm not saying you should do anything different, and nor is your art unappreciated. I quite enjoy it a lot.

That seems to be a common thread and I'm going to take that into account: for some reason I just assumed that people would prefer big fat piles of art and not little dribbles and drabbles.

I have a feeling that FA traffic is not what it used to be. But then, I'm also not as active as I have been, so I can't claim to be with the times and know for sure. Definitely a lot of stuff on twitter, can't hurt to cross-post some things.

I appreciate your stuff and not seeing the art you post would be one less good thing in this weary old world.

J-chummer, you were one of the first two artists who shot me out of a massdriver into the world of Furry Artwork Drawing, the other being Taral and his doodle on a napkin of my IC's torso snapping off at the waist, inspired by his observation that I drew big muscles and big chests, like Wilford T. Wolf or the big German muscle-dog on Tiny Toons. And a big part of how much you influenced me was meeting you both, getting to know you as friends and equals and fellow artists, even though my experience as a pencil-and-ink artist was a shred and fraction of both of yours.

This was before the Internet for me, back on the Trap Line in 1992, I expect before I even knew what a computer drawing tablet was as both input device and what would one day much later on in my veterancy as a doodler become part of my doodler's toolbox. Even if what you, and Taral and Tailchaser, Dronon and Greywolf, and my beloved Jenora first taught me was a scrap of what I've learned since then in technique and refining that technique, you were each and all the folks who got me started, who set me on my path, probably helped me find it in the first place. Even if I was often an annoying, awkward little dork (and I freely admit I was much more of one then than I've since become) who didn't know that foot to start walking with in the 1990s, you never told me off unreasonably if you did at all, nor did you treat me with undue unkindness if it could be avoided.

My path is what it is because you and the fellow Fursons and Furry Artists I knew didn't kick younger-me to the curb, and you accepted my enthusiasm and fostered it. You made the deliberate choice to accept my dreaming in your company and encourage me to keep dreaming. Every time I take up my sketchbook and my pencil and eraser to draw, or my tablet and stylus and drawing program of choice as canvas, I pay forward the kindness I know I can never personally repay each of you in exact return.

You taught me how to learn to draw, and how to learn to learn to have fun drawing. That is your legacy in what I have become, and the love I have for my craft.

-2Paw.

Oh, I don't think I *deserve* anything, I have no illusions that there are many far better artists out there than me! My thought was more along the lines that as an "old-school physical-media artist" that maybe what I do has become passé and just not of interest to people anymore.
The content/subject matter of the art is a completely different thing, and greatly related to my current life-situation: much of what I draw lately is very doodly and just "hand doing what hand will do", because I'm lacking in inspiration and motivation. I'm in the process of changing my situation, we'll see if that moves things along with the art.
Posting frequency: someone suggested automating the process using PostyBirb, which I am looking into: I currently post everything everywhere entirely manually, and it is a very slow and cumbersome process. I just need to learn to use the tools to do it with.

People tend to comment less these days in general, regardless of the site you're on which is a real shame. I hope you continue posting since your work has always been fantastic stuff that I remember finding back when I joined the fandom. Pencil sketches are underappreciated these days and it's so nice seeing what you do.

Don't think it's any of these. I personally don't comment on much of it as I can't draw to save my life so if I like it I tend to fav if anything, other wise it'd be some variant of "Excellent." or some such and it seems shallow to just comment one or 2 words.

I've seen a couple other folks make comments like this: don't feel like just because you don't draw doesn't mean what you have to say isn't valid: an honest uninformed comment is often better than a hollow, elaborate one.

Yeah I’ve noticed the steady decline in engagement and it makes me not want to post anything either. I did post stuff on Twitter and that hardly gets any engagement due to the algorithm screwing you over and twitter itself hiding stuff you post with a filter. It really is discouraging and I don’t blame you for feeling that way.

I been following you since before FA, and I really enjoy your art, so I'd be sorry to see you stop posting!

I think, if anything I think it might be that your art is a little hard to read from thumbnails? Like the contrast is a bit lower with pencil on paper and a scanned image so they may not stand out as much in a page of other small images where other ones have darker lines or color. That may be driving a little less engagement from new people etc. To be clear, I think the quality and content of your work is great! Personally, I always click your thumbnails to see what you have drawn up close lol, but some others may not be. You could always go in for more inking and color and whatnot, although I know thats way way more work.

If you are looking to drive more conversation on your work, you might also consider leaning in even more to the content that appeals to specific tastes. Macro and hyper for instance, are a little more rare so people I bet you tend to get more conversation on pieces that appeal to those communities. There's just so much general art these days that it's hard to comment as much on any one artist's work, but stuff in smaller pools probably gets more notice.

I still definitely prefer FA to like twitter or other platforms myself. Twitter is such a mess to try and follow an artist on, it's garbage lol.

Finally, I'd also say if you respond to people who make comments a lot, that can drive engagement. Sometimes if I comment on someone's work a lot I wonder if I am just filling up their inbox with notifications or whatever, but if they respond back once or twice I know I'm not annoying them lol.

Heh, I'm seeing a lot of folks commenting that they would like to see me go back to doing more macro art; it's not that I don't like it, and I still do occasional pieces, but the truth of the matter is that it stopped being as much fun for me: I sort of ran out of neat, fun things to draw of giants and giantesses - a lot of folks that I knew who were into it got very dark and grim and moody and that wasn't what appealed to me, so I moved on to other interests.
I try and respond to folks who comment, but a lot of the time I just don't know what to say (and the further you get down a long list of responses, the harder it is not to say the same thing over again)

Yeah I definitely enjoy the funny/silly macro stuff too, certainly over anything like actually grim and whatnot. :)

Many have already commented here similar to how I feel.

Many artists have experienced a decline in comments in general. With the furry community no longer just on fa many pictures do not get the traction that used to.
Social media such as Twitter is an important tool for an artist but does not make for a good gallery.

These days most artists he usually have a social media presence as well as a home base gallery, I still think fa is a decent gallery site.

I have actually spoken with many in the community who refused to use the site for their own reasons and in order to reach all of your fans, it is now required to use Twitter. And even that doesn't guarantee reaching all of them as the community now rests in many different places.

Traditional art has been making a comeback over the years in the seemingly see of digital, I've.
I find people comment less in general these days and I find myself guilty of the same, I try my best to let people know how much I enjoy their work, but is busy as life has become I have not always been able to comment on the uploads of the thousands of people I watch across different sites.

I often favorites and continue on but that doesn't mean I appreciate any less.

You have been one of the artists I followed since I first got into the furry fandom, I love your screens and your work, no matter what you decide I hope there is some place I can continue to see your art.

Keep up the good work, I always look forward to seeing more of your wonderful art.

Twitter has ruined peoples ability to comment... no one comments on anything , it's not just you.
So... just take the fave as they liked it and try and take that with more positivity <3

I feel its a case of FA not being "in" anymore and just how folks go about showing they like something. A click and then onto the next one, no real interaction but to them they did enough. This site is extremely old after all and has not stood the test of time very well.

Not much I can say, especially not anything that has been said better by other, more knowledgable people. But what I can say is that I would be sad to see you disappear from FA.

I believe most people take the art they see back to their pre-existing social grups to share and build their own engagement; or seek to engage with the artists more conversationally.

This is true, a lot of art is shared on Discord groups now. You might consider starting your own Discord group and posting your art there- sort of your own little kingdom full of people who are already fans of your work (or they wouldn't have joined), and who are more likely to discuss it and engage in conversations with you in that more fluid environment. They may also share it with their other groups and bring more people in, or get more people following you here on FA. It's not really intended to be a gallery, but it does a much better job of it than social media sites like Twitter.

Boy, I don't know. You might get more engagement with the people who already like your work, but your chances of growing your audience are pretty much dead.
It's like inviting your biggest fans to your house and showing off your art. That can be cool but... it's just the people who are interested in going back to your house ALL THE TIME who are going to be interacting with you. Cool, sortof, but I'd still say that's a big downgrade to the community in general.

I'm not suggesting it as a replacement for FA, just in addition, to give Wolfkidd the feedback he's missing. I don't want anyone to abandon FA. With the Discord, hardcore fans get more engagement, Wolfkidd gets more feedback, and the FA page stays up and maybe gets shared around more among other Discord groups, if the art posts on the Discord group are links to FA or at least have an FA link listed as the source of the image.

A Discord group is something I've considered, but like a lot of things, the question becomes, how to set it up and who to moderate it; a badly moderated group is probably *worse* than no group at all.

Oooh, this is an excellent point!

Nooo! I often wish you would get more of your art scanned and posted, so more people can enjoy it! Less art people get to see means everyone is losing out.

Plenty of responses have already said the same thing I will: People don't comment enough in general these days, and when we don't have more to say than "Damn, that's hot" we don't think it's worth posting. Which is silly, because it should be obvious that no creative type ever wants *less* attention for their work. Just human nature, but if we liked human nature, we wouldn't be furries.

This is a regular complaint, and I am, in fact, staring at a huge pile of art I need to scan and post. >.<

Aha, there's a connected issue I hadn't thought of: Because you scan and post piles of things at a time, each pic you post gets less attention. Isn't there a way to schedule when posts on FA go live? You could scan a stack, but then set them to post over the course of a few hours so the fans don't get overwhelmed. I'd say the shortage of comments on your work is mostly because of that, and also since most of what you post are unfinished sketches. Sketch portrait of hot ladies? Excellent, but there's not a huge amount to discuss about it. Scene of those hot ladies doing something memorable? That will... arouse conversation.

And keep in mind, there is a "Views" counter on every submission. You've been worried that no one's looking at your art because they don't comment, but notice everything on FA gets ten times as many views as faves, and ten times as many faves as comments. Sad truth is that most people will put in the least effort when appreciating what's posted.

A lot of people have brought up good points that I was going to mention, so I'll try not to overlap too much. It is easier to just hit a button than it is to comment. But comments are important too. It's nice to hear what people think about the things you've done, especially if you push a button and it makes their day. It'd be nice if they said something, but comments are left less and less.
It seems like the more options and locations people have to talk, the less they do.

"For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals.
Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination.
We learned to talk."
- Stephen Hawking

As far as this ol fur is concerned, Twitter/Facebook social-media type stuff can go suck eggs.. I use Twitter to enjoy the occasional pleasing pic, but that's about it..
As far as I go, FA is still a fun place to be and I prefer it ten thousand times more vastly over junk like Facebook... ( especially since F-book and some other places have been investigated multiple times for supposedly selling personal data! )

I still love all of your sketch work, but I understand you wanting to head out of here. Sketches don't always attract eyes, and this website in general can be irksome for creators.

Mostly I was thinking that the lack of comments meant nobody was really looking anymore, at which point why bother. I have since been corrected of this idea!

Honestly I've always felt like I leave too many comments on your art and worry that the enthusiasm might come off as creepy. I guess I may have been overthinking it. I quite like your content, and tend to really enjoy whatever you post.

I'm old, I'm used to the various levels of enthusiasm, don't worry yourself on it and comment as you please.

I always have enjoyed your art . It's an example of just how many of us started, just a pencil and your hand at work. Some folks dig flashy colors, but I see more life in the original sketches. No filter, no photoshoping. Stay?

Ive noticed people tend to go to Journals to engage rather than on individual posts. Makes it easier to find previous conversations. Besides, the fandom is getting older. Im almost 40 and just dont have the energy to post something worthwhile on every post I like. So I save it for journals, puns I see I can make, and those few posts that ask something in the description.

I'm headed for 60, so I understand the lack of energy!

I've always enjoyed your art and find it wonderful that you continue to still draw in traditional styles.

I will admit like many, I have just gotten busy in my own life and don't have too much to time to comment, let alone do much beyond working and sleeping.

I do hope you continue to enjoy yourself whatever choice you make.

Your art is what got me into furry stuff to begin with, I just don't generally comment on much these days. If you feel the need to take a break for however long, definitely do it. This place is stressful enough.

Don't think such a thing about your art, it's a general trend all we artists noticed here.
I did not look at all comments previous mine, but I am pretty sure they more or less all say this.

Anyway, I see also another reason, something I am always astonished to have to remind many artists: comments is something that goes both ways. If you don't reply to your fans (I've browsed a few pics of yours again and saw nothing coming from you), don't expect them to comment after some time.

After several attempts, I, for example, stop commenting if the artist does not answer at least once. Because I don't know if the artist doesn't care, is annoyed, patronizes his fans... I've got too many artists on my watchlist for wasting my precious time shouting to a wall.

And I can tell you this: I REALLY noticed that artists who answered their fans still had many comments from them, while those who don't, as good as they are, see their pics almost deserted.

I'll keep that in mind: it may relate to posting in large bunches too, so like, posting 40 images means dealing with 40 images worth of comments after all the work of posting 40 images. Basically defeating *myself*.

Yes, strategically it is better to upload one by one with some time inbetween rather than in a single batch, but then you'll have to deal with more comments. Hey, that's more or less what you want, isn't it?!

People are more passive in following everybody else on whatever new form of social media there is. And it is hard to come up with some unique comments for so many pieces when you do post something new.

I have been following you and Coug'r since the mid=90s, and I do not see myself stopping any time soon.

I've followed your work since back in the days of United Front BBS and such, and I think the world would be a bit of a darker place for your absence. You and a small number of older artists in the fandom, who indeed in my eyes practically MADE the fandom, are something of a treasure. Thus, perhaps this will come across foolish or even overdramatic, but I will beg you not to go. You are a beloved anchor and bright spot.

As to the matter of lack of engagement and responses - this I can attribute, in no small part, to social media and the trends it has caused, all for the negative - the fear of being attacked and demonized for a single misplaced, ill-timed word; the sure knowledge of how anything you say is under a microscope, observed by sharks waiting to smell blood. There's also the fact that, with volume, comes great difficulty in giving a reply that doesn't come across as trite, corny, insincere, or almost as bad drooling fan or thirsty to the point of being cringe. Add to this already somewhat unpleasant soup the preponderance of sites and the feeling that there is a social obligation to be not merely online all the time but indeed nigh-omnipresent and attending to ones' net-self. That alone would be exhausting, but compounded with the above this has driven responses, and the perceived time to make those responses, way way down.

There are others above whom have undoubtedly made these same salient points, possibly far better than I: thus I shall merely reiterate what I have asked above for clarity and the sake of (relative) brevity:

I would beg you to please not go, to not disappear. You would be sorely missed and it would dime at least my world to not have someone I've seen around since the beginning.

With love and respect, care and hopes,

Your silent and old fan,

Mika Kyubi
Kitsune-at-Large
(oft-times quite large)

It has less to do with the medium - even if digital certainly is the preference for most - but more to do with the shift towards how people want to post. FA was outdated when it launched but there just wasn't many options around that allowed for user interaction.
Like you, user interaction is what people crave most, so Twitter has become the de-facto hotspot. It's so easy to get a response and quick opinion on the site and with social interaction being so prominent, it's more of a one-stop shop for many people.

So no, you drawing traditional is not so much the problem, it is where you post; a website that is viewed as essentially the Furry Facebook at this stage.

I've never gotten a slew of comments unless it was for a raffle post or an event and I do only digital work. I mean I know I'm not as big as you but from what I can tell-- FA just really isn't good for comments and hasn't been for a long while. Even super prolific artist's comments have gone down over the years.

I think it might be because when you comment on twitter you at least get a like/heart from the artist to show you they've seen it. They acknowledge you, whereas artists don't typically respond to every comment on this site. (I try to but I'm a freak like that.)

There are a ton of reasons for lower engagement that don't have to do with you/your work. A lot of the new crowd sprouting up doesn't like FA's management, the hypocrisy and the way they've sheltered abusers in the past. They also don't like the variety of content that you get bombarded with on the front page. Twitter is not great for artists, but it's much easier to cultivate your own experience and block out stuff you find personally icky.

Also for the love of god please don't even entertain Facebook, that place is a hive of scum and villainy from what I've heard.

Unfortunately there's really no place for artists that will guarantee a ton of engagement. I'm looking into places like Inkblot but I'm going to wait until they're actually successful before I start trying to upload a ton of stuff there.

My point for this long ramble is-- I don't think it's your art or what you draw with. I'm also fine with being wrong but a ton of artists I know is sort of suffering from lack of engagement everywhere, not just FA. Favorites are still important. It may just be a click, but it's proof that there are eyes on your work and that they still enjoy it.

(Also one more thing it could be: the world is on fire, we're all screaming and people might not have the emotional energy to stop and think of something clever to say under an image. Who knows?)

Well, I know how disheartening it can get, Wolf. I pretty much get next to no interaction on my artwork, but I personally stopped doing things for other people unless it's a commission of some sort. Most of my art lately has been for myself, what I want to do and my enjoyment. So you might have to pick up a similar mindset to have some peace of mind.

In my case, I'm watching nearly 3K folks and getting 300 postings a day in submissions. I'm lucky if I can look at a percentage of those, let alone comment. However, you are one of the few artists where I'll look and fave when you post.

One trick to try is darkening your pencils to make the thumbnails more visible at a casual glance... :D

I've always wondered if "nice" or anything similar was worthy comments. I, personally, don't like to try to come up with unique responses to every drawing I favorite. Not very creative, and I rather respond naturally, which is to favorite something I enjoy enough to want to see again, or if there's something specific I want to point out, I do that.
But I can see how commenting is far more appealing than a simple "fav." Community, interactions with fans, etc etc. So, sorry I don't comment, like, at all, but that doesn't mean I like your work any less when I don't. ❤️

It's true I'm less active on this site in general, and there seems to be flows of artists still looking for a good place to coalesce. But the community is still strong here.

In any case, as long as you're posting somewhere, there are many who will want to see your work, me included. :)

I have noticed this issue as well. No one really comments anymore. Whenever I ask people why they don't, they say "If I didn't like it, I wouldn't favorite it."

Which I agree, favs are nice but are very detached feeling. A few seconds taken to even say "I like this" is more gratifying than a fav.

The posting on twitter while many artists go there, It seems much the same that you will get it liked and maybe re-tweated but not much in the way of comments. I honestly cannot understand the move to Twitter. Its terrible for showing off art, and when I find an artist has moved there I usually end up loosing track of them and never see their stuff anymore. Its just too chaotic there and maybe I am getting too old to understand it.

"Whenever I ask people why they don't, they say "If I didn't like it, I wouldn't favorite it.""

Aaaah, they have brought the lessons of Twitter and Facebook back to FA. The fucking "like" button.

I still love pen and pencil art. I agree with your assessment that it seems to be getting less and less love which makes sense if you think about how people browse the site. Pen and pencil doesn't translate as well to thumbnails as the color digital stuff.

The other factor is that furry art has become so plentiful now people are hungry for something even MORE taboo. Hardcore and fetish art is in higher demand than ever.

I bet if you really let your imagination run wild with your pen and pencil art you'd see a significant increase in comments. I remember you used to do some of the best Macrofur art I'd ever seen

"More taboo" HMMMMmMm? Well, that's food for thought!

Yeah kids these days amirite?

Your art is beautiful. I want to commission it in the future. But I can understand the desire for comments. I get favorites, but it is the comments that spiced things up in a submission. You deserve a lot more love for your work.

I still very much enjoy your art, even though some time ago you did chew me out for commenting too much. Xb I can always go back to commenting again.

There's less feedback for everyone, these days. Our attention spans are being strip-mined by algorithms.
But sure, keep posting. What have you to lose? Sorry I don't comment more, but I'm stupid busy, these last few.

Honestly it's just like that in general now. People seem a lot shy about commenting or never know what to say (or think what they can offer isn't enough), so they don't. Not to fault them, I get it, you can only type "Nice" or "This is hot" or express standard enjoyment before feeling as if your comments have become dry.

Most people are just really prone to faving and such because it's easy to do.

I only fave pictures because I am very awkward when posting comments. I do really like your art and always enjoy seeing what you post next.

There's so many issues happening at the same time that it's impossible to give a simple solution to the problem. The other replies are a cornucopia of legitimate issues artists are dealing with, all of them adding up to a congealed mess that everyone's trying to solve. Damned if I can come up with something even halfway cohesive to help.

I like your work, I hope you keep at it. I'd like to get to see it, if you're still willing to share.

Yeah, I hear you. It's frustrating when you spend hours on a piece of art only to not have anyone comment on it. In my case many of my renders don't even get faved after I've spent a couple of days working on it. It can be frustrating.

There is no issue with your art, Wolfkidd... but (of course, isn't always one?) the only problem I have is that the pencils are too light, and a few times I had to enlarge the drawing to see the details on the piece. Also, people like things that "P0P" (as per working in toy design, animation, and marketing), so they concentrate on pictures that you can already see on the thumbnails page with the naked eye (let it be color or dark pencils),... So, it would just be a matter of punching up the blacks on your art or inking them.

That does seem to be a recurring comment that my sketches are too light, I'll have to work on that!

👍🏻 Your art wasn't the issue, just technical details.

Plenty of people have already shared good advice and input, so i will comment on this particular bit - ''Or is it just that places like FA just aren't "in" anymore, and everyone's more Twitter/Facebook social-media now?''. F*ck NO! Twitter is about 50/50 in terms of quality and general circus that goes on there while facebook is dying and is now mostly filled with boomers. If you want to know what's hot atm, it's Discord where you can get a decent amount of interaction and comments, though the ''problem'' is that it's much more chatty than facebook or twitter so if you are really anxious about social interaction or can get overwhelmed, it may be a hurdle that needs to be overcome, but otherwise it's pretty good.

You can't retire!

Your pinups are hot, especially the ones with Haley the Squirrel and her massive TITS!

good new, its not your art that's fallen out of style

bad news, its commenting that's fallen out of style. the drop in feedback is general across the board for everyone, not just you. so you only get comments from the people who are REALLY into it.

not that i can be too mad about it since i never really did comment on anything because i never had anything new to bring to the submisions that someone else hasn't said lol

To hell with comments. I post artwork when I can because I love the artwork. the act of creating. Knowing that I enjoy what I drew. Occasionally someone else likes it too, and that makes me happy. I don't post artwork just because I want to see the likes and comments, I just post my artwork cause I love creating it and sharing it with whomever wants to see it. I do appreciate comments, questions, and even critiques. It's all good, but not the reason why. That's what is needed more, I think.

I have not been around as long as you, but I feel like I must have joined FA/The fandom proper right at or before the peak of FA as a site in regards to engagement. I have recently made art so much better than when I first started and I always get less than a quarter of the engagement than what I got when I first started.
My takeaway is that its not you, but the way people are consuming furry media nowadays. A lot of people here are already blaming twitter (which is very fair, that's where I get my engagement nowadays) and also people are not sharing their appreciation of the art with the artist but within their small social groups on discord and telegram.
The solution I came up with is that I look at FA as a sort of gallery/portfolio that people can reference work I am proud of and think is important, but I don't expect engagement there.

As has been noted above -- it's not just you; commenting in general has fallen by the wayside. I can point to several artists who post full-color digital work that's "with the times", and their postings rarely get more than one or two comments (if any) as well.

I'm not sure it even occurs to a lot of the younger generation to comment on things anymore. Antisocial media has conditioned them to communicate in upvotes and emojis; click on the thumbnail, glance at it for about two seconds, then "like" and move on to the next thing.

These days, I think a lot of artists get their "audience engagement" from having a Discord group, and/or from livestreaming.

I do do streams and yeah, the engagement is pretty strong there, though admittedly it's mostly the same group and only rarely do new people join. I'm not sure how to drive *that* particular membership.

Between there being thousands of furry artists, hundreds if not thousands of daily uploads, often across multiple platforms, along with people often being afraid to talk or post comments because of everything from "cancel culture" to "social anxiety" to "overly sensitive artists", the amount of personal engagement on a single piece, especially a sketch or un-colored art will be a lot lower than it used to be now that furry is just so freaking big now.

For every person that likes comments and constructive criticism, there are multiple artists that have mentioned how much they hate what they call inane "That's hot" comments or get angry when anyone points out flaws and such.

Nowadays the only engagement you can hope for is views, clicks, and favorites because that's how the "system" works now.

Post the art you like to post. If you want comments, make journals and such. ^_^

I guess it's mostly as question of why you're posting. In the end, 'faves' are worth the paper they're printed on.

I highly doubt its yer artins thats the issue. People are just so used to social media clicking thats its going on everywhere. I have seen a huge decline in the amount of comments everywhere. Including other sites. The issue with those social sites, they arent really meant to be galleries in an art sense. So, even going there, you may still run into the standard heart clicks and them moving on. I follow a few artists on Twitter, only because they arent followable anywhere else for some stupid reason. Their posts will generally have like 6-7 comments, maybe 20 despite having 1k+ followers. Its just the way people are nowadays. I have fallen into it myself, but I do try to make an effort to post something to a faved pic here an there. Usually its not welcomed wholly as I get the canned "why the wall of text" responses.

Partially too, I think that people who are online put there self in so many interactable positions that they mainly pic and choose. I know If I were t o comment on every pic I get into the submission box here and on Tele or Twit, I would be there for hours. -.-

I think that is where some of the sentiment really is nowadays. That and being afraid to hurt others feelings cause how thin skinned people are nowadays. It sucks when you cant do something in public or try to look different because someone gets upset for someone else who may or may not be offended by it. My friend did a farm party and we put a poncho an sombrero on a donkey. So many visitors got so offended for misrepresenting mexican culture We had to take the stuff off our furry buddy. The spanish visitors and mexican visitors there actually felt so bad, one of them made our donkey a custom knit poncho for him to wear out.

I love seeing the works you and others post. An I do apologize to you and other artists for not being interactive. But then again. I am the quiet guy at social gatherings too... :/

Well, you’re not alone. I’ve noticed that I’ve been getting less and less comments over the years. Whether it’s a subject matter that people love or just an image that people really love. I get a lot of faves but rarely a comment. I’m lucky if I even get one comment per every 5 or 10 images.

I often wonder… does my art suck or are people just bored with me. Many years ago, I would get comments so intensely that it’d take a week to go through them. Now? Maybe one in every 10 images.

It’s not like I do quick scribbles. Pretty much every pic I do is full, all out color and background. I put hours into just picking out a color for something.

I’ve been wanting to go full 3D for everything. I’ve been wanting to see my characters in the 3D flesh, fur or scales. I hope that would spark a renewed interest but learning 3D is hard with the job I have. Every time I try to learn, I go into massive overtime. It some times runs months or even years with 50-60 hour weeks.

I just stay here because Twitter can be a vicious place if you’re not careful and Facebook won’t allow nudity/sex even it’s it’s “art”. I would also find it hard to maintain postings on more than one place.

That kinda sums up the experience for me as well, and from your and other folk's comments it's kind of universal, which is "reassuring" in a morose sort of fashion.

I actually miss all of them comments. It was hard keeping up with them but still it kinda meant that people liked what I did. When I looked through the statistic over the years, I saw that my pics were getting less and less comments and faves.

I get a kick out of long time artists that still gets many comments but hardly ever reply.

It's just the modern style of engagement, sadly. Attention spans are shorter than ever, and it's usually folly to expect more than a fave/like on your work. You're lucky if people look at an image for an entire minute before they're off to catch up on the rest of their feed.

I mean, personally I'd like to see more hardcore stuff. Pinups are pretty oldschool.

I'm not one to make comments on art after one drunken comment I made prompted the artist to ban me.
Thankfully I don't drink anymore, but the worry of offending someone by complimenting their art is heavy with me.

I love what you do, and I know the translation from physical media to a tablet and stylus can be difficult. It's one of the major reasons I no longer post, myself.

That and I don't compare at all to greats such as yourself.

I don't want to see you go, but your mental health is more important than my desire.

I'm sorry to hear. I'm guilty of that. Many times I see art I like and I give it a fave, but I don't leave a comment.

I usually use lack of time as an excuse. But the truth is sometimes I just don't know what to post on people's art. Unless I have a question about something, I think posting generic one-liner praise like "cool art" or "nice tits" is as meaningless as posting nothing.

Sometimes I just have nothing specific to say besides mentioning I like the art posted and I feel a generic comment would sound insincere.
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