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Thanks for the kind words- etc.
2 years ago
Thanks for the kind words everyone. Maybe I’ll reconsider idk. I just get discouraged easily and get real excited to share him cause he’s my own. Idk maybe I don’t push him enough is the problem. Losing some followers on Twitter after posting him yesterday sure added to how fucked up I felt about the whole thing already though. I kinda just got the impression people dont want to see him at all.
I think part of it too is I see plenty of people who their sona draws in all this positivity and attention immediately and I just kinda felt I failed at that. I’ve never been one to be popular, especially not right out the gate (idk how you all do it I try my best) but it definitely seemed to me like a big difference between my sona and other people’s.
That’s not to say I don’t like him, hell he’s my fursona im super proud and happy with him. But I think that’s why it kinda hits harder, it’s not like I drew a Pokémon and it’s like, moderately popular; that’s like “ok that ones just not super looked for” but idk, when it was my own guy it felt a lot more weighted, even though I know obviously an oc that’s not a Pokémon or whatever is not gonna be actively searched for.
Hopefully that makes sense. Sorry I went on kinda a thing about it yesterday. It’s just a lot on top of things just not going so well personally so it all kinda stacks up and then explodes at points.
My big goal right now is to grow as much as I can quickly. Which doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me but I’m trying my best. So I still might just not post him too much, but maybe every once in a while I’ll feel ok if I have a doodle I did at some point, maybe I’ll share it if I have a little lull in full pieces. But I still wouldn’t expect to see him an awful lot in the near future. I feel a bit scummy saying it but with my focus being to grow as much as possible right now and only being able to make so much, I want to focus my energy on what’s gonna help achieve that goal and unfortunately he’s not it. In fact yesterday he contributed the opposite unfortunately.
I don’t wanna like…just draw Lucario either though.
Idk. But thank you all for the kind words yesterday and today about him. It really does mean a lot and was making me tear up a bit seeing people did actually like him. Sorry if I came off as a bit of a baby about it. I just get discouraged very easily.
But I’m gonna keep going for my goal. Rn it’s to reach 5k on twitter by the end of the year…maybe 4k at this point idk. I’m still waiting for that explosion, yknow? I see so many around me get it, I’m a bit antsy waiting for my time after posting art online for like, 10 years now.
A big reason I get so worried about numbers and stuff is just that I want to get to a point where I can support myself. I’ve always been told by various others that when you get to a point where your main income is doing what you love then you’ve made it. That’s what I’m shooting for. Yeah it’s not super stable, it would be patreon (eventually) and commissions, but still I’d be much happier with that and like, a part time job than resigning myself to some full time office job that I hate. There’s been a lotta shit going on in my life the last couple years and I’m just ready for something to work out for me like this.
I’m doin my best to figure out how to make that work and see maybe what it is I lack that everyone else seems to have. If you have suggestions…please tell me lol I’d love the help or advice. Maybe I’m just missing something about my own work that I don’t realize that should be there. I don’t really feel like I CANT make this work, but damn the universe sure is making me work my ass off for it for as long as possible. Like I’m not a confident person at all but I dunno I feel like I’m at a point where I’m…at least somewhat comparable to others. But I guess if I was then I’d see the results so idk.
Also just wanna say thank you to the friends that have really helped me out (you know who you are), with helping to boost me as much as they can and really championing for me to make it. I really appreciate it and I appreciate all the love you all give on my posts. I love reading comments from you all on my work, seriously you have no idea how happy I get when I see I have a new comment. Also scared cause I don’t want it to be a bad comment but luckily it never has been yet lol.
Sorry I ramble a lot. And I also say sorry too much. I’m trying to work myself out of a shitty place emotionally and hopefully I’ll do better as time goes on.
Thank you all <3
I think part of it too is I see plenty of people who their sona draws in all this positivity and attention immediately and I just kinda felt I failed at that. I’ve never been one to be popular, especially not right out the gate (idk how you all do it I try my best) but it definitely seemed to me like a big difference between my sona and other people’s.
That’s not to say I don’t like him, hell he’s my fursona im super proud and happy with him. But I think that’s why it kinda hits harder, it’s not like I drew a Pokémon and it’s like, moderately popular; that’s like “ok that ones just not super looked for” but idk, when it was my own guy it felt a lot more weighted, even though I know obviously an oc that’s not a Pokémon or whatever is not gonna be actively searched for.
Hopefully that makes sense. Sorry I went on kinda a thing about it yesterday. It’s just a lot on top of things just not going so well personally so it all kinda stacks up and then explodes at points.
My big goal right now is to grow as much as I can quickly. Which doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me but I’m trying my best. So I still might just not post him too much, but maybe every once in a while I’ll feel ok if I have a doodle I did at some point, maybe I’ll share it if I have a little lull in full pieces. But I still wouldn’t expect to see him an awful lot in the near future. I feel a bit scummy saying it but with my focus being to grow as much as possible right now and only being able to make so much, I want to focus my energy on what’s gonna help achieve that goal and unfortunately he’s not it. In fact yesterday he contributed the opposite unfortunately.
I don’t wanna like…just draw Lucario either though.
Idk. But thank you all for the kind words yesterday and today about him. It really does mean a lot and was making me tear up a bit seeing people did actually like him. Sorry if I came off as a bit of a baby about it. I just get discouraged very easily.
But I’m gonna keep going for my goal. Rn it’s to reach 5k on twitter by the end of the year…maybe 4k at this point idk. I’m still waiting for that explosion, yknow? I see so many around me get it, I’m a bit antsy waiting for my time after posting art online for like, 10 years now.
A big reason I get so worried about numbers and stuff is just that I want to get to a point where I can support myself. I’ve always been told by various others that when you get to a point where your main income is doing what you love then you’ve made it. That’s what I’m shooting for. Yeah it’s not super stable, it would be patreon (eventually) and commissions, but still I’d be much happier with that and like, a part time job than resigning myself to some full time office job that I hate. There’s been a lotta shit going on in my life the last couple years and I’m just ready for something to work out for me like this.
I’m doin my best to figure out how to make that work and see maybe what it is I lack that everyone else seems to have. If you have suggestions…please tell me lol I’d love the help or advice. Maybe I’m just missing something about my own work that I don’t realize that should be there. I don’t really feel like I CANT make this work, but damn the universe sure is making me work my ass off for it for as long as possible. Like I’m not a confident person at all but I dunno I feel like I’m at a point where I’m…at least somewhat comparable to others. But I guess if I was then I’d see the results so idk.
Also just wanna say thank you to the friends that have really helped me out (you know who you are), with helping to boost me as much as they can and really championing for me to make it. I really appreciate it and I appreciate all the love you all give on my posts. I love reading comments from you all on my work, seriously you have no idea how happy I get when I see I have a new comment. Also scared cause I don’t want it to be a bad comment but luckily it never has been yet lol.
Sorry I ramble a lot. And I also say sorry too much. I’m trying to work myself out of a shitty place emotionally and hopefully I’ll do better as time goes on.
Thank you all <3
To get attention we need to work hard, so let's do so, step by step, little by little, the moment we give up, it's all over, so let's continue working hard! :D
You are not at fault for feeling this way and whenever incited by reception. We all want the love spread evenly and without condition, but you cannot lead a horse to water and make it drink. People will show their bias. That is simply how a human is.
After reading that, I figured I could give you my two cents as a more "veteran" furry content creator, even tho I find that sounds silly, personally.
While I understand the appeal of hitting a viral post, or getting big numbers, I see a lot of artists, both young and old, to hyper focus on interactions and numbers, and I feel like that contrains them out of their creative flow, and kill motivation/drive to draw. I absolutely understand why one wants high numbers, after all, that directly leads to more followers, and more possible income, which is very important if you want to make a living out of art!
I had a chapter where I focused on that too, and lead me to make some mistakes, and my behavious was not the best bout it. I think, personally, it's better to focus on fostering a tightly knit, small community of loyal followers and friends, than trying to go viral and massive. I've found out that having that leads to a more sustainable and reliable income, and I enjoy working a lot more, and my art turns out better because of it.
Obviously that doesn't mean to just draw for only 3 people and shut down to the outside!
I see you multipost on twitter, FA and E621, if you have something like postybirb, spreading your art around even more can only be a net benefit, tho I understand the hassle of maintaining many sites.
Regarding things not doing the numbers you expect, in the end, that is OK too! Don't fall on the trap of expecting everything you draw to make it big. Sometimes you just wanna draw something for yourself, and you can share it and have a few people like it, that's perfectly fine in my book. Twitter is just volatile in the regard that one random thing may blow up, and another will tank, just keep doing your thing, honestly!
You cannot force growth. You can work to expedite it by doing certain things, but don't let it become an obsession. Don't focus too much on how others are going, numbers wise, it is genuinely super unhealthy, and it personally lead me to go thru some impostor syndrome some years ago.
If you want some suggestions, art wise, here's my take~
I think your style and your ink/render work is SUPER good. You keep things clean, you keep things nice looking, perspective is good, BGs are super well done, I really like your style!
A large amount of your gallery is pokemon and fanart, which overall is fairly popular, and you dabble in furry stuff, so you tap both markets fairly well, this is good!
I think you rely on very chonky anatomy, and dabble a bit heavy on the hyper proportions. It's totally cool if that's the approach you wanna take, but hyper is not popular with everyone, and neither are such chonky boyos. I love chonky lads, hyper not so much, so I can enjoy most of your art! I know a lot of people who are pushed out the moment hyper anatomy comes in. Some people prefer more thinner characters, or sticking close to the original designs, etc etc. If you want your audience to grow, it'd be in your best interest to experiment with other shapes and anatomy proportions. That lucario in the bowser pic, and the garchomp are good examples of what I mean (tho not as much on the weenie size lul).
Looking at my own charts, comics, image series, and uh, kobolds and hilariously enough, corruption themes seem to be my most viewed posts in here. I don't post on twitter, so I can't help much with that. But what I know is comics and if you can affort it, animations, make BANK in the fandom. Even the most simple of comics tends to get a lot of attention. People love comic pages.
Anyways, that's quite a text wall, sorry! If you ever wanna chat with a fellow artist, feel free to hit me up! my @ is asbiearts on telegram and discord. I understand what you're going thru, I had the exact same sort of experiences, would like to try to help you out if you feel like you need a hand!
Best of lucks, friend!