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The Ten Commandments To Becoming A Well Known Furry Artist
11 years ago
-- Probably the most important journal about me --
-- OPEN FOR COMMISSIONS!! --
-- Groups I Like --
Heh. Yeah, I recently wanted to do this because, I still am astonished sometimes at how much a following I have XD I mean, I have more followers than i can count, can't even go on skype regularly without being mobbed XD and can legitimately say I have a #1 fan for 2 of my 4 major characters XD heh. it's weiiiird. But, I got here by doing these ten things. I wanted to come up with an even ten, but there's more advise I can give, the majority of it though is covered here, and the rest can be summe up as "Be Genuine" for the most part XD so without further delay!
1. Make your work easy to find!
As much as you may hate using sites like furaffinity or Deviantart, the simple fact is that they are the places where mostly everyone conglomerates, and follows their favorite artists and their works, and if you are not there, your audience is shrunk wayyyy down, or to put it more simply, even if you catch every last fish in the pond, casting a single net in the ocean will land you more fish. Other tips include things like TAGGING. TAG YOUR STUFF so that people searching for specific things will find your stuff (this includes good tagging practices like tagging the species, type of art it is, adult content, etc). In general, keep everything simply and don't scatter yourself, even if it's something like having multiple accounts, have them link to each other in their profile information with text saying "this is my adult art account!", make it so that all a person has to do is find one of your accounts anywhere online and from there within two clicks they can get to any other account or collection of stuff you do, and be clearly directed to them.
2. Post regularly!
Most people who end up becoming popular do so by not “disappearing” for months at a time. Have a set schedule that you make for your postings, even if it’s something as simple as “1 new picture a week every friday” And it’s not that bad of an idea to create a buffer for yourself, so that even if you have had a slow week, you aren’t left with nothing to post, because you posted all the pics you did the previous week at once, which leads me to.
3. Don’t Flood!
Do not flood your users inboxes with a dozen or more pictures at once, the only time when that makes sense to do is if the flood is of a comic or a series of interconnected images. All other times, it’s simply an annoyance, especially when like I said before, you can space them out and have a much more even and steady tempo to your releases!
4. Post stuff you AREN’T 100% proud of!
Your work serves no purpose simply sitting on your hard drive with it’s bits decaying ever so slowly, put it into your posting que! Even if it’s not going to get posted until you have a dry spell long enough to be charitably called a desert, make sure that you are willing to post the stuff you aren’t all the way proud of! You’d be amazed what some people will like!
5. Create stuff that YOU like!
Don’t bend to your followers every whim if it doesn’t line up with what YOU want to do. Yes, you may earn the ire of some, but those people are worth losing for the trade-off of doing work that you yourself can be a fan of, because when you are doing stuff you love, you WANT to do it, which makes motivation and inspiration easier! Not just that, but don’t also feel like you HAVE to do adult or fetish art in order to get favorites. Yes, that’s a faster way to get noticed, but unless you are going to commit to being adult on a regular or semi-regular basis, people will respect you less because it will feel to them like you tried to fool them, which in a way, you did.
6. Be grateful and optimistic!
Just because you’re not getting a hundred comments on your work doesn’t mean you’re a failure or that you should be disappointed! Every last favorite and comment you get is a statement by the viewer that “I like your work!” It doesn’t matter whether it only takes one click to make a favorite and that seems lazy, THEY STILL MADE THAT CLICK! and that MEANS SOMETHING.
7. Don’t compare your work or popularity to others!
I cannot emphasise this enough! Comparing yourself to others is the fastest way to get down on yourself because even if you’re doing amazingly, there are always people doing ten times better than you are. You can’t judge yourself by how well others are doing! you have to set your own standards, and I would suggest don’t even HAVE any standards! Be proud of the number of watchers/followers you have no matter HOW few they are!
8. Be Creative and diverse!
Don’t just do the same thing over and over again, unless you’re actively trying to be a fetish artist. Make use of all your interests in images and postings, as well as trying different mediums as well from Writing to Animation to comics.
9. Engage with your audience and the community!
Respond to every comment you get, make your fans and followers feel appreciated! and don’t forget to be active as well in terms of being someone who favorite and comments on others work as well. People won't find you if you just sit back and wait for them to find you, you have to put yourself out there and give them the chance to see you and get interested, be it from your avatar, your username, or what you said.
10. Be Patient!
Nobody gets to have a zillion followers overnight! Persistence is the key to gaining popularity and attention. It’s a snowball effect, and it is slow at first, but stick to what you are doing and don’t give up, because eventually, if you continue to be active and productive, people WILL begin to notice you.
1. Make your work easy to find!
As much as you may hate using sites like furaffinity or Deviantart, the simple fact is that they are the places where mostly everyone conglomerates, and follows their favorite artists and their works, and if you are not there, your audience is shrunk wayyyy down, or to put it more simply, even if you catch every last fish in the pond, casting a single net in the ocean will land you more fish. Other tips include things like TAGGING. TAG YOUR STUFF so that people searching for specific things will find your stuff (this includes good tagging practices like tagging the species, type of art it is, adult content, etc). In general, keep everything simply and don't scatter yourself, even if it's something like having multiple accounts, have them link to each other in their profile information with text saying "this is my adult art account!", make it so that all a person has to do is find one of your accounts anywhere online and from there within two clicks they can get to any other account or collection of stuff you do, and be clearly directed to them.
2. Post regularly!
Most people who end up becoming popular do so by not “disappearing” for months at a time. Have a set schedule that you make for your postings, even if it’s something as simple as “1 new picture a week every friday” And it’s not that bad of an idea to create a buffer for yourself, so that even if you have had a slow week, you aren’t left with nothing to post, because you posted all the pics you did the previous week at once, which leads me to.
3. Don’t Flood!
Do not flood your users inboxes with a dozen or more pictures at once, the only time when that makes sense to do is if the flood is of a comic or a series of interconnected images. All other times, it’s simply an annoyance, especially when like I said before, you can space them out and have a much more even and steady tempo to your releases!
4. Post stuff you AREN’T 100% proud of!
Your work serves no purpose simply sitting on your hard drive with it’s bits decaying ever so slowly, put it into your posting que! Even if it’s not going to get posted until you have a dry spell long enough to be charitably called a desert, make sure that you are willing to post the stuff you aren’t all the way proud of! You’d be amazed what some people will like!
5. Create stuff that YOU like!
Don’t bend to your followers every whim if it doesn’t line up with what YOU want to do. Yes, you may earn the ire of some, but those people are worth losing for the trade-off of doing work that you yourself can be a fan of, because when you are doing stuff you love, you WANT to do it, which makes motivation and inspiration easier! Not just that, but don’t also feel like you HAVE to do adult or fetish art in order to get favorites. Yes, that’s a faster way to get noticed, but unless you are going to commit to being adult on a regular or semi-regular basis, people will respect you less because it will feel to them like you tried to fool them, which in a way, you did.
6. Be grateful and optimistic!
Just because you’re not getting a hundred comments on your work doesn’t mean you’re a failure or that you should be disappointed! Every last favorite and comment you get is a statement by the viewer that “I like your work!” It doesn’t matter whether it only takes one click to make a favorite and that seems lazy, THEY STILL MADE THAT CLICK! and that MEANS SOMETHING.
7. Don’t compare your work or popularity to others!
I cannot emphasise this enough! Comparing yourself to others is the fastest way to get down on yourself because even if you’re doing amazingly, there are always people doing ten times better than you are. You can’t judge yourself by how well others are doing! you have to set your own standards, and I would suggest don’t even HAVE any standards! Be proud of the number of watchers/followers you have no matter HOW few they are!
8. Be Creative and diverse!
Don’t just do the same thing over and over again, unless you’re actively trying to be a fetish artist. Make use of all your interests in images and postings, as well as trying different mediums as well from Writing to Animation to comics.
9. Engage with your audience and the community!
Respond to every comment you get, make your fans and followers feel appreciated! and don’t forget to be active as well in terms of being someone who favorite and comments on others work as well. People won't find you if you just sit back and wait for them to find you, you have to put yourself out there and give them the chance to see you and get interested, be it from your avatar, your username, or what you said.
10. Be Patient!
Nobody gets to have a zillion followers overnight! Persistence is the key to gaining popularity and attention. It’s a snowball effect, and it is slow at first, but stick to what you are doing and don’t give up, because eventually, if you continue to be active and productive, people WILL begin to notice you.
on the bright side if I want to be good I have the commandments now :D
#1: EVERYONE has something that they like or dislike. Ergo, pandering to the people who are turned off by what you like to draw is just going to wind up turning off another portion of your prospective audience instead.
#2: Artwork is a commitment of time and effort, and if you don't like what's being drawn, that effort is going to be more difficultly given and will be reflected in longer production times and poorer quality.
Mind I linking this to a friend? I think it would be a great boost them! :)