FA+
Shop
Emo artist post, beware...
5 years ago
Do you ever feel like whatever you do isn't good enough?
For years I've been feeling like the more my art improves the less feedback I get. Looking at pictures which are a decade old and have way over 1000 faves und countless comments, while being drawn kinda crappy ( I can barely look at my old stuff ) and comparing them to current artwork which maybe has 200 faves and a few comments is really frustrating.
It's like the harder I try the less everyone cares.
Not sure if I imagine it, but feedback has decreased since I stopped drawing "Treasure Planet"-fanart years ago, but sorry, due to personal reasons and some things just happening I totally lost interest in it.
DA's "Eclipse" design also made a lot of people leave, it seems.
I've created an Instagram account 2 years ago and at the start of the year finally got more attention and reach, only for it to drop right after they changed the algorithm again. Now only a small percentage of my followers even get to see my posts. It's so frustrating when I upload something people would like, but Instagram only shows to like 400-500 in total ( while I got around 1500 followers...not much, but still more than the organic reach ).
When let's say 150 people from those 500 like my art then it shows me that there IS interest in it and it would get more feedback IF Instagram actually showed it to a wider audience.
I try to have some diversity in my art. Digital art, sketches, detailed ballpointpen- drawings, copic marker art, "Rise of The Guardians" fanart, animals, fantasy creatures and anthros.
And then I see accounts with FAR more followers and likes, who post pretty much the same all the time and each time people freak out as if they re-invented the wheel.
With every new follower there are people unfollowing me again. My paranoia already tells me when I post "RotG" fanart I'll lose people who watch me for animal art and when I post animal art I'll lose the RotG-fans. My "Sheltielicious"-comics have been getting far less attention than I thought they would and I'm already worried people will get sick of them because they'd rather see detailed artwork again.
Yeah, I know I shouldn't care about feedback too much. I'll continue drawing what I like and enjoy, but my self-esteem extremely suffers when pictures I put so much thought and effort in get more or less ignored and other artists' random portrait of the same-faced girl or the 57th picture of a cat gets praised to infinity and beyond. *sighs*
Same for Patreon, pretty much no interest and only support of a few loyal followers while people who already get hundreds or thousands of bucks for commissions, original art and merchandise also get hundreds of supporters.
It's like, I reached my peak years ago and now it's only going downhill, no matter what I do. I'm tired of fighting to earn people's "love" for my art.
Sorry for the whining, just had to get that out right now...
For more art please follow me on Instagram :
https://www.instagram.com/dolphydolphiana
Like my art and want to see more? Then please support me on Patreon :
https://www.patreon.com/Dolphiana
One time donations on Ko-fi :
https://ko-fi.com/dolphiana
For years I've been feeling like the more my art improves the less feedback I get. Looking at pictures which are a decade old and have way over 1000 faves und countless comments, while being drawn kinda crappy ( I can barely look at my old stuff ) and comparing them to current artwork which maybe has 200 faves and a few comments is really frustrating.
It's like the harder I try the less everyone cares.
Not sure if I imagine it, but feedback has decreased since I stopped drawing "Treasure Planet"-fanart years ago, but sorry, due to personal reasons and some things just happening I totally lost interest in it.
DA's "Eclipse" design also made a lot of people leave, it seems.
I've created an Instagram account 2 years ago and at the start of the year finally got more attention and reach, only for it to drop right after they changed the algorithm again. Now only a small percentage of my followers even get to see my posts. It's so frustrating when I upload something people would like, but Instagram only shows to like 400-500 in total ( while I got around 1500 followers...not much, but still more than the organic reach ).
When let's say 150 people from those 500 like my art then it shows me that there IS interest in it and it would get more feedback IF Instagram actually showed it to a wider audience.
I try to have some diversity in my art. Digital art, sketches, detailed ballpointpen- drawings, copic marker art, "Rise of The Guardians" fanart, animals, fantasy creatures and anthros.
And then I see accounts with FAR more followers and likes, who post pretty much the same all the time and each time people freak out as if they re-invented the wheel.
With every new follower there are people unfollowing me again. My paranoia already tells me when I post "RotG" fanart I'll lose people who watch me for animal art and when I post animal art I'll lose the RotG-fans. My "Sheltielicious"-comics have been getting far less attention than I thought they would and I'm already worried people will get sick of them because they'd rather see detailed artwork again.
Yeah, I know I shouldn't care about feedback too much. I'll continue drawing what I like and enjoy, but my self-esteem extremely suffers when pictures I put so much thought and effort in get more or less ignored and other artists' random portrait of the same-faced girl or the 57th picture of a cat gets praised to infinity and beyond. *sighs*
Same for Patreon, pretty much no interest and only support of a few loyal followers while people who already get hundreds or thousands of bucks for commissions, original art and merchandise also get hundreds of supporters.
It's like, I reached my peak years ago and now it's only going downhill, no matter what I do. I'm tired of fighting to earn people's "love" for my art.
Sorry for the whining, just had to get that out right now...
For more art please follow me on Instagram :
https://www.instagram.com/dolphydolphiana
Like my art and want to see more? Then please support me on Patreon :
https://www.patreon.com/Dolphiana
One time donations on Ko-fi :
https://ko-fi.com/dolphiana
I wish you good luck! I hope you succeed! :)
I think it's gotten harder for artists to gain traction without being really into a fanart niche these days. Twitter and Instagram (maybe also TikTOk?) now appear to be where artists gain traction/views but I dont know how or if it associates with any financial benefit.
i barley get time to do them, and they are still stuck in amature level.
becuse of real life stuff i had to deal with at the time.
as for the whole treasure planet fanart, i'm not familiar with it. since i have not been to much of a fan
of the disney box office bomb. besides i'm pretty sure, it will get kinda boring if everyon keept doing the same thing
forever. and not trying anything new for a change. i should know, for when i am not drawing, i do photograph
as a spear time hobby. and photograph is supposed to be art too so yeah.
but then again we live in a age, where reconized always requer popularity over actuly good skills.
There is another factor, though: Twitter. More and more artists, and not just furry ones, are moving partially or completely to Twitter, because where are you going to get more exposure? That, and much greater freedom of subject matter than Instagram or Facebook, apparently more than outweighs its inherent limitations; not exactly ideal as a gallery to browse, and pretty much impossible to filter effectively. Naturally, that means an ever-quieter FA, and I'm really not convinced FA is able to do much of anything about it.
For what it's worth, I always look forward to seeing your art in my feed, and really enjoy the sheltie comics. The last one I saw made me laugh out loud, not least since some friends of mine are very fond of dressing their westie in bad Christmas jumpers and sparkly antlers.
I think everyone is feeling the slow down on furaffinity and various other art sites, i also haven't had much feed back since summer.
The "average" person/people prefer quantity over quality, but nonetheless quality is also amazing to see the skill put into it.
Weasyl does not have high traffic, and I feel like I'm begging for RT's on twitter.
Your art is FANTASTIC and has ALWAYS been an inspiration for MANY years. I love seeing what you produce!
i am improved through the years but the struggle remained the same.
people eg. on twitter loves jokes/memes/shareable content. it doesnt have to be refined. can be a fast sketch.... or smexy one.
I also feel like people are less inclined to comment on work that is very high in quality. It is just so amazing they don't have any critique, or any kind of grounds to begin addressing it. However, with less advanced artists, they want to be positive and encouraging, and thus give more feedback. It's kind of ironic, in a way! It does give weight to that old saying that it's lonely at the top!
Finally, with a growing fandom like furry, it can get ever harder to attract any kind of attention. I imagine the same thing happens with people that do anime art. The problem is only exacerbated when, as you say, some algorithm or corporate policy changes and causes your art to disappear. It's hard to rely on any kind of technology these days.
These are, of course, just my hypotheses. I know theories don't do much to assuage your anguish, but I totally appreciate you taking the time to share your feelings! They are totally valid, and honestly, shared by a lot of artists out there!
Also we are in the very darkest frigid middle of winter and you don't have enough sunlight to feed you and brighten your outlook--this happens to me every year and lack of sunlight and warmth is a subtle backstab into anyone's confidence. You'll get the art attention back, you'll do it. You're pretty on high from where I'm standing. *nod*
People are just weird. Let them be. And enjoy the loyalty of these "few" people and critters on here.
Like others have noted, it seems like there is a growing divide between the number of artists and the number of commenters, like the market is getting saturated.
Personally, I barely manage to keep up with activity on FA anymore, despite basically giving up on doing so on DA or Twitter! Everything just goes so fast and there's so much cool stuff I want to comment on... but I can't even manage to look at it all, much less comment on everything I want to.
Sorry I can't add a more cheerful comment or some kind of solution here!
I will say that you do great art! So bright and cheerful, very pleasant to look at.
I think you're far more talented and well known. Sometimes diversifying things can help, but goodness, how can anyone keep up across so many platforms? I think you really have to choose what works best for you. Not to mention, what mediums you enjoy using. Twitter comes at you so fast. It hurts my head. I get marketing yourself on there, but it's not easy to keep up. Then, it's not always easy to get the comments as much as simple likes. You want some feedback, or even affirmation. Hey, you're doing a good job. Keep it up. I like it! Stuff like that. No one likes to feel unappreciated.
I may be in the minority, but I still prefer FA. It's old-school and comfortable, cozy and nice. It's easier to follow along with. It feels more like something akin to home.
If you need any help, I don't know what I can do, but let me know. You're an awesome artist and a good person. Don't lose hope.
There's a new app called Artfol, but it's new so it might be buggy, but now is probably the time to jump on it. It's marketed as IG for artists.
As long as your art is still viewed, faved, and bought... then it's a silent way to say how much we love what you do. I use to post comments all the time on just about anything an artist did that I liked. Now I reserve comments for those special pieces which I love most... but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy silently the rest of it all.