What do you think it takes, to be liked as an artist.

This isn't anything to do with me, but I'm curious.

I've noticed some people are insta-faved for all their submissions, while others are ... more soradic for the faves of theirs, or not faved at all. So I'm curious.

For all of you members, what do you look for in an artist/the art they put out?
And that includes what kind of quality/style do you like.

I think this could help any artists that are trying to get a fanbase anywhere. If there are any newer artists here that are tryingto figure out what to do that people may like, this could be a useful resource. =)

it's all rng

no really

1. Draw Lyra.

2. Draw more Lyra.

3. Submit to the glory that is my love, Lyra.

4. Dedicate yourself completely to Lyra.

5. Draw more Lyra.

6. Realize that Lyra is mine, and I shall be with her until our dying breaths.

7. ???

8. Draw more Lyra.

vignette4.wikia.nocookie..../latest?cb=20160116133943

Agreed.

<<youtu.be/nCOxVaQQrbk?t=40s|*Breathes deeply*>>

git gud

Not asking these sorts of questions helps. People are offputting when they're needy.

Ironically enough, though, being pushy kind of helps. Keeping yourself visible, networking. Also a large measure of sheer luck. There's usually not much rhyme or reason to this. Although having a solid, recognizable style definitely helps.

I mean, focusing on a niche subject matter where you're one of a small number of people providing a type of content there's demand for definitely works [especially when it's porn/a certain kink/fetish], but as far as the hub goes you'd basically be competing with a whole bunch of people doing the exact same thing, so it becomes irrelevant. :P

That's why I figured post it for people to read, so no one else feels the need to ask. Because face it, all artists have been there before. XD

And agreed. Trying to offer something that isn't so commonlyfound is always a good way to get noticed. If there's no one doing art of x character, and you like x character, why not draw them? That could get you some, potential, fans.

Yeah, i find it quiet odd at how one has a ton of favourites "2000+" etc. I seem to be the only one, but I use the favourite system in a weird way, you may notice i have more "Green" favourites than "Yellow" Favourites. I sort them out accordingly:

1 vote: "Ehh, this Image is quiet Nice"
2 votes: "Woah, This Exciting"
3 votes: ":DDDD"
I make it so 3 Vote favourites are very rare. The Image really has to be on point

You need passable art, to start with. I'm not gonna say good art, because to be frank there are a lot of shitty artists out there that are still inexplicably popular. But it needs to at least look ok to a layman who doesn't look too closely.

After that, it's all networking and getting your name out. Maintain an online presence of some kind, regularly draw and put out content, and so on. Don't focus purely on business. An artist who does nothing but plug their commissions/patreon is somewhat offputting.

Naturally, certain topics are going to earn more faves than others, and that just depends on demographics. On here at least, gay stuff tends to be less popular than straight stuff, furry is less popular than humans, niche fetishes (that aren't hypnosis) are less popular than vanilla sex or nudity, etc. Well known characters (e.g. Nintendo characters) tend to be more popular than unknowns. If you want to whore out for faves/likes, focus on those (not to say it's wrong to draw those characters, just that it'll easily signal boost your art).

I've been doing this for 10 years and I still don't know :(

XD
You and me both.



For the most part, all of that is purely common sense, really. Whether or not people clue into that though..... well, that's a different story all together. Lol.

The biggest realization that's stood out for me in my personal struggle to build a fanbase is that quantity over quality wins the day. Saying so may induce plenty of eye-rolls, but it's the truth, at least as far as I can see. I can put weeks into a single grandiose illustration, and that will still get less than half the votes / attention as a cheap copypasta job I did one day when I was bored and needed a break.

Now before you think I'm passive-aggressively ranting, I'm actually not bitter about this, nor am I trying to sound that way. It's been a good lesson learned (if a hard one), and it isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just a simple case of putting all your eggs in one basket. If you're going to put out one maximum effort work instead of five medium-to-low effort works, you better plan your big piece to have incredible range and appeal. Since we live in a day and age where vast quantities of high-quality art are instantly accessible, putting out a piece that's impressive from a skill / technical standpoint doesn't get people to stop and take notice nearly as much as you might think. So even if the results are lower quality per image, you widen your attention-grabbing net by simply having a wider pool of images that people can latch onto.

And you can also take the 'quantity' aspect an entirely different way - the higher amount of popular / recognizable characters you have in an image, the more likely you are to get attention with it. Say you do a drawing of Misty. Plenty of people like Misty, but plenty of people don't, or don't care. On the other hand, say you do a drawing of Misty, May, Dawn, Iris, Serena, Leaf, Crystal, and Lyra. Odds are pretty darn good that a lot more people are going to find at least one of these characters appealing and like your overall piece as a result. Someone being 1/8th interested in your pic is world's different than someone not being interested at all.

So save the high-quality, long-commitment images for after you've got your fanbase secured.

And of course, this is advice I can't for the life of me follow myself. So hopefully it at least helps someone else ^^

Art level has to be slightly better than source for me to fav.

Character must have significant change from original either in personality or design, but still be recognizable.

Must be pure yuri or corruption

Must have recognizable characters


So as long as they have 2 of the above I will be willing to fav it. So Leebigtree and Jaiden Kaiba would be the two reoccurring on my fav list since they constantly produce high quality art with significant changes in both character design and personality with recognizable characters and feature yuri and corruption.

keep in mind most of the voters on the site are shitters like these

don't take votes too seriously

that said, first off, you need art that doesn't look uncanny valley as shit, which nobody but pastel or zko or vhan or whatever his name is that posts their own stuff on here seems capable of producing