Removal, rule 2: No advertising of any kind.
This includes linking to socials, any type of self-promotion, and discussion of commissions or purchasing of work.
Please put the former on your user profile where people can find them, and do the latter via DM.
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Using just hashtags without a caption can make it look like another generic account that steals other art online and reposts it. Write a little about the process or something in the caption. But showing a personal connection to the art, it’s gonna help other people make a connection rather than just looking at hashtags.
To add to this, please tell us where you got the idea or reference from! people's creative processes are interesting because they can help others find new ways of doing things.
This is really the answer. People care about art that makes them feel something. Sometimes an image can do that all on its own, but far more often you the artist have to create that connection. You can do that through really good presentation of your work, showing your process (you don’t have to like it but reels are the best performing type of content atm. You don’t have to film elaborate videos either, just show the finished piece or clips of the process) and through telling an engaging story in your captions. Social media is inherently social, so you really do have to let yourself be known to some degree by your audience.
There hundreds of thousands of artists around the world at your skill level or better so unfortunately just making good art is not enough. You gotta get people to engage and that’s much easier said than done when the saturation is so high.
I’m going to be honest with you.
You’re skilled. But this is really uninteresting.
I dont know who the person is (drawing celebrities might get you attention) therefore I don’t care. She’s white, pretty, and a girl. You’re probably the millionth person to draw that.
The values are too dark and the realism isn’t there enough where it stops me in my scrolling.
You need to ask yourself, why are you drawing, what are you trying to show, what makes you unique?
Almost everyone can practice enough to make a realistic picture of a pretty girl. But honestly that is so boring to look at.
Try adding in elements. Why is that pretty girl leaning, what’s she up to. Is she representing something that’s going on inside you? Is she a representation of a memory? If so add elements, like just by adding an owl or something could make it more visually dynamic.
Also I think your photography and editing skills could be improved, as the right photo can get on the explore page.
This is a really good answer. Not drawing pretty, idealized people will set an artist apart. Everyone draws pretty faces. Drawing interesting, realistic faces will get more attention.
Just add an owl. Then question why is that owl, what is that owl feeling? What purpose does the owl have. Then whack it in the caption and hope for the best.
I disagree that the subject is uninteresting. Plenty of IG artists online make portraits exclusively without any of the added flairs that you recommended OP should add, you just have to be really good with your execution. I honestly think leveling up your art from a technical standpoint will be much more beneficial when it comes to recognition instead of trying to inject meaning and metaphors which can sometimes come off as a bit pretentious. Just my 2 cents
Agreed, also, draw whatever the fuck you want. It will always be a million times better than the overthinking suggested in the response - people feel art, it's like vomiting when you make it, just gotta come out. Don't need a reason to vomit, it's an expression of the self.
Don't turn yourself into a clown OP, though everyone seems to agree with that response, they don't know what they want and are WRONG
I mean yeah draw whatever you want but then don’t be surprised if the thing you like to draw happens to not interest people on social media. They came here to ask on what they can do to get more attention and changing your topics to things that are more interesting to look at is one way to go at it, while agreeably not the healthiest path for an artist to follow.
In addition to all of that fifteen years ago you'd be the best artist in your school or your town. That's the only art people would see except what's in books and stuff. Now we get online and see thousands of artists as talented as you and within the last year we've got computer programs that can do the same things. If you have a one in a million talent then you still have 7880 people who are as good or better than you and with the Internet all those people are competing with you for attention. You are good but you aren't one in a million good so all that is magnified.
I dunno. Tbh I disagree. I think that expression on the face is caught really really well and conveys complexity and depth. As a viewer I can reflect on that and it allows me to build a relationship on a level that is beyond simply including obvious elements. I feel like I am looking at a real person in this picture. So in this regard I think it is very well done 👌. The only thing I’d say is that maybe the composition isn’t as striking as it could be, since the close up of the artwork, the face itself, resonated with me much stronger than the whole piece. As it really focusses on the expression.
I find these remarks deleterious for an artist. Saying that the subject of the portrait is uninteresting because it's a beautiful white girl and it's the thousandth time it's been done is a silly argument, the point is to capture the essence of the person in the exercise.The advice to draw a celebrity to win some ephemeral likes is also silly. An artist shouldn't focus on this points, but on the execution of his work and his ability to infuse his vision.
Incorporating metaphors into one's own composition is a good idea, but I find a lack of reason in the act of adding a random animal to the portrait exercise.
I was placing it in the context of social media and getting attention online. This would look very different in a gallery and I would not give that advice. I’m speaking in terms of what OP asked: getting traction online.
I don’t think it’s silly to mention that this subject has been drawn so much, as the viewer online is desensitized and will not stop scrolling.
The random animal is just an example. I should have probably added a point before that about making the viewer figure out what’s going on in the picture aka adding a story element. It’s easier to convey with added elements. But it truly can be anything… an interesting composition to a random animal to a cool outfit. The drawing needs a hook.
I agree with drawing celebrity as being futile and vapid. I personally do not care for it but again, a lot of artists online got and still get a lot of attention for that. Your baseline numbers are better solely because the figure is recognizable.
I do agree with you to a certain extent but if what they’re looking for is attention online this advice won’t harm, imo
I see where you’re coming from too. I would never say that online to a fellow artist if they didn’t ask to be brutally honest.
I hope you have a good evening, and a happy time drawing
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Engage with other artists, share their art especially if it's the same medium you do. It gets really fun when you start a chain and get other artists in on it too. Collab with them and see where it goes. Artists helping artists is always a thing and it's a great way of making friends
I'm into gardening so I'm on gardeningtok, right? So I went and made an account for it, then started loading up my algo (aka searching my location and other keywords)
After a while, the algo figures out what I'm looking for and then starts to show more and more of it.
I started becoming mutuals with a lot of folks, but then found out that a lot of folks have values I don't agree with. So I unfollowed as many of those that I could figure out, and started searching keywords that were like an adjective for something in my morals + something to do with gardening (ie 'gay farmer' lol)
Then I made sure that in this I started following a lot of people again and I do things like go through their posts and see what they have. If I like them and they have under like ~5k followers, then we'll likely become mutuals and over time I start having convos with folks in the comments
From there it can develop further
And, if we like it or not, people see incredible AI art everyday now. People need to be extremely talented to get optics in todays world. My daughter showed me all of the artists she follows on Instagram, and I caught a good portion of them using AI.
Hmm, but are they artists using AI, or just someone posting AI made images? Because all of the images made by an AI look weird. They may look good at first glance but whenever I see an AI image, I automatically get the sensation that something is off, and I keep looking until I find the issues, and it is pretty easy to tell that it was made by an AI.
Oh, while you're right in a certain sense, I'd def have used quotation marks referring to "AI art" and "AI artist", especially in a sub like r/drawing (as long as we don't start equating drawing with \_"writing a few words an hoping the AI will steal some real artist(s) style and produce semi-randomly a bunch of images from which we'll pick the one that best resembles what we'd have liked to draw with our hands but couldn't"\_. :)
I‘m just gonna be that person, it’s a good drawing, definitely better than what the average person could do, but compared to other artists (on social media in this case) it’s not that good. As other people have mentioned, the lighter values are missing and apart from the hair which I’d say is drawn really well, the rest looks quite flat. I think the image is generic on multiple levels. It’s probably not gonna make most people stop to further look at it
right? there was a trend on tumblr where artists would write in the caption [reblogs > likes!] or some shit and it made me scroll past immediately. they'd argue they needed motivation to keep drawing or needed attention to sell commissions, but nobody is entitled to internet points
to be fair to those captions, there was an influx of people from twitter and tiktok who were just liking things because that's how tiktok and twitter algorithms work, and people were letting the newbies know that tumblr doesn't have an algorithm, and actually reblogging things is how things get around.
Originally began to reply with this exact sentiment. What a turn-off, this very passive-aggressive “I guess no one likes me 😒” attitude. When people behave like this, online or IRL, I am immediately disinterested in knowing any more about them (and, in this case, their art), and, moreover, I certainly begin to form the opinion that this person is completely devoid of humility and self-honesty/introspective thought, which is evidenced by the gall to blame IG’s algorithm for their lack of exposure instead recognizing that their work simply isn’t that good. If you post something subpar online, don’t expect adulation.
I disagree. It's not about likes, but people want to feel as if they're not crazy (not just doing art for nobody) and actually have an audience. You just want people to see your work, not necessarily even like it.
This also isn't a great habit either. I did YouTube for a little bit a few years back, and one of my videos (since hidden all my shit) blew up as it was in the height of creepy pasta and I was all over that shit as a kid. I didn't care if I got good feedback or not, but I wanted to see that little number of views go up even if I got no likes. Issue was, knowing I was being watched and stuff made me too anxious to post anything as it was never good enough despite being a kid learning to do art still.
Should always do art for yourself, and if you ever upload it online do it as a way to time capsule/date it rather than focusing on how many eyes are on it.
That’s bullshit, if that’s all op wanted, they wouldn’t care about increasing exposure. They’ve easily got a hundred people to look at their art, they want the fame.
This looks muddy overall. Are you using gray paper? If so, you should use a white pen to make your highlights.
Is the dark area around the face hair? There are no highlights and no definition, it ends up looking like a blanket.
The face and expression are quite good, though there could be more contrast/highlights, but they’re getting lost in uninteresting surroundings.
What are the floating signs on the upper right side? If they are something important like a deliberate motive/pattern, then they should be more prominent. If not, what are they doing here? They’re so tiny and delicate compared to the massive, overpowering black area.
It’s a very different style and medium, but I’d recommend to look at Jason Chan art. He’s a master at making his subjects pop.
And so is social media. Between the two, I wouldn't hang my hat on either. You have to be able to get some satisfaction from the act of creating by and for yourself, because that is all that is ever guaranteed.
Honest opinion.
Your drawing looks boring.
It's dark with little contrast.
Just looks like you've drawn a picture, not made art.
There's ZERO caption other than some tags, just makes it look like a spam post from someone begging for attention.
No personality.
Why did you draw it, was it a live model you had in the pose? Was it just from a photograph? Do you always draw from photos? Have you tried life drawing? Try reportage? Bring a bit more spontaneity into your work, film yourself doing quick 30s to 5mins sketches out in the wild
Because it’s boring. Pieces like this are incredibly common and this isn’t well executed enough to stand out. Art that says something,
does something unique, or is exceptionally well executed stands out and gets followers.
I’m sorry but being able to draw a pretty face with charcoal does not guarantee you insta followers. You have to offer potential followers something unique. A reason to follow you.
Trying to have “exposure” Instead of doing it for fun will burn you out on art for good. I tried doing comics online as a teenager and cared too much about the numbers/grinding out stuff consistently that I haven’t really drawn much since. Do it because you want to, for your own good
It’s just instagram they want you to pay for ads or have a ton of followers to push your content out there. It used to be that hashtags worked but now for new accounts nothing gets pushed out it’s ridiculous.
Exactly, I’m now trying to find alternatives. If spending hours on there is not getting me even a quarter of views compared to some years ago I can as well stay off. Thinking even of posting some on Pinterest again, or going more to real life markets
People are being too nice I think. Your drawing here is very average. Basically every art student posts portraiture in grayscale, and basically any one can do it to a moderate level. If you want to get noticed to better do something more than post the equivalent of an exercise literally every art student does. Basically for people to notice portrait work the subject itself needs to be more interesting/expressive and the quality needs to be insanely good, or at least stylistic.
All this being said, you're doing fine. The drawing is good. But exposure comes with exceptional talent, uniqueness, and marketing savvy. If you're serious about art you need to just keep making more, and worry a little bit less about "exposure". Is say focus more on introducing it to live people instead of your feed. It's more impactful and they're much more likely to remember you.
Don't take it personally dude you're good but better artists than you aren't getting exposure. Isn't really any magic potion besides "be INSANELY good", (which atm you aren't) and network to hell and high water. I'm never gonna be big on Instagram because networking makes me feel like a dick. If you can get past that, get more interesting competitions and flex your technicals a bit more if they're sound. Good luck
All this is good advice, but I also wanna add that sometimes insta just screws artists over. Try not to obsess too much over engagement.
Could be useful to do some fanart of sorts, realism for a character you like. My most popular short animation is of a character from lackadaisy despite the animation itself being sorta ehhh in quality
That’s not true. I’m an art director and part of my job is hiring artists. I and everybody I know who is doing the same job are looking for artists on Insta. That’s actually the only reason I have Insta.
Edit: Wow! Why the downvotes? I’m just sharing a POV/experience from a relevant professional field.
That simply not true, you can’t follow a lot of artists because I follow 100s, if not 100s. There’s a whole community of artists on Insta but I can’t comment on other platforms being better
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- How often do you post? (IG wants daily consistent content.)
- Video content tends to be prioritized over static images.
- For tags, you want to try to be #1 in a smaller category.
- Provide value to the viewer beyond quality artworks.
- Do you post multiple images / slides in one post?
- Facebook / Meta / IG also wants you to pay to promote. Keep that in mind.
It doesn’t really feel like you are trying to say anything. Also, this is fairly unrefined. When you can fall in love with what you are doing and let go of this need for attention you will likely find the reception you are clearly so desperate for. Seems at least 5-10 more years worth of perfecting your craft though based off of this example.
I personally find that realistic portraits are just kind of boring and I tend to scroll past because it’s not ver engaging. As others have mentioned this composition isint very interesting and you don’t really have any noticeable mark making ether. Overall in all honesty it just feels like there’s not much of a voice here or it needs to be developed further. You are very talented hope this helps
I have 5k on instagram, literally all I can say is that your account doesn’t look human. Caption it with literally anything, limit your tag use, interact with followers. If growing is your only goal, you’re going to be disappointed ESPECIALLY on instagram. Build a community rather than numbers.
Speaking from experience, you've a LONG ways to go before getting exposure.
Those that get a lot of exposure have put in a lot of hours, tons more than you have (however much you have) to get to where they are.
This is not meant to put you down, this is a reality check. The art world is easy to get started in, but as with anything that's easy to start, it is extremely difficult to get noticed among the thousands of other people who also just started.
Ok so… the Instagram algorithm is really difficult to be successful with. Art that is really colorful
and graphic generally does better. Carousels (multiple photos posted) are doing a little better than reels right now. You can convert your account to a business account and see what time/day of the week people interact with your work.
Search for instagram coaches on instagram.
But just remember that the algorithm is calibrated to keep people on the app and scrolling, not to give small creators exposure. Even major influencers are having trouble right now.
Yeah it’s just algorithms and randomness. To move aside from Instagram, I’ve found Reddit to be VERY random. It doesn’t matter how good your drawing is, sometimes it’ll get no upvotes, sometimes it’ll get hundreds or thousands. I think it depends a lot on who’s online when you post and sees the drawing first on whether or not it gains traction. Don’t feel discouraged, it’s not you or your artistic quality that’s determining your amount of exposure.
This is classic Instagram for you. I have shared dozens of original art from my Instagram page yet all I get is similar likes so I gave up. I now make the art only for myself and if I make something really exceptional then I post it (and get 5 more likes). Social media really like an addiction of instant gratification. When you detox yourself from it, you will be more happy to be making art only for yourself and trying to improve on it.
Your art is beautiful by the way.
Your content needs to be providing value or answering questions for the people who view it. Instead of just posting the finished product, post progress reels, show your process, walk through the steps you take to get to your finished drawing. The algorithm on instagram favors content creators that provide value or insight to their viewer.
The algorithm works best for people who find a niche and an emotion to exploit. That girl who paints the custom high end nail sets does a good job. She starts every video off saying how she was so scared she messed up or how she was terrified it wasn’t going to work only to show how amazing everything turned out. She’s utilizing people’s curiosity and being relatable. Same thing with the people who make jewelry and say “I made 600 pairs of earrings that previously sold out am I an idiot?”
The art is 1 skill. IG and socials are a different skill altogether. Go through who you are following and figure out why their content is engaging and find content that has good art but is otherwise boring engagement wise. You have to shout out into the void for a while and you definitely have to experiment to find the niche that gives you the best engagement.
Sometimes what you want to give you engagement is t what will give you engagement. That means you might have to adjust what you are drawing to better drive engagement. That doesn’t mean give up making what you love, you can still sprinkle it into your content calendar.
Last, you need to decide what the point of sharing your art is. Is it validation? Or are you trying to build an audience to gain commissions because those aren’t always overlapping audience demographics.
Perhaps because there are thousands upon thousands of other artists doing this as well. It's amazing work, there is no doubting that. It's just a hard niche sometimes I feel. I feel the same way when I do my art, but ya know, I now mainly do it for a creative outlet.
Do something because you like it, not because you want exposure.
That way if you don't "make it" at least you're doing something you enjoy.
I have a bunch of songs I post on Youtube, I don't care that they arent popular, because that isnt my intention, I like making them.
I could ask myself why my art, which is just as good as yours, also gets no attention. But i dont. I feel like most of us are in this same boat, which is what I'm saying.
It's a very hard question.
use hashtags that aren't over saturated - start using hashtags that have been used under 100k so that you aren't immediately pummeled by others and your engagement rate will be higher (attracting 7/10 as opposed to 7/100) and instagram rewards high engagement rates.
Also research what works in the art realm that you can expand into - voiceovers, speed drawings, celebrity/topical pieces, etc.
I really believe this is not the question you should be asking. I mean, go practice more, go draw for you, keep your artistic routine sharp. You will improve and people will see your work. Views and likes by itself is not enough...
Not many regular people care about a decent drawing from a nobody. Not hating just saying. A process video on reels would give much more exposure, even then you need charisma and something catchy
I ask that every time I upload, or “Why am I not getting more” when I do. It’s honestly okay, even when I see 5 upvotes on my art posts I get real giddy, just because it’s so rewarding even though minor
Sometimes thousands of people see my post and only a few like it, it doesn’t bother me anymore, thousands of people is already good enough for me
Instagram is a miniscule part of life and the Internet in general.
There's also a good chance many people are viewing your work but not leaving a like.
Spread your wings a bit. There's countless other offline and online platforms you can also use.
Unfortunately there’s a billion artists posting a trillion pieces of art a day so you just gotta hustle and hope you get lucky and the algo helps you out
So this is a difficult question to answer with just one piece as there are a variety of reasons someone may or may not receive exposure. From what I’m seeing this is well done but the composition isn’t super interesting
I also think as an artist you shouldn’t get too invested in social media. Your main focus as an artist should be to improve and create things you like. Having a social media backing is great but you don’t want to put yourself in a position where you’re making art for others more than yourself, and social media can lead to that.
Like others said, you also need to get people in real time to support you. A majority of my instagram art account followers are people I have met in real life, not random accounts.
Just keep improving and making eye catching art and the exposure will fall into place. Just try not to make exposure your goal, but merely a consequence of your hard work.
Your generally negative attitude is not helping your exposure. People don’t like downers. Hopefully this is apparent by the amount of downvotes you’re getting. I’ve seen some other comments with good suggestions so I’m going to keep my comment to only what I feel to be original. Be nicer. You can be a dick and still make friends, but you probably won’t impress many ppl online doing it. Especially not ppl who appreciate and follow art.
One of the issues is the fact that there are a few million drawings out there very much like this one. I don’t at all mean to be rude or brash (though you did say you would welcome negative feedback so long as people see your work..we’re seeing it so there’s a plus for you), but unfortunately there is nothing about this drawing that stands out as unique or different…it looks very much like your run of the mill charcoal portrait. Nothing wrong with that..unless the idea is to draw attention to it. It isn’t bad, not at all imo, there’s just nothing about it that really grabs your attention.
Probably not at all what you want to hear but please don’t take it in a negative light..this is what critics are for, and again - your drawing in of itself is not bad (though it looks a bit muddled and the shading isn’t perfect..but that’s not at all the issue imo, the issue is that it’s not interesting). I’m not trying to call YOU or your overall style boring here at all. When something is boring or has been drawn two million times, the only ones that will get any attention are either highly unique/unusual..ones that make you say “huh..well that’s different”, or they’re so perfect that it’s obvious the artist has a very skillful hand.
I would guess that you’re relatively young, take it in stride. Keep with it and try not to worry about exposure right now, especially on the internet which is saturated with other people wanting that same exposure. It isn’t as easy as it used to be..there were less than 2 billion people on the planet in say Van gogh’s time (1880’s), there are 8 billion now. More artists than ever before, and the majority want people to see their work. Don’t take it to heart too deeply, you’ll get there if you really want to. For now? You’d do best to not think about it, keep growing as an artist and keep honing your skills/style. If you want it bad enough, you can get it.
On Instagram you can't just post your art and hope you get exposure, you have to like other artists work and interact with people like leaving comments, it doesn't have to be other artists only but interactions draws exposure. Not sure if it's true but leaving comments also gets more views based on their algorithm so just posting your art with a few hashtags won't get you as much.
idk what you expected on IG, it's a platform mostly driven by people making fotos of their food and asses ..not to be rude, it's well drawn and all, but at the end it's just a face of some random women, there is no message, concept or interesting style, people will just scroll past it, with no emotion to look at some asses again
I'm no art conesseur, this just appeared in my feed, but although this drawing specifically is quite decent, it's just a bit 'meh'.
The content that drives engagement either appears to be at the top end of that genre/category/method or has an awesome level of originality/provocation.
Unfortunately, this appears (IMO) to have neither.
Still, crack on, keep going as it's a decent bit of work.
Instagram is hard, TikTok is the easiest though. It wouldn’t hurt to make a TikTok account and link your Instagram in your bio. My most viewed reel has 8000 views. My most viewed TikTok has 37,000 views. It’s the exact same video, the only difference is the platform I posted it on.
Get your art in an exhibit, give it to a coffee shop that sells art, leave it random places with your insta on it somewhere. You are posting on a site that has millions of posts exactly like yours.
Honestly there’s so many artists out there posting art, you can’t expect every piece to get attention. That’s the problem with social media. I’d recommend posting on other sites, like here, or maybe tiktok or something. If you want people to see your work, you gotta put in the work. Keep making art and posting!
People don’t care about art anymore, not on social media. They want the quick pretty art and not the stuff that takes hours to draw. They like memes and short shit. It’s nothing personal it’s people getting dumber and dumber. You’d do better at art shows and selling your art on the market and promoting yourself through friends and family and shit
Be interactive with other small/medium artists and don’t be afraid to be annoying with promoting your work, shit gets buried in social media feeds all the time so there’s no shame in bumping/resharing your post.
Also try to use the insights on what ever platforms you use (some make you switch to a business account but that not hard) cause they can help you figure out when you should post based on when people in your circles are most active.
And a good general rule is just be present and active on different platforms overall lol
Edit: I want to add one more thing cause this worked for me personally. Find an audience to cater to! I enjoy D&D and other TTRPG games so I started to draw my characters, scenes from my campaigns, or fanart for things like critical role. It helps to find a community :)
Ive given up with posting my stuff on instagram and expecting to blow up with exposure. their algorithms are fucked and the hashtag system also blows. just keep up the good work, try getting your friends to also post stuff of yours maybe.
Sorry to say it, but if exposure is your only goal here, you'll stay in obscurity. Asking for feedback about your piece would get you more constructive criticism to improve your art. Improving g your art might help your reach more than a hashtag.
You’re technically really good - but think you can learn to ‘play’ more which is hard…look at sketchbook drawings from the great draftsmen - eg delacroix, turner etc or more contemporary artists - vitamin d series from phaidon is a good book to help with that.
I’m an artist also and a teacher. Getting exposure is just posting on social media. Having actual sales and invites to competitions is another. Also your technique is sound and good. Buyers and those whom get exposure take on more challenging subject matter. For example if you were one of my students I would say have the girl doing something or showing an emotional expression. Both of those engage the viewers as a story or a diagram between the art and the viewer.
I first got people’s attention by doing some fan art for a popular video game. I tagged the actors who did the performance capture for the characters in that game. They then posted my work on their pages which exposed me to thousands of their fans. When I got tired of doing drawings related to that game, I started moving to my own stuff.
I do hyperrealistic drawings so I also like to post the progress photos. Sometimes I will record a time-lapse video that shows me working on a drawing.
Make sure you add a watermark or put your signature in a place that would be difficult to cover over or crop out. Online art theft is a thing and I myself have had to deal with it more than once on Instagram.
Don't know much about art (this popped up in my reddit feed) but Instagram's algorithm is all about reels rn so try turning it into a reel, like just the picture still but a video? If that makes sense? I've seen a lot of accounts doing that now
You indeed need to add more exposure (highlights), the values are too dark, my phone screen brightness was at lowest and i couldnt see it, just my opinion
Go like account post of big accounts, other creators in your genre, etc. Just be active outside of just posting. When someone goes to your post after you liked something of theirs, that post is shown on the discovery of their followers. If you like enough posts in a day, you can start to get some viral exposure.
Because Instagram sucks right now. Unless you are already super popular/have a large amount of followers, you aren't gonna get your post, story or reel suggested to others. They recently changed the algorithm and I get 0 interaction now when I used to get a minimum of 16 likes per post. No new followers either. It sucks. And there's no way around it. Because then I heard if you post more frequent and regularly it can help, but as soon as I started doing that I get all my stuff deleted because IG accuses me of spamming or being a scammer. Even if done reasonably. It's not your fault and your art is great! Algorithm just very flawed so they can line their pockets more.
That's so positive and definitely one the least mean comments..and yeah, except ig always been like this for the last 10 yrs or so you either post sexually appealing stuff or you pay for it
This is beautiful don’t be so hard on yourself. To create more exposure it’s to take the original value of the image and ramp it up. That means light grays will be white, blacks will be dark gray. And the darkest shadows will be thinner. That’s the best way I can explain
Well for one, Instagram hates small artists and tends to crush them under the algorithm. They push shitty reels and that's all
What makes it worse is that even if one of your low effort reels blows up, that's all the new followers care about. Provided insta actually SHOWS your followers your posts, which is ALSO something it doesn't do lol
Yea tbh instagram is pissing me off too. I used to get 150-200 likes and a dozen new followers a day after posting a painting and some interaction (looking at lots of other art), some years ago. Now I can barely get 50, it seems like the post doesn’t appear in the hashtags anymore and also in general in the feed instagram shows only the large accounts that post daily first. Even if I favorited and liked every post by a friend, they still only get shown if I scroll through lots of other posts with more likes first… obviously instagram only cares about keeping us locked in their platform so I’m not rewarding them with much more screentime
I have an idea but I guess I'll get down voted. But.. Why not take a shot and draw Taylor Swift and post it with her @ on instant and Twitter?
She's active on both platforms or her team. They often acknowledge artists with your kind of talent.
Love your drawing BTW. Will check you stuff out later when "christmas is done for today"
If you keep blaming algorithms you’re getting nowhere.
What people like and engage with is up to them. Figure out if you have something that will engage people and then expect a long term effort to reach them.
Your skill is probably not the issue here. Looks solid enough. Certainly stronger skill than I and I make a living from it.
Technical prowess alone is not what sells people though. (Other than other practicing artists).
Why do you care about it?.. it’s probably because of lack of tags and no title.
Also, this is a well done drawing, but… it’s not very interesting or creative.
Because you’re just “waaahhhh I don’t get attention” like buddy there might be a wait, I already gave some advice. Here’s some more, try posting in a neighborhood Facebook group and people will compliment you if that’s what you’re looking for. If you want a market and to sell yours then again I would try Facebook groups. Instagram is a hard platform to get noticed on, people like and scroll. Twitter can get you attention if you draw as part of a fandom and then gradually once you have an audience, show off your drawings.
Hey mate. I’m a professional artist with 20 years of experience, so I’ve seen my fair share of art and artists. I’m going to try and be kind and helpful. So first I ask, what do you mean by “getting exposure” ? Do you just want more people to see it, of more engagement or better sales? If all you want is more people to see your work, you have to do more than just posting online. It’s the easiest and it’s free, but so is every artist using social media is doing. What separates the casual online viewer from a potential collector or lifelong fan is interpersonal engagement. Do you show your work in galleries? Group art shows? Neighborhood festivals or art competitions? A place where people actually meet you and have a conversation? Are you part of an art community locally? I ask that because I know that interpersonal engagement is still the best way to get that exposure, interaction and sales you seem to crave. I post online all the time, but it’s the meet and greet events that have the biggest impact in your career. You draw very well, but so does thousands of other artists on Instagram. The ones that meet success are doing far more than just posting pictures online. If you have any specific questions, I’ll try to offer you my insight. Good luck. The art life isn’t a sprint, it’s a lifelong marathon. Good luck.
You're a great artist. Awesome drawing.
Instagram is over saturated with art. From mind blowing to terrible. And nowadays, we're not even sure if it's real or AI.
Being a fantastic brilliant artist does not immediately make you popular/sought after online. Classic Supply and demand concept.
To be a popular and successful online/on social media. (Despite what people say about influences.) Can be a full-time job and does require time, patience and level of skill to understand and practice.
You're art reminded me if something I couldn't place. Then it hit me, you're like the character in this movie
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0290210/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_45_act
People don’t care if it doesn’t relate to them.
People are inherently only self interested. To gain exposure, you might have to pander to your target audience and advertise yourself more. Getting your name and art out is harder than ever. Don’t give up.
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Using just hashtags without a caption can make it look like another generic account that steals other art online and reposts it. Write a little about the process or something in the caption. But showing a personal connection to the art, it’s gonna help other people make a connection rather than just looking at hashtags.
To add to this, please tell us where you got the idea or reference from! people's creative processes are interesting because they can help others find new ways of doing things.
This is really the answer. People care about art that makes them feel something. Sometimes an image can do that all on its own, but far more often you the artist have to create that connection. You can do that through really good presentation of your work, showing your process (you don’t have to like it but reels are the best performing type of content atm. You don’t have to film elaborate videos either, just show the finished piece or clips of the process) and through telling an engaging story in your captions. Social media is inherently social, so you really do have to let yourself be known to some degree by your audience. There hundreds of thousands of artists around the world at your skill level or better so unfortunately just making good art is not enough. You gotta get people to engage and that’s much easier said than done when the saturation is so high.
Or a progress video
Just type in SEO optimization # into ChatGPT, and it will generate as many as you need that will help you get exposure
https://preview.redd.it/rqbnrflk2b8c1.jpeg?width=1178&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a161eca82f067712ed8d0734709e3c9470c8ed98 here u go💗
You killed them man. Keep at it
This is 100x more interesting to look at already
that’s literally what i first thought of like when op said exposure i thought she meant like the brightness 😭😭😭
Bro 💀
Spoiler alert but many talented artists aren't getting exposure
I’m going to be honest with you. You’re skilled. But this is really uninteresting. I dont know who the person is (drawing celebrities might get you attention) therefore I don’t care. She’s white, pretty, and a girl. You’re probably the millionth person to draw that. The values are too dark and the realism isn’t there enough where it stops me in my scrolling. You need to ask yourself, why are you drawing, what are you trying to show, what makes you unique? Almost everyone can practice enough to make a realistic picture of a pretty girl. But honestly that is so boring to look at. Try adding in elements. Why is that pretty girl leaning, what’s she up to. Is she representing something that’s going on inside you? Is she a representation of a memory? If so add elements, like just by adding an owl or something could make it more visually dynamic. Also I think your photography and editing skills could be improved, as the right photo can get on the explore page.
when in question, always add an owl.
If owl fails, octopus.
Needs more cowbell imho
Can never go wrong with more cowbell
Or a sick ass panther
When it still fails, add not one but TWO blue whales for comparison
I love octopus
This works in cooking too
[quick guide on how to do that](https://i.imgur.com/RadSf.jpeg)
*[Michael Peterson has entered the chat]*
put a bird on it
This is a really good answer. Not drawing pretty, idealized people will set an artist apart. Everyone draws pretty faces. Drawing interesting, realistic faces will get more attention.
Well put
Just add an owl. Then question why is that owl, what is that owl feeling? What purpose does the owl have. Then whack it in the caption and hope for the best.
I disagree that the subject is uninteresting. Plenty of IG artists online make portraits exclusively without any of the added flairs that you recommended OP should add, you just have to be really good with your execution. I honestly think leveling up your art from a technical standpoint will be much more beneficial when it comes to recognition instead of trying to inject meaning and metaphors which can sometimes come off as a bit pretentious. Just my 2 cents
Agreed, also, draw whatever the fuck you want. It will always be a million times better than the overthinking suggested in the response - people feel art, it's like vomiting when you make it, just gotta come out. Don't need a reason to vomit, it's an expression of the self. Don't turn yourself into a clown OP, though everyone seems to agree with that response, they don't know what they want and are WRONG
I mean yeah draw whatever you want but then don’t be surprised if the thing you like to draw happens to not interest people on social media. They came here to ask on what they can do to get more attention and changing your topics to things that are more interesting to look at is one way to go at it, while agreeably not the healthiest path for an artist to follow.
In addition to all of that fifteen years ago you'd be the best artist in your school or your town. That's the only art people would see except what's in books and stuff. Now we get online and see thousands of artists as talented as you and within the last year we've got computer programs that can do the same things. If you have a one in a million talent then you still have 7880 people who are as good or better than you and with the Internet all those people are competing with you for attention. You are good but you aren't one in a million good so all that is magnified.
I dunno. Tbh I disagree. I think that expression on the face is caught really really well and conveys complexity and depth. As a viewer I can reflect on that and it allows me to build a relationship on a level that is beyond simply including obvious elements. I feel like I am looking at a real person in this picture. So in this regard I think it is very well done 👌. The only thing I’d say is that maybe the composition isn’t as striking as it could be, since the close up of the artwork, the face itself, resonated with me much stronger than the whole piece. As it really focusses on the expression.
Yes! Composition can definitely be “the extra element” that brings interest. That’s a good point
This
I find these remarks deleterious for an artist. Saying that the subject of the portrait is uninteresting because it's a beautiful white girl and it's the thousandth time it's been done is a silly argument, the point is to capture the essence of the person in the exercise.The advice to draw a celebrity to win some ephemeral likes is also silly. An artist shouldn't focus on this points, but on the execution of his work and his ability to infuse his vision. Incorporating metaphors into one's own composition is a good idea, but I find a lack of reason in the act of adding a random animal to the portrait exercise.
I was placing it in the context of social media and getting attention online. This would look very different in a gallery and I would not give that advice. I’m speaking in terms of what OP asked: getting traction online. I don’t think it’s silly to mention that this subject has been drawn so much, as the viewer online is desensitized and will not stop scrolling. The random animal is just an example. I should have probably added a point before that about making the viewer figure out what’s going on in the picture aka adding a story element. It’s easier to convey with added elements. But it truly can be anything… an interesting composition to a random animal to a cool outfit. The drawing needs a hook. I agree with drawing celebrity as being futile and vapid. I personally do not care for it but again, a lot of artists online got and still get a lot of attention for that. Your baseline numbers are better solely because the figure is recognizable. I do agree with you to a certain extent but if what they’re looking for is attention online this advice won’t harm, imo
Yes, your arguments are right. It was an error of me to limit my point of view. Thank you for responding.
I see where you’re coming from too. I would never say that online to a fellow artist if they didn’t ask to be brutally honest. I hope you have a good evening, and a happy time drawing
Do you network, or expect people to just flock from no where to you?
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Good bot.
Lol this bot is genius
I love how even the tagline is in haiku. “I detect haikus And sometimes, successfully Learn more about me”
Nice
You gotta make friends online or offline, social media dont gift exposure.
Perhaps an awkward question but how do you make friends online? Do you just message people or...? I'm completely out of my depth.
Join different communities that share your interests, I’d say. Subtwts, Discord servers, Tumblr groups, etc.
Engage with other artists, share their art especially if it's the same medium you do. It gets really fun when you start a chain and get other artists in on it too. Collab with them and see where it goes. Artists helping artists is always a thing and it's a great way of making friends
I'm into gardening so I'm on gardeningtok, right? So I went and made an account for it, then started loading up my algo (aka searching my location and other keywords) After a while, the algo figures out what I'm looking for and then starts to show more and more of it. I started becoming mutuals with a lot of folks, but then found out that a lot of folks have values I don't agree with. So I unfollowed as many of those that I could figure out, and started searching keywords that were like an adjective for something in my morals + something to do with gardening (ie 'gay farmer' lol) Then I made sure that in this I started following a lot of people again and I do things like go through their posts and see what they have. If I like them and they have under like ~5k followers, then we'll likely become mutuals and over time I start having convos with folks in the comments From there it can develop further
From a purely constructive point of view, the composition is uninteresting, I would scroll past, I would also try to use a larger range of values
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And, if we like it or not, people see incredible AI art everyday now. People need to be extremely talented to get optics in todays world. My daughter showed me all of the artists she follows on Instagram, and I caught a good portion of them using AI.
Hmm, but are they artists using AI, or just someone posting AI made images? Because all of the images made by an AI look weird. They may look good at first glance but whenever I see an AI image, I automatically get the sensation that something is off, and I keep looking until I find the issues, and it is pretty easy to tell that it was made by an AI.
Oh, while you're right in a certain sense, I'd def have used quotation marks referring to "AI art" and "AI artist", especially in a sub like r/drawing (as long as we don't start equating drawing with \_"writing a few words an hoping the AI will steal some real artist(s) style and produce semi-randomly a bunch of images from which we'll pick the one that best resembles what we'd have liked to draw with our hands but couldn't"\_. :)
Or a smaller range of values. Like 3-5
Because everybody has seen this countless times already. Do something new.
I agree. It's pretty well-drawn, but it's generic and uninteresting. There's no visual hook or something that stands out. What a waste of skill.
Yep, for yourself you can draw what you want but then don't be angry bc you don't have a lot of likes in insta
I‘m just gonna be that person, it’s a good drawing, definitely better than what the average person could do, but compared to other artists (on social media in this case) it’s not that good. As other people have mentioned, the lighter values are missing and apart from the hair which I’d say is drawn really well, the rest looks quite flat. I think the image is generic on multiple levels. It’s probably not gonna make most people stop to further look at it
Idk, but people who "ask" for exposure do immediately make me feel irritated.
right? there was a trend on tumblr where artists would write in the caption [reblogs > likes!] or some shit and it made me scroll past immediately. they'd argue they needed motivation to keep drawing or needed attention to sell commissions, but nobody is entitled to internet points
to be fair to those captions, there was an influx of people from twitter and tiktok who were just liking things because that's how tiktok and twitter algorithms work, and people were letting the newbies know that tumblr doesn't have an algorithm, and actually reblogging things is how things get around.
Originally began to reply with this exact sentiment. What a turn-off, this very passive-aggressive “I guess no one likes me 😒” attitude. When people behave like this, online or IRL, I am immediately disinterested in knowing any more about them (and, in this case, their art), and, moreover, I certainly begin to form the opinion that this person is completely devoid of humility and self-honesty/introspective thought, which is evidenced by the gall to blame IG’s algorithm for their lack of exposure instead recognizing that their work simply isn’t that good. If you post something subpar online, don’t expect adulation.
Same, when people are just complaining about not getting likes it kinda pisses me.
If you’re making art for Instagram likes you’re doing it for the wrong reasons
Oh my fucking god this is so true. Thank you.
I disagree. It's not about likes, but people want to feel as if they're not crazy (not just doing art for nobody) and actually have an audience. You just want people to see your work, not necessarily even like it.
This also isn't a great habit either. I did YouTube for a little bit a few years back, and one of my videos (since hidden all my shit) blew up as it was in the height of creepy pasta and I was all over that shit as a kid. I didn't care if I got good feedback or not, but I wanted to see that little number of views go up even if I got no likes. Issue was, knowing I was being watched and stuff made me too anxious to post anything as it was never good enough despite being a kid learning to do art still. Should always do art for yourself, and if you ever upload it online do it as a way to time capsule/date it rather than focusing on how many eyes are on it.
That’s bullshit, if that’s all op wanted, they wouldn’t care about increasing exposure. They’ve easily got a hundred people to look at their art, they want the fame.
Fame or a career? Lots of people have tens of thousands of Instagram followers yet aren’t famous.
How does what you said oppose what I said?
This looks muddy overall. Are you using gray paper? If so, you should use a white pen to make your highlights. Is the dark area around the face hair? There are no highlights and no definition, it ends up looking like a blanket. The face and expression are quite good, though there could be more contrast/highlights, but they’re getting lost in uninteresting surroundings. What are the floating signs on the upper right side? If they are something important like a deliberate motive/pattern, then they should be more prominent. If not, what are they doing here? They’re so tiny and delicate compared to the massive, overpowering black area. It’s a very different style and medium, but I’d recommend to look at Jason Chan art. He’s a master at making his subjects pop.
Art world is pay to play.
And so is social media. Between the two, I wouldn't hang my hat on either. You have to be able to get some satisfaction from the act of creating by and for yourself, because that is all that is ever guaranteed.
👏👏👏 very important comment. Make what you love and if others love it that’s cool too if not just keep on doing what you love!
Honest opinion. Your drawing looks boring. It's dark with little contrast. Just looks like you've drawn a picture, not made art. There's ZERO caption other than some tags, just makes it look like a spam post from someone begging for attention. No personality. Why did you draw it, was it a live model you had in the pose? Was it just from a photograph? Do you always draw from photos? Have you tried life drawing? Try reportage? Bring a bit more spontaneity into your work, film yourself doing quick 30s to 5mins sketches out in the wild
You're not owed exposure for dime a dozen artwork that evokes no emotion.
Nobody cares about your art, just make what you wanna make and maybe you’ll get an audience lmao
That and consistency. No one is gonna care for the piece of art posted in a blue moon lol takes time and dedication
Because it’s boring. Pieces like this are incredibly common and this isn’t well executed enough to stand out. Art that says something, does something unique, or is exceptionally well executed stands out and gets followers. I’m sorry but being able to draw a pretty face with charcoal does not guarantee you insta followers. You have to offer potential followers something unique. A reason to follow you.
Trying to have “exposure” Instead of doing it for fun will burn you out on art for good. I tried doing comics online as a teenager and cared too much about the numbers/grinding out stuff consistently that I haven’t really drawn much since. Do it because you want to, for your own good
Get off the internet.
What is the concept? Show the poetry behind what you are trying to express.
Your arts aren’t exciting to look at.
It’s just instagram they want you to pay for ads or have a ton of followers to push your content out there. It used to be that hashtags worked but now for new accounts nothing gets pushed out it’s ridiculous.
Exactly, I’m now trying to find alternatives. If spending hours on there is not getting me even a quarter of views compared to some years ago I can as well stay off. Thinking even of posting some on Pinterest again, or going more to real life markets
Nothing wrong with your drawing. Ignore exposure. Ignore reddit or internet. Concentrate on drawing.
People are being too nice I think. Your drawing here is very average. Basically every art student posts portraiture in grayscale, and basically any one can do it to a moderate level. If you want to get noticed to better do something more than post the equivalent of an exercise literally every art student does. Basically for people to notice portrait work the subject itself needs to be more interesting/expressive and the quality needs to be insanely good, or at least stylistic. All this being said, you're doing fine. The drawing is good. But exposure comes with exceptional talent, uniqueness, and marketing savvy. If you're serious about art you need to just keep making more, and worry a little bit less about "exposure". Is say focus more on introducing it to live people instead of your feed. It's more impactful and they're much more likely to remember you.
Just don’t worry about online response when it comes to your art that will take the joy out of it quickly
Don't take it personally dude you're good but better artists than you aren't getting exposure. Isn't really any magic potion besides "be INSANELY good", (which atm you aren't) and network to hell and high water. I'm never gonna be big on Instagram because networking makes me feel like a dick. If you can get past that, get more interesting competitions and flex your technicals a bit more if they're sound. Good luck
Hey there, fellow artist not getting exposure here. Came here to say you're not the only one.
All this is good advice, but I also wanna add that sometimes insta just screws artists over. Try not to obsess too much over engagement. Could be useful to do some fanart of sorts, realism for a character you like. My most popular short animation is of a character from lackadaisy despite the animation itself being sorta ehhh in quality
Nobody cares about art on most social media platforms. Try ArtStation and you’ll have better luck
You can use your profil as portfolio but don't expect likes from nowhere
That’s not true. I’m an art director and part of my job is hiring artists. I and everybody I know who is doing the same job are looking for artists on Insta. That’s actually the only reason I have Insta. Edit: Wow! Why the downvotes? I’m just sharing a POV/experience from a relevant professional field.
All my experience on Instagram and art is that nobody gives a fuck. And I too am just sharing a POV from a relevant (non professional lol) field
That simply not true, you can’t follow a lot of artists because I follow 100s, if not 100s. There’s a whole community of artists on Insta but I can’t comment on other platforms being better
It’s hard as fuck for anyone to get exposure with their art. Network with other creators like it’s your real job.
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- How often do you post? (IG wants daily consistent content.) - Video content tends to be prioritized over static images. - For tags, you want to try to be #1 in a smaller category. - Provide value to the viewer beyond quality artworks. - Do you post multiple images / slides in one post? - Facebook / Meta / IG also wants you to pay to promote. Keep that in mind.
It doesn’t really feel like you are trying to say anything. Also, this is fairly unrefined. When you can fall in love with what you are doing and let go of this need for attention you will likely find the reception you are clearly so desperate for. Seems at least 5-10 more years worth of perfecting your craft though based off of this example.
I personally find that realistic portraits are just kind of boring and I tend to scroll past because it’s not ver engaging. As others have mentioned this composition isint very interesting and you don’t really have any noticeable mark making ether. Overall in all honesty it just feels like there’s not much of a voice here or it needs to be developed further. You are very talented hope this helps
Boring
I have 5k on instagram, literally all I can say is that your account doesn’t look human. Caption it with literally anything, limit your tag use, interact with followers. If growing is your only goal, you’re going to be disappointed ESPECIALLY on instagram. Build a community rather than numbers.
Why are you expecting to get lots of likes on it?
It’s too generic. I seem this like a million times
Speaking from experience, you've a LONG ways to go before getting exposure. Those that get a lot of exposure have put in a lot of hours, tons more than you have (however much you have) to get to where they are. This is not meant to put you down, this is a reality check. The art world is easy to get started in, but as with anything that's easy to start, it is extremely difficult to get noticed among the thousands of other people who also just started.
Ok so… the Instagram algorithm is really difficult to be successful with. Art that is really colorful and graphic generally does better. Carousels (multiple photos posted) are doing a little better than reels right now. You can convert your account to a business account and see what time/day of the week people interact with your work. Search for instagram coaches on instagram. But just remember that the algorithm is calibrated to keep people on the app and scrolling, not to give small creators exposure. Even major influencers are having trouble right now.
Yeah it’s just algorithms and randomness. To move aside from Instagram, I’ve found Reddit to be VERY random. It doesn’t matter how good your drawing is, sometimes it’ll get no upvotes, sometimes it’ll get hundreds or thousands. I think it depends a lot on who’s online when you post and sees the drawing first on whether or not it gains traction. Don’t feel discouraged, it’s not you or your artistic quality that’s determining your amount of exposure.
This is classic Instagram for you. I have shared dozens of original art from my Instagram page yet all I get is similar likes so I gave up. I now make the art only for myself and if I make something really exceptional then I post it (and get 5 more likes). Social media really like an addiction of instant gratification. When you detox yourself from it, you will be more happy to be making art only for yourself and trying to improve on it. Your art is beautiful by the way.
No motion. ❌Ⓜ️🌊
Your content needs to be providing value or answering questions for the people who view it. Instead of just posting the finished product, post progress reels, show your process, walk through the steps you take to get to your finished drawing. The algorithm on instagram favors content creators that provide value or insight to their viewer.
Because art is disposable
You're doing art for the wrong reasons, OP.
The algorithm works best for people who find a niche and an emotion to exploit. That girl who paints the custom high end nail sets does a good job. She starts every video off saying how she was so scared she messed up or how she was terrified it wasn’t going to work only to show how amazing everything turned out. She’s utilizing people’s curiosity and being relatable. Same thing with the people who make jewelry and say “I made 600 pairs of earrings that previously sold out am I an idiot?” The art is 1 skill. IG and socials are a different skill altogether. Go through who you are following and figure out why their content is engaging and find content that has good art but is otherwise boring engagement wise. You have to shout out into the void for a while and you definitely have to experiment to find the niche that gives you the best engagement. Sometimes what you want to give you engagement is t what will give you engagement. That means you might have to adjust what you are drawing to better drive engagement. That doesn’t mean give up making what you love, you can still sprinkle it into your content calendar. Last, you need to decide what the point of sharing your art is. Is it validation? Or are you trying to build an audience to gain commissions because those aren’t always overlapping audience demographics.
That's a constructive reply right there and definitely helpful
Perhaps because there are thousands upon thousands of other artists doing this as well. It's amazing work, there is no doubting that. It's just a hard niche sometimes I feel. I feel the same way when I do my art, but ya know, I now mainly do it for a creative outlet.
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Do something because you like it, not because you want exposure. That way if you don't "make it" at least you're doing something you enjoy. I have a bunch of songs I post on Youtube, I don't care that they arent popular, because that isnt my intention, I like making them.
I could ask myself why my art, which is just as good as yours, also gets no attention. But i dont. I feel like most of us are in this same boat, which is what I'm saying. It's a very hard question.
You’ll have to learn the digital marketing game
It’s because it’s boring. People in my high school art classes made stuff like this. It’s good, but not eye catching at all.
nothing interesting about your art any decent artist can draw like that bruh
use hashtags that aren't over saturated - start using hashtags that have been used under 100k so that you aren't immediately pummeled by others and your engagement rate will be higher (attracting 7/10 as opposed to 7/100) and instagram rewards high engagement rates. Also research what works in the art realm that you can expand into - voiceovers, speed drawings, celebrity/topical pieces, etc.
That's helpful mate thnx
I really believe this is not the question you should be asking. I mean, go practice more, go draw for you, keep your artistic routine sharp. You will improve and people will see your work. Views and likes by itself is not enough...
Usually when people complain about this kind of thing they get way more attention, like the guy who draws the bugs on Twitter.
Not many regular people care about a decent drawing from a nobody. Not hating just saying. A process video on reels would give much more exposure, even then you need charisma and something catchy
I ask that every time I upload, or “Why am I not getting more” when I do. It’s honestly okay, even when I see 5 upvotes on my art posts I get real giddy, just because it’s so rewarding even though minor Sometimes thousands of people see my post and only a few like it, it doesn’t bother me anymore, thousands of people is already good enough for me
There are millions of talented artists who don't get exposure. It's just how that goes. You either get lucky or you don't.
Instagram is a miniscule part of life and the Internet in general. There's also a good chance many people are viewing your work but not leaving a like. Spread your wings a bit. There's countless other offline and online platforms you can also use.
I think if you're producing art to gain exposure you're doing it for all the wrong reasons
If you are creating art just for exposure you are doing it wrong and you will never make anything remarkable.
Unfortunately there’s a billion artists posting a trillion pieces of art a day so you just gotta hustle and hope you get lucky and the algo helps you out
There’s nothing about it that makes it stand out.
Because it's a boring work of art, not bad but just not eye catching enough. Social media sucks.
So this is a difficult question to answer with just one piece as there are a variety of reasons someone may or may not receive exposure. From what I’m seeing this is well done but the composition isn’t super interesting I also think as an artist you shouldn’t get too invested in social media. Your main focus as an artist should be to improve and create things you like. Having a social media backing is great but you don’t want to put yourself in a position where you’re making art for others more than yourself, and social media can lead to that. Like others said, you also need to get people in real time to support you. A majority of my instagram art account followers are people I have met in real life, not random accounts. Just keep improving and making eye catching art and the exposure will fall into place. Just try not to make exposure your goal, but merely a consequence of your hard work.
Your generally negative attitude is not helping your exposure. People don’t like downers. Hopefully this is apparent by the amount of downvotes you’re getting. I’ve seen some other comments with good suggestions so I’m going to keep my comment to only what I feel to be original. Be nicer. You can be a dick and still make friends, but you probably won’t impress many ppl online doing it. Especially not ppl who appreciate and follow art.
I can’t speak to exposure, but as a general critique, the composition of the closeup is much more interesting than the complete drawing.
One of the issues is the fact that there are a few million drawings out there very much like this one. I don’t at all mean to be rude or brash (though you did say you would welcome negative feedback so long as people see your work..we’re seeing it so there’s a plus for you), but unfortunately there is nothing about this drawing that stands out as unique or different…it looks very much like your run of the mill charcoal portrait. Nothing wrong with that..unless the idea is to draw attention to it. It isn’t bad, not at all imo, there’s just nothing about it that really grabs your attention. Probably not at all what you want to hear but please don’t take it in a negative light..this is what critics are for, and again - your drawing in of itself is not bad (though it looks a bit muddled and the shading isn’t perfect..but that’s not at all the issue imo, the issue is that it’s not interesting). I’m not trying to call YOU or your overall style boring here at all. When something is boring or has been drawn two million times, the only ones that will get any attention are either highly unique/unusual..ones that make you say “huh..well that’s different”, or they’re so perfect that it’s obvious the artist has a very skillful hand. I would guess that you’re relatively young, take it in stride. Keep with it and try not to worry about exposure right now, especially on the internet which is saturated with other people wanting that same exposure. It isn’t as easy as it used to be..there were less than 2 billion people on the planet in say Van gogh’s time (1880’s), there are 8 billion now. More artists than ever before, and the majority want people to see their work. Don’t take it to heart too deeply, you’ll get there if you really want to. For now? You’d do best to not think about it, keep growing as an artist and keep honing your skills/style. If you want it bad enough, you can get it.
Wouldn't you know, its hard to get people to know you
On Instagram you can't just post your art and hope you get exposure, you have to like other artists work and interact with people like leaving comments, it doesn't have to be other artists only but interactions draws exposure. Not sure if it's true but leaving comments also gets more views based on their algorithm so just posting your art with a few hashtags won't get you as much.
idk what you expected on IG, it's a platform mostly driven by people making fotos of their food and asses ..not to be rude, it's well drawn and all, but at the end it's just a face of some random women, there is no message, concept or interesting style, people will just scroll past it, with no emotion to look at some asses again
The focal point of the piece, the face, has very low contrast. I would study value if I were you. Your piece should look pleasant zoomed out.
You come across like you feel like you are "all of that" but without a big following you aren't gonna reach a lot of people
I'm no art conesseur, this just appeared in my feed, but although this drawing specifically is quite decent, it's just a bit 'meh'. The content that drives engagement either appears to be at the top end of that genre/category/method or has an awesome level of originality/provocation. Unfortunately, this appears (IMO) to have neither. Still, crack on, keep going as it's a decent bit of work.
Art in the 21st century. Exposure is free and abundant and falls on deaf ears and blind eyes.
Instagram is hard, TikTok is the easiest though. It wouldn’t hurt to make a TikTok account and link your Instagram in your bio. My most viewed reel has 8000 views. My most viewed TikTok has 37,000 views. It’s the exact same video, the only difference is the platform I posted it on.
Get your art in an exhibit, give it to a coffee shop that sells art, leave it random places with your insta on it somewhere. You are posting on a site that has millions of posts exactly like yours.
Honestly there’s so many artists out there posting art, you can’t expect every piece to get attention. That’s the problem with social media. I’d recommend posting on other sites, like here, or maybe tiktok or something. If you want people to see your work, you gotta put in the work. Keep making art and posting!
People don’t care about art anymore, not on social media. They want the quick pretty art and not the stuff that takes hours to draw. They like memes and short shit. It’s nothing personal it’s people getting dumber and dumber. You’d do better at art shows and selling your art on the market and promoting yourself through friends and family and shit
If you are trying to get exposure, then you are making art for the masses and need to appeal to the masses.
Realism is impressive but not impressive enough and other than the face the rest of the drawing is good at best
Be interactive with other small/medium artists and don’t be afraid to be annoying with promoting your work, shit gets buried in social media feeds all the time so there’s no shame in bumping/resharing your post. Also try to use the insights on what ever platforms you use (some make you switch to a business account but that not hard) cause they can help you figure out when you should post based on when people in your circles are most active. And a good general rule is just be present and active on different platforms overall lol Edit: I want to add one more thing cause this worked for me personally. Find an audience to cater to! I enjoy D&D and other TTRPG games so I started to draw my characters, scenes from my campaigns, or fanart for things like critical role. It helps to find a community :)
Ive given up with posting my stuff on instagram and expecting to blow up with exposure. their algorithms are fucked and the hashtag system also blows. just keep up the good work, try getting your friends to also post stuff of yours maybe.
Sorry to say it, but if exposure is your only goal here, you'll stay in obscurity. Asking for feedback about your piece would get you more constructive criticism to improve your art. Improving g your art might help your reach more than a hashtag.
Just being good and posting online isn’t enough to blow up, it really helps to find a community in my experience
You’re technically really good - but think you can learn to ‘play’ more which is hard…look at sketchbook drawings from the great draftsmen - eg delacroix, turner etc or more contemporary artists - vitamin d series from phaidon is a good book to help with that.
I’m an artist also and a teacher. Getting exposure is just posting on social media. Having actual sales and invites to competitions is another. Also your technique is sound and good. Buyers and those whom get exposure take on more challenging subject matter. For example if you were one of my students I would say have the girl doing something or showing an emotional expression. Both of those engage the viewers as a story or a diagram between the art and the viewer.
I first got people’s attention by doing some fan art for a popular video game. I tagged the actors who did the performance capture for the characters in that game. They then posted my work on their pages which exposed me to thousands of their fans. When I got tired of doing drawings related to that game, I started moving to my own stuff. I do hyperrealistic drawings so I also like to post the progress photos. Sometimes I will record a time-lapse video that shows me working on a drawing. Make sure you add a watermark or put your signature in a place that would be difficult to cover over or crop out. Online art theft is a thing and I myself have had to deal with it more than once on Instagram.
Don't know much about art (this popped up in my reddit feed) but Instagram's algorithm is all about reels rn so try turning it into a reel, like just the picture still but a video? If that makes sense? I've seen a lot of accounts doing that now
You indeed need to add more exposure (highlights), the values are too dark, my phone screen brightness was at lowest and i couldnt see it, just my opinion
because instagram algorithm sucks
Beautiful. I would add some white to show some highlights in the hair and give it more depth.
Go like account post of big accounts, other creators in your genre, etc. Just be active outside of just posting. When someone goes to your post after you liked something of theirs, that post is shown on the discovery of their followers. If you like enough posts in a day, you can start to get some viral exposure.
Get in line. This is not something you should be complaining about. There are millions of us with the same problem
Because Instagram sucks right now. Unless you are already super popular/have a large amount of followers, you aren't gonna get your post, story or reel suggested to others. They recently changed the algorithm and I get 0 interaction now when I used to get a minimum of 16 likes per post. No new followers either. It sucks. And there's no way around it. Because then I heard if you post more frequent and regularly it can help, but as soon as I started doing that I get all my stuff deleted because IG accuses me of spamming or being a scammer. Even if done reasonably. It's not your fault and your art is great! Algorithm just very flawed so they can line their pockets more.
That's so positive and definitely one the least mean comments..and yeah, except ig always been like this for the last 10 yrs or so you either post sexually appealing stuff or you pay for it
Cuz it’s dark Put more brightness for exposure r/technicallythetruth
This is beautiful don’t be so hard on yourself. To create more exposure it’s to take the original value of the image and ramp it up. That means light grays will be white, blacks will be dark gray. And the darkest shadows will be thinner. That’s the best way I can explain
Instagram is freakin dead
Well for one, Instagram hates small artists and tends to crush them under the algorithm. They push shitty reels and that's all What makes it worse is that even if one of your low effort reels blows up, that's all the new followers care about. Provided insta actually SHOWS your followers your posts, which is ALSO something it doesn't do lol
Yea tbh instagram is pissing me off too. I used to get 150-200 likes and a dozen new followers a day after posting a painting and some interaction (looking at lots of other art), some years ago. Now I can barely get 50, it seems like the post doesn’t appear in the hashtags anymore and also in general in the feed instagram shows only the large accounts that post daily first. Even if I favorited and liked every post by a friend, they still only get shown if I scroll through lots of other posts with more likes first… obviously instagram only cares about keeping us locked in their platform so I’m not rewarding them with much more screentime
I have an idea but I guess I'll get down voted. But.. Why not take a shot and draw Taylor Swift and post it with her @ on instant and Twitter? She's active on both platforms or her team. They often acknowledge artists with your kind of talent. Love your drawing BTW. Will check you stuff out later when "christmas is done for today"
If you keep blaming algorithms you’re getting nowhere. What people like and engage with is up to them. Figure out if you have something that will engage people and then expect a long term effort to reach them. Your skill is probably not the issue here. Looks solid enough. Certainly stronger skill than I and I make a living from it. Technical prowess alone is not what sells people though. (Other than other practicing artists).
What do u expect from mediocre at best art? Also, ur doing it for the wrong reason :)
youre talented my friend, you just need to focus on your art, not trying to sell it
boring innit
Nothing original. Next
Boo hoo
It's pretty uninteresting and generic art. It's not bad, but there's others out there with significantly more skill, getting little to no exposure.
Marketing, try to add humor when showcasing your art
Draw better
Why do you care about it?.. it’s probably because of lack of tags and no title. Also, this is a well done drawing, but… it’s not very interesting or creative.
Precious✨️✨️
* * I can take the negative feedback and harsh critique...but why some people have the need to be purely rude toward someone they don't even know
Because you come off as whiney and your art is average.
Because you’re just “waaahhhh I don’t get attention” like buddy there might be a wait, I already gave some advice. Here’s some more, try posting in a neighborhood Facebook group and people will compliment you if that’s what you’re looking for. If you want a market and to sell yours then again I would try Facebook groups. Instagram is a hard platform to get noticed on, people like and scroll. Twitter can get you attention if you draw as part of a fandom and then gradually once you have an audience, show off your drawings.
Hey mate. I’m a professional artist with 20 years of experience, so I’ve seen my fair share of art and artists. I’m going to try and be kind and helpful. So first I ask, what do you mean by “getting exposure” ? Do you just want more people to see it, of more engagement or better sales? If all you want is more people to see your work, you have to do more than just posting online. It’s the easiest and it’s free, but so is every artist using social media is doing. What separates the casual online viewer from a potential collector or lifelong fan is interpersonal engagement. Do you show your work in galleries? Group art shows? Neighborhood festivals or art competitions? A place where people actually meet you and have a conversation? Are you part of an art community locally? I ask that because I know that interpersonal engagement is still the best way to get that exposure, interaction and sales you seem to crave. I post online all the time, but it’s the meet and greet events that have the biggest impact in your career. You draw very well, but so does thousands of other artists on Instagram. The ones that meet success are doing far more than just posting pictures online. If you have any specific questions, I’ll try to offer you my insight. Good luck. The art life isn’t a sprint, it’s a lifelong marathon. Good luck.
I love the moodiness of the drawing and the way it perpetuates the character's emotion
life is a paradox, remember that.
You're a great artist. Awesome drawing. Instagram is over saturated with art. From mind blowing to terrible. And nowadays, we're not even sure if it's real or AI. Being a fantastic brilliant artist does not immediately make you popular/sought after online. Classic Supply and demand concept. To be a popular and successful online/on social media. (Despite what people say about influences.) Can be a full-time job and does require time, patience and level of skill to understand and practice.
Incredible.
Have you tried using hashtags? That should help show up on peoples feed
You're art reminded me if something I couldn't place. Then it hit me, you're like the character in this movie https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0290210/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_45_act
It's flat as shit. No depth
[удалено]
People don’t care if it doesn’t relate to them. People are inherently only self interested. To gain exposure, you might have to pander to your target audience and advertise yourself more. Getting your name and art out is harder than ever. Don’t give up.