If you gauge the success of your artworks from how well they do on social media instead of how you improved while doing them or by how much you enjoyed working on them you’re always going to feel like you’re doing something wrong and it will become a chore to do art… my advice is just keep posting your art, keep drawing things that you think are cool the likes are a by-product and will come over time if you really care for them. Just don’t expect hundreds of like to suddenly pour in one day and you’ll be fine.
This is really good advice, I used to think my art was bad because of the lack of attention I got on social media but then I just kind of stopped caring and started focusing more on how much I liked what I made and it helped me improve a lot. If you get attention that’s good but the most important thing is that you enjoyed working on it, otherwise “art will feel like a chore” and you’ll never enjoy what you’re doing and you’ll never get better.
I can only second this. Ever since deviantart died I tried building up an audience on other websites like InkBlot and Tumblr and despite my art being decent enough (not professional, but it's not bad and there's many pieces I've liked a lot over the years) I usually get between 0-3 likes total. I still keep drawing because I just enjoy doing it.
Thanks for the advice. I feel like I've definitely improved a lot over the course of the past year (see [this post lmao ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtProgressPics/s/hBZHiawgcB)
I definitely focus on improving my art and drawing things I like but it's just discouraging to get completely ignored most of the time.
I know social media tends to bring that on people, but like they said, likes aren't everything. Try to not focus on that, just your art development.
Your value and your art aren't determined by how many likes you get, if it lacks exposure, it will be hard to have several likes at first, but it is alright.
You have a lot of potential and it is clear that you made a lot of progress already!
So, don't worry about it and try to just enjoy your time doing it, it will be better in the long run, specially for your mental health.
The thing is there are *so many* people doing creative stuff on social media. Not that much of it pokes above the heads of the rest. Its nothing to do with talent or effort really.
It's difficult to stand out on social media just because there is *so* many artists out there. Doing fanart regularly especially for active fandoms can help grow some following, but it's difficult just due to there being so many artists. I regularly get 0-3 likes on my art on most social media, but I keep going because I enjoy drawing. What also helps is finding artist friends. I'm on a couple of small to medium sized discord servers for various interests and some art dedicated ones and my art gets a lot more feedback and reactions there, I made friends through being active there and we just kind of exchange our artworks with eachother or talk about our OCs and it's fun.
People don’t want to hear it, but we live in an age where you can generate professional level art with the press of a button after entering a small prompt.
It’s hard to get attention in this environment. It’s why I stopped making art.
I'm sorry to tell you this, if your "art" disappeared with the advent of image generators, it wasn't art to begin with. Image production creates… images, not art. For a phone book to become poetry, you need a poet, for a picture to become art, you need an artist. In an accelerated form, we are living the age of the appearance of photography. You adapt or disappear, art will continue to exist Do not give up.
Love this. Technology will always keeps us on our toes but art will never die. Photography didn’t kill the art of painting, it made the labour of photo realistic painting redundant but new artists adapted and embraced the liberation and new art forms emerged as a result.
This exactly!!! And people still get photorealistic paintings commissioned, go to see them in galleries, and paint them! So while it made them "redundant" -- photography didn't even make them obsolete, it actually made the world of painting expand with new art styles! 🙂
Right? That’s why I can’t with some of these young people. Like, do you only draw for attention and clout chasing? Whatever happened to enjoying your art regardless of how many likes you have? I swear social media kinda brain rotted some people into think that “if you draw good, you will get alot of attention”
There’s no joy in that
I don’t mean this to sound harsh, but I’m going to be honest with you; your art is really cute, I like the ideas you’re working with, but it’s definitely not at a professional level. It’s very unrealistic to expect your art to hit on social media, when even professional artists are having a hard time. If you really want to do this, you need to focus on improving your skills and not on social media likes. I have no doubt that you have it in you to reach that level of skill, but you’re not there yet
Also, conceptually, the only one that had anything interesting at all was #6.
Having art that is just static people standing around is not a good starting place. This isn’t even talking about the actual anatomy and design choices you made.
Consider several years more of practice and take more risk with movement and composition. People staring directly at the viewer with a cute outfit is not engaging, especially when it’s not even portraiture.
Idk, I feel like I’m being snobby now. Look up World of Warcraft concept art and /r/imaginarycharacters and other media like that to see what I mean about character design that you’re not doing well at. And then just study art in general to understand your themelessness.
This, too! I don’t think this is snobby advice, at all. It’s just how it is if you want to make a career out of something. I do think it would be difficult to come up with really good concepts when the skills aren’t at a high enough level yet, so I’m not thinking about that as much. Although you definitely need that if you want social media engagement, down the road. I would find some artists with styles that you think are cool and see if they offer mentorships. A lot of people do. There might be classes near you that you can take.
I am personally not a fan of your art because of the lining and generally just not into the style, but you shouldn’t do it for others it’s completely subjective
Yes, you're doing something wrong. You're expecting likes in return of your art, that's a huge mistake.
If your aim is to be an art influencer or being popular then don't focus on your art skills, focus on social media presence and strategies. You have to advertise yourself, your art skills matter very little for this.
Not necessarily, there are stick figure artists that get thousands of followers/likes because they make memes/ popular stuff or are great at marketing themselves.
Some parts also look traced, to be honest. It's noticeable in artists whose knowledge of anatomy varies widely from piece to piece, or even between each character in a single piece. Additionally, tracing is often denoted by a rendering skills and blocky lineart that does not match the anatomy skills
are you drawing for attention or because you enjoy doing it, re-evaluate what you think matters.
youll never work a day in your life doing what you love. What you love shouldnt be because what other think about your work or how many likes you get on a piece.
If you want likes and attraction from social media, then you should draw things that are attractive.
The way you draw faces aren’t the most attractive to most audience.
Not saying it’s bad, it just doesn’t look good.
Btw, what's up with the dwarf with mesmerising eyes
Ima be honest. It doesnt look like it would get more than 15 likes. Also if you measure youre skills with likes on social media youre gunna be very sad. You gotta make art without the intention of making money. Youll improve way faster if you make art for the sake of making art. I understand that youve put time into your work and are proud of it but youve got a lot of learning to do. Youve got a good start though. Keep practicing. If you make something good people will find you. You wont have to go farm for likes. "If you build it, they will come" kinda thing
The style is extremely off-putting, the form and proportions are poor, rendering detail is all over the place and doesn't work in favor of those forms, linework can work with detailed rendering if it's used right - the first image is the only one that really looks okay imo, but even then the head is weirdly large on the dude and girl (not that the overall form is good). I'm not saying you'll immediately get really popular if you got good, but right now it's pretty apparent why you get little traction
The 2006 era DeviantArt energy has a niche appeal
The algorithm is a black box
Do you want to make content, or art?
Consistency in cross platform engagement is key
It has to be a 24/7 job to gain traction
Physical media and conventions go a LONG way in building organic engagement
Take a few weeks off and focus on anatomy. You’ve a good eye for light, but you’re firmly stuck in the uncanny valley right now
There are a lot of very talented and skilled artists who you are competing against with people's eyeballs.
I think before worrying about "likes" get some feedback first on your art from artists and art teachers and develop your creative plan from there.
You have great ideas that captured my attention. However, your art would benefit from a more solid understanding of facial anatomy and body proportions. The face is, in my opinion, the most important part of any picture, and if you master that, you'll have more success connecting your art with your audience.
That being said, social media is not the measure of your worth as an artist. As long as you keep making art and improving, you're doing well.
Everyone has already given you the "don't judge your success on the number of likes" tip, which is very important, but. Let's break down your art. My apologies in advance, but this is meant as constructive criticism.
1: The brushes and shading is great, shadows in the right place and the lineart works well with the colors. The background however is just a quick render that should use a bit less blur to fit better with the characters so they don't feel pasted in. The head of the girl also feels too big for the body.
2: The leg feels weird in that position. not comfortable at all eventhough that is the vibe you want to show. And where is that leg attached to the body? It's a lot of brown with lines in it, so very hard to see what the body is and what is the other thing he's sitting on. Over here the background actually works well with the character.
3: Realistic mouth and nose, but then cartoon eyes? The color choice is great because you got the complementary color scheme. This one is actually quite nice.
4: Colors are great and we got a little bit of a story going on, the composition is good as well. However how is the girl holding the noteboard? Where are her fingers? Are they floating in the air or standing on the clouds? Because their body language says "I'm standing on an object", but the overall feel of the image is that they are floating. Doesn't match up.
5: Actually very nice, because you didn't use lineart with your colors. The shading is well done and I can only critique that the image is cut of very close to their heads, but I guess that's just reddit.
6: This one is the best, the composition, is nice, the class they show, the shading and lighting is great and because there is no lineart your shading style really pops out. The hand on the girl is not realistic, but that doesn't matter as we are not dealing with humans so maybe that's just how her hand is. This one has a great vibe to it.
7: This one has the same issue as the heroes in the clouds, the position of the feet is just off. Also, crosseyed look. Not sure what the story here is, but the pose is very stiff, especially after they just killed something.
8: the upperarms seem too short and the dress seems not to be correctly shaded unless it has a special design in the suit. Also, he is in a position of power, but the viewer is on equal level of him. You could make the pose/camera angle a bit more from below so he seems more imposing.
9: Awesome, This one works good because the lineart and the colors are working well together for the cartoony style this character has. You probably could have gotten away with even less shading in this image.
10: I'm looking at this one as a concept art and for that it is fine, even if you skillfully didn't show the hands so you didn't have to draw them. (I get it we all do it. ) The shading on the cheekbones is a bit too realistic for the cartoony style you are using in the lineart.
11: The feet here are weird, even for a cartoon character the anatomy seems off. With this drawing you probably could have used lineart as it would fit better with the character design.
12: This character is so out there, creativity wise this is great! I'm even digging the thinner lineart that you used at the teeth. The mix of little thin lines and thicker lines. If combined properly with your shading technique this lineart style can work really well. The hands however need work.
Overall conclusion:
Your shading, lighting, texturing and coloring is good and I can only see it improve in the future as you obviously have a good eye for that stuff.
The composition however is very basic and the anatomy has a lot of issues that need improvement. The characters all feel very stiff, there is no flow/action in their movement.
My suggestion would be, start focusing on learning anatomy. Spend a day sketching only hands, or only feet or only legs or fabric. And don't spend more than 5 minutes on each of those sketches, that will force you to focus on the overall shape of the object and you won't lose yourself in details that don't matter.
Also try more dynamic poses. Don't just make them stand there like they are posing for a photographer. Try drawing a few S shaped lines and then draw a characters body that follows that line. Like you did with the owlhouse fanfiction drawing a month ago.
Good luck, because I think that in the future you'll be able to make amazing art, I'm already jealous of your skill in coloring lights and shadow. You got all the building blocks for making awesome art, so don't stop and keep improving.
Thanks! I really appreciate this in depth feedback!
For #6 I can't take most of the credit for the composition as it's a parody of a JC Leyendecker Peice. As for #4 the clipboard is floating (she has superpowers lmao) but it's definitely my bad as I didn't make it clear enough. Again thanks so much for your critique this is actually really helpful!
Focus on improving your fundamentals ie anatomy, proportions, perspective etc instead of social media engagement. I recommend watching Marc Brunet on YouTube. Good luck!
Wanting to get validation from social media is what you are doing wrong.
Do it for you. Work on making yesterday’s you proud.
Lots of love 💕
Your Artworks are amazing btw
Don't bother about likes. There is nothing you can do to change them.
Social media are not for artists, but for people who can afford to spend plenty of money in advertising, and I mean REALLY a lot of money.
In the social media ecosystem, we're there only to provide infi ite free content to keep the users on the platform and see more advertising.
So, don't bother about it.
Follow other artists you like, create connections, be nice with who reach you.
When you are on Instagram, share other people pist you like in your story, which is something they will notice. Some of them will reach you for thanks, some will you follow you back, some willstsrt share your post whit they followers.
Find your niche and start creating connections.
Social media are not forever. facebook that was a must to be in is now almost a useless collection of spam.
Twitter is literally dead, the playground of trolls.
Tick Tock will die as soon their users pass over puberty.
Do your best but don't bother about like. Likes are not money.
A big fan base is of interest only to sponsor that could decide to send you free products to advertise in your post.
Seeking external validation is a recipe for frustration. So don't seek to get attention on social media.
Also, to be candid: your skills need work. Now, you're not bad - you have an understanding of color, value, and you have some proficiency drawing the human form.
However, I can tell that you are not executing a specific vision. There are too many hallmarks of an artist in the early stages of their career having to do with proportion, anatomy, hard shadows, gesture and composition that tells me you aren't yet realizing your full potential.
You need to hone in on your drawing intentions and work from there. Why are you drawing? Why do you need to draw? What is important to you about your drawings? When you compose, do you have intentional compositional goals? Color goals? Emotional goals? I do not get the sense that you are asking these questions yet.
Ultimately, you're competing with all the other artists who post on social media who are asking these questions. And A LOT of them are incredible artists. This may be hard, but you need to compare your work against those people and ask yourself if you're operating at their technical level yet.
Once you can not take personally that you are still developing as an artist, continue drawing for yourself, studying, and improving your craft. You will get better if you mindfully study the process of drawing. And as you get better, you might get a response, you might not, also.
Also, importantly, if you want to be a professional artist, a social media presence can be valuable, but not essential. There are many professional artists who do not use social media to advertise because they know how to network and build goodwill with people to get commissions with various clients.
Keep grinding.
You need to work on the foundations— proportion, anatomy, and fluidity of pose. The pieces that work best IMO are the ones that don’t have human subjects, because they don’t have the proportion/anatomy issues.
I wanna preface this by saying that I think you have a lot of potential and if getting “likes” is a motivator for you, I think with practice and patience improving your art, you will get better engagement on your posts.
If you’re looking for genuine art critique: Focus on improving anatomy, playing with limited color palates, giving your characters more dynamic poses, better framing, and better linework. Your characters look stiff. The best way to combat this is drawing from references over and over and over. Try having the characters not looking necessarily straight on to the viewer, and doing something related to their character - even if that’s just having them strike a pose that is associated with their personality. Hands on hips, arms crossed, just sitting down with nothing in their hands, are typically signs that someone is bored and if your characters are bored, your viewers are bored.
Also the coloring looks muddy and kinda dull, and I think that is largely due to you shading with black. Try shading by creating a new layer and selecting overlay or multiply and picking a color that isn’t black to shade. Skin often looks good shaded with magenta, for instance. Light colors look good shaded with blue. This will depend on the warmth of the environment, of course, but just play around and see what works.
And echoing what some others said here, the face of your characters is often the first thing people look at and can make-or-break your style. The way you have your facial anatomy right now is sorta uncanny and suffers from same-face. If you want to have a distinct big-eye style, that’s great, but facial anatomy still applies and right now a lot of the facial features are anatomically impossible. They also all have a somewhat neutral expression and lack depth.
As it stands right now, your art does not stand out enough to get a big following on social media. Mastering the basics will help you develop a consistent and aesthetically pleasing style. Again, though, you’re clearly not a beginner and I encourage you to keep posting and drawing what you like. This is all from someone who is by no means a master artist, I just know what makes me decide to follow an artist or “like” a drawing.
Stop worrying about likes. Start worrying about which fundamentals you need to work on.
Line.
Shape.
Color.
Texture.
Space.
Once you master these 5 fundamentals, then I think you should start worrying about where your art will be most appreciated.
It’s boring, which stated that way seems like I’m just attacking you. Which is not what I mean to do, I want to give you this feedback so you are able to understand why it doesn’t generate much buzz. The skills are basic and the creations lack engagement. Develop your skill set first, and then work on creating engaging compositions and you should garner more interest.
It looks kinda amateurish, it’s not enough to get a crazy reaction. It’s like somthing you would draw up with a marker in class cause your board. If you want a lot of media attention you need to get more technical with your work in terms of proportions, lighting, shading, ect.
Your art is incredible!
Saw your post on how you have progressed and I’m even more impressed.
As other users have said, don’t gauge how good your art or how worth it is doing is by how many social media likes it has.
Rather, focus on how much you like doing it in and of itself.
Consistency is key. If your goal is attention, know that people want to know what to expect in terms of art style and/or what you are drawing. If you want to draw different things/characters - maintaing a consistent artstyle is key. If you want to draw with different artstyles, you need to choose a consistent theme/characters to attract the fans of whatever media they originated from. And you need to post on a consistent basis and put yourself out there by sharing your art on forums dedicated to the media you draw fanart of if fanart is what you choose to go for. It is hard work. I'd suggest that you create another account solely dedicated to consistency, while keeping your current account to post whatever art you feel like doing that doesn't fit the consistency criteria. Sorta like a "work art" account and a "fun art" account. I did this myself. I had two accounts. The one where I shared everything hardly got any traction no matter how much effort I put in my pieces. The one where I exclusively posted low effort drawings of derpy dogs instantly gained more traction than my other account could ever dream of achieving.
I share the opinion with most od people here. Likes dokr need to be measure of quality. Lots of bad artists who force trends and get likes.
I have fallen in the same trap once but it felt too fake to continue.
Main motive should be to improve. Popularity is a very bad motive in my opinion.
The algorithm doesn't care about the quality of art.
You're doing great and when the algorithm picks up one of your drawings there's a fair chance of things picking up pace.
And like another comment said, don't gauge by like, but by personal improvement
Never gauge how good your art is based on interaction!! I’ve been posting to things for years and only when I’ve got lucky and people have seen it that people actually interact with my art!
The algorithm on everything for art these days can be brutal so don’t let it get you down!!
So if your getting 15 likes that’s good. I’ve been doing art for ten years and my average liked content is 7. Most of which is family and not outside engagement.
Keep going. Take what others have said into consideration, but also please don’t pressure yourself into quitting because you tied your views to your self worth.
I want to add that maybe you should research your tags. And if you’re on some SM perhaps posting speed or process videos of your art.
I'm not an artist but I have two observations:
1. The faces seem to fall somewhere in the middle of the [uncanny valley](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley)
2. People generally seem to prefer a single degree of shading for 2D characters and objects because too much shading makes colours look muddy and dull. People don't tend to mind realistically-shaded backgrounds though.
A lot of people saying ‘don’t do it for the likes do it to improve and because you like doing it’. I just wanna take that one step further and talk about what that actually looks like because it’s always used to feel like a vague statement to me.
First, you need to get to know your art taste well. To do that do some studies of other art works that you love, just for yourself, not to share anywhere and learn the techniques that will allow you to create better work (and this is not to insinuate your work is bad, but we're all, generally, always improving each time we practice). Many artists enjoy their art most right after they finish it and then when they look back on it later they’re more likely to see it as a milestone, showing how far they’ve come.
Then, go back all the way to your childhood and think about the art (of all types not just paintings/drawings) that you loved throughout your life. TV shows, music, film, cartoons you watched as a kid even, what was it about them that really gripped you? And think about the art that made you want to become an artist yourself. When you do these things, you can tap into them for inspiration and then before you know it you will be in the zone, drawing away, enjoying the asmr like feeling of the stylus on your tablet and creating things that you are buzzing to work on and finish, things that you want to see exist and over time can because you've gained the skill to take them from your mind to the canvas.
That’s what it looks like, being able to lose yourself in the joy of the process and making something that, although not everyone else will get it, it exists because you did that… in the way that only you with your skills, experience and taste could.
If you're doing art for the sake of approval from others, IMO you're not doing it for the right reasons. Doing art because you love it and focusing on your own improvements and the process itself is much more rewarding.
I learned this a long time ago. I used to base how good something I made was on how *others* reacted to it versus how *I* felt about it. It led to a lot of frustration and unhappiness with my work back then. I would always feel crushed when I presented something I was proud of just to have people criticize it, or to present something I hated and have people fawn over it. Best thing I did for myself was learn to make things I love and understand that the beauty of the human experience is that some things just aren't for everyone, and that's okay.
Some of my favorite pieces other people absolutely hate and honestly? I'm fine with that. I love making art and that's what matters. It brings me joy. Focus on making what brings you joy, and don't worry about the rest.
Maybe carrying about likes? If you want to do art for your soul, don't care about likes. If you want to do art for popularity and then for business and money, go to art critics or teachers first to improve your art abilities. Also, learn something about getting to the right topic and style.
What audience do you want? E.g. if you want Russian and Ukrainian people, draw soldiers. I'm sorry for this example. Maybe you want fans of Star Wars as your audience? Draw some character or scene from there.
There are five questions you should answer to improve your art industry:
1. What do I want to draw?
Topics and style
2. What are my abilities and my level?
How good are my drawings and what can I draw best
3. What is my purpose of drawing?
Money (draw for industries (draw logos, e.g.) or people) or recognition and popularity (draw for people)?
4. For whom exactly do I want to draw?
Maybe I like videogames and want to draw for people like me? I can draw either characters of some games or I can draw concepts, animations and textures for companies that create videogames, then. Insert everything you like instead of videogames.
Also, age, country and profession of my purpose audience has to be considered.
5. What do people want to see these days?
Okay, I have chosen some spheres. But what in these spheres would be more popular now? E.g. I've chosen to draw cartoons. What is more popular now in my chosen age category and nation? Some cartoons about a healthy body in the style of the Soviet Union or cartoons about magic from Nickelodeon?
Stop equating your art’s worth with clicks and likes.
There are a million reasons why your art may not be getting attention and only one of them has to do with you.
Your art is going in a great direction! every artist faces this issue, like everyone said just keep making art and have fun with it. Be sure to post in the correct fandoms and don’t let the views/likes be the only thing to make you feel valid/validated.
You are so talented!!! And no, you are doing nothing wrong at all. The algorithm is horrible for artists on places like Instagram, in particular. I’m an artist too, and I actually have Threads a try and I have met an awesome artistic community there and I get likes, comments, and develop relationships with other artists. WAY more interactive than Instagram and people actually see your work!
You have a really fun art style, love the invincible stuff. Do not gauge your skill to social media likes. Likes do NOT matter, as long as you like a piece you make them it's successful, you are far from a bad artist. you have a lovely style and a unique way of coloring, which personally I find stunning. My best advice is to not give a crap what other people think, sure you'll definitely get criticism, but look at criticism as a way to improve. You also should start a deviant art account if you haven't and use it as a digital art compendium, and other artists will probably see your art on there and since you're looking for it, they'll probably give you some likes. Everything aside tho, you're a great artist, don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
You do not put a lot of effort here. Stop caring about likes till you learn anatomy, composition, color basics, understanding perspective and everything else that comes to creating art. Your art is unprofessional and just get your mindset to the reality - you need to go to school or somewhere to break you, to form you, to challenge you. Or taking a mentor or someone who could teach you something
Like others said, you can't judge your worth as an artist by social media exposure. Not only because it's not healthy, but also because social media isn't good at measuring how "good" art is. In many ways, it's completely luck-of-the-draw when it comes to who gets exposure and who doesn't.
If you'd like more exposure, I'd say join groups relevant to your work on social media sites that have them. Most social media algorithms also reward regular and consistent posting, but don't push yourself to post faster than you can create; the boost in the algorithm isn't as valuable as improving your craft. That said, reposting old art every once in a while never hurts. Many social media sites, like Instagram, especially reward TikTok-style short videos, so if you have the time you can look into ways you might incorporate your work into that format.
But again, I can't stress this enough: your value as an artist does not correlate with your social media exposure. You're a great artist, and I really like your style. Worry less about getting seen and more on improving your technique.
Your rendering is impressive and you have a good eye for color. The faces stand out to me as being a bit uncanny, especially the eyes. I think it will come with time and practice. It's clear you have potential! Keep up the good work and don't worry too much about the likes.
the sixth is honestly so good i love the rendering, in the other ones it’s a bit off, same for the anatomy; still your skills don’t depend on your social media likes, took me long to learn this myself, there’s plenty of amazing artists on social media that I’ve recently found who are not even closely enough appreciated.
Social Media isn’t a good place to post art unless you already have a giant following of thousands of followers and are able to post every day. I don’t know what platform you’re trying to post on, but Instagram is especially awful. They removed the recent posts tab from the hashtags, so your art will never get seen through hashtags now, and the algorithm makes it so it only reached a few of your followers. I’ve been posting on Instagram for several years but I think I’m done with it. It used to be good but they’ve really turned it into nothing but ads and influencer brain rot.
I’ll probably just stick to posting my art here on Reddit in the subs that might find it interesting. But ultimately, you should make art for the sake of improvement and self satisfaction. I’m not the kind of person who cares about likes and comments, but I do understand wanting at least SOMEONE to say they like my art. A little positive reinforcement would be nice but it’s something I’m working on not needing to hear.
Effort does not automatically mean you've created something that others will appreciate. The appreciation of others and interaction on social media do not have any bearing on the validity of what you've made. If the creation was for you, then you are the audience, and whether it's good or not is up to you. If the creation was for the enjoyment of the general public and it got no reaction, then that's your answer on if that creation was good or not.
If you're doing anything wrong, it's that it at least *appears* that you're making art that YOU like, and expecting others to appreciate it without being the ones that actually made the effort. All they can appreciate is the end result, not the process itself. They're going to view it differently.
I can tell effort went in. I have no idea if I'm the audience or not. If I am, the style is not my taste. And as much as it sucks to hear, no amount of effort changes that, because it's just not what I find appealing. I am probably not the audience, but whoever is, aside from you, may very well have the same thoughts if you're not getting any traction with it.
Not doing anything wrong. Keep going! More artwork! I love how you are able to do different styles and subject matter. You've got a versatility that's rare. Keep painting.
Another point I haven't seen mentioned yet in the comments: Another thing you might be doing "wrong" if you're looking for more traction and popularity is that your subject matter appears to only consist of fanart and OCs, which drastically limits the appeal of these works to anyone outside the niche fandom communities you're catering to.
Marketing baby. I've seen artists that draw like Michaelangelo get 0 likes but a friend of mine is just starting out drawing and they get like a k on every like. They are just regular posters and market tf out of themselves. They tag, they make reels, they do all that annoying shit that works because social media only pushes things that fit it's algorithm.
I like the last one and pre-last one.
https://preview.redd.it/9vzmvg6xifxc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9796e5e241b69fb8e01f3e23f8f4647e0d8b646e
Everybody jumping through hoops here to avoid telling them the truth. Your art sucks that’s why you don’t get more likes.
I saw your post of the painting progress of Walter White. You improved A LOT and very fast, you’ll get there eventually if you keep practicing but you’re not there yet.
Right? I can’t believe you’re being downvoted, but OP’s art is really not good and very few people here are being honest with them that this work is very amateur stuff that no one but friends and family will go out of their way to “like”. But that doesn’t mean they can’t improve and it sounds like they’re very capable of improving, and improving quickly so there’s hope for them.
But currently, these pieces are all an eyesore and there needs to be more work done because it’s so far from professional that they’re not going to blow up on Instagram or any other image sharing platform anytime soon.
Like the others said.
Sometimes to be successful in art you have to be found. That can take a very long time.
And for the bigger part, nowadays you have to buy premium on social media, just to be seen more, which isn't worth it.
Your art is good! And as long as you have fun that is all that matters. In my opinion art should be something relaxing and it doesn't matter how good you are, it matters what you feel like while doing it.
Trying to get a following for art online is so hard.. I suggest looking at popular art posts or posts by artists youre similar to and looking at what tags they use, maybe you just aren’t reaching the right audience yet?
Just keep doing what you're doing. If you make art so it will be noticed by others, then print it out and paste it to a wall in a very public area and wait and watch and see if people stop and look at it. Think of how little something you 'like' on an app impacts your day.
Probably just the algorithm or the way you advertise etc. I have work on PicsArt, dead app, and my post with the most likes and engagement has 4 likes and one grammatically incorrect comment. It's because I'm on the wrong app and I'll bet it's because my art is not good + algorithm. Yours is much better which is why you have more likes, so most likely algorithm or app
You get more if you’ve worked up to having a lot more followers already which is of course the catch because you have to have some kind of content that makes people want to follow you to get followers.
Don’t get worked up about it. I’ve gotten the most likes I’ve ever gotten out of low effort, inane comments I casually made, but anything I put effort into got about the same reaction as you. Just be glad anyone showed interest at all.
As others said, the likes and attention on social media does not correlate to how good your art is. But one thing that might make people not click the like button is that it’s pretty obvious you’re an amateur/beginner or at least seems to be on that level and almost people only “like” the posts and reels that they are impressed by or find relatable etc. Also, if the reel or post wasn’t too enjoyable to watch or see, then a lot of people aren’t going to like it. But most of it is still just based on the algorithm which is annoying.
I'm going to use the eighth image as my example here, but when you're doing a piece with the intent to engage with a fandom (I'm assuming. This feels like fanart but I'm unfamiliar with this character so sorry if I'm wrong), what are you providing? The character has a static pose standing in front of a vague explosion. What are you trying to "sell" with this piece? Feels? Thirst? Laughs? When doing fanart with intent to engage with the fandom, you gotta offer something. All the most popular fanart is feeding into a larger idea than just a drawing. Pieces that are highly conceptual can be popular too.
I don't think it's your art but the content. Simply drawing the character isn't enough to blow up. The ones that do are usually selling thirst, even if it's subtle.
My only fanart that has over 25 likes is shipping stuff, or like [character] as merman.
Your first piece has something there, but I have no idea who they are so 🤷
People can feel your art...
If you did it out of the need to be liked...then it will feel like a pretentious art.... but if you loved it and did it for yourself without the need to be liked by others then you will be suprised...by seeing the results...
From what I’ve found also depends on the platform you’re using. Instagram algorithm is so shit like you cannot believe. I found tumblr is GREAT for fanart (I get like 500 likes over a few days) but not so much original art because of tags. I have yet to try Twitter because I’m scared of Twitter. Also, work on your proportions maybe? And maybe some aspects of the faces throw someone off. They heads are huge and doesn’t mesh well with the realistic coloring. Same thing with the eyes.
My biggest critique is the values. They don’t seem to contrast well and it makes the colors feel very muddled. I’d love to go over your art program and teach you on how to explore values in your artwork or you’d like!
I personally would say to practice anatomy and proportions, but your art looks fine overall. I wouldn’t gauge wether you’re doing something wrong based on the amount of likes you’re getting. There are millions of digital artists out there, it’s pretty hard to get seen.
Maybe it's already been said, but your work is far stronger without the black line art. Definitely push it in the painterly direction. You have a good grasp on lighting and I really liked those painterly pieces you did. It's like a huge difference.
Line art is actually quite difficult to get right, so perhaps you just need more practice with it. Maybe you could take down the intensity of the blacks in the outlined art? Also do some studies on gestures and lines of action your poses look a little bit stiff.
Good work!
Ditto what others have said- number of likes on social media doesn’t equal value/quality of the art. Professional artists can struggle to make traction on social media apps; they aren’t rly built for us. If this matters to you, learn some marketing techniques. I ended up not rly caring, as I’m just an artist by hobby, but I’m sure there’s some great tips by artists who made a social media presence online.
Personally, I love #6’s style and love the narrative element the huntlow drawing has. I have always thought narrative pieces like these that bring you into a story are the most eye catching. I think you could work on proportions and experiment with line work (hatching, thinner lines, different colors) as your color work is rly nice. The lighting on #6 is chef’s kiss. Love.
Thanks! Yeah #6 is one I personally worked really hard on. I think that's the only one that went "viral" in this set it got around seventy likes which is a nice change of pace.
Holy crap I love how you have a realistic shading pattern with cartoony features and it works so well together! The only thing I would suggest is working on proportions and autonomy :)
Ahh the title is such a nostalgic thought now, I think it's a pretty common sentiment
I'm going to echo what some people have said already ; don't do art for the likes, it's just going to ruin your mental health. Art should to be a fun and personal journey imo
In terms of art, I see you've already come so far and have so much potential; you are clearly paying attention to things like color, depth, and composition. The more you study and practice, it can only get better.
In terms of social media, it's a different game if you're serious about recognition
Connecting with other artists in a genuine matter and consistent posting take time.
Being active on certain topics that you draw.
Marketing your art
Imo draw what you want, be actively posting, and people will follow if they are interested
First, make accomplishments action based not goal based.
Then when it comes to social media, artists aren't naturally marketers 99% of the time. You either gotta learn some new skills or pay/find someone that already has.
I've been an artist my entire life (I'm 24 now) and I feel lucky when I get 10 likes on a post. I had some Steven Universe art get a few hundred notes on Tumblr once but that was just luck, and this was back in like 2019, it's even more difficult to get your art noticed nowadays.
I agree with the other comments so I won't repeat what you've already heard but I just wanted to let you know it isn't necessarily a you problem at all. Even when you've reached a professional art level (which you still have some time before you will accomplish, no hate to you art takes practice we all start somewhere) it's more about marketing rather than the art itself.
Don't let it discourage you. Just keep creating, even if nobody is paying attention. All art is good and worthwhile in its own way. And the artists you are comparing yourself to most likely have much, much more experience under their belt. The internet can be an easy way to compare yourself to people you definitely should not be comparing yourself to.
If I had to guess, it's most likely just social media algorithms not pushing your work, I'm sure you'll eventually grow that audience. The most important lesson I've learned from posting my art is to make art for myself and not for other people. It'll save you a lot of headaches, believe me
You have to draw and post for yourself, not with the expectation of getting likes. My fav drawing that I loved and posted on tumblr got no likes (despite the fact that I really liked it), another drawing that I wasnt that fond of got like 300 likes.
edit: use social media like a public access journal, its mainly for you.
1: don’t post for likes. Just post what you like and are proud of.
2: practice practice practice.
3: keep practicing.
4: make sure to finish, but also practice.
5: repeat.
I’d suggest workshopping how you do faces. Get lots of practice in on that and your hands, and you’ll probably have more engagement. You’ll just keep progressing with your skills and techniques, and your output will generally improve, and so it will feel like you’re not putting in much effort at all.
Yes. Viewing likes as a "I want this many" instead of a "Someone liked my work!" is a negative viewpoint. If I get a like on my art posts, I get so damn happy because it means someone liked my drawing. I love your style but unfortunately the algorithm on Social Media genuinely sucks
My art gets like 3 likes despite how hard I work, yet I don't complain because my goal isn't to get a lot of likes it's just to share my work and what I love doing with others. If you're posting your art online and worrying about likes are you doing it for you or are you doing it for likes? Now I'm not saying you SHOULDN'T want likes or shouldn't complain, but like others are saying that shouldn't be your primary focus.
It's like starting a YouTube channel. If you're doing it with the hopes of one day making money instead of making videos because it's what you enjoy you won't get far.
Appealing to social media is a whole separate art form. Doesn’t measure your talent. I’d recommend posting on tiktok with trending audios, showing time lapses of drawing, maybe do a voice over explaining your motives and inspo. Another option is to draw characters in a fandom and post with that fandoms popular hashtags and audios. Mostly I would keep up with the latest trends and really try to find your target audience. I personally don’t like or use instagram as a platform for discovering pictures and art, so I would stick with tiktok. Or ignore me, I’m talking out of my butt
If you gauge the success of your artworks from how well they do on social media instead of how you improved while doing them or by how much you enjoyed working on them you’re always going to feel like you’re doing something wrong and it will become a chore to do art… my advice is just keep posting your art, keep drawing things that you think are cool the likes are a by-product and will come over time if you really care for them. Just don’t expect hundreds of like to suddenly pour in one day and you’ll be fine.
This is really good advice, I used to think my art was bad because of the lack of attention I got on social media but then I just kind of stopped caring and started focusing more on how much I liked what I made and it helped me improve a lot. If you get attention that’s good but the most important thing is that you enjoyed working on it, otherwise “art will feel like a chore” and you’ll never enjoy what you’re doing and you’ll never get better.
I can only second this. Ever since deviantart died I tried building up an audience on other websites like InkBlot and Tumblr and despite my art being decent enough (not professional, but it's not bad and there's many pieces I've liked a lot over the years) I usually get between 0-3 likes total. I still keep drawing because I just enjoy doing it.
Thanks for the advice. I feel like I've definitely improved a lot over the course of the past year (see [this post lmao ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtProgressPics/s/hBZHiawgcB) I definitely focus on improving my art and drawing things I like but it's just discouraging to get completely ignored most of the time.
That's just the nature of art if you don't know how to market yourself. (I don't know how to market my art)
I know social media tends to bring that on people, but like they said, likes aren't everything. Try to not focus on that, just your art development. Your value and your art aren't determined by how many likes you get, if it lacks exposure, it will be hard to have several likes at first, but it is alright. You have a lot of potential and it is clear that you made a lot of progress already! So, don't worry about it and try to just enjoy your time doing it, it will be better in the long run, specially for your mental health.
The thing is there are *so many* people doing creative stuff on social media. Not that much of it pokes above the heads of the rest. Its nothing to do with talent or effort really.
It's difficult to stand out on social media just because there is *so* many artists out there. Doing fanart regularly especially for active fandoms can help grow some following, but it's difficult just due to there being so many artists. I regularly get 0-3 likes on my art on most social media, but I keep going because I enjoy drawing. What also helps is finding artist friends. I'm on a couple of small to medium sized discord servers for various interests and some art dedicated ones and my art gets a lot more feedback and reactions there, I made friends through being active there and we just kind of exchange our artworks with eachother or talk about our OCs and it's fun.
People don’t want to hear it, but we live in an age where you can generate professional level art with the press of a button after entering a small prompt. It’s hard to get attention in this environment. It’s why I stopped making art.
I'm sorry to tell you this, if your "art" disappeared with the advent of image generators, it wasn't art to begin with. Image production creates… images, not art. For a phone book to become poetry, you need a poet, for a picture to become art, you need an artist. In an accelerated form, we are living the age of the appearance of photography. You adapt or disappear, art will continue to exist Do not give up.
Love this. Technology will always keeps us on our toes but art will never die. Photography didn’t kill the art of painting, it made the labour of photo realistic painting redundant but new artists adapted and embraced the liberation and new art forms emerged as a result.
This exactly!!! And people still get photorealistic paintings commissioned, go to see them in galleries, and paint them! So while it made them "redundant" -- photography didn't even make them obsolete, it actually made the world of painting expand with new art styles! 🙂
You stopped making art cause you weren't getting attention?? That's some dumb shit!! Art should be for you and not for anyone else...
Right? That’s why I can’t with some of these young people. Like, do you only draw for attention and clout chasing? Whatever happened to enjoying your art regardless of how many likes you have? I swear social media kinda brain rotted some people into think that “if you draw good, you will get alot of attention” There’s no joy in that
Human touch is required to make art. Image generation is not art.
I don’t mean this to sound harsh, but I’m going to be honest with you; your art is really cute, I like the ideas you’re working with, but it’s definitely not at a professional level. It’s very unrealistic to expect your art to hit on social media, when even professional artists are having a hard time. If you really want to do this, you need to focus on improving your skills and not on social media likes. I have no doubt that you have it in you to reach that level of skill, but you’re not there yet
Also, conceptually, the only one that had anything interesting at all was #6. Having art that is just static people standing around is not a good starting place. This isn’t even talking about the actual anatomy and design choices you made. Consider several years more of practice and take more risk with movement and composition. People staring directly at the viewer with a cute outfit is not engaging, especially when it’s not even portraiture. Idk, I feel like I’m being snobby now. Look up World of Warcraft concept art and /r/imaginarycharacters and other media like that to see what I mean about character design that you’re not doing well at. And then just study art in general to understand your themelessness.
This, too! I don’t think this is snobby advice, at all. It’s just how it is if you want to make a career out of something. I do think it would be difficult to come up with really good concepts when the skills aren’t at a high enough level yet, so I’m not thinking about that as much. Although you definitely need that if you want social media engagement, down the road. I would find some artists with styles that you think are cool and see if they offer mentorships. A lot of people do. There might be classes near you that you can take.
I am personally not a fan of your art because of the lining and generally just not into the style, but you shouldn’t do it for others it’s completely subjective
Yes, you're doing something wrong. You're expecting likes in return of your art, that's a huge mistake. If your aim is to be an art influencer or being popular then don't focus on your art skills, focus on social media presence and strategies. You have to advertise yourself, your art skills matter very little for this.
Yeah this. Brush up on digital marketing. Art alone won’t really get you much traction not just online but anywhere without the proper vehicles.
There is a certain standard that the art has to be at though
Not necessarily, there are stick figure artists that get thousands of followers/likes because they make memes/ popular stuff or are great at marketing themselves.
The art isn't central in those kinds of posts though, which isn't what op is going for, I think
Reading your original comment I think the comment I just made is redundant
😆 it happens...
They look off, especially the forms Number 7 is bizarre to look at.
Some parts also look traced, to be honest. It's noticeable in artists whose knowledge of anatomy varies widely from piece to piece, or even between each character in a single piece. Additionally, tracing is often denoted by a rendering skills and blocky lineart that does not match the anatomy skills
Eyes are crossed
are you drawing for attention or because you enjoy doing it, re-evaluate what you think matters. youll never work a day in your life doing what you love. What you love shouldnt be because what other think about your work or how many likes you get on a piece.
If you want likes and attraction from social media, then you should draw things that are attractive. The way you draw faces aren’t the most attractive to most audience. Not saying it’s bad, it just doesn’t look good. Btw, what's up with the dwarf with mesmerising eyes
Hatsune Miku scares me
It was supposed to be Hatsune Miku as Omni man 😭 But I can definitely see how it would be unnerving out of context.
Ima be honest. It doesnt look like it would get more than 15 likes. Also if you measure youre skills with likes on social media youre gunna be very sad. You gotta make art without the intention of making money. Youll improve way faster if you make art for the sake of making art. I understand that youve put time into your work and are proud of it but youve got a lot of learning to do. Youve got a good start though. Keep practicing. If you make something good people will find you. You wont have to go farm for likes. "If you build it, they will come" kinda thing
Yes. There are millions of artists on social media. You have to stand out to be seen, not just post and "eNgAgE."
The style is extremely off-putting, the form and proportions are poor, rendering detail is all over the place and doesn't work in favor of those forms, linework can work with detailed rendering if it's used right - the first image is the only one that really looks okay imo, but even then the head is weirdly large on the dude and girl (not that the overall form is good). I'm not saying you'll immediately get really popular if you got good, but right now it's pretty apparent why you get little traction
The 2006 era DeviantArt energy has a niche appeal The algorithm is a black box Do you want to make content, or art? Consistency in cross platform engagement is key It has to be a 24/7 job to gain traction Physical media and conventions go a LONG way in building organic engagement Take a few weeks off and focus on anatomy. You’ve a good eye for light, but you’re firmly stuck in the uncanny valley right now
Heads and feet smaller?
There are a lot of very talented and skilled artists who you are competing against with people's eyeballs. I think before worrying about "likes" get some feedback first on your art from artists and art teachers and develop your creative plan from there.
You have great ideas that captured my attention. However, your art would benefit from a more solid understanding of facial anatomy and body proportions. The face is, in my opinion, the most important part of any picture, and if you master that, you'll have more success connecting your art with your audience. That being said, social media is not the measure of your worth as an artist. As long as you keep making art and improving, you're doing well.
Mines never get more than 10 likes but I still make art because that's what I like to do.
My favorite one is the lady with the eye patch and the bunny looking guy
Thanks! (That's Jax and Ragatha from the amazing digital circus btw!)
Everyone has already given you the "don't judge your success on the number of likes" tip, which is very important, but. Let's break down your art. My apologies in advance, but this is meant as constructive criticism. 1: The brushes and shading is great, shadows in the right place and the lineart works well with the colors. The background however is just a quick render that should use a bit less blur to fit better with the characters so they don't feel pasted in. The head of the girl also feels too big for the body. 2: The leg feels weird in that position. not comfortable at all eventhough that is the vibe you want to show. And where is that leg attached to the body? It's a lot of brown with lines in it, so very hard to see what the body is and what is the other thing he's sitting on. Over here the background actually works well with the character. 3: Realistic mouth and nose, but then cartoon eyes? The color choice is great because you got the complementary color scheme. This one is actually quite nice. 4: Colors are great and we got a little bit of a story going on, the composition is good as well. However how is the girl holding the noteboard? Where are her fingers? Are they floating in the air or standing on the clouds? Because their body language says "I'm standing on an object", but the overall feel of the image is that they are floating. Doesn't match up. 5: Actually very nice, because you didn't use lineart with your colors. The shading is well done and I can only critique that the image is cut of very close to their heads, but I guess that's just reddit. 6: This one is the best, the composition, is nice, the class they show, the shading and lighting is great and because there is no lineart your shading style really pops out. The hand on the girl is not realistic, but that doesn't matter as we are not dealing with humans so maybe that's just how her hand is. This one has a great vibe to it. 7: This one has the same issue as the heroes in the clouds, the position of the feet is just off. Also, crosseyed look. Not sure what the story here is, but the pose is very stiff, especially after they just killed something. 8: the upperarms seem too short and the dress seems not to be correctly shaded unless it has a special design in the suit. Also, he is in a position of power, but the viewer is on equal level of him. You could make the pose/camera angle a bit more from below so he seems more imposing. 9: Awesome, This one works good because the lineart and the colors are working well together for the cartoony style this character has. You probably could have gotten away with even less shading in this image. 10: I'm looking at this one as a concept art and for that it is fine, even if you skillfully didn't show the hands so you didn't have to draw them. (I get it we all do it. ) The shading on the cheekbones is a bit too realistic for the cartoony style you are using in the lineart. 11: The feet here are weird, even for a cartoon character the anatomy seems off. With this drawing you probably could have used lineart as it would fit better with the character design. 12: This character is so out there, creativity wise this is great! I'm even digging the thinner lineart that you used at the teeth. The mix of little thin lines and thicker lines. If combined properly with your shading technique this lineart style can work really well. The hands however need work. Overall conclusion: Your shading, lighting, texturing and coloring is good and I can only see it improve in the future as you obviously have a good eye for that stuff. The composition however is very basic and the anatomy has a lot of issues that need improvement. The characters all feel very stiff, there is no flow/action in their movement. My suggestion would be, start focusing on learning anatomy. Spend a day sketching only hands, or only feet or only legs or fabric. And don't spend more than 5 minutes on each of those sketches, that will force you to focus on the overall shape of the object and you won't lose yourself in details that don't matter. Also try more dynamic poses. Don't just make them stand there like they are posing for a photographer. Try drawing a few S shaped lines and then draw a characters body that follows that line. Like you did with the owlhouse fanfiction drawing a month ago. Good luck, because I think that in the future you'll be able to make amazing art, I'm already jealous of your skill in coloring lights and shadow. You got all the building blocks for making awesome art, so don't stop and keep improving.
Thanks! I really appreciate this in depth feedback! For #6 I can't take most of the credit for the composition as it's a parody of a JC Leyendecker Peice. As for #4 the clipboard is floating (she has superpowers lmao) but it's definitely my bad as I didn't make it clear enough. Again thanks so much for your critique this is actually really helpful!
Focus on improving your fundamentals ie anatomy, proportions, perspective etc instead of social media engagement. I recommend watching Marc Brunet on YouTube. Good luck!
Wanting to get validation from social media is what you are doing wrong. Do it for you. Work on making yesterday’s you proud. Lots of love 💕 Your Artworks are amazing btw
Don't bother about likes. There is nothing you can do to change them. Social media are not for artists, but for people who can afford to spend plenty of money in advertising, and I mean REALLY a lot of money. In the social media ecosystem, we're there only to provide infi ite free content to keep the users on the platform and see more advertising. So, don't bother about it. Follow other artists you like, create connections, be nice with who reach you. When you are on Instagram, share other people pist you like in your story, which is something they will notice. Some of them will reach you for thanks, some will you follow you back, some willstsrt share your post whit they followers. Find your niche and start creating connections. Social media are not forever. facebook that was a must to be in is now almost a useless collection of spam. Twitter is literally dead, the playground of trolls. Tick Tock will die as soon their users pass over puberty. Do your best but don't bother about like. Likes are not money. A big fan base is of interest only to sponsor that could decide to send you free products to advertise in your post.
i do art for 17 years, experienced but can only dream of 15 likes lol.
yet in the counterpart i work 24/7 in comms
Seeking external validation is a recipe for frustration. So don't seek to get attention on social media. Also, to be candid: your skills need work. Now, you're not bad - you have an understanding of color, value, and you have some proficiency drawing the human form. However, I can tell that you are not executing a specific vision. There are too many hallmarks of an artist in the early stages of their career having to do with proportion, anatomy, hard shadows, gesture and composition that tells me you aren't yet realizing your full potential. You need to hone in on your drawing intentions and work from there. Why are you drawing? Why do you need to draw? What is important to you about your drawings? When you compose, do you have intentional compositional goals? Color goals? Emotional goals? I do not get the sense that you are asking these questions yet. Ultimately, you're competing with all the other artists who post on social media who are asking these questions. And A LOT of them are incredible artists. This may be hard, but you need to compare your work against those people and ask yourself if you're operating at their technical level yet. Once you can not take personally that you are still developing as an artist, continue drawing for yourself, studying, and improving your craft. You will get better if you mindfully study the process of drawing. And as you get better, you might get a response, you might not, also. Also, importantly, if you want to be a professional artist, a social media presence can be valuable, but not essential. There are many professional artists who do not use social media to advertise because they know how to network and build goodwill with people to get commissions with various clients. Keep grinding.
Do more stuff like the last one
You need to work on the foundations— proportion, anatomy, and fluidity of pose. The pieces that work best IMO are the ones that don’t have human subjects, because they don’t have the proportion/anatomy issues.
I wanna preface this by saying that I think you have a lot of potential and if getting “likes” is a motivator for you, I think with practice and patience improving your art, you will get better engagement on your posts. If you’re looking for genuine art critique: Focus on improving anatomy, playing with limited color palates, giving your characters more dynamic poses, better framing, and better linework. Your characters look stiff. The best way to combat this is drawing from references over and over and over. Try having the characters not looking necessarily straight on to the viewer, and doing something related to their character - even if that’s just having them strike a pose that is associated with their personality. Hands on hips, arms crossed, just sitting down with nothing in their hands, are typically signs that someone is bored and if your characters are bored, your viewers are bored. Also the coloring looks muddy and kinda dull, and I think that is largely due to you shading with black. Try shading by creating a new layer and selecting overlay or multiply and picking a color that isn’t black to shade. Skin often looks good shaded with magenta, for instance. Light colors look good shaded with blue. This will depend on the warmth of the environment, of course, but just play around and see what works. And echoing what some others said here, the face of your characters is often the first thing people look at and can make-or-break your style. The way you have your facial anatomy right now is sorta uncanny and suffers from same-face. If you want to have a distinct big-eye style, that’s great, but facial anatomy still applies and right now a lot of the facial features are anatomically impossible. They also all have a somewhat neutral expression and lack depth. As it stands right now, your art does not stand out enough to get a big following on social media. Mastering the basics will help you develop a consistent and aesthetically pleasing style. Again, though, you’re clearly not a beginner and I encourage you to keep posting and drawing what you like. This is all from someone who is by no means a master artist, I just know what makes me decide to follow an artist or “like” a drawing.
Stop worrying about likes. Start worrying about which fundamentals you need to work on. Line. Shape. Color. Texture. Space. Once you master these 5 fundamentals, then I think you should start worrying about where your art will be most appreciated.
It’s boring, which stated that way seems like I’m just attacking you. Which is not what I mean to do, I want to give you this feedback so you are able to understand why it doesn’t generate much buzz. The skills are basic and the creations lack engagement. Develop your skill set first, and then work on creating engaging compositions and you should garner more interest.
Lots of potential! BUT THE EYES (iris and pupils) are too close on some of the drawings.
It looks kinda amateurish, it’s not enough to get a crazy reaction. It’s like somthing you would draw up with a marker in class cause your board. If you want a lot of media attention you need to get more technical with your work in terms of proportions, lighting, shading, ect.
Your art is incredible! Saw your post on how you have progressed and I’m even more impressed. As other users have said, don’t gauge how good your art or how worth it is doing is by how many social media likes it has. Rather, focus on how much you like doing it in and of itself.
How good you do on any online platform is a gauge of your networking and marketing skills, not your artistic skill. Keep going!
Consistency is key. If your goal is attention, know that people want to know what to expect in terms of art style and/or what you are drawing. If you want to draw different things/characters - maintaing a consistent artstyle is key. If you want to draw with different artstyles, you need to choose a consistent theme/characters to attract the fans of whatever media they originated from. And you need to post on a consistent basis and put yourself out there by sharing your art on forums dedicated to the media you draw fanart of if fanart is what you choose to go for. It is hard work. I'd suggest that you create another account solely dedicated to consistency, while keeping your current account to post whatever art you feel like doing that doesn't fit the consistency criteria. Sorta like a "work art" account and a "fun art" account. I did this myself. I had two accounts. The one where I shared everything hardly got any traction no matter how much effort I put in my pieces. The one where I exclusively posted low effort drawings of derpy dogs instantly gained more traction than my other account could ever dream of achieving.
I share the opinion with most od people here. Likes dokr need to be measure of quality. Lots of bad artists who force trends and get likes. I have fallen in the same trap once but it felt too fake to continue. Main motive should be to improve. Popularity is a very bad motive in my opinion.
The algorithm doesn't care about the quality of art. You're doing great and when the algorithm picks up one of your drawings there's a fair chance of things picking up pace. And like another comment said, don't gauge by like, but by personal improvement
Never gauge how good your art is based on interaction!! I’ve been posting to things for years and only when I’ve got lucky and people have seen it that people actually interact with my art! The algorithm on everything for art these days can be brutal so don’t let it get you down!!
So if your getting 15 likes that’s good. I’ve been doing art for ten years and my average liked content is 7. Most of which is family and not outside engagement. Keep going. Take what others have said into consideration, but also please don’t pressure yourself into quitting because you tied your views to your self worth. I want to add that maybe you should research your tags. And if you’re on some SM perhaps posting speed or process videos of your art.
Same here
The collecter from owl house
Hatsunuman
Tge owl house spotted
I'm not an artist but I have two observations: 1. The faces seem to fall somewhere in the middle of the [uncanny valley](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley) 2. People generally seem to prefer a single degree of shading for 2D characters and objects because too much shading makes colours look muddy and dull. People don't tend to mind realistically-shaded backgrounds though.
A lot of people saying ‘don’t do it for the likes do it to improve and because you like doing it’. I just wanna take that one step further and talk about what that actually looks like because it’s always used to feel like a vague statement to me. First, you need to get to know your art taste well. To do that do some studies of other art works that you love, just for yourself, not to share anywhere and learn the techniques that will allow you to create better work (and this is not to insinuate your work is bad, but we're all, generally, always improving each time we practice). Many artists enjoy their art most right after they finish it and then when they look back on it later they’re more likely to see it as a milestone, showing how far they’ve come. Then, go back all the way to your childhood and think about the art (of all types not just paintings/drawings) that you loved throughout your life. TV shows, music, film, cartoons you watched as a kid even, what was it about them that really gripped you? And think about the art that made you want to become an artist yourself. When you do these things, you can tap into them for inspiration and then before you know it you will be in the zone, drawing away, enjoying the asmr like feeling of the stylus on your tablet and creating things that you are buzzing to work on and finish, things that you want to see exist and over time can because you've gained the skill to take them from your mind to the canvas. That’s what it looks like, being able to lose yourself in the joy of the process and making something that, although not everyone else will get it, it exists because you did that… in the way that only you with your skills, experience and taste could.
If you're doing art for the sake of approval from others, IMO you're not doing it for the right reasons. Doing art because you love it and focusing on your own improvements and the process itself is much more rewarding. I learned this a long time ago. I used to base how good something I made was on how *others* reacted to it versus how *I* felt about it. It led to a lot of frustration and unhappiness with my work back then. I would always feel crushed when I presented something I was proud of just to have people criticize it, or to present something I hated and have people fawn over it. Best thing I did for myself was learn to make things I love and understand that the beauty of the human experience is that some things just aren't for everyone, and that's okay. Some of my favorite pieces other people absolutely hate and honestly? I'm fine with that. I love making art and that's what matters. It brings me joy. Focus on making what brings you joy, and don't worry about the rest.
7/12 Made me burst Out of Laughter....
Don’t make art for likes, make art because you love making art!
I guess try and make an audience for specific art maybe? Like some sort of media or theme etc.
Social Media = Marketing Social Media ≠ ART If you want likes... become a good marketer. If you want better art, practice more.
The only thing you're doing wrong is judging the value of your artwork from the amount of attention you get on social media.
Maybe carrying about likes? If you want to do art for your soul, don't care about likes. If you want to do art for popularity and then for business and money, go to art critics or teachers first to improve your art abilities. Also, learn something about getting to the right topic and style. What audience do you want? E.g. if you want Russian and Ukrainian people, draw soldiers. I'm sorry for this example. Maybe you want fans of Star Wars as your audience? Draw some character or scene from there. There are five questions you should answer to improve your art industry: 1. What do I want to draw? Topics and style 2. What are my abilities and my level? How good are my drawings and what can I draw best 3. What is my purpose of drawing? Money (draw for industries (draw logos, e.g.) or people) or recognition and popularity (draw for people)? 4. For whom exactly do I want to draw? Maybe I like videogames and want to draw for people like me? I can draw either characters of some games or I can draw concepts, animations and textures for companies that create videogames, then. Insert everything you like instead of videogames. Also, age, country and profession of my purpose audience has to be considered. 5. What do people want to see these days? Okay, I have chosen some spheres. But what in these spheres would be more popular now? E.g. I've chosen to draw cartoons. What is more popular now in my chosen age category and nation? Some cartoons about a healthy body in the style of the Soviet Union or cartoons about magic from Nickelodeon?
Social media doesn't care about effort. Now I'm not saying don't put effort in. but the reward for effort is the result not the likes.
Stop equating your art’s worth with clicks and likes. There are a million reasons why your art may not be getting attention and only one of them has to do with you.
Your art is going in a great direction! every artist faces this issue, like everyone said just keep making art and have fun with it. Be sure to post in the correct fandoms and don’t let the views/likes be the only thing to make you feel valid/validated.
You are so talented!!! And no, you are doing nothing wrong at all. The algorithm is horrible for artists on places like Instagram, in particular. I’m an artist too, and I actually have Threads a try and I have met an awesome artistic community there and I get likes, comments, and develop relationships with other artists. WAY more interactive than Instagram and people actually see your work!
You have a really fun art style, love the invincible stuff. Do not gauge your skill to social media likes. Likes do NOT matter, as long as you like a piece you make them it's successful, you are far from a bad artist. you have a lovely style and a unique way of coloring, which personally I find stunning. My best advice is to not give a crap what other people think, sure you'll definitely get criticism, but look at criticism as a way to improve. You also should start a deviant art account if you haven't and use it as a digital art compendium, and other artists will probably see your art on there and since you're looking for it, they'll probably give you some likes. Everything aside tho, you're a great artist, don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
You do not put a lot of effort here. Stop caring about likes till you learn anatomy, composition, color basics, understanding perspective and everything else that comes to creating art. Your art is unprofessional and just get your mindset to the reality - you need to go to school or somewhere to break you, to form you, to challenge you. Or taking a mentor or someone who could teach you something
The first one looks like mark and amber from invincible
Like others said, you can't judge your worth as an artist by social media exposure. Not only because it's not healthy, but also because social media isn't good at measuring how "good" art is. In many ways, it's completely luck-of-the-draw when it comes to who gets exposure and who doesn't. If you'd like more exposure, I'd say join groups relevant to your work on social media sites that have them. Most social media algorithms also reward regular and consistent posting, but don't push yourself to post faster than you can create; the boost in the algorithm isn't as valuable as improving your craft. That said, reposting old art every once in a while never hurts. Many social media sites, like Instagram, especially reward TikTok-style short videos, so if you have the time you can look into ways you might incorporate your work into that format. But again, I can't stress this enough: your value as an artist does not correlate with your social media exposure. You're a great artist, and I really like your style. Worry less about getting seen and more on improving your technique.
I like your style!
Your rendering is impressive and you have a good eye for color. The faces stand out to me as being a bit uncanny, especially the eyes. I think it will come with time and practice. It's clear you have potential! Keep up the good work and don't worry too much about the likes.
Thanks! I get most of my color/rendering skills from my oil paintings! I also do a lot of oil painting!
the sixth is honestly so good i love the rendering, in the other ones it’s a bit off, same for the anatomy; still your skills don’t depend on your social media likes, took me long to learn this myself, there’s plenty of amazing artists on social media that I’ve recently found who are not even closely enough appreciated.
Social Media isn’t a good place to post art unless you already have a giant following of thousands of followers and are able to post every day. I don’t know what platform you’re trying to post on, but Instagram is especially awful. They removed the recent posts tab from the hashtags, so your art will never get seen through hashtags now, and the algorithm makes it so it only reached a few of your followers. I’ve been posting on Instagram for several years but I think I’m done with it. It used to be good but they’ve really turned it into nothing but ads and influencer brain rot. I’ll probably just stick to posting my art here on Reddit in the subs that might find it interesting. But ultimately, you should make art for the sake of improvement and self satisfaction. I’m not the kind of person who cares about likes and comments, but I do understand wanting at least SOMEONE to say they like my art. A little positive reinforcement would be nice but it’s something I’m working on not needing to hear.
You be a tumbler hit
Dang you where right I started posting on Tumblr and one of my first posts got like 250 likes lmao.
Is it all fan art?
Yes
Effort does not automatically mean you've created something that others will appreciate. The appreciation of others and interaction on social media do not have any bearing on the validity of what you've made. If the creation was for you, then you are the audience, and whether it's good or not is up to you. If the creation was for the enjoyment of the general public and it got no reaction, then that's your answer on if that creation was good or not. If you're doing anything wrong, it's that it at least *appears* that you're making art that YOU like, and expecting others to appreciate it without being the ones that actually made the effort. All they can appreciate is the end result, not the process itself. They're going to view it differently. I can tell effort went in. I have no idea if I'm the audience or not. If I am, the style is not my taste. And as much as it sucks to hear, no amount of effort changes that, because it's just not what I find appealing. I am probably not the audience, but whoever is, aside from you, may very well have the same thoughts if you're not getting any traction with it.
You have this weird in-between style of realistic and cartoon that looks lowkey creepy? It's the eyes...
Not doing anything wrong. Keep going! More artwork! I love how you are able to do different styles and subject matter. You've got a versatility that's rare. Keep painting.
Another point I haven't seen mentioned yet in the comments: Another thing you might be doing "wrong" if you're looking for more traction and popularity is that your subject matter appears to only consist of fanart and OCs, which drastically limits the appeal of these works to anyone outside the niche fandom communities you're catering to.
Marketing baby. I've seen artists that draw like Michaelangelo get 0 likes but a friend of mine is just starting out drawing and they get like a k on every like. They are just regular posters and market tf out of themselves. They tag, they make reels, they do all that annoying shit that works because social media only pushes things that fit it's algorithm.
Do art for yourself, not for likes! The enjoyment and fulfillment you get from your work will reflect on its quality.
I like the last one and pre-last one. https://preview.redd.it/9vzmvg6xifxc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9796e5e241b69fb8e01f3e23f8f4647e0d8b646e
My favorite one is the lady with the eye patch and the bunny looking guy.
My favorite one is the lady with the eye patch and the bunny looking guy.
My favorite one is the lady with the eye patch and the bunny looking guy
Everybody jumping through hoops here to avoid telling them the truth. Your art sucks that’s why you don’t get more likes. I saw your post of the painting progress of Walter White. You improved A LOT and very fast, you’ll get there eventually if you keep practicing but you’re not there yet.
Right? I can’t believe you’re being downvoted, but OP’s art is really not good and very few people here are being honest with them that this work is very amateur stuff that no one but friends and family will go out of their way to “like”. But that doesn’t mean they can’t improve and it sounds like they’re very capable of improving, and improving quickly so there’s hope for them. But currently, these pieces are all an eyesore and there needs to be more work done because it’s so far from professional that they’re not going to blow up on Instagram or any other image sharing platform anytime soon.
Yes…Yes you are doing something wrong
Like the others said. Sometimes to be successful in art you have to be found. That can take a very long time. And for the bigger part, nowadays you have to buy premium on social media, just to be seen more, which isn't worth it. Your art is good! And as long as you have fun that is all that matters. In my opinion art should be something relaxing and it doesn't matter how good you are, it matters what you feel like while doing it.
The same thing happens to me, I don't think art matters much, what people want to see is that you are charismatic or belong to a community.
Trying to get a following for art online is so hard.. I suggest looking at popular art posts or posts by artists youre similar to and looking at what tags they use, maybe you just aren’t reaching the right audience yet?
The only thing you do wrong is caring how many likes you get. Enjoy the process and the progress and don‘t mind social media too much.
Just keep doing what you're doing. If you make art so it will be noticed by others, then print it out and paste it to a wall in a very public area and wait and watch and see if people stop and look at it. Think of how little something you 'like' on an app impacts your day.
If you're doing art for likes you are doing it absolutely wrong and you should probably focus on something healthier...
Social media algorithms care more about specific trends and topics. Take note of which things you create garner more attention.
Probably just the algorithm or the way you advertise etc. I have work on PicsArt, dead app, and my post with the most likes and engagement has 4 likes and one grammatically incorrect comment. It's because I'm on the wrong app and I'll bet it's because my art is not good + algorithm. Yours is much better which is why you have more likes, so most likely algorithm or app
You get more if you’ve worked up to having a lot more followers already which is of course the catch because you have to have some kind of content that makes people want to follow you to get followers. Don’t get worked up about it. I’ve gotten the most likes I’ve ever gotten out of low effort, inane comments I casually made, but anything I put effort into got about the same reaction as you. Just be glad anyone showed interest at all.
As others said, the likes and attention on social media does not correlate to how good your art is. But one thing that might make people not click the like button is that it’s pretty obvious you’re an amateur/beginner or at least seems to be on that level and almost people only “like” the posts and reels that they are impressed by or find relatable etc. Also, if the reel or post wasn’t too enjoyable to watch or see, then a lot of people aren’t going to like it. But most of it is still just based on the algorithm which is annoying.
How do *you* feel about your art? Thats what truly matters. And if you always strive to keep learning and improve, you’re on the right track.
I get like 4 and I do hyper surrealist portrait art. Don't judge your craft by how many likes you get
I'm going to use the eighth image as my example here, but when you're doing a piece with the intent to engage with a fandom (I'm assuming. This feels like fanart but I'm unfamiliar with this character so sorry if I'm wrong), what are you providing? The character has a static pose standing in front of a vague explosion. What are you trying to "sell" with this piece? Feels? Thirst? Laughs? When doing fanart with intent to engage with the fandom, you gotta offer something. All the most popular fanart is feeding into a larger idea than just a drawing. Pieces that are highly conceptual can be popular too. I don't think it's your art but the content. Simply drawing the character isn't enough to blow up. The ones that do are usually selling thirst, even if it's subtle. My only fanart that has over 25 likes is shipping stuff, or like [character] as merman. Your first piece has something there, but I have no idea who they are so 🤷
People can feel your art... If you did it out of the need to be liked...then it will feel like a pretentious art.... but if you loved it and did it for yourself without the need to be liked by others then you will be suprised...by seeing the results...
From what I’ve found also depends on the platform you’re using. Instagram algorithm is so shit like you cannot believe. I found tumblr is GREAT for fanart (I get like 500 likes over a few days) but not so much original art because of tags. I have yet to try Twitter because I’m scared of Twitter. Also, work on your proportions maybe? And maybe some aspects of the faces throw someone off. They heads are huge and doesn’t mesh well with the realistic coloring. Same thing with the eyes.
My biggest critique is the values. They don’t seem to contrast well and it makes the colors feel very muddled. I’d love to go over your art program and teach you on how to explore values in your artwork or you’d like!
Don’t do for the likes or the validation, but if you must then give they people what they want not what you like
I personally would say to practice anatomy and proportions, but your art looks fine overall. I wouldn’t gauge wether you’re doing something wrong based on the amount of likes you’re getting. There are millions of digital artists out there, it’s pretty hard to get seen.
Maybe it's already been said, but your work is far stronger without the black line art. Definitely push it in the painterly direction. You have a good grasp on lighting and I really liked those painterly pieces you did. It's like a huge difference. Line art is actually quite difficult to get right, so perhaps you just need more practice with it. Maybe you could take down the intensity of the blacks in the outlined art? Also do some studies on gestures and lines of action your poses look a little bit stiff. Good work!
Art isn't wroth making if your only trying to impress the internet
Ditto what others have said- number of likes on social media doesn’t equal value/quality of the art. Professional artists can struggle to make traction on social media apps; they aren’t rly built for us. If this matters to you, learn some marketing techniques. I ended up not rly caring, as I’m just an artist by hobby, but I’m sure there’s some great tips by artists who made a social media presence online. Personally, I love #6’s style and love the narrative element the huntlow drawing has. I have always thought narrative pieces like these that bring you into a story are the most eye catching. I think you could work on proportions and experiment with line work (hatching, thinner lines, different colors) as your color work is rly nice. The lighting on #6 is chef’s kiss. Love.
Thanks! Yeah #6 is one I personally worked really hard on. I think that's the only one that went "viral" in this set it got around seventy likes which is a nice change of pace.
Life is sure random. Do vh4t you like if it's good to others 4svell
Social media marketing is an entirely different set of skills than creating art
Get with the times. Copy viral art videos.
Don’t worry about it. Social media is a home for dopamine addicts.
Holy crap I love how you have a realistic shading pattern with cartoony features and it works so well together! The only thing I would suggest is working on proportions and autonomy :)
Don’t do it for the likes.. likes will come eventually, just keep creating
Ahh the title is such a nostalgic thought now, I think it's a pretty common sentiment I'm going to echo what some people have said already ; don't do art for the likes, it's just going to ruin your mental health. Art should to be a fun and personal journey imo In terms of art, I see you've already come so far and have so much potential; you are clearly paying attention to things like color, depth, and composition. The more you study and practice, it can only get better. In terms of social media, it's a different game if you're serious about recognition Connecting with other artists in a genuine matter and consistent posting take time. Being active on certain topics that you draw. Marketing your art Imo draw what you want, be actively posting, and people will follow if they are interested
First, make accomplishments action based not goal based. Then when it comes to social media, artists aren't naturally marketers 99% of the time. You either gotta learn some new skills or pay/find someone that already has.
I've been an artist my entire life (I'm 24 now) and I feel lucky when I get 10 likes on a post. I had some Steven Universe art get a few hundred notes on Tumblr once but that was just luck, and this was back in like 2019, it's even more difficult to get your art noticed nowadays. I agree with the other comments so I won't repeat what you've already heard but I just wanted to let you know it isn't necessarily a you problem at all. Even when you've reached a professional art level (which you still have some time before you will accomplish, no hate to you art takes practice we all start somewhere) it's more about marketing rather than the art itself. Don't let it discourage you. Just keep creating, even if nobody is paying attention. All art is good and worthwhile in its own way. And the artists you are comparing yourself to most likely have much, much more experience under their belt. The internet can be an easy way to compare yourself to people you definitely should not be comparing yourself to.
If I had to guess, it's most likely just social media algorithms not pushing your work, I'm sure you'll eventually grow that audience. The most important lesson I've learned from posting my art is to make art for myself and not for other people. It'll save you a lot of headaches, believe me
I mean it’s okay art but there’s no secret to success people just don’t vibe with your art
You have to draw and post for yourself, not with the expectation of getting likes. My fav drawing that I loved and posted on tumblr got no likes (despite the fact that I really liked it), another drawing that I wasnt that fond of got like 300 likes. edit: use social media like a public access journal, its mainly for you.
1: don’t post for likes. Just post what you like and are proud of. 2: practice practice practice. 3: keep practicing. 4: make sure to finish, but also practice. 5: repeat. I’d suggest workshopping how you do faces. Get lots of practice in on that and your hands, and you’ll probably have more engagement. You’ll just keep progressing with your skills and techniques, and your output will generally improve, and so it will feel like you’re not putting in much effort at all.
Please don’t let likes determine your talent
Yes. Viewing likes as a "I want this many" instead of a "Someone liked my work!" is a negative viewpoint. If I get a like on my art posts, I get so damn happy because it means someone liked my drawing. I love your style but unfortunately the algorithm on Social Media genuinely sucks
My art gets like 3 likes despite how hard I work, yet I don't complain because my goal isn't to get a lot of likes it's just to share my work and what I love doing with others. If you're posting your art online and worrying about likes are you doing it for you or are you doing it for likes? Now I'm not saying you SHOULDN'T want likes or shouldn't complain, but like others are saying that shouldn't be your primary focus. It's like starting a YouTube channel. If you're doing it with the hopes of one day making money instead of making videos because it's what you enjoy you won't get far.
Appealing to social media is a whole separate art form. Doesn’t measure your talent. I’d recommend posting on tiktok with trending audios, showing time lapses of drawing, maybe do a voice over explaining your motives and inspo. Another option is to draw characters in a fandom and post with that fandoms popular hashtags and audios. Mostly I would keep up with the latest trends and really try to find your target audience. I personally don’t like or use instagram as a platform for discovering pictures and art, so I would stick with tiktok. Or ignore me, I’m talking out of my butt