How to get exposure (for your art) - Advice from mzzazn.
I was recently asked for some advice on getting exposure as an artist. Here’s my own advice with personal reasons as to why I suggest them. This is not a post for ‘bragging’, if you take it that way, then please stop reading *i mean this in the nicest way orz* This is stating facts from my experience. What worked for me and what doesn’t work. It shows how my own art has gained exposure throughout the years and how yours can too. I am not a fantastic artist, I know what I’m good at and what I struggle with. I work hard for what I know I can push out and I do it proudly. I hope this post will help you earn more followers and give you a bit of inspiration as well.
Please note this applies to all sorts of art :D!
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1. Sign up and share your art on the most popular sites that involve artists as a large portion of the community. Besides the regular FB, Twitter, etc. there are more specific ones:
- DeviantART- FurAffinity (for those who draw animals)
- Gaia Online
- Tumblr
Personal reason for this advice: You WILL get more exposure this way. Period.
2. Don’t give your art away for free or 'more exposure’. Like a recent popular tumblr post stated, the internet is your greatest tool for show casing your art to the world. If you have your art ready and an internet connection, then you’ve got your audience waiting for you. Get paid for your work.
3. Do not offer your art for dirt cheap. There are artists on deviantART that sell their art for less than one dollar. One dollar! If you like doing this and it works for it, that’s fine. My advice is, work at improving your art skills so you can compare your art with those who are in your 'category’ and set a reasonable price. If you do this, your art will sell itself and your work will be more popular when it’s comparable in price to commissioners (who make money on commissions every time they open up).
4. Post your art where it’s allowed. This could be as a banner in a signature on your favorite fan forum tp the banner on your facebook profile page! Be creative! Use your drawing as your profile picture and people will ask, “Is that you?” You can respond with a “Yes, I drew myself.” That will definitely cause a few people to be curious about what else you have up your sleeve.
5. Use facebook. People that want to support you the most, are going to be the people who know you. They will talk about you. Trust me. I can be talking to a person who doesn’t 'art’, but they’ll say “Oh I have a friend who does this type of art/that art too. Here, let me find their stuff to show you.” And bam, they just got some free exposure. This will happen to you too. Stay connected to people in your personal lives. Post your art work on the largest social networking site out there and take advantage of it!
6. Share your work with your family and significant others that make you feel comfortable and supported in all other aspects. I know sometimes it’s 'embarassing’ to share your work because you’re not 100% proud of it, but you should still overcome that fear and just share it. In the past I hardly shared my art with those close to me. Not many family members have art from me. The same goes for significant others in my life. I wasn’t sure if they’d totally support me or if they’d just throw out criticsm.
I’m happy to say now I have full support from my mother, father, and my boyfriend. I know for a fact, that there are people out there that know about my art because of them. Take my parents for example. People who know them have said, “Oh I heard you like to draw, can I see something?” Woo - look, exposure. I’m happy to say, my boyfriend has been incredibly supportive, and thanks to him I’ve had commission orders from other parts of the world. They see what I post on deviantART (drawings of us), they contact him about it, and he sends them over to me.
So a big shout out to my parents and the boyfriend for this :)
EXPOSURE..because of facebook and getting over that fear of sharing with those closest to you.
7. Collaborate with other artists. My drawing skills need a lot of work in comparison to my coloring skills. I’ve learned this by observing my own art closely. Collaborating with others allows me to learn more. For example, when I color so and so’s lineart, I will notice their line thickness, if their lines connect, etc. I take what I learn and I try to apply it to my art when I think it will work well. When you collaborate with others, you are sharing your fan base with theirs. Make sure when you collaborate that all the artists have the permission to share the collaboration piece. It isn’t fair if only one artist has the permission to do so.
8. Be proud of your art. Sure, you may think that your 'art isn’t good enough’. I’ve been there. I know that feeling… stop it. Just try to improve. Go find some tutorials online and try to improve your stuff! Be proud, show it off. Talk about it. Meeting someone for the first time? Are they asking questions to try to get to know you? Mention your art. People will be curious! I promise! When someone is proud of something and mention it as a hobby in conversation, I immediately want to know more about it. This will give you the perfect window to show your stuff. So be proud and talk about it! Don’t brag, just talk about how you like it and say your art is something that you’re really proud of. That isn’t bragging. That’s sharing a beautiful fact about yourself! Well, at least I find it beautiful!
9. Use Youtube and Livestream. I’m not a wizard with fancy editing skills for Youtube and such, but I’ve learned how to record and get my work onto youtube and livestream. Use youtube to show yourself drawing, traditionally or digitally, it’s fine. Do the same for Livestream. Google 'Livestream’ and learn about it. Have live shows where you show yourself drawing/coloring/brainstorming, etc. Post that you’re online on social websites. If not many people come, it’s okay. You’re doing what you love right? Keep at it. People will come with time. I remember in the past, I’d have live streams with only one or two people… You can also time your live stream showings. You’ll have the most amount of people on weekend evenings for the most part. There are also people who don’t sleep much in the art community (LOL, so true) so having late night shows aren’t too bad either. As for Youtube, your videos will be available all the time so it’s nice to always have that possible exposure lingering around.
10. Enter contests and projects. Is there a project asking for artists to draw for Christmas cards? Don’t have anything to do? Then join the project. Getting your art out there to anyone in any way possible is going to get you more exposure naturally. Entering contests is another great way to do so. However, when you enter contests, keep in mind you’re only exposing your art to those who are following the contest. It’s better than zero exposure, however, you may be best off making art that really makes a personal connection to you and posting it online instead.
11. Although this is kind of a controversial topic in the art world.. I’m going to say it. Make fan art. If you have to, make My Little Pony art.. Legend of Korra art…etc. Feeding 'fandoms’ will get you far. Luckily, the fandoms I feed happen to be of my own original characters (which got exposure throughouttime). My characters are part of the Pokemon fandom. Drawing art of my OCs with Pokemon not only got me more followers from the Poke fandom, but it also got me supporters of my own OC! Pretty neat. Now if you don’t know anything about a show, you’re probably best off researching the show a little bit to draw characters correctly. They have to be recognizable after all.
12. Draw “different” stuff. There are some artists out there who are famous for all sorts of reasons. For example, drawing inappropriate monster girl characters (yes, this is slugbox and he wouldn’t mind me pointing him out because he knows I’m a huge fan of his art…). There are people out there who enjoy seeing 'different things’. Although you may not know it, I love macabre/horror related art and I follow anime/manga artists who like to draw creepy things.. I think it’s so neat and different that I’m in a trance when I see this stuff! Get yourself out of your comfort zone!
13. Don’t limit your art to one category. Example. I’m primarily a digital artist that draws with anime/manga characters. I’ve written literature pieces that have gotten me a lot of exposure. Take this for example: http://fav.me/d4tj9ms
It is a fan fiction I wrote about my own original characters that are part of the Poke fandom. It recieved a Daily Deviation on deviantART and caused an influx of supporters from the literature field onto my watchers list. I am so thankful that I continued my writing and earned more incredible supporters from a different field of art! Experiment and try things out. One more supporter for any type of your art, is one more than you had before. :D
14. Ask for advice. Don’t be afraid to ask others for advice on networking, art itself, etc. It’s okay! A friend asked me for advice and here I am sharing it with the world of Facebook and deviantART. Earning advice increases your knowledge about networking, advertising, and so forth. Take this all in and you’re going to be doing just fine on your own. :)
15. Attach your social/art related links to everything! Don’t forget the signature of your e-mails! I add mine to that! I even add my deviantART page to my general resume. It’s kind of nice when employers notice that and they wonder onto your art page and mention it during an interview! They feel like they know a little bit more about you this way. Don’t be afraid to share - I can’t stress this enough!
16. Have patience. We’re told this since we have been young. This statement is so important when it comes to art exposure. You’re not going to earn 5,000 watchers over night. Not going to happen. You need patience.
I left deviantART with about 60 or so watchers in 2007. I came back in 2010. I didn’t post much work right away, then I got my first intuos tablet a few months after joining. I also purchased copic markers and tried to art a few different ways. In 2011/2012 I started to really like digital art and that brings us to November 2013. I am now primarily a digital artist in the anime/manga field. I am now known for cell shading and soft coloring. At this moment I have 8,940 watchers. Compared to many 'famous’ deviantarts out there, this is not a big number, however, for me, it shows a significant amount of growth for supporters.
I do not do much fan art or original art. Most of my art posted is from commissions. I do not post art that comes from the heart often, I wish I did or had the time to make them. I post what I can. I am patient with the art community and I am patient with the idea of improving throughout time. I am blessed to have this amount of supporters that follow me for my art work, tell me what I can improve on, encourage me to push myself, comment on my art on a daily basis, and want to pay me for my art. I am so happy I have watchers that note me with excitement whenever I open commissions. I remember when it all first started… and I’m happy to be offering this advise to all of you aspiring artists out there.
GO US. Please, don’t be afraid to drop by and say hi - I don’t bite - unless you’re a herseys bar with almonds.. then I bite. ;) Also, feel free to share this! I have so many more tips, but I need to study and sleep! Maybe I should make a part two sometime..
Hahahaha..*continues being weird in her personal life now*
I wish you well my friends.
My links:
deviantART: http://mzzazn.deviantart.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mzzazn
Future blog: http://mzzazn.wordpress.com/
Tumblr: http://mzzazn.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mzzazn
Anipan: http://www.anipan.com/500
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