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10 ways to Increase your Audience on DeviantArt

13Jul

10 ways to Increase Exposure on DeviantArtWhen you are part of a community for an extended period of time, you notice certain patterns emerge.. In my humble opinion DeviantArt is the greatest online gallery because of it’s huge scale and diversity; but how do you get noticed in such a huge playing field? Here is a short selection of useful (and not so useful!) tips for increasing your audience within the world’s largest art community.

 

10. Thanking for Follows

As with anything in life, you get back what you put in. Aside from being a big part DA ettiquette, thanking other Deviant’s for their support will generate further conversation. Online promotion is built upon relationships and interaction – and the plus side to this tip is that you can discover new art in the process.

 

9. Commenting on Art

Yes DA regulars, I know this is obvious! There are many great artists on DA who are not reaching their potential audience because they submit a piece then drop off the grid for a month, only interacting when they upload again. To harness the full benefits of DA, being a part of the community is key – taking interest in the work of others will get the dialogue going.

 

8. Be Incredibly Hawt

Are you downright sexy with a provocative DeviantID? Well congratulations – you are automatically guaranteed page views, +favs and comments on your works! If you are a good artist as well as being drop dead gorgeous, you will multiply this audience by a factor of 10. (This one should be taken with a pinch of salt!)

 

7. Submit Art with Eyes or Winged Things

There are certain visual styles, that for whatever reason will always yield plenty of traffic and interest. Eyeballs is one of them. So’s stuff with wings. So’s anything with Deathnote. Or Dr Who…. Ok, you get the idea; because of the demographic, there is a substantially larger audience for certain themes / styles. If you are going to hit a popular (but well worn) topic; at least do it with some pizzazz or put a spin on it!

 

6. Nudity!!!

Heres one for the photo manipulators: find a stock image of a ridiculously sumptious alternative chick bending over, apply a couple of filters and watch the +favs roll in. This is actually a scientific fact; the more provocative the buttcheeks, the greater the success. If you are working with your own raunchy stock and you happen to be incredibly hawt as outlined in the point above, then expect the traffic to reach stratospheric, unmanageable levels.

 

5. Provide Resources

Helping out fellow Deviants by sharing your expertise or personal resources is very noble way of increasing your audience. Providing stock, submitting News articles, tutorials, brushes, renders or anything that others may find useful in their creative practice is a great way to make friends and get the conversation going. Your resources can help others solve their problems, and that’s what the Internet is all about ;)

 

4. Carve out a Niche

DA is choc-full of little micro communities that share similar interests and enjoy producing art in a certain niche. Developing a signature style is a great way to advance your creative practice, but can also bring you closer to others whose work is thematically linked. Don’t be afraid to diversify your output though, much can be learnt from straying into the unknown.

 

3. Humility

It’s unfortunate to say, but Ive crossed paths with some immensely talented people that turned out to be complete dicks. The ego takes over in some cases, and sometimes accomplished artists address their peers with condescension, or even worse contempt. It is fair to say that I lost interest in their creative output once I realised they weren’t a very nice person. DeviantArt is one of the very few places online where the vast majority of people are very decent, let’s keep it that way.

 

2. Upload Content

DA is driven by the users, without content – there is nothing. Maintaining a fairly consistent stream of uploads will keep your gallery fresh and maintain conversation with those interested in your work. An active gallery can generate many opportunities, push your work to the forefront and keep your name relevant. Plus it’s fun receiving honest critique from your peers.

 

1. Be the Best in your Field

If you prove to be the most innovative, accomplished artist within your chosen field – 10 times out of 10 the work will do the promotion for you. At times you will encounter artists that forego the promotional tactics above because quite simply their work is phenomenal; they focus purely on developing their craft and produce increasingly succesful work.

 

Do you have any DA pointers or quirky observations? Feel free to share in the comments section below.

Conzz 8-)

Follow on Twitter >> @Conzpiracy

Image Credit: Official Fella 5, from DeviantArt

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28 Responses to “10 ways to Increase your Audience on DeviantArt”

  1. Anna Costa says:

    Yeah you’re absolutely right. You told what some people are really afraid of realize about dA. I was there since 2004, with other account, and I saw many artists grow and rise, come and go. Number 3 is one of the most truly ones. I got tired of seeing people ”discovering” how to be famous on dA and use it to exhaustion. They make me want to puke.

  2. Caz says:

    I agree with you on most points, apart from promoting your art by being drop-dead gorgeous… No, no, uhuh! I didn’t put a pic of myself on my page on purpose. I want people to like my art, not my face. I get enough unsolicited, crude notes just because I’m female, no need to make it worse by plastering my visage all over the joint…

    Anyway, apart from being nice, polite and talk to people, I think one good point to add is that people need to be patient. It takes a while to get noticed in this huge herd called DeviantArt, no matter how much you try to put yourself in the spot loght. It won’t happen over night. I’m just starting to get a little appreciation and I’ve been around for a year. I’ve seen comments on the net in which people said they left DA after a week because nobody looked at their work. Well ….

    Enough twaddle. Keep up your tips and tricks, they’re hugely useful. :)

    • conzpiracy says:

      haha, the ‘gorgeous’ post was one of the tongue in cheek observations – its a quirk that I noticed in the community. The same as the buttcheeks post; don’t take that too seriously lol :P (Edited the post to reflect that)

  3. Elandria says:

    At the end of the day the easiest way to sum it all up…

    You get back what you give.

    Works in all forms of life but seems to be a heightened awareness of it on DA which is very nice.

    (Of course theres always going to be the oddbods who don’t run to this formula but boo on them lol)

  4. Kiren says:

    #3 is by far the most important (on what not to do) :)

  5. easy to read, hard to do, well maybe not quite hard, uhm, i don’t know, anyway, nice article :D

  6. Irene says:

    Man, I need to start posting bendy nekked people! ;D

    That is so true about Humility. One of my favourite photomanipulators turned out to be a complete asshat. I haven’t looked at his work since, because his personality totally turned me off.

    • conzpiracy says:

      haha, your observation skills are second to none! It is true, I have had great success from bendy nekkid people lol

      It’s a shame about the asshat though, doesn’t need to be like that :(

  7. Noitusan says:

    Great article as usual. I am touched and agree with you that “DeviantArt is one of the very few places online where the vast majority of people are very decent”. I have been in several online communities (some are not related to art) where members attack each other and it’s exhausting.

  8. Cy says:

    I found #7 particularly interesting because, as a relatively new viewer of DA, I noticed some trends on the “popular photomanipulations in the last x days” that I… well, I just don’t understand. Closeups of eyeballs is one of them. Morphing women to have impossibly huge butts (or rolls upon rolls of fat) or men to have impossibly huge muscles is another. Am I missing something there? I’m genuinely curious but didn’t want to ask on DA and sound like a bitch.

  9. Mark says:

    ha ha ha this is fantastic Conz! love it! great tips great humor :) excellent post!

  10. Tansie (hybridgothica) says:

    haha this is all true! fantastic :) #3 is very important. I am very nice to my watchers…because that is how I am. I am sure they appreciate it….as i appreciate their neverending support :)

  11. ianartic says:

    This is very true Conzz. I have changed my style a few times. I have also met a few artists that have turned out to be real dicks. They blame you for every art piece you do. Everything here you wrote is true. Well done mate and keep it coming.

  12. somebodysomebody says:

    Give llamas when you thank for support ;)

  13. M10tje says:

    Thanks a lot for these usefull tips.
    M10tje


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