prashious asked: this is going to sound ridiculous, and it kind of is, but I really want to be able to do commissions, but no one will commission me because I don't have many followers/watchers on dA/etc. etc. it's really irritating and annoying to post art and get no feedback... how did you get so much visibility? (oh god this is so silly)

Oh I think a question about increasing your visibility is completely justified, especially as an artist who is looking to make money!

I don’t think I had much of a profile at all in the online art community (I’m still not a high-profile artist at all) until I joined tumblr.. I used to be pretty invested into the comics fandom so after drawing some fanart for that and having it noticed by people, I steadily gained more exposure? Which is one of the ways many people increase their visibility.

Another way you can increase your presence is just to participate in the tumblr/dA/art community! If you’re desperate, don’t just limit yourself to ol’ dA and tumblr, branch out to other sites like ConceptArt (pretty responsive forums here). Leave comments on people’s art, send them a friendly message, get a twitter and talk to people.. I’ve gotten to meet and befriend a huge amount of wonderful artists by voicing my appreciation for their work, which is always worthwhile :-) Not only do you make connections, but more people get to know you exist, as well!

The bottom line though, and perhaps this is something that goes without saying, is that in order to generate interest, you gotta be good. Really good, great, fantastic, etc. Visibility and exposure often rests on luck, but in the end it’s the quality of your artwork that leaves an impact on people, whether you draw fanart or not!

Best of luck, and I hope things turn up for you!

Appended by doodleloser: Another tidbit, people love active artists. They love seeing an artist update all the time with art/doodles/ideas. The less you post, the less interested they’ll be! SO UPDATE OFTEN!