Renderotica

You may wish to ask people who sell comics here about what it takes, or ask a PA at Daz about what it takes to be a PA. Follow some of the PAs on *deleted*. they talk about their business sometimes. It's just very different to be a professional.

As a hobbyist, I share images because I think people might like them, but beyond that? Not really.

It's the freedom of expression, and the goal to make nice pictures as a hobbyist. "Fanbase" is an organic off-shoot from true self-expression. I'm only a hobbyist and I need to grow nothing. So I don't care about a fanbase as a fanbase. I care about the art, the expression. It's an incredible luxury.

If the expression is good and true, then the "fanbase" will develop around it... but I can afford to do this as a hobbyist.
I have the luxury of only caring about my own expression.

As a professional? You've got the obligation to your paying customers in your audience. It's a very different social contract.

Even with a strong vision that has a customer base that is willing to pay for your vision, the only way to shortcut the time to organically grow an audience is to have a budget for advertising.

It's not an easy business, and I do not envy those who've made this hobby into their business. I'm positive I'd hate it if I had to do the things that Daz PAs do to earn a living.

Edited by moderator Monday, March 14, 2022 11:02:45 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Community Policy Violation - no external links and/or site reference

In my opinion the best way to build up a bit of a fanbase is not to focus on "building up a fanbase" in the first place but instead fully go for what you do or want to do. Because you enjoy doing that, not because you're hoping to attract a crowd.

Now, before I continue I need to stress out that I am MIGHTY proud of having 17 (!!) followers on this place. The thing is... I was already proud that there was a chance to get followers and I was also proud that at one time I only had 1 follower (yah, and I know exactly who you are!). I showcased my follower(s) (first imaginary followers) from the getgo. Now it's actually something to be proud off.

But this goes SO much deeper. Now, keep in mind that I'm not only active around here but for obvious reasons I'm not going to elaborate. But will use some examples of those experiences.

SO... I have a profile. And I use that profile to share stuff, vent, comment... share. 0 followers, 8 followers, 17 followers, 64 followers (party time!)...  I don't share stuff because of my followers, I do that because... I enjoy doing it and that is "me". So imagine what a new follower who may be more interested in me and actually checks my profile is going to find?  A lot of content to either enjoy or hate or ignore. I know for a fact that some followers actually enjoyed this experience "elsewhere"..   and the main reason they got that was because... I never primarily focused on getting followers, but sharing some fun. So when I DID get some followers there was already fun to be found ;)

Ergo...  my motto is: don't bother with attracting followers, bother with being you and dong "you" stuff.

Sure.. nuances do go in effect. I know some of my renders over here are more popular than others, so obviously I know what I might want to avoid when to cater to popularity. And while I do keep those signals in mind I won't let it control my actions. Because...  I do what I do because I'm enjoying myself. I think it's awesome that there are people out there who enjoy my work, it can give you a great boost! But as always with these things you can't please everyone (well, not without forgoing your own morals I think..) and that's also something to accept.

Hope this can give you some ideas!

There are widgets for your gallery that can add Followers and Following.  The ability to sort or identify new followers, however is limited.

There are also widgets for polls, but I can't figure out how to make them works.  A poll would be a nice tool for identifying what viewers would like to see or vote on the images they like the most.

Originally Posted by: ZenMaster3D

Well, from what I can tell being a follower doesn't really mean all that much; I mean you don't get any quick options to focus on new contents from your followed artists. I get the impression that it's mostly focussed around e-mail notifications, but I turned all that stuff off anyway.

See, when I check out the gallery (which I don't do that often) I can't sort on stuff like "followed". Just .. well, you can see for yourself :) So actually following people, with all due respect, doesn't really mean you also get to see their new contents.

Which is also where your likes are coming from. I'm even convinced that posting on a specific time of day ("universal time") can influence your likes a bit as well. (could be between the ears, because I also noticed some posts kinda exploded without me realizing) :)

 

Look ladies & gentlemen... in the end only one thing matters for me right now...how can we keep me (aka my avatar) safe from some horny aliens?! 😉  That is what's important here, darn DeepSpace for being awesome & releasing his S'erpatha horde which creeped into my renders :P

(I'll go have another beer now and work some more on my storyline :-))

Yeah, it only works on email notifications (from what I've seen) and quite honestly, I frequently don't check them for the people I follow. Not gonna lie though, I usually try to post my stuff around 11-1pm EST. There are fewer uploads around those hours, and it stays on the front page longer. Hence, more people able to see it. Now that I've said that I'm sure it'll change a bit...

I wish we could sort by favorites. I'm frequently surprised when I see a pic I like and go onto the artist's page only to find out I'm already following them. I do like the current system as well though. It lets me see art I might not have had the chance to view otherwise. It's kinda the opposite of the book of the face's echo chamber.

Maybe a little OT, but how the heck do you add a widget? I'm stumped.

Originally Posted by: Ebonix115

Thank you everyone for the thoughts and suggestions! I think I just got so caught up on trying to make it into a career that I forgot that I still enjoyed fooling around in the program (as dumb as that sounds) It's also just excellent practice to be messing with thing as opposed to trying to make something amazing. Sometimes I think I just get discouraged around other artist that are super good. And again, that sounds silly, but the anxiety is real.

An old professer from my college dys once gave me a piece of wisdom that I'll never forget. He asked "What is art?".  We, young and probably pretentious kids, said a bunch of famous artists and films. He stated flatly "Is the weed poster in Spencer's at the mall art?". After some uneasiness we all agreed it was. He asked "What's the difference?" and we didn't know. My professor looked at every single one of us and gave me this gem, that I've held onto since: "All art, regardless of skill or originality, is still art. some may do it better, some worse. It's still art. And those that do it for broad appeal may not be famous, but they still get paid."

What I took from that is don't discourage yourself. There's a very good chance that no one on this site is da Vinci. But if you like doing it, and it makes you happy, fucking go for it. Whether or not you feel like you're 'good' enough. The Spencer's weed leaf poster has been sold way more than the Mona Lisa. Nothing beats a fail but a try. Go for it, my friend.