Prototyping has been a long journey, and through it I have interacted with many people on Instagram (@amelysart) and twitter (@AmelysArt) , as well as drawn many artworks, for myself and for other people.
On Instagram I have drawn for-
Chae Magazine– I participated in their magazine with three illustrations that reflect the natural environment and also an article about me.
Pine Zine– I participated in the First Issue of the Zine, which was ‘Self’ and I draw a face illustration for that. I also participated in the Second Issue, which was ‘Earth’.
Xintoii– A artist on Instagram that also has cats that she shows in her story. I drew one of her cats as a gift. She responded by liking and interacting with my post.
_llecholl_ – I drew a fox for Echo as part of a Draw This in Your Style, that she liked!
On Twitter I have drawn for-
The Uni Crowd- Surprisingly hard to please, I drew a meme a week for around 6-7 weeks as part of my online presence, but I also drew two comics. They haven’t gained a lot of interaction or discussion.
My Twitter Art Account- Please follow my art twitter, I beg you (@AmelysArt) I only get one like per drawing. Haven’t done much besides posting what I have already posted on Instagram, and have been mostly focused on Instagram anyway.
Notable Things- On Instagram I am more regular and have more interactions with people in general so I tend to get a lot more likes there than on twitter. Twitter isn’t very good with hashtags or ways to interact with others via stories, so I prefer Instagram.
I am also doing Inktober, which is an event where artists draw an ink drawing for every day of October. I am doing small ink drawings every day and hash tagging them. It is fun to do, and I might even see an uptick in interaction due to posting every day.
On monetization, I haven’t gained enough traction or support to be able to monetize or sell my work. I also think I don’t fall into a specific category that people like – Such as drawing anime/ semi-realism/ cartoon work. I don’t have a ‘brand’ so to speak, and people don’t follow me because of that, is my theory. But right now, I would like to experiment and see what I like, because experimenting thoroughly would be more beneficial to me now, rather than being stuck in one ‘style’ for a few years and then deciding that I don’t like it.
Why I feel like I haven’t gained any traction– The internet is big and there are many skilled artists around the world. People simply don’t think that my work is entertaining enough or ‘good enough’ (for them) to share or comment on. As Ross Hudgens from Content Marketing Institute says, “Don’t underestimate the first sentence in any blog post, Tweet, Facebook post, or ad. It will make or break effective curation.” So I have to be more aware with my caption as well as my art, and both are equally important to draw attention. I also don’t have many followers or friends on these platforms, and while I post consistently, my artwork varies on theme from post to post. Not many people share my artwork and I don’t think there is anything ‘unique’ about my drawings. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, but it just doesn’t stand out, and I can’t put my finger on why or why not. Maybe I need to draw more fanart? Or aim for an even more niche audience?
I had the choice to do Speedpaints, but decided to not do them for two reasons-
- After I record and export it, the video loses quality and can even get corrupted or just doesn’t work in some cases. I tried a free video editing software, but it took 18 hours alone just to process a 3 minute video, and it didn’t even come out the way I wanted it to. It’s just not reliable at the moment to do them.
- It forces me to do work faster (not necessarily a bad thing), and there is more pressure for me to do it well. I can’t relax when doing a Speedpaint, and there is no room to improvise or switch to another drawing if I feel like it. I feel like I have to ‘set time aside’ to do a Speedpaint.
Which posts did the best, which ones did the worst?
Out of my 3 years of posting content on my Art Instagram there have been some really… Interesting results as to what got popular and what didn’t!
Most Popular (Top 5) Can all be found on my Instagram
- With 422 likes it is… Swords?! Who knows how this worked out
- 101 Likes- A copy of @Tofuvi’s work
- 54 Likes- A very recent fanart of Okami
- 50 Likes- A dragon, Saphira from Eragon
- Equal fifth with 44 Likes- A fox and Thorn (dragon) from Eragon
Least Popular
- 11 – Red Snake Girl
- 13- Blue haired girl
- 14- Purple haired girl
- 15- Persona Drawing
- 16- Zack (OC) Drawing
Morale of the story is… Don’t draw girls with fake hair colours, they destroy any capability to get likes. Just kidding. After an analysis of my most popular works, they like drawings with animals in them, and bright appealing colours, like the first two. I can’t see a noticeable difference in quality for my least liked works, but perhaps people just prefer my animal drawings over humans.
I’ve been trotting along with my DA pretty well, and have been happy with more posting on stories, and giving people more interactions and the like.
With my DA, I also don’t feel the need to ‘break’ my DA or start again. The only change I have been making recently is drawing more animals, which is what I want, and looking at what people like.
Amely Koenig's Blog and Art 
Hey there! Your artworks are honestly so cute and I think it’s disappointing that you feel like people don’t like them! Audience engagement can be hard, and I have experienced this myself. It can be easy to doubt yourself when you feel like you’re not reaching people like you would have liked to, but persistence is key! You’ve done a lot of collaborations which I found really impressive. If you keep this up, I’m sure you’ll be able to draw in more audience engagement and maybe even begin to monetise! Although you have recognised your audiences likes and and dislikes, I think that something as personal as art should still be something that you are satisfied with as well. Just because some of you art hasn’t reached as far as you would have liked does not mean you should stop doing it altogether! I think keeping up the great work will get you somewhere eventually!
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Thank you for the response Ash! And the encouragement too! Yes I’ll try my best to keep going and sometimes I have to remind myself that nothing is personal and there are a MILLION things on the internet fighting for attention. I’ll try hard to be persistent, and thanks for recognising the personal aspect of art.
Thank you for your comment, I hope your DA goes well too x
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Hey Amely!
Firstly, your illustrations /art is amazing!! It’s wonderful to see you’re incorporating your hobby into your DA. Your journey with collaborating/ featured on Instagram and fellow BCM 114 DA’s insinuates in itself great feedback, people have expressed great interest and want to feature your work which is awesome.
At this point, only time will tell!! Your engagement is an ongoing thing, it’s hard to be persistent so stay positive. The Inkober is a fantastic idea, it suggests that your thinking outside the box, creating a concept that is experimental and unique which allows you to experience personal growth and an understanding of what you like and dislike.
In your blog post as you have mentioned, you have shown vast amounts of progress and where you are now. By identifying clear evidence on ” which post did best, which ones did worst” has given you insights on your audiences likes and dislikes, themes, colour pallets etc it’s vital for your audience to not only feel inspired by your work but to feel as if they’re a part of the audience you create so that your progression of your DA is helpful.
For my DA I’m working on something similar. I have created an Instagram page called A R T CIRCLE a graphics and arts platform posting daily inspiration and content creation. From reading your blog I have had similar problems with exporting a file and losing quality when posting on Instagram, but I then researched and figured out a solution that protects the quality when exporting. I also struggle which whether my content is ” cool enough” and “interesting”. Your project is super cool and exciting I will definitely follow your project as I’m interested in what some of your new content is going to look like..
The only suggestion I really have is maybe incorporate some illustrations on your Instagram stories, stories are great.
All the best.
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Hey Amely, You’ve analysed your DA really well here! I like how you can outline which of your works are more popular and least popular but not get too disheartened. I can see that you’re style of drawing tends to vary and that’s great as you can accustom that to different crowds/audience. You’re clearly talented in the world of digital art! Personally, I haven’t been a fan of the coloured hair girl – nothing wrong with them, they are still very well done but I’ve never found a taste for them. I’m loving your illustrations of the natural environment as well as the uni crowd memes – very relatable haha! You’re doing great, keep up the good work! 🙂
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Hey Amely,
I agree with ‘disladycaity’ – great analysis of your DA and critical thinking of user engagement, production value, etc. I also agree with everyone else commenting on here that its a shame you are down on your artwork as a result of lack of views, engagement, etc. To be honest, Instagram is both an easy AND hard system to crack and gain popularity within, so font give up. Potentially think about making your artwork for a more specific audience: like you said, ‘niche’. Find a gap in the Instagram art world, whats missing? What, as a user yourself on Instagram, do YOU engage with and enjoy?
I think you could also think about creating art in interesting spaces, for example, doing a 5 minute drawing down at the beach orrrrrrrr like a 10 minute ink painting on the uni lawns. People want to see something different.
Think of a fun way to make your captions engaging too – maybe ask the audience a question, like an ambiguous painting titled… “what do you see?” – makes people want to look and find out what they DO see.
Anyways, sick work – I really love it. Enjoy it!!!
Kindest,
Isobel xx
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Hey Amely,
First of all, I would just like to tell you how incredibly talented you are, and it saddens me to read that you think people don’t find your artwork entertaining enough. The content you have posted on your Instagram profile so far is very impressive, and the fact that you have 220 posts shows that you are dedicated to your art. In reference to gaining more Instagram followers, I would recommend switching to a business account. I made the switch on my own DA Instagram account and this has allowed me to view what type of people are following me (gender and age), the best time and days to post to achieve maximum views, and which of my posts have performed the best. These statistics can be really beneficial in getting to know who your audience is. I have also found that following accounts similar to your own (with a similar amount of followers) and actually engaging with the content they’re posting usually results in a follow back. This can be tedious but definitely worth it. Please don’t be discouraged by your lack of followers. We all have to start somewhere! I think you just need to focus on defining who your target audience is, and once you’ve done this your follower count will grow. However, please don’t create art just because “it’ll do well”. Stay true to creating art that you love, as this is what art is all about! You are doing amazing so far, your drawings are incredible, and you should be really proud of what you’ve created so far. Good luck x
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