Thanks to lewdzz for researching and contributing this thoughtful essay. Growing a following is a long and difficult journey, as lewdzz shares here. Have an idea you want to share with the NSFW art industry? Check out how to contribute here.

Many of us have issues with the size of our art pages. It’s understandable, one of the most enjoyable parts of being an artist is being able to share your creations with others, but it’s too easy to get caught up in our follower count. We tend to look at likes and followers as a form of validation, but that’s often unhealthy for us all too. We should look to build a following but we can’t evaluate our own skills based on it. 

The Experiment

I personally was feeling bad about the size of my following so I decided to conduct a sort of experiment: I took a look at the size of some of my favorite fellow NSFW artists’ fan bases and compared it to its size on their first ever post. Starting with Drunk:

As you can see, his first post was back in 2020 with about 5000 likes. His newest post from 2 days ago hit 10,000!

I did this again with Cyclops

His first ever tweet only had 69 likes, and his most recent from 3 days ago broke 10,000. 

I did it again with one of (if not) the biggest NSFW artist at the moment, Derpixon:

As is visible here as well, major growth from their starting point of just 325 likes on their first post, and over 200,000 on their newest! It is important to also note their consistency in posts as well as the fluctuation in the amount of engagement they’ve had. One post might have 60 likes and the next one could be the first to bring you 1000!

Another good thing to look at is the impressions of the artist. For those who don’t know, the impressions is the number of people who have seen your post, this allows you to sort of take note of the ratio between how many people have seen your post and liked it versus how many didn’t. (PS. there is a very new and cool mechanic on Twitter that shows the impressions of other posts, which is really cool because it lets us apply that ratio to other artists! As seen here:

The impression is the furthest left number! As you can see even some of the best NSFW artists only have a small ratio of likes compared to views! So don’t beat yourself up! 

Now you may be asking “lewdzz, why does all of this matter? They all started off with better likes and engagement on their first tweets anyway, what does this have to do with me?”

My answer, you wonderful person, is “look at the growth.” Notice the major growth from their first post to their most recent. Look at the amount of followers they have, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, look at the number of posts they have. ALL of these artists have made well over 100 posts since their first, and the growth they’ve made is a testament to that. Cyclops is even a special case because he has made over 1000 posts since he started! (Also take into account they all were on other platforms before Twitter)

Now take all of that info and compare it to how much you have. Not how many followers, but how many posts. When was your first post, when was your most recent post, and how many posts have you made in-between? It is important to acknowledge that all of the major NSFW artists we look up to and love have spent time building up their brands, and all have a unique and well rounded style. How much of that do we have? Does your art scream your brand? Is your art-style recognizable? All of these questions are crucial to have answers to in order to grow your following, but most of all the most important thing is to create what you love and create BECAUSE you love! 

The Overall Lesson

The three major takeaways I have been able to pull from this experiment are:

1. Your viewership depends on the contents of your posts, more popular characters will ALWAYS have an edge over OC’a because of recognition (Apply this to popular memes and trends in the NSFW art community as well) This accounts for most inconsistencies in post engagement for lots of artists that don’t have super unique or popular OC’s. This is important to factor in when looking at your growth compared to that of larger artists.

2. It takes TIME to make a killing in NSFW art, these artists have built themselves up for YEARS and still are making numbers that are roughly inconsistent. We have to look at the time it takes to build a following as less of “oh this sucks because nobody sees my work” and more as “this is how much time I have to build my up my identity as an artist and be able to present that when my following has built up” 

3. The most important, do it because you love it! The major issue for lots of upcoming NSFW artists is the feeling of not being seen, like nobody cares about your art. At the base of it is that nobody has yet seen your work, and even if they have they might not have liked it. That’s OK, your audience will come as you draw what you love. An important question to ask yourself is “Would I rather draw what people love, or have people love what you draw?” If you only draw what you have passion for, people who love your art will come to enjoy your work over time. Know the kind of things you like. 

Don’t be afraid to try new things but know yourself first, knowing the audience comes SECOND. Be consistent in your production! Spread your art to different platforms! Don’t be afraid to try new things, and draw what you love!