How to Get Your Art Out There by Connecting With Your Viewer

Every artists asks “how do you get your art out there” at some point.

At the most basic, simple level, you have to connect with your viewer somehow.

If you don’t connect with your viewer, you won’t get your art out there.

All of the greatest and most popular art becomes great and popular because it draws people in around a common idea or experience. If you can’t identify with a piece of art, or at the very least can’t find a reason to explore or invest in the art, you won’t take any time to experience it.

This is part of the reason why fanart does as well as it does. You don’t have to worry as much about trying to design a connection with your audience because the connection has already been designed for you by the people who made the popular thing you’re drawing fanart of.

You can connect with your viewer if you draw fanart or talk about something popular, but you’ll have a harder time building a connection on what you, yourself are about.

This is a classic dilemma all artists have, particularly if you’re struggling to get your feet under you and establish an audience.

“Do I draw fanart or do I draw my own stuff?”

The answer is both, or either, as long as you can give your viewer a reason to stop and engage with your work. Whatever you choose to do, you have to do it with two things in mind: You want to connect with your audience, and you need to be ready to invest in the work for the long term.

If you want to get your art out there, connect with your audience, think about the stuff you believe in, or the stuff you’re fascinated by, and how you can present that in a compelling way to your audience.

You don’t have to be responsible for some magnificent opus, or a brilliant idea no one’s ever thought of before. Of course, you’ll have plenty of time and chances to try to come up with those things, but you really just have to make something that makes your viewers stop for just a minute and think about what’s going on.

If you’re strapped for ideas, you don’t have to overcomplicate things. You can go as simple as taking everyday activities and drawing pictures of people doing those things. You just have to make the experience of the drawing appealing.

To back up my point, the artist Navigavi built an audience pretty much on the back of drawing two or three well-rendered characters eating really well-rendered food.

Pretty girls + Pretty food checked off enough boxes to stop over 200K people and cause them to follow his art, and now he enjoys a career as a result of drawing really good pictures of pretty girls eating pretty food.

You don’t need to follow in those same footsteps, but you do need to apply those principles to stop the eyes of your viewers and get them paying attention to you.

Quality work + appealing presentation + connection with your audience = getting your work out there and in the eyes of your ideal viewer.

The equation is simple, though not necessarily easy.

• You must draw well.
• Your art must appeal to the viewer.
• You must present an idea you believe in that will resonate with people.
• Your art must appear in front of your audience consistently over a long period of time.

Don’t be discouraged, though. You aren’t the first person to build an audience, and you won’t be the last. You’re not treading new ground, so you won’t have to solve new problems. If you’re willing to show up and keep trying, you will earn an audience and maybe a living to go with it.