#whycantibeclever

[catbatart]

Hey!! I love your art so much, and it's a nice inspiration for my own art!! I wanted to ask how you got your online presence?? I want to make my own art blog, but I'm not sure how? Or really, how to get the art noticed more. I thought I'd ask since I love your stuff so much! 💚💚💚

Thank you so much!  OKAY! I’m gonna throw a few vague bullet points that I’ve found helpful here and then I shall attempt a VERY brief summary in more detail below the cut. -Memorable username. You want people to be able to find you without your name always being right in front of them. This is optional but helpful. -Post a lot. I gain my most steady stream of followers when I’m posting random sketches but I’m posting them frequently versus posting a few nice pieces sporadically. -Get involved in communities. Use tags. MMOs, D&D, fandoms, whatever you love that other people love! Using the tags to get your art of the things you love out to other people who love it? A+ -Participate in challenges! Inktober! Sketch Dailies! Mermay! Whatever tf monster smut I did in March. A SERIES that gets you posting consistently for a bit that people can follow and look forward to! (Also helpful with tags!) -Giveaways. I love doing giveaways. I love sending people things and people love getting things for free. They’re a great way to promote reblogs over likes and get your work out to more eyes. Plus, like I said, I love sending people stuff?? So it’s a weirdly symbiotic relationship! Those would be my main tips but if you want more of a breakdown, I’ve done a bit of a write-up below for my sordid, dark artist backstory.

NOTE: FOR WHATEVER REASON TUMBLR DOES NOT SEEM TO BE REGISTERING MY “READ BELOW THE CUT” SO JUST PRETEND LIKE THERE IS ONE HERE AND FORGIVE THE ETERNALLY LONG POST

I started my art tumblr back in...2011??? I think? 2012 maybe? To have a place to post some art projects I was doing back for my 2D animation class (I believe all evidence has been eradicated so don’t bother looking lol!) My username was “CatbatCD” at the time. CD stood for “Character Design” because that was the class I was taking. I ended up cultivating a few followers. <100 I think? And I got the very occasional commission. After college, most of what I posted was TTRPG stuff. This was before D&D 5e got REALLY big, so I was posting a LOT of D&D  and Dark Heresy doodles and most people did not care that much. (For those of you who were watching me back when I drew a lot of Eden and Dark Heresy stuff, you the real MVPs.) At this point I had around 400-500 followers would be my guess! 

But I started accumulating more once I started playing MMOs and doodling stuff with those games as a tag! No joke, when I started playing Wildstar (RIP) and started posting work, it generated a lot of engagement from people and I definitely started accumulating more followers (more mutuals, specifically!) It was the perfect combo of original content and pre-established universe that people were familiar with! It was also when I started being more serious about taking commissions.

Now this is the point where my Pro Strat doesn’t exactly get repeatable. Halloween of 2015. I had been following along with the Sketch Dailies prompts on twitter (I don’t even know if they’re active anymore.) And right around Halloween the prompt was “Pumpkin King.” I did a little 20 minute doodle of Jack Skellington and threw it on my tumblr and didn’t think of it.

Well, guess what fuckin 20 minute doodle got featured on the tumblr radar? 

In one night, I randomly gained 500 followers. It was BONKERS. ESPECIALLY since it was a piece I put next to no effort in. I still have mixed feelings about that, but I have about 1000 followers and at this point it’s been about 3-4 years. Now this is where it kinda gets down to a more tedious grind. After this point, I don’t have any follower-gaining miracles except do lots of art! Take commissions! Post commissions! Do art challenges!  In your specific circumstance, you have to just start your blog. You can’t start it thinking “I’m gonna get 1000 followers in the first year.” You simply CAN’T approach it like that. Cultivating followers for an art blog takes a lot of time. And honestly for me, I didn’t really approach it with followers in mind when I first made my blog. It was literally just somewhere I was slapping art projects up for my prof to view remotely.  You just got to go with it. Make your blog, post art you make, be kind, find communities you love, and you will develop a community of your own. <3 I hope that was even a tiny bit helpful, or at the very least somewhat insightful. 

[seraphtonin]

Once you get this message you have to post five things you love about yourself, publicly. Then send this to ten of your favorite followers (positivity is cool!)💗💗

❤️!!! Thank you for sending this to me ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Things I love about myself:

1) I have p decent memory, with regard to academics! I can remember a lot in a short span of time

2) I quite like my accent

3) I can do funny voices 

4) I’m p decent at doing eyeliner 

5) I’m stubborn af and, if I put my mind to a short term goal, it will be done 😁

I’m quite busy rn so I might not be able to send this to (m)any people but I really appreciate this message nevertheless!! I hope your day is as wonderful as you are?? ❤️

[whycantibeclever]

So, um, I'm not sure how much traction this'll get but uhhh

I'm broke af and out of a job and need help

Me and my partner both lost our jobs and need to pay our bills. We have about $500 out of $1,000 for this half of the month alone, and that's not including any sort of food money.

We're waiting to hear back from jobs we applied to, but we still need money until our first paycheck. I'm sorry to ask, but any little bit helps, if you can donate to my PayPal, I'd really appreciate it. I'm also going to work on building up my art social media and maybe I can do some commissions for donations. Thanks for any help I can get!!

https://www.paypal.me/whycantibeclever

[lazyleafeon]

I love ur art!! Sorry i just found this blog and im in love its so good!!

thank u!!

[sucrosesweet]

Drew my friend @whycantibeclever :D

[komid]

whycantibeclever replied to your post: my mom is drunk and she called me pretty

you are pretty

thank u...

[bringmethe-alchemists]

GO —-> Once you get this you have to say 5 nice things about yourself publicly and then send it to 10 of your favorite followers (not back to me, I did it already). Thinking good thoughts about yourself is hard but it will make you feel better so give it a go, for the sake of spreading positivity. c:

Ummmm okey (teetu friend)

1) I'm a great friend

2) I'm very intelligent and logical

3) I have a kickass taste in music and Anime

4) Ummm I have pretty hair

5) Uh, and I'm pretty funny 

Pffft I'm bad at complimenting myself >.

Oh, and I love and miss you Sarah!!! My phone is shattered, I broke it....because of the ending of Ouran Highschool Host Club....I was pissed...

[doctorsexbang]

3, 4, 28, 29

3:3 Fears

Darkness, heights, being alone anywhere

4:3 things I love

enchiladas, video games, girls in pretty dresses

28:Favorite movie

Butterfly effect

29:Favorite song

my music library is saying Simple Enough by Never Shout Never

[nelski11401]

purple, fuchsia, green, grey, teal, blue

i.... i..... *undefinable squealing noises*

[seraphtonin]

Tagged by my boo @smoke-and-bone-bender 😘 

“Post your lockscreen, homescreen, last song you listened to, and last selfie you took” 

The last song I listened to was Heathens by Twenty One Pilots! 

I’m tagging @sixfiresdown, @givemeamomentortwo, @insert-nerdy-username-here, @whycantibeclever, @attemptingcrashlanding, @gayisnotasynonymfor-shitty, @tinylittleexplorer, and @ephemeralrose!! (If you wanna do this just say I tagged you ;) because guess what! I’m taggin’ u right now no take backs ;))

[whycantibeclever]

So i might as well makes this...

I need some help

I may not make my rent this month

Im looking at my budget, work hours, Etc, and i dont really know what im going to do with rent, food, cat stuff, and gas. Im already going to be late on utilities and im hoping i won't go negative with my banks monthly fee later.

Ive been having a very difficult time getting to work because it get icy and snowy and i sometimes cant make it. Im trying to get more hours at work, but its hard.

My paypal is https://www.paypal.me/whycantibeclever

[seraphtonin]

I'd like to wish my friend @whycantibeclever a happy birthday! They're one of the kindest, sweetest people and I hope their birthday is as lovely as they are ❤

[seraphtonin]

Tagging: tumblr mobile won’t let me link frozenintimeforeverchanging, kindofafreakingprincess, perfect-but-flawed, whycantibeclever, perpetuallynocturnal, tumblr mobile won’t let me link everydayisgayday, oxalida, dj-jds, ofmiddleearth, and bea-snow

[sucrosesweet]

My friend whycantibeclever is actually gorgeous

[komid]

Once you get this you have to say 5 nice things you like about yourself publicly and then send this to your 10 favorite followers❤️

aa aa hi unfortunately i m too lazy to send it to 10 followers + i dont like to pick favorites so uou

im very cute

i hav good potential

my interests are pretty cool

did i mention that im cute

im healthy

[komid]

GO —-> Once you get this you have to say 5 nice things about yourself publicly and then send it to 10 of your favorite followers (not back to me, I did it already). Thinking good thoughts about yourself is hard but it will make you feel better so give it a go, for the sake of spreading positivity. c:

you are so sweet

i'm healthy

i like my hair

i'm good at singing

and drawing

i have an awesome taste in music B)

i may or may not be too lazy to do the next part but we'll see