I'm New, Curious About Site Culture

Holly I havent been here very long but people are friendly and helpful here
I have joined a few groups if I think one of my pictures seem to fit in.
I learned a few thinga just by reading threads and what people post.
If you have a question most likely someone has the answer here play a few of the games on the threads like the posting the persons work above you is a good one.
Theres show yoyr new work.
Thought of the day. Share a joke on the joke thread. Lots of good stuff.
. Looking foward to seeing your work.
Welcome to FAA.

Welcome. We have a pretty friendly and supportive group of folks here.

Besides this forum, I really like the marketing tools FAA provides. I don't use all of them, but the ones I use are helpful. I haven't sold a lot, but I've sold more here than on any similar sites.

Welcome !

The site culture keeps artists here and coming back. You just have to put up with the strong personalities and opinions. There is a lot of good advice among the grumbling, joking and scolding.

Don't get too occupied with views. Tweet your stuff if you want instant bot views. What you want is sales which requires promoting yourself outside the bubble. Use the forum for fun and advice but don't neglect real marketing of yourself.

LOL! "You just have to put up with the strong personalities and opinions." This is true, Holly, but overall this is a good bunch of folks.

To answer some of your other questions, I am the moderator/curator of 3 groups. Groups (which I like to think of as galleries) are only as good as the administrator runs them. If there is a focused scope and the number of submissions is under control, then the group can be a great place to gain exposure.

Contests can be a bit of a sore/sticky subject around here. Basically, there are 3 types of contests: those that allow voting by the general public, those that allow voting only by FAA members, and those that are voted on by a jury panel. The general public contests are good for exposure only (IMO) and not to be taken too seriously because they can be rife with voter solicitation (and it's basically expected to have voter solicitation). FAA members only voting contests can also be plagued by voter solicitation, but not always. (For some, it's all about winning and they will do whatever they can to win, even if their work does not warrant it.) Again, these contests are not to be taken too seriously and are good for exposure. The contests with a jury panel are the contests that are most likely going to award quality work. At the end of the day though, unless there is an actual tangible prize, all contests are meant to be for FUN and EXPOSURE and nothing more.

EDIT: As a rule of thumb, the more images a contest allows per artist, the less likely the chances of exposure for your work. (I rarely enter contests where the number of images allowed per artist is more than 3. Just my preference, really.)

Welcome aboard! And by the way, I really like:

I've been a member for less then a year... I spend more time reading the forums the writing in them. I manage one group... I'm not a stranger here when I post probably... but I am not a regular either :)

here's my 2cents on you questions from my point of view...

There are a core group of people who do probably 50% of the posting... those names, faces and writing styles and personalities you will recognize...
The other 50% is probably still only a couple of hundred people who post infrequently but still post... then you probably have 90% of the rest of the FAA Artists who never post... or only if they have a problem

Groups are a way to get your art seen by other artists and get comments... I'm not sure if it helps sales but I still add my photos to a bunch... it doesn't take much time and does not hurt...

Contests here are mostly just for fun... do not take them to seriously. Most contests the winning image is under 10 votes and there can be anywhere from 100's to 1000+ photos... I add photos but rarely check the results...

Welcome Holly, nice art.

Welcome Holly!

Hi there!

Welcome. You do beautiful work. I was going to post the Glitter face drawing which is stunning, but someone else already did so I'll post this one:


I love the softness to your drawings. You have a beautiful talent. FAA does have a great group of artists and it's great that we help each other out. Join groups, contests, and view/visit other artists works. Anything to help get your name out there. You're already signed up with several social media options so make sure you oromote your work outside of FAA. It takes a lot of work to promote your self. I'm sure other's will agree, I look forward to seeing more of your work. Great job.

Just jump in, as you have, and you will see how it goes soon enough.

You mean we have culture here? (^_^)

I might be one of those regular posters that somebody warned you about. Or I might be deluded in thinking that I might be. You will figure this one out too, if you stick around.

you probably won't connect to galleries, i don't think there is a way to contact them directly, though i never really tried. the forum is used by maybe 1% of the site. though there are a lot of lurkers, probably 25% of the place looks at it, but are in the shadows.

the forum has the cast of usuals, the cast of extras, and sometimes a few guest stars. some people make a random appearance, and are never seen again. others are banned for doing something extra stupid. we have a few people banned for a year. some people stay in the forums for a few months, or troll for a few months, then fade away again. some people that were banned from this site site, come back under new names, and it then becomes a game of identifying the cretin. we have a batch of names we know of.

be sure to follow the rules of the forum. the easiest one to break is the name and shame rule. i'd say that does the most people in. oh that and killing cats.

contests and groups are just for exposure, neither should be taken seriously. it just helps spread you pictures out.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I didn't realize we have notoriously banned peeps. I guess I haven't been around long enough to witness the excitement. ;-)

ususally strong guys in white jackets quietly make them leave. i know of 2 so far that made the one year cut. one of them was a brand new user that got a bit mouthy.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Welcome Holly! It is possible to meet other artists especially in the forums. I have met several mentors and made friends here, it is somewhat like Facebook. The more you comment and help others the better your chances of getting to know them. The discussions are an information highway. I think Chris Bordeleau has the right idea in perusing the discussions regularly for valuable information and some laughs. As you have noticed you can comment on other artist's work in their galleries and message them using the inner e-mail system (also know FAA staff can read those e-mails).

Thank you Rahdne and Jennifer White for the compliments on my work, I really appreciate it. :) I'm glad you like what I do. And yes, as far as "strong personalities..." That's something I've just gotten used to tolerating in my daily life even off the Internet, so I think I'll manage somehow haha. So far most people seem quite nice here anyway.

Yeah, I definitely have to get into the marketing tools and such, which are ALL a new thing to me. Like I think I said, I've been arting for many many years, but only in the last like 2 months have I decided I want to really start exposing my stuff and trying to make money on it, so marketing is not my strong point and I haven't made any sales yet, which I guess is acceptable considering I haven't been trying all that long. For those who make sales, what tools are you using, and what would you suggest for drawing buyers to your page who will actually make purchases? I'm reminded of a conversation I had with an artist in a Facebook group who told me that she doesn't share much of her work in that group because as much as she likes page likes, she prefers to share her work with people who can and will buy rather than with other starving artists lol. I feel like there's some wisdom in that statement.

Other than that, thank you all for being so welcoming and helpful, I've already been given a very comprehensive amount of information by you friendly folks, after only one intro post. :) I look forward to communicating with you all further.

This place has about as much culture as a half eaten yogurt. If you don't try to fit in you'll fit right in.

Hey Holly! Looks like you've got some wicked stuff in your gallery! Added you to my following tab; keep up the awesome work!

Welcome aboard and best of luck to you!

You have 17 images.

I would suggest you forget the threads, groups, contests, likes, favorites, worrying about the FAA search ranking, views and all of the other stuff too many people get all bogged down in. That is assuming you are more interested in selling than socializing.

You should spend 75% of your time creating and uploading you art and 25% advertising your Artist Website OUTSIDE of FAA. Until you get closer to 250-300 images I would stay that course. Once you get to the 300 images, you goal should be to add images and get the number up as high as possible. There IS a direct relationship to number of images and number of sales.

That said someone is going to no doubt come in here and tell you about the people that have less than 100 or less 50 that sell every day. And that is true. But they are very, very, very rare and they have special circumstances such as a famous name when they came here, connections with outside organizations that promote their work or some other special circumstances.

I have been here 2 1/2 years. I did all of the above and tracked sales and their relationship to all of the things above. I found that there was ZERO relationship to sales and everything else except adding images and outside advertising. That said, I am not one of the top sellers in FAA but I do sell everyday for the most part. The top sellers never show up in the threads.

Jump in, get your feet wet and get your Artist Website up and running. The sooner you get it up, the sooner it will start being indexed by searches OUTSIDE of FAA.

Couple of quick tips.

Key words are critical but make sure do not accidentally spam. If it not in the image or directly related to image, do not put it in the keywords. They will make you redo them if they think they are spam.

Make sure you use good descriptions with as many search terms that you can think of.

Same thing with titles. Example: "Red Rose" okay "Red Rose Mission Santa Barbara" better.

Facebook used right is a very valuable tool. There are others but you mentioned you have a Facebook page. First, forget the idea of Facebook is an avenue of staying in touch with friends and relatives. You have to think outside those old notions of Facebook.

You simply cannot get enough "friends" to make a market for your work. The secret of Facebook is joining groups and getting your posts shared. And NOT groups of only artist. If you sell Christian art, join Christian groups, if you sell florals, join gardening groups. I sell a lot of western art. I belong to all of the western groups where western buffs hang out.

Do not just join and start spamming them with you images. Check out the group and watch what others are posting.

DO NOT put a link or a sales pitch in your posts. Put the links that go back to you to your AW where it is seen ONLY if someone clicks on your image.

Interact with the group. Make comments, make friends, like and share other people's post and they will do that the same for you making for a much broader based reach.

But remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint.

Thanks for starting this thread Holly and of course a warm welcome to you.

Wow @Floyd thanks for the great tips on marketing!

Who wants to tell Holly about the dues to be in the 'in' crowd?
Oh hell, I will...
Holly, dues are payable to me twice monthly...$5 a week.
That insures you the right to open a thread and not be tarred and feathered, discounted rental of suits of armor and a list of snappy retorts to shut up the obnoxious peeps.

Marlene is right about the "in" crowd but she must have forgotten that we raised the dues to $25 a week.

I am the treasure so send your payment to Floyd@ThisIsARipOff.com via PayPal.

::::grabbing Floyd's neck with a cane and pulling him off, stage left:::::::

Notice how Floyd S. advises you to avoid the discussion forums, and yet he is here to tell you this. If not for this, then you never would have gotten the message to avoid getting such messages here.

Thus is the nature of the place and the nature of the "in" crowd. Monetary dues are free, but you must pay with words, and then hope those words do not get you pay back.

By the way, I eat yogurt twice a day on most days. This must contribute to my level of culture, because yogurt IS, in fact, quite rich in cultures.

Thanks for the advice Floyd. Lot of good information in there. I am definitely working towards expanding the number of actual images I have, that's mostly what I'm focused on. I would set up an artist website, but if by that you mean a hollygrootonk.com type deal it's sort of out of the budget for the moment, as I don't make enough money to maintain the cost of a personal website at this point. So it's online galleries for now.

And Robert K, lol I did notice. While I don't plan to dwell here full time, I don't doubt that it can be useful to pop in and socialize from time to time. How else would I have gotten this advice from all these nice people? ;)

I'm also not sure that people got my meaning when I said "culture..." I didn't mean, "Is this site high class, high brow, well-cultured art crowd," I just meant what do people do. What do they put up with, how do they like to interact with the site. Every website has its own little culture and I have encountered some I DO NOT fit with, as I'm sure everyone has. Haha.

Also yogurt is quite high in cultures. Kefir is higher though. ;P

Hello Holly,
recently I have re-enabled my account on FAA, which I have disabled some time ago because of some technical reasons. Now, I am really glad to come back again. I have very warm memories about kind people here, really great art-community!