Hi, I'm an artist who's just started trying to post my own OCs and comics and I was wondering.
Do you have any advice for how to better present OCs in a way people will actually find interesting?
Fanart is always fun and I love making it, but I've wanting to try writing my own character. My OC posts always seem to flop though and I was wondering if a more experienced artist/author like yourself might have insight on how to encourage interest.
Eh, I think a lot goes into getting people to like your OCs. There's no sure way to get it but there are indeed things that do better than others.
• OC actions/interactions/little comics will generally do better than portraits or presentable illustrations, even as sketches (they may not get you the numbers but they'll make people feel like they know more about your character, their relationships, personality, etc).
• Images that evoke strong emotions are also more likely to make people connect to the character that's experiencing them (love, grief, anger, etc).
• Jokes/memes/relatable content featuring OCs can make them more memorable and shareable in general.
• Infodumps, character sheets, etc will be interesting to already existing fans of a character but are less likely to engage new people. And so on and so forth
• Should go without saying but art quality (or at least how expressive/unique/satisfying you design and draw characters) and the actual characters (design, personality, story, etc) will also affect engagement
I do want to add that none of these will work in the long run if you're posting with engagement in mind ONLY. People who love OCs (I'm people) love seeing the passion that the creator has for their characters and not someone trying to use them to garner an audience. To me the best way to gather people around your fire is to do what your heart wants to see done and be excited about it, and that excitement is likely to grab a handful of people in time
