If you are a digital artist (or a creative in general), sharing your work on social media is a great way for to get your work out into the world. If you make great art, it would be a shame to not share it with the world - someone else could benefit or be inspired by your work. Hiding your art within the boundaries of your Procreate gallery won’t spark conversations or opportunities, so it is important to share them, no matter how mediocre, cringy, or awkward it is.

Instagram is a social media platform that started out as a photo sharing application. Of course, it has now expanded to allow users to share content in a form of carousal posts, Reels, or Live. The versatility of digital content on Instagram can be daunting at first, but I encourage you to start posting whatever you feel comfortable, which can just be a single post. Growing your Instagram is a key social media platform not only to make your art visible to the world, but for others to notice it as well.

During the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many social media users gained a lot of traction, followers, and virality, even for those who just started out. This is likely due to a sudden surge of more people being stuck at home and on social media platforms during this time period. Also, the timing of movements and rising issues have helped leveraged a lot of people to be where they are at today, especially if they were the forefront of those changes. This is not to say that it did not take them years to grow, it is to acknowledge that between 2020 and 2021, there are many who have accelerated their social media growth during this time period.

The reality is that now, getting people’s interest on social media remains a challenge, though not impossible. People prefer content that are original and have substance, not just dance or trendy videos. Creators must be aware of this shift in order to make their art and content appealing to their audience.

To distinguish yourself from other artists on Instagram, there are a couple of strategies you can use. As a digital artist who has been growing her Instagram account for three years, I would like to share some ways to help maximize your growth on Instagram and to avoid mistakes I have made. Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Set a Realistic Goal

The first step is to ask yourself, “What is your goal of sharing your art?” Before you dive head fast into Instagram and posting your art, it is important to set a realistic goal so you have a strategic plan in place to achieve it. Simply “gaining a lot of followers” is not going to cut it because a high follower count does not always lead to sales or opportunities.

If you end up putting so much work and effort to just gain a lot of followers, you might have missed opportunities to build things or seek opportunities while you were focusing on increasing your follower count. Keep in mind that Instagram is a platform that you don’t own, so while follower count is a good vanity metric for brand collaborations and other opportunities, it might disappear or get hacked or Instagram may disable your account randomly one day. This is not meant to discourage you, it is to keep you informed about these things that could arise when using Instagram.

The better answer would be to get your content be more visible and shareable so you can get new followers (and appeal to your existing one). Some other ideas to think about are:

Do you want to work with brands in the future? If this is something you want to pursue, then make art that would appeal to brands, such as a fun re-design of their logo or constantly sharing tips of using their product or platform. If you want to make content for them, build skills (e.g. develop high-quality, artistic videos) that brands would want to hire for.
Do you want to build a community? Building a community like a local art group will involve getting your content in front of local leaders, organizations, and like-minded people to be a part of your network. This will mean building trust and engaging and connecting with people both inside and outside of social media.
Do you want to make sales? If this is your primary intent to be on social media, then you will need to build an audience first and create art that your audience will enjoy. The art can be entertaining, inspirational, or educational, as long as it is relatable to your audience and will allow them to be seen or visible. You will also need to find a balance of making art that you enjoy and making art that your audience likes. This will involve some experimentation of content and interacting with your audience to gauge their interests. This will all help build trust and make you more likable, which can, in turn, lead to sales.
- PRO TIPS: Ironically, the thing that will lead to sales is NOT content about your product all the time, but about 80% of your art to help, entertain, or inspire people. Good messaging and captivating captions will help you grow too. Being consistent about your posts and presence on Instagram will also be important to your success.
Do you want to expand your portfolio? If Instagram is to simply show your specific art style and work, I recommend that you should have a consistent palette and grid look to your art. You don’t need to have a perfect grid and stick to a color palette, but if you want to showcase your art in a creative and unique manner, it is important to keep a consistent style that matches your personality and what you like to create. This will separate you from other artists and creatives and people would be more inclined to follow or like your specific, unique style of art because it is so different and appealing.
Do you want to build a business? If you want to build your own business, having brand colors to your art will help distinguish your work from others. You also want to build good habits that will allow you to have a consistent schedule to create and post on Instagram. Engaging and connecting with your audience, along with, finding ways to appeal to your potential clients or consumers of your products will be important to your success. Also, consider a long-term plan and not rely solely on Instagram for your entire business. This can mean having a dedicated website for your art, implementing SEO techniques, and creating evergreen content beyond Instagram.
Do you want all of the above? If so, that is totally ok. Any goal can be achievable with the right mindset. I recommend starting with one goal first and then you can continue working on the other goals as you near closer to your first goal.

What if you are unsure? This is fine too. I find that it is okay to not know where your art will lead you and to just make art for fun. Sometimes, the simplest of work can be an attractive way to grow on Instagram. Whatever you decide, make sure that your efforts moving forward are in a direction that will make you happy and will set you up for success.

Step 2: Create Art in Different Ways To Keep Your Audience Engaged

When you are first starting out, you can first create and post art to get a feel for what your audience likes. A big piece to growing on Instagram is making art or content people enjoy. There is a balance to making art you like and art people like seeing - you will need to find that middle ground. It is important to keep experimenting this because you want to maintain interest with your current audience and attract new ones as well.

Making original art will mean creating a fresh, new art every time, which can lead to burn out, inconsistency, and frustration. I recommend sticking to a schedule of creating and posting that works for you at first, which can mean once a week, and progressively increasing once you have dialed in your schedule. Of course, there are sometimes unexpected life circumstances, creativity blocks, and other high-priority situations that occur, so it is absolutely ok to address those first and take those much needed breaks in between. The point is to get back on track when you are ready again.

When I refer to “original art,” it must be distinct enough that it comes from your personal expression and experiences. Though, it does not mean you cannot use other works or ideas as inspiration to make your own. As a creative, it is important to not only create, but to consume things that interests you and they don’t have to strictly be within the world of art. They can be reading or listening to podcasts. Find things or have other hobbies that constantly inspire and motivate you, such as going out on walks or cooking. Save ideas on your phone when it comes because most of the time, it comes very randomly at the most oddest times!

While you do need to create new art to keep people engaged, you do not have to only keep posting the final version every time. This will lead to burn out very quickly and the feelings of wanting to quit. Instead, you can make and post other types of art content and they are shared below:

Progress art, such as sketches
Process or time-lapse of an art drawing in a video post (e.g. sketch to final)
Art animation
Art products
A year review of old art and new art
A monthly recap of your art - see video below
Tips related to art, drawing, and/or design
A post about you the artist
Artist support post (for engagement)
Old and previous art you have made before being a digital artist
Fan art (once in a while)
Holiday or celebratory art

The ideas above can be shared in different and multiple ways such as carousal posts or Reels. You can be creative in how you would like to present your art on Instagram.

Here is an example of a monthly art recap video:

Here is an example of a sketch to final reel:

Here is an example of sharing Procreate tips:

Here is an example of sharing an art product, but keeping it educational:

Here is an example of an art progress reel:

Here is an example of a fan art - this one is from Disney’s Turning Red:

Here is an example of an art animation:

As you can see, there are different ways to display art that will keep viewers engaged on Instagram. I recommend switching between single posts/carousal posts and reels so your art and content can be interesting for your audience.

Part of growing on Instagram is learning new ways to be efficient with your time by automating and setting up systems or templates that will maintain consistency in your posting schedule. To start, just post whenever you can and not to worry about what day or time to post. There will always be people on Instagram and if your post is engaging enough, it will reach the right people.

Step 3: Collaborate With Other Artists and Participate in Art or DTIYS Challenges

One of the fun ways to make online art friends and build a community is to collaborate with other artists. You can collaborate with other artists and creatives by creating something together and tagging them as a Collaborator to your post so it can be posted on your account and theirs. This can be a great way to expand your reach because you will be visible to their audience and vice-versa. It is a win-win for both.

Below is a video clip that was shared on Instagram between InspiredByStudio and me that captures the conversation of How to Build Confidence as a Creative.

Collaborations are important, but I would not do this too often because it may appear repetitive if it is reiterating the same information. You can weave in collaboration posts here and there between other art posts. Before you tag a Collaborator, ensure that the person you are tagging is aware and to ask permission to share content together. Be transparent about what you are planning to share and ensure that the post includes yours and the Collaborators’ work.

Another way to grow on Instagram is to find other artists and build a following from their well-established accounts. You can do this by participating in art challenges or Draw This in Your Style (DTIYS) challenges. The beauty of this is to draw something based on a prompt and to be visible by the artist who is hosting the challenge AND their audience. You can participate in both popular and smaller art challenges.

A popular art challenge was the #pantonechallenge hosted by @bigbluetang where you draw something based on a pantone color she provided for the next 30 days. This is an art challenge I participated one time and she commented back that she loved the work!

Drawing art based on art prompts or art challenges hosted by others will get your work seen by more people. It is a cool way to not only challenge your art, but to also meet new people.

A third way is to post a comment on an Artist Support post or host one yourself. An Artist Support post is a way to introduce yourself AND get other artists to comment and introduce themselves in the comments. This is an awesome way to find other like-minded artists and how I met and have gotten to know several artists using this method.

Step 4: Don’t Be Afraid to Re-Share Art You’ve Made

A mistake I have made in the past is to only share final version of artwork and nothing else. I was afraid of re-posting the same art so I kept drawing new art, thinking this would make my audience happy. In reality, I was feeling super burnt out from this and the art I was making was lackluster and mediocre. Similar to Step 2, I recommend finding different ways to re-share the same art. As long as you make the content still interesting, you can share the same art in multiple ways.

There is an artist I follow where she wears the same outfit, uses the same aesthetic filter, and re-uses videos to make different and new content in every Instagram reel. It does not feel monotone because this is her style and highlights her creativity. Even though she re-uses her videos, she is successful at making them different every time. Her name is Cathleen and she is @kawaii.art.cafe on Instagram. She has over 101k followers on Instagram and growing!

You can creatively come up with different ways to repeat your art and content if it keeps your audience engaged.

Step 5: Engage and Interact with Your Audience

As a reminder, Instagram is a social media platform. It is important to be social and interact with people, either by posting questions on your IG story, commenting on posts, and replying to messages. In the beginning, you may not get as many comments or responses, so try to be active and initiate conversation on other artists’ accounts. Engagement is also a key metric in Instagram and if it is positive, Instagram will keep your posts more visible.

If you are a little shy, that is okay. Keep posting your art and sharing your message or story behind it. You can also try following local organizations on Instagram and build a connection with them. This is a good way to find other like-minded people and artists in your own community.

Your instagram account takes time to build and it does take hard work to have an Instagram presence. It may be overwhelming at first, but once you get the ball rolling with your art, you’ll find better ways to create and find a system that will work for you. One wisdom I would like to leave you with is the mindset to create for your audience, not for the Instagram algorithm. Instagram wants users to stay on their social media platform and if you provide good art and content that will get engagement and views, you will grow on Instagram. I learned this tip from Katie Steckly (@katiesteckly) and she provides amazing tips on how to grow on Instagram and on YouTube.

Good luck with your Instagram account! Let me know your Instagram handle in the Comments below, I would love to know where you are at and happy to support you in any way I can!

Good luck,