How to Get Your First 100 Followers as an Artist

Zero is the loneliest number of followers. Every upload feels like posting into the void, and it’s tempting to conclude that your art just isn’t good enough yet.

Usually, that’s not the problem. The problem is that nobody has had a reason to find you yet. The first hundred followers aren’t about talent or luck — they’re about giving people ways to discover you and reasons to stick around. Here’s how that actually works, without hacks, follow-for-follow schemes, or pretending there’s a secret.

Set the right expectation first

The first 100 are the slowest 100. Growth online compounds: followers engage with your work, which surfaces it to more people, who follow and engage in turn. At zero, none of that flywheel exists yet — so early progress is measured in ones and twos, and that’s normal, not a verdict on your art.

Give yourself a season, not a week.

1. Make your profile worth following

Before anything else, look at your profile the way a stranger would. When someone enjoys one artwork, they click through — and decide in seconds whether following you is worthwhile.

Have at least 5–6 pieces posted so there’s something to browse. One artwork isn’t a gallery.
Add an avatar and a short bio — what you make, in one or two lines. Empty profiles read as abandoned.
Show a direction. Your work doesn’t need to be samey, but a recognisable thread (subject, mood, palette) gives people a reason to want more of it.

If you’re building toward something bigger, our portfolio guide covers curation in depth.

2. Be findable: tags, titles, categories

Discovery on an art platform mostly happens through browsing and search. Every upload should carry an accurate category and a handful of specific tags — “dark fantasy”, “pixel landscape”, “character design” — because that’s how people who already love your genre stumble onto you.

We’ve covered this in detail in how tags help people discover your art, so just the headline here: tag every upload thoughtfully, and don’t spam. It’s the highest-leverage two minutes in your posting routine.

3. Post consistently (not constantly)

One artwork a week, every week, beats seven uploads in one day and then a month of silence. Consistency does three things:

Keeps you appearing in recent feeds regularly.
Signals to potential followers that following you will actually yield new work.
Builds your habit — the real engine of improvement.

Pick a cadence you can sustain on a bad week. Weekly is plenty. And you don’t need a masterpiece each time: finished sketches, studies and works-in-progress all count as presence.

4. Be a community member, not a broadcaster

Here’s the step most people skip, and it’s the most effective one: engage with other artists’ work.

Leave genuine comments on pieces you actually like — the kind of feedback that helps, or even just a specific compliment (“the fog layering in the background is lovely”). Artists notice thoughtful commenters. They check out your profile. Many follow back, not out of obligation, but curiosity.

Ten sincere comments will do more for your early growth than any posting-time trick. It’s also just… how communities work. The artists who grow fastest are usually the ones other artists like having around.

On artbase, that also means joining groups around your genre and taking part — dedicated corners of the community are where small accounts get seen first.

People follow people, not image streams. The occasional WIP shot, before/after, timelapse or “how I painted this” note gives your account a voice and gives non-artists a way in. Process posts also invite comments naturally (“what brush is that?”), and comments are the start of every follower relationship.

6. Funnel from wherever you already are

If you have any existing presence — a Discord server, group chat, Instagram, a forum signature — link your gallery there. Your first followers are often people who already know you; they’re also your most loyal ones. (For how a dedicated art platform and social media complement each other, see our honest look at Instagram for artists.)

What not to do

Follow-for-follow chains. You get a number, not an audience. Those followers never look at your work again.
Tag spam. Irrelevant tags annoy browsers and bury your work among things it doesn’t match.
Deleting “underperforming” art. Early numbers are noise. A piece with two likes today can be discovered through a tag search a year from now.
Comparing your chapter 1 to someone’s chapter 40. The accounts you admire also started at zero — you’re just seeing them after the flywheel spun up.

The short version

Fill out your profile, post weekly, tag accurately, comment generously, and let it compound. That’s the whole system. It’s not fast, but it’s reliable — and the hundred people it earns you will be people who genuinely want to see what you make next.

If you’re starting from zero today, create your free artbase gallery, upload your five best pieces, and go leave three honest comments. That’s day one done.