Lately, I've been having a big think about what makes character designs, and by extension, just art and posts in general, interesting on social media and hot spots like here on Newgrounds. So, I come here today looking for some input from all you folks here on NG: What is the secret? What makes someone's artwork truly worthy of community-building around it? Come, take a walk with me.

In the few months since I've graduated from animation college, I've been posting with fair regularity from a content backlog from over the semester with the occasional recent piece to see if I could break an algorithm. Alongside that, I decided to take an extra close look at all my other cartoonist peers that I know of around the internet to understand what got them their fame from modest but active followings to those breaking the tens of thousands. With that, I took notice to a good bit of things most of them have in common:

• The Big R34 - It's pretty obvious that lewd art gets clicks. You come for the pretty girls in various states of undress, you stay for the lore and the warm, fuzzy, wholesome scenarios the artist likes to play around with from time to time.

• High Fashion and Lots of Things - I've noticed that many of the original character designs of many popular artists are either totally decked-out with accessories (bracelets, bands, rings, necklaces, headbands, packs, bags, stickers, tatts, hairpieces, etc. the list goes wayyy on for what could be expected in the modern day). This list could go even crazier if we include the whole wider scope of fiction. Furthermore, many characters' macro fashion choices I would never see just walking around in real life, and even in the city, such a choice of clothes would be hard to spot. It makes me wonder if such characters are what we artists desire to wear, but feel repressed from doing so because of social norms. It's expected to see it from artists who theme their work specifically about designing fashion, though the sentiment seems to be everywhere if the artist isn't drawing from high-fantasy or sci-fi.

• The Chosen One at the End of the RPG - I recall back in college seeing another student share a recent character design of theirs with a description next to the image. With no disrespect to the artist for what I personally perceived as absurdity, but the character was described (and partially depicted) as a motorcycle-riding, vampiric witch who received magic powers from an ancient goddess of the moon set out on a journey by the ghost of a long-lost relative. There may have been more details on the description, but after a certain point it felt like too many adjectives, titles, and skills to stuff into a single character for a deliberate work of fiction. But, yet, it seemed like the whole chat couldn't get enough of the idea. Could it be that the draw is from our desire for accomplishment and uniqueness in the modern day? Are we all just looking for a power fantasy to latch on to, whether it be played through by ourselves, or conceived by another?

• Loud & Saturated, Yet so Smooth - This one is a recent observation: Lately I've been noticing most creators who focus on original content use a TON of highly saturated colors. In my own experimentation with bright, flashy colors, I've found that's no easy accomplishment. I've been through multiple semesters with a focus on color theory, yet there was something missing from what I learned through that time. It appears that the harmony between every color selected that I detect in these other galleries isn't simply chosen on a color wheel. Though, personally, I believe I am gaining ground on this front, as I've found a method of "applying filters" to my color choices to better unite the color selection and have them fight with each other less. Now, if I could just have a hyper-colorful and harmonious post for all of them. That would really make the front page shine!

• Two or More Familiar Concepts - Especially popular in recent years, a lot of times it just don't seem to cut it to just draw your favorite character from your favorite game or show just standing there lookin' pretty. From here, you got two options: (1) You fuse another property into the content to create something new. I recall a popular fellow BromoJumbo (Instagram and X) took the well-known colorful cast of Batman and gave them a fresh coat of paint, making them all Megaman bosses. Not sure how the series of posts measured up for him, but it looked like another smash-hit to me! I've been doing a little experimentation with the process myself lately. Check out my SSB trophy gallery featuring the mobs of Minecraft. There may only be a couple now, but I'm curious to see where the little project will lead.

• Trendy - I'd say this one's likely the most obvious. I notice a lot of big artists are very keen on trends in the multimedia news. Nintendo announce a new Metroid game? Is the Sonic Movie 4 announced? Has the internet fallen in love with a new waifu? It may just be worth the while to drop whatever you're doing when you hear such a thing and get drawing! For the longest time, it seemed absurd to me to see big-time fanart for a new game or movie that was just announced only a few hours ago, but now I'm beginning to see why that's happening. I underestimated the potential for grabbing new eyes through following trends. With all the people looking through the tags related to the shiny new thing coming out in a few months, surely your art will be shown to a couple thousand new faces, right? Only time will tell when I experiment further with that.

So those are all the factors I've observed off the top of my head for now. Maybe it's a bit much to digest all at once, or maybe it's already plainly obvious to everyone else, or maybe even it's a tad-bit unwholesome to take such an analytical approach to an environment that's so passion-driven. Over the years, personally, I haven't done much of any of these things, or at least not consistently. When I take a step back to take a long look at my own body of original work, I tend to observe that many of my designs are of very ordinary-looking folk, even in high fantasy settings. It is almost as if I am designing characters not to play a sort of dress-up, but rather characters who shine if they are observed through a minute or so of animation, or perhaps longer with an animatic in practical terms. This may prove as motivation for getting some actual animation out for some of my original content to really shine. Regardless, it all makes me wonder what the big difference is between those who can foster a true community around Newgrounds and beyond and those who remain a water molecule in a planet completely enveloped in deep ocean.

It begs the question, where do you guys think success as an artist comes from? This time, I discourage the notion of "just keep posting what you love and it'll happen!" We all know that and I appreciate encouragement, but multiple things can be true at the same time. Over the many years of posting art on the internet, something hasn't been working out for me personally, and I'm certain there are many like me who have similar problems relative to similar social and professional interests. What do you guys think the game is? I'm very curious to know what sort of buzz there is about it and if there are any other hard workers around that find themselves in a similar, stagnant position that just can't get off the ground.

I encourage you to share thoughts.

Until next time.