How to get views on Newgrounds

[ShrapnelAnime]

Well it seems that after being on this website for a bit now, I've noticed a trend that's been going on. It's pretty simple, if you want to get views:

Draw porn

It seems that anything that relates to porn, nsfw, hentai, etc, gets the most views. Call it what you may, but it's basically just a bunch of horny dudes who allow this to happen. I see plenty of amazing art on this website go unnoticed in comparison to the pictures that show tits. Artists who aren't that good make it to the front page just because of tits, and it's almost retarded seeing that happen.

Of course, this isn't ALWAYS the case. You'll have your occasional pro-artist show up on the front page without relying on the nsfw strategy, but the amount of cases like these pale in numbers to the lesser skilled, porn drawing people who get tons of views. I even experienced this, with my most nsfw (which aren't even that nsfw) drawings being my most viewed. Granted, it may be because they are the best quality, but that probably isn't the case.

All in all, I just wanted to share with you my observations. I'm sure all of you have noticed it too;

Want to get popular on this website? Draw shit like this. Almost pathetic in my opinion.

[Mrccbirdguy]

"If I want views, I'll just draw porn... But wait, if I want even more views, I'll draw porn but have licensed characters that aren't mine do the porn! It's Genius!!!"- Deviantart content in a nutshell.

Seriously though, not to sour grape, I've seen a lot of decent artists go unnoticed while someone that just rehashes the same damn thing over and over get triple the hits.

unfortunately, it goes back to the old adage-Sex sells.

[kgbm]

At 4/27/15 09:36 PM, ShrapnelAnime wrote: Well it seems that after being on this website for a bit now, I've noticed a trend that's been going on. It's pretty simple, if you want to get views:

Draw porn

It seems that anything that relates to porn, nsfw, hentai, etc, gets the most views. Call it what you may, but it's basically just a bunch of horny dudes who allow this to happen. I see plenty of amazing art on this website go unnoticed in comparison to the pictures that show tits. Artists who aren't that good make it to the front page just because of tits, and it's almost retarded seeing that happen.

Of course, this isn't ALWAYS the case. You'll have your occasional pro-artist show up on the front page without relying on the nsfw strategy, but the amount of cases like these pale in numbers to the lesser skilled, porn drawing people who get tons of views. I even experienced this, with my most nsfw (which aren't even that nsfw) drawings being my most viewed. Granted, it may be because they are the best quality, but that probably isn't the case.

All in all, I just wanted to share with you my observations. I'm sure all of you have noticed it too;

Want to get popular on this website? Draw shit like this. Almost pathetic in my opinion.

People tend to enjoy nudity, they tend to enjoy things sexual in nature. Even if they dont find the sexual aspect of an image appealing, most people can appreciate the aesthetic qualities of the female body (because lets face it, the female body is a beautiful thing)
Complaining about people enjoying nudity is going to do you about as much good as a fish trying to breathe mud - just sit back and enjoy it, or go and share the art you do like on other social media linking it back to here.

[Cairos]

It becomes a hard ugly reality for new artists once they see what gives you the most attention no matter what it is. Whether it be cheap gimmicks and techniques or suggestive subject matter.

As an individual artist you continue what you're doing or give in and compromise.

Climb the mountain. Don't ask for it to be moved.

[TurkeyOnAStick]

At 4/27/15 09:36 PM, ShrapnelAnime wrote: Want to get popular on this website? Draw shit like this. Almost pathetic in my opinion.

You will find this is true on DeviantArt as well, but the popular section on NG makes it much more obvious since it filters by views. On DA it's hushed up.

We're aware that the majority of this is shit, so only interesting and developing stuff gets showcased on front page, and not just tit-bait. Hopefully the site staff can make something more intuitive - the last time this was brought up, it was suggested that the art page was more determined by the viewer's favourites and fans.

[DizzyVix]

Question is are views that important?

Yes artist, especially good ones do deserve recognition but this is the internet and most people on the net like porn (insert Internet is for Porn Song), ok yes I am generalizing here but alas the cold hard fact is that a stereotype is based on some truth.

From experience if you are going to do something like art just for views and hits then you are going to have to produce something that everyone will like and have the lol or shock factor.
But making something new and different will not appeal to everyone, no matter how amazing the artist is - heck I have heard people say they don't like Picasso's works and he was a freakin master.

Personally the best reward is to make a piece that you are happy with and enjoy doing no matter how many hits or views it gets and will say that I sometimes don't like the subject matter in some NG artist's work like the Shadling but cannot help but admire the shading and level of detail he has used. If some artists are hoping to get client work that old saying quality over quantity really applies and because of the ever growing competition you do have to do a little leg work to get people to see your work, but once you get a couple of paid projects and make sure you treat the clients like kings they will recommend you to their friend who will most likely hire you.

Plus you have only shown a screenshot of what is hot this month, scroll down the art page and you will find the High Ranking Classics which contain less nudes and some more high detailed pieces of art. Plus there is always the option to turn off the Adult stuff in the ratings.
It does show that nudes with big boobs and recognizable characters will get people those hits quickly but those 15 minutes of internet fame will be short lived.

[kgbm]

very well said, dizzy :)

[Lintire]

I totally would draw pornography if I could.

Anyway, I think you'll find that the "art consumerist" crowd is significantly smaller than the "pornography consumerist" crowd. You know, by a smidgeon. They're two different demographics, and the people with a hard-on for hardons will always eclipse whatever the other group is.

It's an attitude problem you've got. You're thinking, "Wow, they're only interested in art if it's got tits" - nah, they're not interested in your art at all. They're just here for the tits.

Because art isn't that big of a deal. Come on. I mean, we're hobbyists, of course we're going to like looking at it, but most people don't. You've got to be pretty fucking bombastic to take the masses off the asses, brother.

[fxscreamer]

Draw what makes you happy and get damn good at it. The only way you're going to get noticed without NSFW is to get highly proficient in what you ARE doing. This may take longer, but it has lasting effects. I don't see too many of these tit-bait / licensed OC drawers on the front page getting serious art careers anytime soon. In fact, they're probably blacklisting themselves for any hope of that by drawing smut and lacking anything that shows understanding of fundamentals and knowledge. A lot of these people DO draw for views only, which is pathetic.

If you want shallow internet fame from high schoolers and people with low expectations, go ahead. If you're serious about kicking ass on the industry level like being a Disney artist or animator...you must be MUCH better than that, artistically and ethically. Screw the social pressure and focus on your own craft. Magical things will happen on your journey if you do so.

[SukiWukiDookie]

Unless Newgrounds changes it's policy to a strictly SFW site, there is no reason anyone should feel ashamed for NSFW art with effort put into it getting noticed. There are filters. Don't let jealousy get to your head. There are plenty of sites where you can show off your work, and plenty of opportunities to get noticed if you're good at what you do.

[TurkeyOnAStick]

At 4/30/15 03:01 PM, SukiWukiDookie wrote: Unless Newgrounds changes it's policy to a strictly SFW site, there is no reason anyone should feel ashamed for NSFW art with effort put into it getting noticed. There are filters. Don't let jealousy get to your head. There are plenty of sites where you can show off your work, and plenty of opportunities to get noticed if you're good at what you do.

The key word there is "with effort put into it". Unfortunately that's not always the case, as there is usually lacklustre anime girls filling up the popular section. What the guys said about tits getting views is valid, but to draw what you enjoy is crucial to being happy and finally becoming a great unique artist.

(Also other sites suffer from the "tits = views" problem, too)

[BladesofSteel]

Yeah I can feel you on that one ShrapnelAnime.

However, we cannot enforce for Art lurkers to enjoy other artworks w/o porn, nor can we try to clone 100 great known artists like ElkDarkshire, Kamikaye (listed 2 of my favourite artists here) and others to show up and distribute more amazing, non-porn artworks in the community. Like DizzyVix has said, the filter option is there for a reason.

[ornery]

There is also so much more respect for those who can get tons of views through quality work rather than resorting to cheap lazy looking porn.

Also as was touched on in other posts, the T&A stuff is constantly changing top ranks. This seems to show that people really only are looking at it for wanking purposes. They view it, then get bored of it and toss it aside for the newer fresher drawing of tits. So your lazy porn piece might get a crap ton of views, but it will get knocked into obscurity once you produce a new piece or someone else makes something 14yo boys can get their rocks off too dumb to find real porn.

Making a true quality piece has real lasting effect and gets the views as well. AlvinHew has been dominating the highest ranked pieces since the art portal has been around. And the other pieces in that category have been pretty solid in their position as well. Usurping the order of those pieces is much much more difficult, but possible. And when its done the piece that does it is 99% of the time not some porn drawing.

All the other arguments in this thread have been excellent, and covered pretty much everything else I was going to say. But I'll add in one more. If you dont like that tits and ass getting all the views, then stop contributing to it. Saturate the portal with good stuff, dont click obvious fapbait, and encourage others to do so too. Ultimately you cant stop everyone, but if more people actually voted/viewed/reviewed/contributed non porn related stuff it would encourage others to come out and say "hey this piece is actually getting legitimate responses, maybe I should strive for that." There is a lot of porn art flowing into the portal each day, but also a lot of good SFW stuff as well. Help advocate for that stuff and ignore the porn, if people lose interest in it it will slowly reduce in quantity. It will never go away without us rewriting the rules but it can curb the amount maybe.

That or flood the adult and mature section with so much stuff that people cant masturbate too that they stop trying to look there for stuff to get their rocks off to. The adult section was originally intended as a section for the more humorous stuff that also happened to include pics of dicks or awkward sex, look at the earliest few pages of it and you will see what its original direction was.