Is it Luck?

Have you seen ”The Road to El’Dorado”? If you pay attention to the movie, the whole thing is pretty much based on luck.
Spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched the movie!
We witness luck happening from the start of the movie when Miguel and Tulio have been using loaded dice and are now asked to use different dice (specifically the dice of their opponent) and they need it to land on a 7. Obviously, because they were lucky, it does. They’re lucky when they decide to jump off a wall and land perfectly in barrels of water, they’re lucky when they’re imprisoned on a ship they happen be on board a ship with a VERY smart horse who knows what keys are, then they are lucky that after they steal a rowboat they manage to get to land and guess what? This land is where the city of gold hides. Aaaand during their whole time at sea, they’re lucky enough to not lose the map they won in a game they were lucky enough to win, because of this map they find the city of gold, kind of, they find a…

and as stated they find what looks like a rock (it’s actually gold but it needs to be hit by light to be obvious I guess lol) BUT GUESS WHAT? MORE LUCK, because right after this discussion, they’re lucky enough to meet Chel’dorado! … uh.. I mean Chel. But yes also Chel’dorado. And Chel just so happens to be running away from guards at the exact moment Miguel and Tulio were getting ready to leave the great big rock. Okay, anyway, you get the point, a lot of crap that happens to us, can be based off of luck.
end of spoilerrrssss

Soooo, why am I talking about luck???
Recently someone made a statement on twitter saying they don’t believe the reason people make it is because of luck, I disagreed, why did I disagree? Well… I’ve met so many artists and writers, who work hard every day and they don’t get noticed. I’m currently following an artist with absolutely GORGEOUS work, they’ve got less than 100 followers on twitter.
Why? Could be because they don’t post frequently, could be because they’re not doing trends or anything of the sort and normally if you’re not hopping on the bandwagon then people just won’t see.

I do believe it’s luck. Like I said, I know quite a few people with exceptional work and they don’t get noticed like they should.

I’ve learned that if you get in the right groups or you use the right hashtags and do the right trends, you’ll get noticed and if you’re lucky, you’ll get hit with a wave of people that stay for good because they genuinely like your work. This is just one of the many reasons why I think fan artists tend to get more popular faster than original content artists, they’re creating something that people have seen, that people know about and understand.
I recently followed an artist, amazing artist, not a lot of followers and the reason I spotted them is because they created fan art of a series I watch, and it was just amazing so I decided to hit that follow button and so did many others, in 2 days, this artist earned over 100 followers.

Of course, there is more to it than luck too, such as being a decent human being is a good start, people will normally gravitate towards those they find approachable, and yes, unfortunately having decent looking art does help too, people are more likely to follow art that they find appealing, and of course, this is absolutely subjective.

I’m gonna go ahead and toot my own horn I guess,

but I think my art is decent, I think it lands in the provocative gothic genre, which I don’t even really know what that is but my girls are curvy, my men are buff and my lines and colors are thicc and dark. So. I’m just assuming that’s basically what it is, I do get a decent amount of compliments, especially with the way I draw hair, lips and eyes. Aaaand I think the story I’m currently writing is pretty cool, I was lucky enough to have had someone notice Scorned on Tapas and they put my comic in the “noteworthy” section and that was absolutely amazing. I got a bunch of likes and follows in a week on that platform to the point I got to the level where I could do the whole ad revenue business. Buuuut, despite this, I don’t get a new follower everyday and that’s ok, because I am aware of why I don’t; my art isn’t the most gorgeous thing in the world, I don’t post enough, I’m not consistent in my updates in general (and on Tapas, once chapter 1 finished I stopped posting there anyway.) and having consistency does increase the chances of people noticing you, it really is by luck that people find you and it’s even better luck if someone with a massive following shares your work AND follows you.

This doesn’t mean “don’t work on your art” or “don’t work towards your goals because you’re expecting luck to sweep you off your feet” – absolutely continue to work hard on your art, post the content you want to post and participate in groups if you want, these things do take an effort, it’s not easy but the unfortunate truth is that even if your art is like a whole bunch of Art Gods blessed you, you’re not guaranteed to get noticed because of that, you really do need to get yourself out there and hope you’re lucky enough to get noticed by even one person.
If you watch Supernatural, there is one episode in particular where Sam and Dean are trying to save people from Hellhounds because they made a deal with a crossroads demon, one man in particular wanted talent, his paintings are gorgeous, but guess what? No one ever noticed his work. Why? To be honest, I don’t know why, there was never any explanation to that BUT you know how it is, normally there’s a downside when you make a deal with a demon. You’d think getting torn apart by Hellhounds was the downside though.

I’m going to be blunt, I’ve seen artists with art that I personally don’t find super appealing or skilled, I’m not saying it’s bad, but I am saying the artists can improve, and these artists have a huge following. Why? Maybe because they’re nice, they’re approachable, they participate in trends and they get themselves out there. They’re forcing themselves into the public eye.
When you’re a pessimist, you’re talking negatively about yourself or others, you’re probably going to push people away, ESPECIALLY newcomers. If they find your art and want to check out your profile only to see a whole bunch of negative comments, whether about yourself or someone else, they might actually walk away.

People who follow artists, normally follow artists for the content, not the sad late night thoughts, once again, it sucks to hear but it is true.

What can you do to change this? Well, I’ve already listed a lot but I understand that we all have lives and things to do, a first step would be:
-try being approachable, you don’t have to be candyland cheery, but reducing the amount of pessimistic messages could help.
-Participate in trends YOU FIND appealing, don’t participate in every single thing, that will drive you nuts and you’re busy, take time for yourself.
-Get to know new people, participate in the content of other artists, join art groups, comic groups, whatever.
-If possible, try to be more consistent, share an image or a wip once a week at least, if you can’t because you haven’t created anything or you’ve been busy, share a happy tweet, uplift other artists, etc.
-When it comes to posting that update of art OR your webcomic, use some hashtags and get your content noticed by people who follow the hashtags, basically: Learn HOW to MARKET YOURSELF.


Luck is unreliable, it really is, but most of the time it is because of luck that artists get to where they are, especially if you’re a self-taught artist and trying to make a name for yourself without an art career.
Always make an effort in your projects, luck will find you one way or another, but that can’t happen if you’re not continuously pushing yourself out there and increasing your chances of luck reaching you.

Feel free to disagree with me, this really is just my opinion that’s based off of events I’ve witnessed. My articles are not a concrete way of life. :)

Anyway, that’s all I have for this Sunday, I hope you have a great week, and that luck strikes you in your favor.
See you next Sunday! :)