How I Grew my Art Instagram From 0-8000 Followers in 1 Year

I started a new Instagram account for my art back in 2019, not posting my first illustration until January 2020. It took some time to build up the courage to put my art out there. Looking back now, it's like why? My main goal was and is to become a freelance artist, I have to share my work & grow my audience to do that, & I'm so glad I did.

I had just bought myself an iPad & Procreate for Christmas & knew I had to take my time to learn and grow as a baby digital artist. So many of my first posted illustrations were practice. You can clearly see different styles and content I was trying out if you scroll all the way down my page. If you are in the early stages of growing your Instagram, try out as many things as possible! Don't always go for the trendy images, take this time to develop your style.

This isn't to say you shouldn't take inspiration from your fellow artists. I started following all the art accounts I loved. I tried connecting and supporting other artists with the mindset that they'll return the favor. I love connecting and seeing other artists grow in their style & also in their business. Focus on your community first, & follower count later.

Below is my first illustration posted & a year later.

When I found a style I was comfortable with I started making fan art & joining artist support games like #DTIYs, giveaways, collabs & even hosting my own game when I hit 500 followers, 5 months later. Tagging celebrities or influencers is a great way to get new eyes on your art.

Around this time is when I started tagging art sharing accounts. Daily Featured Favorites or Twenty Four Seven Art are some great accounts that shared some of my work which led to more follows & likes for those posts.

I didn't worry too much about hashtags, I still don't. But getting featured & discovering new artists helped me grow a steady following. Once I had a steady following I was more comfortable engaging with that audience. Being more active on stories, posting three days a week, even creating a few reels here and there. Business was booming but I was getting burnt out.

I had a coffee illustration do really well, it got like 1,000 likes & some new followers. I rode that wave for as long as possible & stopped making art for fun & barely at all. I was in a few collabs to keep me active & posted a bunch of work that wasn't my best because I was just trying to make content on a schedule.

After a bit of a reset, I came back feeling good. I wasn't going to let numbers or schedules get in the way anymore. This was around a year after posting my first illustration.

The algorithm was telling me I needed to create reels. I'm so bad at remembering to film, so all of my reels take me ~5 minutes to make & I would post them even if they didn't do well. So instead of three illustrations a week it was more like one or two & a reel for those illustrations. Usually a quick reveal because I was already burnt out once, I don't need it again. Reels didn't take much time because the content was already made so it seemed like I was active when I really wasn't.

I'll say it now, reels are ultimately what got me to 8,000+ followers. Just a quick 5 second reel of me revealing a final pet portrait commission blew up to over 250k views & about 4,000 new follows. When your work gets that many views, you're bound to get some questionable comments. Delete those comments & block those people because no one needs that. But I'm convinced leaving some is what helped it grow. It causes a little controversy & who doesn't love controversy?

Growing an art Insta account is a fun way to dive into your passion & learn from those around you. It's helped me get back into art after years of not creating anything. It's given me the opportunity to build a portfolio, work with clients & talk to artists from around the world. I hope my experience gives some insight & inspiration. You can learn more about my art journey here.