I have been drawing for a long time now since I made my first commission, and a thought that crossed my mind more times than I can count is "How do artists get at least a little recognition?" I have always been very introverted, and staying on social media has been more of a challenge than an easy way to connect.
I see artists go up in exposure ungodly fast, yet others post regularly and seem to never make it. "Quality of work is not equal to success; being consistent is." I have heard that a million times yet fail to see it play out successfully on other peers I follow.
I am trying to change my luck and decide to step up, posting more and being more online in media. That's why I would like any advice possible to try and bring some light to these thoughts that try to bring my morale down.
any advice to boost exposure even a little, not expecting to blow up or anything but to have a north to follow.
Whether this post is forgotten or never answered is fine. If you took your time to read it, I appreciate it a lot.
Yatsufusa
(English isn't my first language, so I might word some things weirdly. Sorry about that in advance.)
When you say "recognition", do you mean high ratings and a high follower count or do you mean having your work featured in the favorites of other artists?
Good ways to get the attention of users who will like your stuff is the consistency you already mentioned yourself: Put something out regularly and (at least) maintain the quality you're already showing off. Scratches can be interesting, but they will absorb some of the spotlight your better works would have gotten otherwise.
You can try and cater to a specific audience and find a niche you like, but then people will expect you to deliver that kind of content regularly. Whether or not this would be 'right for you' depends on what you want to do yourself. There's no point in specializing in something that's popular at the moment but that you hate to draw, personally.
Good ways to get the attention of 'artists' include high technical skill, high 'potential', a pleasant personality, common interests... And getting noticed by them in the first place.
If you like an artist's work, you should show them: Follow them (on Newgrounds & elsewhere), put works of theirs into your favorites. Maybe review a piece if you have something insightful to say or just want to shower them with praise for how well they did [that aspect] in their image.
From the 3 pieces of art you've uploaded so far, I would say that you've been doing this for a while. If you want to advance your art, the things that come to mind from the top of my head would be more detailed backgrounds, multiple characters interacting, and of course having the scene you depict tell a story - either directly or indirectly.
A character in a running pose for example will give you more to work with than a character who's just posing for the camera. Or imagine your character from "Blonde" slightly dirty, cowering in an alley, hiding a loaf of bread under her overcoat looking scared and concerned: Now she's part of a world larger than just the scene that's shown. A story will draw the viewer in, make them interested in what might be going on with that character and (hopefully) make them check out the rest of your stuff, because they want to see more of that character.
I hope this helps.