Thread by @theorah

@daire_lawlor It's not a super exact science, but here are some things that have made a significant difference for me. In terms of getting more eyes on your work in social media:
-make use of all the promo hashtags you can find~
-RT and QRT all your old stuff on a regular basis, like 3x a day

@daire_lawlor In terms of getting more eyes and clients on your work in general:
-observe what is received well/not received well in your work, and hone in on the themes or visuals that seem to be enchanting ppl more
(this is only in terms of your professional/promotion work, I think it's-

@daire_lawlor -important to keep a space for yourself where you're doing whatever tf you want regardless of whether it gains an audience or not)
-Having a strong idea of what you want to communicate seems to work best, be that a social topic you explore regularly or a theme/genre

@daire_lawlor -keep your portfolio and what you present on your profile info/pinned tweets to one strong theme, it captures ppl's attention best that way!
In terms of getting more clients:
-If publishing, look at books with similar art styles or themes to you and contact those publishers

@daire_lawlor -Dont waste energy applying for all/anyone looking for artists, hone in on ppl who will be interested in your specialist style/themes etc.
-Try papercatpress.com for comic specific stuff. Search 'pitch parties' to find yearly twitter book pitches that editors/agents look at

@daire_lawlor I think having strong theme/voice is what made most difference to me, but this is hard to discover by yourself, because you're a complicated human being and see your own art that way :p
So here's what *I* think stands out in your art that you could showcase the most, if you like-

@daire_lawlor Your art itself is incredibly strong, from outside pov you understand what you like visually and go for it! Wonderful use of shape, bold composition and texture. The fact you use traditional media (or it looks that way??) makes you stand out as not many use this now.

@daire_lawlor You already have a strong idea of what you enjoy doing/themes (folklore etc!)
From promotional pov, I would make use of the popular #folklorethursday and maybe set yourself a task of posting an image with a folklore story to that hashtag twice a month. (If you haven't already!)

@daire_lawlor You are SO good at composition and landscapes, I think you would do extremely well from a professional pov with kids illustration (like nature themed stuff or farie tale retellings) and book covers. Maybe this year try your hand at doing Mock covers/illustrating pre existing-

@daire_lawlor kids books to see how you like it/if you think it'll fit into your portfolio.
I think the one element I'm not seeing that I think would work really strongly in your recent work is a narrative element (ie. An image that's like, right in the middle of showing some emotional moment)

@daire_lawlor You've got all the perfect skills for narrative illustration (you're good at backgrounds, have a good eye emotional/atmospheric colour schemes, can set up scenes very well) so putting all that to more than one image telling a story would look great in a portfolio to me!

@daire_lawlor I hope that's helpful in some way! Ofc this is partly personal opinion and working off my own experience, where I do mostly work in comics and kids books. So a bit biased :p You'll figure out your own path but I hope that can help a little bit!!