r/OriginalCharacter: Not a sub for artists. Not from what I can tell

Just gonna yap into the void here. Read it, don't read it. I don't really care

I most just need to scream into the void about how annoyed I am with r/OriginalCharacter and it's community, and how it's not exactly the kindest to artists. It feels like if you actually want your art to get noticed, you have to either be REALLY good, draw gooner bait, or get lucky. As you can imagine, I'm one of the artists that don't usually check any of these boxes (besides the gooner bait one very occasionally)

I know this sounds like an artist being all salty and sensitive that her art didn't do as well as she hoped, and that is kiiinda true. But It's just kinda annoying to put so much effort into an artwork only for it to get over shadowed by a community interaction post, or a gooner bait post, or a post with a character looking cute. This is hardly even a fault of this sub's mods. The most they can do is crack down on gooner posts, which would mean having to find a line between what counts as gooner bait and what doesn't

It doesn't even have to be gooner bait. If you're character has a large chest and But, there's a higher chance of you getting boosted. Not because of the sub itself, but because of the community

I even tested this theory myself. My best performing artwork in the whole of January was a post of one of my characters as a body pillow, wearing a skimpy outfit that I whipped up in less than an hour. It got 100 upvotes in total, while my artworks that I ACTUALLY care about get 20 upvotes max. MAYBE more. The only times a post of mine got over 40 upvotes were with me posting Laynie naked (Censored and non-swxual obv) and with a dommy mommy murder hornet character. The only exception was my post "Dissociate and Fracture" which got 60 upvotes in the end

I dont know if this is a problem I'm just hallucinating, but I know friends of mine that have also noticed it, and don't post to the sub because of it

This isn't to say that you can't get noticed for your art there. I've seen good art reach the top before, but it's just so god damn hard to get noticed because for a sub about sharing OCs... People don't really seem to care about OCs that aren't their own

I've been trying to be different. I upvote any artwork or OC I like, even commenting under some posts. I want artists there to feel heard, but I know things will never change because I've been in that sub for over two years and it feels like ti's only gotten worse. There's no winning with the sub, because the sub isn't what's at fault. The mods can only do so much (Even if they don't have the best reputation). It's the community that needs to change

All I ask is that if you've read this, you be the change. Be the difference with me. Actually look at everyone's art. Upvote what you like. Comment where you can. Share love and appreciation for the artists there, because it may be an OC sub, but it's also a sub where artists go to feel safe to express their art and get noticed. Especially when r/Art seems to be filled with political artworks atm

I know not everyone craves the validation of random strangers, but for those who don't get much appreciation for their art anywhere else, it wouldn't hurt to give them some love