So.. what makes the art?

When it comes to the drawings that are posted on these boards, I feel it isn't the skill depicted that I'm attracted to, but the content.  If what someone is drawing jives with my own tastes, then I'm an automatic fan – simple as that.  It's also a lot of fun to watch an artist grow and improve.  It might be small steps, or it might be drastic.  Either way, "doing your own thing" is the best advice anyone can give.  Fans might not be vocal, but you can bet they're there.  Plus, we're ultimately doing this as a way to explore our own interests.  If an artists is seeking noteriety, they should probably start by picking a more mainstream subject matter  :wink:. 

Kul, you have skill and talent that are very much in the upper ether of this style. Dont let anyone tell you otherwise. Good work is self evident, and good work for others yet is charity. *thumb'd up'd*
Anywho.
I dont have a certain style that interests me most. All FMG is really great, big muscles or only slightly bigger ones. I do always get a kick out of seeing the different ways people draw, and their details.
Like the Japanese artist Kinsyo Kamiei, focuses on large everythings with less super detail and more cartoon feel, but the sheer size and feats of strength are his focus.
Our own Mr. Shhh has an obvoius, and unmatchable penchant for vascularity.
Wreckshop is a man who always has a super comic book superhero feel to all of his works, along with the size and feats of strength.
The artist FreakerXL focuses on younger muscle girls and a lot lot lot more extreme size (freakish. Oh, just got that.)
The japanese artist Karinto is an extreme detialer. He can focus on absolutely every aspect of a super muscular female body.
Kulli, you have a strong focus on feminity and fertility in yours, which is rare and always neat to see.
Tigersan obviously has a penchant himself for 3d detail and size, and feats of strength.
Id go on but Im having fun with this. I might make a bigger list later if bored and feeling empowering *flex*
But basically, all styles interest in different ways. many people have a most favorite and least favorite, obviously. Personally I like pretty much all styles for different reasons.
Plus yeah, about the content.
Big. Yeah son.
Roffle roffle.

Some very well thought out posts here.

Personally, I think there's a question underlying that's not been asked – "What makes an artist?" is different to "What makes a successful artist?" An artist is someone who creates art, and understands their craft. A successful one earns a living from their art.

As for what makes art – all I can say is that everyone tries to come up with the "Thing that people like" as a way of hooking into the audience, tapping into people to make them like you.

But that is not what you need.

See, the artist is both audience and artist. If the artist makes art for the audience it belongs to (very different to making art for oneself) that audience will respond.

The smaller the audience, the less 'success' in terms of money and acclaim.

But that's really not what's important.

My suggestion to anyone in any art form wanting to succeed as an artist? Be good. Don't worry about audience, subject matter, or any of that nonsense. The greats create new audiences and genres that didn't exist. It's not about that. Just be good. If your quality is high, it will draw an audience.

And to be good, to have high quality, one must study the craft of their art. In story telling, that's studying and examining turning point, climax, character, and all the other aspects. In illustration, that's understanding the tools – pencils, inks, brushes, photoshop – understand how icons work, composition, and all the other aspects.

It's hard, but in my opinion… trying to work out what people "want" is a futile distraction from trying to be better.

What people want, as always, is something good. ^_^

And now that I've preached, I'll step off my high horse.

Fett made some pretty good points, I agree with pretty much all of them.

For me when I had made my animations, I made them because there was no genre for it, there were no long animations telling a story while including female muscle growth.

I had to teach myself how to draw, which has worked and failed in some ways.  My proportions and basic anatomy understanding will always be screwed no matter how many times I try to study anatomy (believe me I've tried!)  I always end up getting the same results either way.

Anyways, now that I think about it I think I did the animations strictly for the audience.  Unfortunately, my work did not start out at "decent" it was from 6 year old drawings to Cartoonist drawings which is where I'm at now.  I just do cartoons, no portraits or any anatomically correct pictures because I just never learned the techniques used to draw them that way.

Everytime something sucked in my animation, I'd change it and add something new to make it better and better everytime.  Now I've finally reached the point where I can (if I ever finish) release my last animation and confidently say it will be more than what people had expected.

But that's me though, my goal has always been to entertain the public rather than myself.  Sure it's cool to finally see your creation finished and animating away with all your blood sweat and tears, but I'm in it for everyone else's reaction.  Probably explains why I'm going into the career I'm going into.  Anyway I think I lost the point of my post by doing too many different things at once.

Oh yeah I remember…

You can't expect the fans to really say anything to you when you finish your works.  Sure there will be the diehards that will speak up once in a while, but the majority of them will always be silent and watch your work from a distance unless you deliver something truly spectacular.  So in essence you are doing art for yourself but at the same time you want to show people and have them appreciate it.

The only thing that can really be done about that is let the fans speak for themselves when they are ready.