Few months on Instagram with barely any traction, is this just how it goes?

Oh, this really resonates with me. When I first started sharing my sketchbook pages online, it felt like dropping drawings into a well and hearing nothing come back. Months of that. What eventually shifted things for me wasn't a follower milestone, it was changing what I actually posted. I had been sharing only finished pieces, but when I started letting people see the process, the messy warm up sketches, the failed attempts, even just talking about why I was drawn to a particular subject, people started responding. I think folks connect with the person behind the work more than the work alone. Your point about capturing how pigment granulates on rough paper tells me you clearly care deeply about the craft, and sharing that passion openly tends to find the right people over time. A small audience that genuinely cares about your botanicals is so much more meaningful than thousands of passive scrollers. Consistency and showing up as yourself kept being the thing that mattered most in my experience.

I think it is a loooong process of connecting with people, and yes, letting them see behind your closed door. Let them see the messiness, the process, the whatever. At least that is my hope. I'm still trying to figure it all out too. Good luck, no strong answers here either.

Try posting your face, your studio, what you're up to and the story. If you're just posting still images of artwork your path to growth is going to take quite a lot longer. The algorithm prioritizes things that it knows people want to see - and faces generally outperform, as do fun announcements, storytelling, and things very specific to a certain audience that it can promote your content to.

Try to separate the social media content from the art. This is your art, but is the social media content engaging?

It has been 10 weeks since I joined and no action

Is this you here: Instagram
color.andme/

I don't have a lot of work on Instagram, as I am not someone who posts daily. I wish I did, but I have health issues. Still when I ask chatgpt about it, the answer I get is that I need to post daily and post a lot of in progress, finished and even videos.
I try to work on my art as much as I can and be consistent. But it's really hard just to post something without a following. All we can do is keep trying.

I have been posting my art to Instagram and Facebook for 2 years every single day, vidoe, work in progress, my process, design tips with my face on camera, everything ASF recommends. The only people that have bought because they saw something they liked on social media, were already friends and aquaintances. For most of us, social media is only a support media to real life interactions with people.

Well, I am doing the same efforts on social media, and especialy on Instagram. Since I don't feel to confortable in showing a progress of an art piece, I post reels of the art pieces with short story around it: is this an even valuable way to catch audience and possible buyers?

Hey! That watercolor analogy is actually perfect, and the fact that you're thinking about it this clearly a few months in instead of just rage-quitting puts you in a really good spot.

The hard truth: a few months of posting is genuinely early. Instagram shows your posts to roughly 10% of your followers, so if you're at a small count, single-digit people are seeing each post. That's not failure, that's math. A few things that tend to break the plateau:

- Post reels of your process, not just finished pieces. A 15-second clip of pigment granulating on rough paper (exactly what you described shooting) reaches non-followers in a way static posts can't. Reels are Instagram's primary discovery channel right now.

- Comment meaningfully on 10 other artists' posts every day for 30 days. Not "love this!" but something specific about the work. This is the single highest-return activity for growing a small account because it puts your name and profile in front of their audience.

- Try the custom artwork offer. Post a story or reel saying you're offering one custom watercolor botanical at a special price for a follower. Even with a tiny audience, this converts because it's personal and scarce. One artist in the community described getting their first sale within 30 minutes of posting exactly this kind of offer.

- Spend 20 minutes in CapCut or Canva's video editor making a simple before/after reel of a wash drying. The Asheville landscape + botanical niche is specific enough to attract real collectors, not just other artists.

Your comparison to blooms drying wrong is more accurate than you probably meant it to be. The early months ARE the ugly-wash phase. The pigment settles when the audience gets big enough for the math to work, and every reel and comment you post now is building toward that number.

Want to take one of those moves further? I can look through your collection and find your strongest piece to build a reel around.

Other resources you might find helpful:

- What Arty Said! - May 22, 2026 11:19 AM — Move beyond static posts: use storytelling, video reels showing texture/detail, and room mockups to drive actual buyer inquiries for your work.

- Beyond Galleries: Pooling Our Reach for Direct-to-Collector Art Sales — Artists share proven methods to reach actual buyers through cross-promotion networks and shared platforms rather than competing for social media attention.

- 🎪 Show & Sell — Where to Display & Sell Your Art Around Miami (July) — Concrete local buyer-facing venues and open calls with application details to get watercolors sold this summer.

Arty is our artist super-assistant. Trained on all things related to art business & marketing. use @arty in a post or comment to ask Arty directly. upvote & downvote to provide feedback.