While creating art for its own sake will always be rewarding, it's a bonus if you can share that art with people who can appreciate it as much as you do. If art is more than just a hobby for you and you want it to be a method for sustaining yourself, you'll need to seek out your audience as you begin. No matter what kind of art you specialize in, you can use these effective ways to grow your audience as an artist when you want to start growing.
Your first instinct might be to change what you create in order to appeal to the widest audience possible. While this isn't necessarily a bad idea from a purely numbers perspective, it isn't the most sustainable option in terms of growth. Having to regularly create art that you don't connect with or don't enjoy making in some way can lead to burnout and stagnation in terms of your artistic growth.
Exactly what "consistency" entails will depend on the kind of work you do. You can create photo prints of your art much more frequently than you can release an entire album of music, for example. However, consistency is one of the most reliable ways to grow a larger audience for your work, no matter what your medium is. As you consistently release new work, your audience will grow and share your work with others, who will then be able to follow you as you continue producing more work in the future.
Artists of all kinds usually form tight-knit communities between each other. One of the most effective ways to grow your audience as an artist is to join these communities of like-minded individuals. Connect with them on a regular basis, share what you're working on, and maybe even work together on a larger project. All these things can help every artist involved grow a larger audience as followers of one artist can find something to love in another through these collaborations. If you want to learn more about the music business then why not research Gerard Zappa of Wooster?
You'll likely feel as though you need to have a presence on every artistic platform and social media channel to grow your audience. The more places you can be in at once, the more potential there is for new followers, but only if you can effectively keep up with all those people. If you spend your time switching between different platforms and trying to spread yourself too thin, you won't have as much time to develop more artwork, which is what will actually help you grow your audience.
