participation in the gallery is key... most people will look at the gallery of an artist that commented on their work & then comment in return, that is just natural & basic common courtesy for most people time is another factor, be great to comment on every pic but impossible the photo gallery alone has grown tremendously over the past few years from 4-5 pages (18 pics per page) of images to 8-12 or more a day... 180-200 pics daily... that's a lot! is there something about the image that makes it stand out from the others? or is it pretty much the same is there a variety in the work is the artist posting daily or only a few a week how long have they been here to build up such a following all this factors in to the number of comments you've already gotten some excellent answers... enjoy your time here, the art, the artists & don't worry about competing, eventually it can happen for you too :]