There's been some discussion recently (of a clearly envious tone) of the viewing audience commanded by "naked Vicky" artists. It's true - splashing two or three naked Vickies in compromising poses is the surest way to have 300 hits by noon. Heck, use a texture with good pubic hair and rouged nipples, and you're practically an art idol. You say doing this compromises your artistic integrity? You say all that skin is disturbing the balance of your serene Bryce landscapes? There's hardly any room left for the pets in your pet portraits? Well, I'm here to help. Slowly (VERY slowly some might say) I've been unlocking the secrets of posting view-worthy images which contain nary a single NV (naked Vicki). And though I haven't actually used any of these techniques myself (clearly proven by my modest hit counts) they HAVE worked for others and they can work for you too.

1. Puppy eyes. Let's start easy. If you won't go nude, then go for cute. I recommend the Daz Toon Puppy. Face on, great big puppy eyes. Gets all the stuffed animal lovers right off the top. Probably good for 100 hits the first day.

2. Tributes. Birthdays, weddings, whatever - just mention it in you title and a few curious people will straggle in to see what's going on. Good for an additional 50 hits.

3. New products. Every hot new piece of clothing that comes out in the Marketplace, slap together a render and get it out the same day. Use every morph that unfastens or opens or raises something. This one is 200 hits without trying hard.

4. Deceptive thumbnails. Just because you don't have any NVs (naked Vickies, remember?) in your image to coax out those mouse clicks doesn't mean it can't seem like you do. Take a day and build up a small collection of NV renders. Then whenever necessary, open one and copy out 40,000 pixels of tasty goodness. Attach this thumbnail to your Bryce landscape and POW! You've got 250 hits my friend. Remember: they can't take back their viewing once they click on the picture.

5. Skimpies and weapons. Panties and pistols. This is a powerful combination. Your viewing audience really wouldn't mind if Renderosity opened a Lara Croft gallery. Use this pent up desire to your advantage. Hand Vicky a battle axe and lose her sweat pants and watch the view clicks soar. 300 clicks easy.

6. Fan Service. A term used to describe gratuitous panty shots in Japanese anime, fan service can be your friend. This one I HAVE used. What can I say - I'm no saint. As long as you've got a Vicki, Aiko, Stephanie, Posette, Solondra, Maya Doll or one of their many friends in your pz3, you've got potential. Let her straighten her nylons or bend over to pick up the newspaper. Or better yet, bend over to pet the Toon Puppy. You CAN combine these techniques - in fact I encourage it. Experiment! The sky is the limit.

7. Try not to care so much. I've heard that there are actually people who post images they care about, for their friends and anyone else who wanders by to admire. Think of every comment someone takes the time to write as a gift. Treasure them and find pleasure in your growth as an artist.

8. And by all means go out and view other people's images and see the wonderful thing's they've done. And leave a comment for the ones you like. Everyone has an artist inside them - the lucky ones find it.

Happy holidays everyone! I'm gonna go browse the galleries at my new favorite website (yes, I mean this one).

LOL! I confess, #4 is very effective with me. If the thumbnail is nothing like the image, I tend to click it again, thinking I must have clicked the wrong thumb. Double your hits!

I may try #4 as well. Just create clothed and unclothed versions for the picture and thumbnail. I think though people need to ask themselves if what they are doing is good enough to post. Several times, I've run through my gallery asking why did I post that and deleted it. I call it housekeeping...

ROFL! You got some very valid points there!

I'm one who posts only things that are important to ME. If I get a nice comment or two...that's a bonus. Merry Christmas! :)

Message edited on: 12/24/2004 10:51

PapaBlueMarlin: I call it thinning the forest. Makes it easier to see the trees. And I think people post images for a lot of reasons - all of them valid to the poster. It's part of what makes this place interesting. Cheers!

or get someone professional interested..I had a pic that Scifi.com wanted to use (they can't, couldn't get permission, or even a pulse, from Mr. Maya..so that's out the window)..I announced it, and got over a hundred (more) hits..I think it's leading the pack, even over the Metropolis pic I did a while back..;)

1. Bright colors- dark, moody pieces are wonderful, and call for a lot of talent to make, but the thumbnails don't garner as much attention..unless there's a NVIAT..;)
2. Suggestive or mysterious titles - I've seen this one, I think someone suggested that a long string of identical punctuation gets more hits
   7- the misidentified body part- Someone once put a thumbnail of part of their picture, and posed it on the edge of an elbow, which looked at first glance like 2 enormous...;)
   8- and that baddy..fan art..something that relates to a show or film, or book, will get 'em in the doors..;)

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=842294&Start=1&Artist=PapaBlueMarlin&ByArtist=Yes

13 - Also, quickly run into the product forum for the gallery you have uploaded to and post a link. This will also a good 30 hits and maybe get the forum lawyers to actually look in the gallery once in a while. I confess. I have used the thumbnail trick. I've even rendered a full nude before (omg, it was terrible. no style, no substance. Didn't even use a decent texture or pose. I felt so, so, good when I saw the hits. It was terrible.) Oddly enough, the one image of mine which has the most hits is, well, utterly suspect. It's a small thumb (since for some strange reason we are not allowed regular images) meant to accompany a rather long poem. Apparently, it was posted during a period when the gallery counts were all messed up -- excessively inflated. Which makes me feel really bad. "thinning the forest" -- lol, I like that one a lot. I'm eventually going to completely revisit the slim gallery I have here and redo each of my images again to catch up with what I've learned since I first made them. As an exercise. This despite the fact that my best work thus far is not even featured here. And PBM -- that really is a good image. Title or no...

While the original post has some very valid points & some I don't consider valid at all (Yes I do pinups). I have found that an even more important factor can be the day of the week you post your "Naked Vicky", "Toon Puppy" or whatever. For that reason I post all my pics when there done, as I would rather get hits/feedback for my work, not just because I posted late Friday evening or early Saturday morning. Yes you may have 300 hits by noon, but in my experience it dose depend on the day of the week & the time. There really are some other considerations than nudity. :-)

I definitely agree that if you post around noon, you are probably more likely to get viewed than if late at night.

Strixowl: I don't mean to slam pinups - I like them. But they do get disproportionately more viewings than other genres. As of right now, I've got 583 viewings on a pinup I posted yesterday. And It's not an image I would consider one of my best. It doesn't bother me - it was my intent to produce a damn sexy image and thumbnail. I'm glad it seems to be appreciated. 'Twas all meant in jest. Happy holidays.

What I find upsetting is not necessarily the number of views. Its frustrating when someone will rate your composition lower than they would a pin-up that was poorly done. When you do actual art, people are more likely to be critical. I don't think there is an equal standard in how people rate things especially when you go back into their gallery and see some of the things they've submitted. I've just noticed this with some of my pictures in the past...

But it could just be me.

Message edited on: 12/24/2004 15:10

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=842378&Start=1&Artist=tonymouse&ByArtist=Yes

Cool Yule to all. No offense taken. Just my 1 cent. Strixowl :-)

rjbourc, I've been thinning quite a few trees in my gallery for a while now...

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=842927&Start=1&Artist=randym77&ByArtist=Yes

I posted an image using rjbourc's suggestions. Let's see if it works... ;-)

randym77: An excellent embodiment of the concepts presented here. You do of course realize this "experiment" is well on it's way to being the most viewed image in your gallery, don't you? Well done in the name of science. I think I'll cogitate on this rousing dialog and try to pull together an image in a couple of days or so. Maybe we can get a whole new gallery opened... nah.

I personally hate being tricked into looking at pictures with deceptive thumbnails. I think that a womans body is the most beautiful thing ever created and i am a big fan of pinups, if people didn't think that nudity was a "dirty" thing, there wouldn't be a problem. I do my art purely for my enjoyment, if someone else likes my art, great, so many people are letting themseves get bummed because no-one looked at their pic. WAAAAAAAAA!

Lighten up, dude. It's a joke!

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Y&Artist=Penguinisto