Hello everyone? Those few of you that ever read my posts? Today, I'm going to teach you how to suggest artworks to be featured on Newgrounds front page, and finally gain the exposure and support they deserve!
Not that I'm talking from experience... I've never been fortunate enough to have an artwork featured, and probably never will... But for a long time I wondered how the whole system of choosing which artworks to be featured works, and so one day (a couple of months ago) I decided to do some research, and voila, I found out! And now I'd like to share this knowledge to those many of you who are likely still wondering.
So yeah, ever clicked on an artwork on Newgrounds, and scrolled down past the bottom of the comments section to see those artworks on the footer of the page? Sure you have, those are the only artworks anybody ever sees on this site, due to its lack of an algorithm feature! Those are the featured "front paged" artworks, so called because they also appear on the front page of Newgrounds, though nobody ever visits that page. (Why on Earth would you?) Having an artwork featured is the holy grail of visibility in this labyrith of a platform, and might be the first step to finally obtaining a following here.
Those artworks are suggested by other users of Newgrounds (you might need to be a member of the Art Portal, aka scouted, though I'm not sure), on a very specific forum thread. If you visit the Art forum, you'll find a topic titled "Art Front Page Suggestion Thread". You'll know it's the right place when you see that the topic was started by none other than Tom Fulp, the creator of this hellhole we call Newgrounds!
You can have a look at this forum thread to get a feel for how people suggest artworks to the Art Portal staff. Once you have an idea for an artwork you'd like to see potentially featured, be sure to suggest it here! Use the "Respond to this topic" button in the top right corner to format and fill your post with the artworks you want to suggest, then click "Post reply" when you're done.
Bear in mind, however, there are some written and unwritten rules regarding what submissions may be accepted and what will be rejected. Let's start with the written rules. First, and most importantly, you may not suggest your own artworks to be featured. (I know this rule is extremely dumb and inconvenient for most of us, but rules are rules, you can't ignore them.) You may also not organise others to suggest your art, so if you want one of your friend's artworks to be featured, do so because you like it, not because they told you to suggest if for them.
The unwritten rules relate to what kind of artworks suggested actually get featured. You see, the Art Portal staff members who decide which suggestions have the honour of being featured on the front page have quite a specific taste of art style and content, which you must appease if you want any hope of your suggestion being featured. Firstly, make sure the artwork in question is not A-rated, those NEVER get featured on the front page, for obvious reasons... actually, the closer to an E-rating the artwork is, the more likely it is to be featured, so when choosing an artwork to suggest, I would advise picking something family friendly. M-rated artworks are occasionally approved for being front-paged, but only if they feature violence or swearing; if they are M-rated because they are sexy, that's a no-no.
Secondly, make sure the subject matter of your artwork is "normie-friendly". What do I mean by that? I mean, don't suggest some cutesy furry girl with thick thighs doing a kawaii pose, the staff will hate that. Sure, the big artists with thousands of followers can get away with having those kinds of artworks featured on the occasion, but not the little guys like you and me (we don't bring in nearly so much web traffic). That's weird, and Newgrounds wants to be safe and boring because that's better for their brand as a website. Instead, suggest a fanart of a popular character from a video game or something, especially a recent fad. Bonus points for suggesting an artwork of Friday Night Funkin', Madness Project, or any other of the Newgrounds associated characters: the staff will LOVE that, and be doubly likely to feature it!
Thirdly... just be lucky. There's no real telling what the staff will reject and what they'll accept. It has nothing to do with any objective quality standards (especially considering what kind of drawings they've accepted in the past...), and a lot more to do with what the particular staff who reviews your suggestion likes, and how they were feeling on that particular day. I certianly wouldn't suggest spamming the same suggestion over and over in order for it to be approved, I'm sure that wouldn't go down well. Just accept their decision to reject it, and maybe come back in a few weeks with another suggestion, and hope whoever it is will be a little more accepting next time around.
That's all the advice I have to give. Like I said, I've never actually had any of my artworks suggested (in the 3 bloomin' years I've been on this website...), let alone front-paged, so I'm only going by what I've read and what I can make out for myself. If you have any more questions, be sure to let me know, and if you've ever had any artworks of your own suggested or front-paged, feel free to tell me about it in the comments below?
