u/syanzae — reddlx

Image 1 — Day 5: The Best Beginner Resource I've Found For Learning Cat Art

Image 2 — Day 5: The Best Beginner Resource I've Found For Learning Cat Art

▲ 5 r/minimalcatart+2 crossposts

Day 5: The Best Beginner Resource I've Found For Learning Cat Art

Guess who’s still on this one ultimate guide to drawing cats?😹

Progress begins the moment you stop endlessly searching and start practicing directly!

I’m on Artfight this year!! This is the first OC of mine~ Sharkleap~

Catch me at: artfight.net/~syanzae

For contrast, also added the old style drawing of Sharkleap.

Definitely going to be making more art pieces applying the right anatomy and posture principles soon enough~

💠 If you’d like to receive the next learning cat art atomic essay and daily drawing as soon as it’s published,

👉 ship30zae.substack.com

u/syanzae — 1 day ago

▲ 15 r/minimalcatart+2 crossposts

Day 4: How I Got Interested In Cat Art

The most overlooked step in becoming an artist:

Stopping consumption and starting creation.

________

Sorry for late share on the challenge...
I do practice daily though had some wifi issues, so posting on time became complicated...

Get ready for an upcoming 5-dayz marathon later today~

________

Again, if you don't want to miss when I post (since crossposting takes a while) or see previous posts, you can follow at my substack: https://ship30zae.substack.com

u/syanzae — 5 days ago

▲ 27 r/ArtMarketingTalk

Why do so many talented artists struggle to turn followers into actual income?

I've noticed a pattern scrolling through cat art communities (and art subs in general): tons of talented people post incredible work, build solid follower counts, get good engagement... but commissions and sales stay inconsistent.

The more I think about it, the more I think the issue isn't the art.

It's that most of that audience lives on a platform the artist doesn't control.

Some things I keep seeing:

- Growing followers, but inconsistent commissions

- Increasing engagement, but unpredictable sales

- A whole audience built on rented land (the algorithm decides who sees what, accounts get restricted, platforms shift their priorities overnight)

A few mistakes that seem to come up a lot:

Posting art without giving people a reason to stay connected.

A like is nice, but it doesn't carry forward. Once the post scrolls away, you're back to zero.

Chasing likes instead of real fans.

A subscriber/follower who actively chose to keep hearing from you is a different kind of relationship than someone who happened to double-tap.

Assuming engaged fans will always see your next post.

They won't… the algorithm decides that, not you.

Waiting to "build an audience elsewhere" until you're already big.

Every commission, every convention, every new follower is a missed chance to build something more durable if you don't plan for it early.

Curious what others here have found actually works, has anyone had success building a more direct relationship with their audience (newsletter, Discord, whatever) instead of relying purely on social platforms?

Did it actually move the needle on commissions/sales, or was it not worth the effort?

reddit.com

u/syanzae — 8 days ago

▲ 58 r/minimalcatart+2 crossposts

Day 3: The Best Way To Get Started Learning How to Draw Cats

I wasted more time searching for tutorials than actually drawing. Here's what finally changed:

Finding the "best" learning resource is usually procrastination in disguise.

I almost convinced myself I wasn't ready to start learning.
Was even afraid of choosing the "wrong" resource (there’s just SO MANY)

In the end, you don't need more resources, you need more REPS (REPETITIONS).

So here I am…still with Monika Zagrobelna’s How to Draw Cats guide~

💠 btw I'm documenting this journey one day at a time.
If you'd like to receive each new cat art learning journey essay and doodle as soon as it's published, sign up to my Substack: https://ship30zae.substack.com

u/syanzae — 11 days ago

▲ 41 r/minimalcatart+2 crossposts

Day 2: 3 Topics I Am Exploring In Cat Digital Art Right Now

Also see some practice evidence and ref pics I looked at...
not purrfect but I put in 30min out of my ultra buzy day so it's a smol win~

probably did poor justice applying to my photos, but wonder if anyone else would have marked the skeletal frame better than me?

By the way, where did I begin my little cat art learning journey?
none other than asking Google and starting with Monika Zagrobelna's guide.

(((I know posting can be rather late but I do get essay+drawing done on the day (just sharing across platforms is quite the tedious thing!)

So if you don't want to be guessing when the next one is published, you can sign up to my Substack so you'll get the email notice here 👉 ship30zae.substack.com)))

u/syanzae — 12 days ago

▲ 86 r/minimalcatart+2 crossposts

Day 1 of my Cat Daily Doodle + Ship30 Challenge~

Hi everyone!
I'm Zae (pronounced "zayy") and this is my first time sharing art through reddit!
(used to be more on deviantart in their heydays..but now also mostly on bluesky and general reposting to other platforms: x/twitter, tumblr, instagram/threads, tiktok)

It's a little scary to me right now but I know I'm aligning with my real dream of one day publishing my own cartoon (whether indie or not) and I'd like to be more structure in relearning digital art properly (starting with none other than my fav animal in the world and the creature I always warm up with!: cats!)

To put this commitment into action, I'm doing a Ship30-esque daily writing and doodling challenge for the next 30 days~
I'm wondering where is the most popular go-to resource or place (whether a yt playlist or some masterpost about cat references and all about anatomy, poses, etc) for drawing cats?

For now, I'm just learning for myself and also gathering all the resources I wish I had when I was drawing since primary or high school (when I had some level of self-learning).

NB. Sometimes sharing might be delayed because cross posting is a real PAIN ;c but if you don't want to miss any of these in the series, you can follow my substack: https://ship30zae.substack.com/ (since it can email you directly when I share vs you scrolling to find my post or having to check from my profile)

I'm wondering how my current cat style will change in 30 days!!

u/syanzae — 13 days ago