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[Hide] (12.8KB, 1213x405) Reverse >>62771 (OP)
The reality is: marketing, dipshit. Frankly, nobody cares about your work. Most people won't care unless you are already successful. A few people might voluntarily promote you via word of mouth, but when was the last time you told five people about an artist you like? Do you think they went off and told other people? Probably not. If you were imagining a chain reaction, that's not how it works in reality.
I say this because I thought this way once too. If you seriously want to become "popular," well, become popular. Make friends in the right places, shill regularly and effectively. Ads and spamming reddit is not going to get you far. The better option is to use pre-existing markets and communities. Make shitty fan art, collaborate with people who have more clout than you.
Is it the right thing to do? Does quality not matter? I don't know anything about that and I'm not going to tell you what you should do with your work. I only came to these realizations in hindsight. I am no longer active, so I can only offer these observations and hope they are useful to someone.