140+ Art Hashtags To Skyrocket Your Followers On Instagram, Twitter, and Social Media

Tips Written by McKella Sawyer Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you buy something we get a small commission at no extra cost to you(learn more)

Hashtags are a great way to get your art found on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

But if you’re new to social media you may not really know which hashags to use, why they’re important, or how they can help you gain followers.

Here’s a quick rundown on how it all works:

Hashtags are simple words and terms with no spaces that begin with a # sign. These work kinda like search terms in Google, Bing, or Pinterest.

When users are looking for content on a certain topic they’re going to search for specific terms. This is also true on social media platforms.

For example, if a user wants to find digital paintings on Instagram, they might search #digitalpainting.

If they want to see character concept art, they might search #characterconcepts, #conceptart, #characterart, or something similar.

It’s just like entering “character concept art” into Google and getting a list of results.

If you enter those hashtags into the searchbar of Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook, you’ll get a list of recent posts with those hashtags as well as the account that used them. It’s the best way for people to find your work and get them hooked on your art.

But for your posts to show up in a search you need to include those hashtags in your tweet/post. That tells the search engine what the post is about so it can find those posts when users search the hashtag.

Instagram currently allows users to include up to 30 hashtags per post. Twitter allows up to 140 characters per Tweet (hashtags included), and Facebook has no limits.

So Which Hashtags Should You Use?

Well, it depends on what you’re posting!

Of course you should pick tags relevant to your work, but if you play around with searching different hashtags you’ll see that some have tons and tons of posts while others have very few.

There are pros and cons to using each style.

Popular hashtags that have lots of posts means that more people are searching those terms…but you’ll have a lot more competition to fight against.

Less popular hashtags are searched less often but you’ll have a lot less completion for being seen by those who are searching those terms. They also tend to be a lot more specific which means you could find more engaged followers who are really interested in your artwork(something like #adventuretimefanart for Adventure Time fans).

Approach this like you would any investment of time, money, or effort: diversify.

Use a mix of popular, obscure, and middle-of-the-road hashtags, and adjust every once in awhile to see what happens.

There are so many options for hashtags and way more than I could include here. But let’s have a look at some of the best hashtags you can use right now on your art accounts.

General Art

These hashtags work well for just about any kind of art you do!

They are more general so make sure to throw a few into your mix to connect with different artists and attract curious art seekers online.

There are lots of different kinds of artists, but they all have quite a bit in common.

Use these hashtags to show off your art challenges, works in progress, finished pieces, concept doodles, and everything in between.

#art
#myart
#myartwork
#coolart
#funart
#abstractart
#makearteveryday
#artsy
#contemporaryart
#artlife
#practice
#wip
#workinprogress
#experimentalart
#visualart
#artoftheday
#onlineart
#realism

Drawing

Use these hashtags to share your drawings and attract those looking for drawings.

Whether you’re posting a simple daily sketchbook page or intricate, finished pieces in pencil, these all work well for getting attention.

Hint: you can usually create a hashtag based on the subject you’re drawing with the format #subjectdrawing. For example if you’re sketching pandas at the zoo you can post a picture of your sketchbook and use the tag #pandadrawing.

#sketchbook
#sketchbookart
#sketching
#sketchbookdrawing
#dailysketches
#sketchdaily
#pendrawing
#quicksketch
#justdraw
#sketchpad
#sketchoftheday
#pencildrawing
#figuredrawing
#drawsomething
#draweveryday
#artofdrawing
#drawdaily
#inkdrawing
#mysketchbook
#animaldrawing
#fundrawing
#practicedrawing
#peoplesketching
#realistart

Traditional Painting

If you’re an old school painter then here are some of the best hashtags for sharing your work on IG & other social.

These all work great and cover a variety of mediums whether you work with acrylics, watercolors, or oils.

#paintingoftheday
#watercolor_daily
#watercolorartist
#watercolorpainting
#watercolorart
#acrylicpainting
#acrylicpaintings
#acrylicpaintingsoncanvas
#acryliconcanvas
#acrylicart
#watercolorsketch
#watercolors
#oilpaints
#oilpainting
#acrylics
#gouache
#oilart
#painting
#stilllife
#figurepainting
#practicepainting

Digital Painting

Digital painting has a huge presence on social media and there are plenty of hashtags to help you get in front of the right people.

Here are a few of the best hashtags we’ve found for digital painters but keep in mind there might be quite a few more!

#digitalpainting
#digitaldrawing
#digitalart
#digitalillustration
#digitaldrawing
#digital_art
#digitalsketch
#digitaldoodle
#digitalartist
#digitalportrait
#digitalartwork
#photoshopart
#kritaart
#gimpart
#digitaldesign
#conceptdesign
#characterdesign
#tabletdrawing
#tabletpainting

Illustration

These hashtags are perfect for illustrators whether you work digitally or with traditional mediums(or both!)

You’ll also find lots of great hashtags for cartoonists and comic artists in here. No matter what kind of illustration you do there’s bound to be something in here to get your work seen by millions.

#cartoonist
#illustration
#illustratenow
#freelanceillustrator
#illustrationartist
#illustrationdigital
#cartoony
#cartoondrawing
#cartoonart
#sketchdump
#cartooning
#sequentialart
#digitalcomics
#comicbookartist
#indiecomic
#comicstyle
#illustratorlife
#illustrationage
#fanillustration
#fanart

Concept Art, Animation & Vis Dev

These hashtags are awesome for your character sketches, concept art, background paintings, storyboards, or anything else related to entertainment art.

Experiment with these based on the kind of work you do. Over time you’ll find some hashtags that work well for your type of art.

#conceptart
#conceptualart
#conceptual
#conceptdesign
#3dmodeling
#visualdevelopment
#characterillustration
#characterdesigner
#characterart
#characterdesign
#characterconcept
#modelsheet
#visdev
#visdevart
#animation
#animationart
#animationdesign
#storyboards
#productionart
#illustrated
#digitalcolor
#ocdrawing
#originalcharacters
#coloredsketch
#backgrounds
#backgroundpainting
#environmentpainting
#gameart
#videogameart

Instagram Only Hashtags

Since Instagram is such a massive hub for artists there are a few hashtags that work best on Instagram only.

This small yet valuable list of hashtags is unique to Instagram and you can use these to gain more followers fast.

#instaart
#artistoninstagram
#instagramartist
#illustragram
#illustratorsofinstagram
#instapainting
#artistsofig
#artistsofinstagram
#instagramart

It might take some tweaking to find the best hashtags that work for you, but this list should give you plenty to start with.

Each piece will have its own unique properties too so remember to try different hashtags for everything you upload.

Bonus Tip: To make this process quick and easy when posting, try saving a list of your favorite hashtags on your phone. You can do this in a Notes app or anything similar.

When you post a picture on Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr, just copy the whole list and paste that into your post. Super easy!

Use your favorite hashtags for a while and try occasionally integrating new ones to see if you see better results. Over time you’ll grow a massive following and develop quite a name for yourself in the online art world.

#goodluck

Author: McKella Sawyer

McKella is an artist and freelance writer from Salt Lake City, Utah. When she isn't painting or writing for clients she loves to write fiction, travel, and explore the mountains near her home either on foot, horseback, or a mountain bike. You can view her art on Etsy and her writing services at TheCafeWordsmith.com.