August has more than 2000 people on his skin pinglist, by his own admission. That's, if my estimation is right, way more than the average GASP ping would get you, and only 6% of all those people from his pinglist signed up. He has an enormous reach in the community (entirely deserved considering how active he is) so it makes sense that even the small fraction of those who sign up is still incredibly high.
Like, I get it. Sometimes a skin flops even when you really really like it or think it's generally appealing, but that's how it is. It's a very unstable market. I'm a skin artist as well, I have about 150 people on my pinglist and I still typically fill about a run or two. Those "large artists" are an enormous outlier and only this visible because they're, well, large.
As a side note, August specifically has extremely varied skins in terms of aesthetics, so it probably adds onto his follower count being this large. If you mainly focus on skins that appeal to one-two consistent aesthetics it's very likely also a factor.
Re: Minor/Petty Salt Thread
Like, I get it. Sometimes a skin flops even when you really really like it or think it's generally appealing, but that's how it is. It's a very unstable market. I'm a skin artist as well, I have about 150 people on my pinglist and I still typically fill about a run or two. Those "large artists" are an enormous outlier and only this visible because they're, well, large.
As a side note, August specifically has extremely varied skins in terms of aesthetics, so it probably adds onto his follower count being this large. If you mainly focus on skins that appeal to one-two consistent aesthetics it's very likely also a factor.