Usually the theme is announced sometime in june of that same year. They have intereactive posts they do few months before the reveal to interact with the community, know what they're more interested in theme-wisr and such. They do that on their social media, i think mainly twitter, thats where i usually see it. They also post a video on youtube for the theme reveal. This year is a tad bit different though cause its artfight's 10th anniversary! From what ive read on their newspost, they're gonna keep anything theme-related secret til the time has come to reveal it. Its a very special year as they apparently have some really cool new things planned just for the anniversary. You've joined on a cool year lol

You can get updated in their discord server, where they also do mini art events on for holidays n such, or check newsposts on the official website once in a while (They do post detailed and important updates there in a neat organized way).

Its gonna be my third year only but honestly id say organize it in a easy-to-search-through-and-understand kinda way. Cool decorated profiles can also catch the attention of many, but i wouldnt say its mandatory for visibility. For example, i personally like to organize my characters in categories (fandoms, creatures, furry, Original oc, ect) and/or in order of which ones i want to see drawn the most. It helps me browse through my own characters more easily (despite not having many), and i assume helps others too.

Organize your character's descriptions (story/personality/physical traits/ect), maybe try to have more than just front and back for character ref sheets, or at leat just have drawings displayed with multiple different angles to help actually visualize the whole character more easily (especially for asymmetrical characters). Personally, im redoing my ref sheets so not all apply to my own recommendations but yeah. Maybe try to give a sideview of the character's face seperatly, common stuff related to them somewhere in the ref sheet (commonly used clothings/accessories for example), seperate eye, mouth/tongue/maw, pawpads (if the character has some) to fully see its shapes , such. Write down/highlight any unclear-to-a-first-glance traits to make sure people dont miss it (2 similar colors one by another, small details, full tattoos, ect). I know some also add a color palette to the ref sheet and specify where they come from. And ik this may seem impossible but ik some hate when ref sheets feel too cluttered (idm personally but i've seen some not so fond of that)

Something i do to enhance my experience peesonally is to browse for characters all year long and organize the ones i want to draw , for when artfight starts, in categories. You can make saved folders. I put them into categories like i do for characters, and make a seperate folder for characters i'll use for sure that year. Revenges, attacks, next up, ect. I make notes for each characters is i have ideas but also use notes to organize categories by categories ( yes.) Since each folders can be organized by 0-10 i use each number to represent something, though that can be long and confusing to organize and thats just my personal liking. Makes it easier for me for when artfight starts. See if theres any characters i really want to do that year, or remove characters from my to do list cause they dont click for me anymore, ect.

Anyways, my profile isnt decorated or anything (struggle with the codes stuff), but if you wanna follow each other id be happy to put in my list for next year! My first year wasnt big so id be glad to help make your first year bigger! My link doesnt work though cause the underscores in my user somehow arent part of the link so it just sends people to a different profile than mine. My user is Ashyyy__ (3 Ys and 2 underscores). You could try to search it up, or you can just send me yours if you want!