I love that you wrote this as I just couldn't, lol:
'Stop the Wham, Bam, thank you Ma'am bullshit.
One of the things that drives me absolutely batshit crazy is trying to find original artists and Steemit newbies to support and the only thing they post is a picture.'
As a Steem Trail art curator I look through the art posts everyday- Like a whole 24 hours of contents- every day (I'm in the middle of doing it now)! It will often be in the early hours after I have posted and really should be heading to bed- but I take my role as a curator seriously. It sounds harsh but if I can't see 100% that it's their work then I can't recommend it, I will often trawl through someones blog to do this. Crisp glossy images are nice to look at- but they don't help verify it's someones genuine artwork.
A strong image that shows up on the feed is also beneficial, if people are scanning through the feeds and eye catching image will make people stop and click quicker.
YES! It's so frustrating. And just recently an artist I had been following, even though they never verified, was nuked for plagiarism. I was so incredibly disappointed that it's made me really reconsider who I'm upvoting. I want to know there is substance and a real, honest-to-goodness person. I hate that I feel like I have to withhold my votes when I really like a piece because of this. It's a good point too, about making sure a good, crisp image shows up in the feed. Presentation plays a vital role too.
Thanks for your art curation! It does take serious effort -- especially for art because there is so much of it. I curate for Gardening and for Foraging, but there aren't near so many posts on those topics. The art category must be so much bigger.