First of all, awesome art as usual. :)

Next, I have written about this topic extensively and I'm quite involved. I really think you should take a look at this article I wrote a while back. It will clear up many of your questions.

https://steemit.com/steem/@artopium/i-admit-i-use-the-upvote-bots-and-here-s-why

Also, note that I currently use bots to promote my posts but I don't think it's the best way to do things so I'm currently programming a new app called SteemAX that hopefully provides an alternative to using bots. Check out this article I wrote introducing SteemAX.

https://steemit.com/steemit/@artopium/proposal-for-a-possible-human-to-human-upvote-exchange-program

ALSO, I currently run an upvote bot called @ArtTurtle. It's not a bid bot so no need to send it money. Instead it just upvotes every post made by anyone it's following. I'll have it follow you for a while. You'll notice ArtTurtle's upvotes starting today. Just give me (@artopium) an upvote here and there in return and I'll be happy. ;)