#selling your art

[nattosoup]

I apologize that it’s on the bird site, but I made a thread on my experiences selling at craft fairs vs anime conventions that might be helpful/interesting to folks looking to switch over or wanting to add craft fairs to their lineup!  Please feel free to ask me questions on Twitter, I’d love to cover more angles! 

#how to be a con artist #selling at craft fairs #vending at craft fairs #small business #running a small art business #selling your art

[redlenai]

The money hungry artist masterpost!

Now, the title is a joke. But if you’re here, then I bet you’re an artist that is constantly looking for work, and most of the time doesn’t find paid gigs. This is not a guide, but I'm putting on the plate what I've been doing. This is not a universal truth, this is only what I know based on experience as “a gal that wastes her entire time in the computer” since she was 12.

Something that caught my attention whenever I checked other people with commissions open or providing art services is that…

First, they don't follow the guidelines: I know we're all desperate to find jobs and earn something, but reputation won't be that great if we're around violating community guidelines or rules in specific communities. ALWAYS, make sure that you're allowed to self-promote your services, don't force it or otherwise you may look desperate, unprofessional or in the worst case scenario, you may end up with a limited account or banned from certain groups.

But leaving the most obvious and first rule aside, whenever I'm in the forum and see that someone opens up a Topic in the Collaboration category, leaving aside the contents, I see artist that just go around saying "Me! Me!", provide a contact info, but not samples of their work or a link to these. Also, first thing I notice:

They don’t have a genuine profile!

Don’t get me wrong, a lot of people take the effort of looking presentable, but others don’t, and first impressions matter. A lot of times I see people with very new, sometimes fake, other times very incomplete accounts, most of the time, with no art done by themselves be it on their Avatars or Banners (Talking about facebook or Twitter, the next sentence is mostly about Social Media accounts). You’re trying to sell your abilities, then why don’t presume it? Make your art public, make it easy to access, don’t be shy of having a watermark and putting your socials in each post that you make or in your info…

But oh, that’s another thing, a lot of times I see avatarless accounts with no social media linked to their profiles or bios, and you’ll be saying that “Well but they provide a social media or samples through DMs” yes… but just like fellow artists who don’t jump directly on collaborations or certain job offers if these don’t provide as much information to begin with, even possible clients or a contractor wouldn’t be as eager to check you out either, people want things fast so instead of going through the whole DMing process (And sometimes is like trying to swim in rocks, not water), keep it simple and well presented on a plate.

And another thing to add, is that even if an artist has both an avatar and social media, they won’t be considered as much if they don’t update. Yes, you’ll say that not everyone can post once a week but what goes inside other people’s mind is actually… pretty logic: An artist that doesn’t post much is either a slow artist or a non-available person. And since they want to guarantee that they’ll receive what they paid for, they’ll rather pick someone that seems “fast”.

So don’t worry if these are works in progress, sketches, fanart, original content, concept art, practices, that weird doodle that only you and your friends will get, show that you’re drawing, show that you’re there, that you’re not a ghost or similar. I know this is difficult for those that want to have their content neately separated and organized, but anything helps.

For Scarlet Society, I've presented myself with a neat, organized and professional message on DeviantArt's Forum but Love Quotes in the other hand, I was contacted because the author liked some of my SPN fanart that were silly doodles that I've done in less than an hour, so, you never know what is going to catch someone's attention!

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Now, I won’t be telling you how to manage your online presence but at the same time I’ll tell you a few… obvious things.

You can’t expect to get commissioned or be popular if you don’t have a fanbase, yes this is obvious and this is the most exhausting thing ever. But most buyers will check out if you’re the real deal since nowadays scammers who pretend to be “Hidden Gems” (You know, that very unknown artist that seems to be so talented and cheap and that you think you hit the jackpot!) So, you’ll have to put your effort into building your social media, don’t worry if you only have 200 followers in X account, having at least FB, Twitter, Instagram or any other of your preference will show proof that you’re actually taking the effort to have an image and it's not like you're some random artist that can be found solely in one place, and as I always say, work to cover more ground even if you dislike the idea of self promoting, no one is going to go knock on your door if you gatekeep yourself.

Now, sharing your stuff in your accounts is an easy thing, but you’re an artist, don’t lie to yourself, every artist has a tiny bit of arrogance and need to be seen, you’ll have to satisfy that insatiable monster full of anger that is inside of you. So, take an hour, maybe that hour while you’re waking up or having breakfast to share in your socials. Listen to some music, make the process that you hate something more comfortable.

Share in 100 FB groups whenever you update your series, finish a piece, your commission price list, don’t worry if they limit your account and don’t let you post in groups for 30 days, there’ll come the day they’ll ask you to verify your account and you won’t have that problem ever again, no limitations, guaranteed. Same in Discord Servers, you can join almost 100 Servers, I don’t know about Reddit but same, join as many as you can but in the three cases mentioned make sure that self promotion is allowed… or to know at least if there is a specific day dedicated to that or what time depending on your time zone.

Don’t be afraid of participating in #ArtShares on Twitter, don’t be afraid of letting your commission sheet + links on a post despite 300 people have already commented, you can’t expect the author to be the one to see your stuff, but definitely if artists can see said post, same for any potential client that checks in silent.

Now, when it comes to Commission Sheets I always see the very same mistakes repeated over and over again. Too many images (Be honest. Who sees more than the 4 images on FB? Who opens up a Twitter Thread with more than 3 tweets? Or who even checks a gallery?) Too many prices and options all in one single image, that’s confusing, and people rather scroll past you than asking or going through the risk Badly presented sheets, now, don’t get me wrong I get it that some of you are not graphic designers but for the love of God use easy to read fonts, use colors that don’t clash too much or that tires the eye of the ones who see it, don’t go for oversaturated, or a ton of effects or such (Vibrant =/= Interesting)

But the real foe comes when it’s time to price your stuff… I know, I know, a lot of people have probably told you that you can put any price to your art… But the truth, the real truth is to compare yourself to others, honesty is the first step. Since by this point you’ll be in 100 FB groups, 100 Discord Servers, social media and such, you’ll see the variety of prices out there, and, to be fair, it would ideal to compare your skills to those that are probably at a similar level to you, be it in aesthetic or style or type of commission you’re offering.

Avoid giving different prices to people just because you want to guarantee that this person is going to be your client, because, there could be the possibility that other clients or future ones will see these interactions and wouldn’t find very appealing the idea that you’re either charging more, or less, to them or the other person.

Another thing that I see is the misconception about charging less, a lot of people will blame you that you’re making the job difficult for others but that’s their responsibility if they can’t find clients, they don’t know where you’re from, if there is a currency exchange, if dollars are a big deal if you have a devalued local currency, if you’re starting, if you’re not in such a huge need of bucks, that’s your deal. But for some, having low prices guarantee clients, it’s a lie that you’ll get commissioned once and that higher price will compensate for the less clients, that’s not always the case and you could go for long periods of time without clients.

So do what guarantees what you want

But even so, I see a lot of artist desperately announcing that they are willing to do anything for the sake of money, but when the “anything” becomes too much, they end up in a dilemma, some end up questioning their morals, others may end up in burnouts or taking so long to finish a commission that they clearly don’t like, independently if it’s worth it because of the money.

Some don’t have an idea about what they are willing or not to do, some others don’t clarify that they can’t draw something and then they struggle and the client may not be as satisfied… and that leads to several corrections or an unsatisfied client that won’t come back.

So think carefully, I know you may be desperate, but do you want to be there for the long run or end up halfway the road? But I won't critique, neither ANYONE should to do that to the person that is willing to do anything in exchange of money, jumping in furry, NSFW, whatever. Is dumb to assume that everything we post we love it 100%, no we have to sell it too, so of course we need to put initiative into it so others get interested, if the controvertial commission is too much well you can use the very same bucks from it to pay therapy, that's what I always joked with friends.

It's very damaging, sometimes it drains you, but there is nothing wrong with the mentality of: "If the client wants an elephant with pink dots, an elephant with pink dots is what the clients is going to get". Or the mentality of "We're paid to draw, not to think"

But what to do if clients don't come our way? Well, keep drawing. Make fanart, make silly comic strips, make content of your own characters, check Forums, check threads, check anyone that is looking for an artist, keep offering yourself but another thing that could work in the meantime, despite this one is not something easy to do.

Open up an account on those platforms to sell your art, such as Redbubble, Society6, to put as samples, and while it's true that you won't get as much money neither will be something so drastic, you never know until all of a sudden $30 USD are on your Paypal and you have no clue where they came from until you check out the recipt.

I know someone may see this and think "This is the worst advice" or another person is going to see it and say "But this is a lot of work!" But what are YOU willing to do if you want to achieve what you want? I wanted to prove that what I do "is so pretty that it actually helps around in the house", I wanted to be independent

#red rambles #artist #digital art #commission #artists struggles #selling your art

[themetalhiro]

Im re uploading these without the commission watermark! Feel free to use and match with your nemesis. 🍻

#unrelated. but I don’t sell fortnite skins #please don’t steal your relatives credit card to pay for my services. #metalhiro arts #one piece #sanji #one piece fanart #vinsmoke sanji #blackleg sanji #op sanji #zoro #roronoa zoro #op zoro #zosan #sanzo

[golyadkin]

I cannot express enough that if your reaction, as a hobby artist, to not getting that many notes on your art is to say "maybe I should just stop doing art altogether" you need to stop posting art to tumblr

not necessarily forever, not even for long, but just stop putting your art on here and start doing it for you again, remember why you enjoyed doing art in the first place and stop relying on the attention of faceless people on the internet for your enjoyment of your hard work

believe me, I get it, nothing crushes the artistic soul quite like labouring for hours on a piece only for it to get like 10 notes, so you need to find your own source of joy in the act of creation and a lot of the time that means making art and not showing it to anybody

#not art #listen #for real #this is not about any one person because i've seen posts about it from a bunch of people #you think i post everything here? buddy i dont even post half my stuff here #every drawing you see is preceded by five more just like it #that never see my cursor close to the save button #i have a sketchbook i draw in regularly that i do'nt show to a single goddam person #i make cutout art from gels i steal from work and stick them to my windows and do paintings in my living room just for me #because that it the only way you are ever going to be able to retain your original love of art #is by doing it for the sake of doing it #not for the sake of seeing how many people stop and stare #anyways i'm sorry if this sounds terse #but i'm so sick of seeing artists put all their self-esteem and happiness in the hands of a blogging website #stop selling yourself short by measuring your self worth by how many reblogs you get and what people say in the tags #your artistry and your happiness are worth more than that #if you're an artist for a living that's another story #but even then #even then #anyways sorry i'm done ranting

[yourlocalabomination]

May I present to you one of the dumbest things iv ever drawn.

#someone was on my dash talking about giving crumb a gun #this is what I immediately thought of #never opened procteate faster #I think the stock photo of the stairs really sells the piece #it was just going to be a sketch but I had to commit to the bit #I had to stop so many times while drawing this because I can’t stop laughing at it it’s so stupid #anyway take this in honour of the kickstarter reaching its goal #EDIT: I SPELT IT WITH THE WRONG YOUR I DONT CARE #Edit 2: shoutout to the person on Twt who called him Owen Crumbvour I love it sm that’s his name now #starkid #team starkid #starkid productions #cinderella’s castle #cinderellas castle #crumb #fanart #my art

[armands-myspace]

bumper sticker by me

#sawposting #clip studio paint #digital art #lawrence gordon #saw (2004) #Adam coded ass bumper sticker #chainshipping #please dont steal #im gonna sell my art for money to live plz dont make your own with this shit jpeg thnx

[froschli96]

🗣️ Darlin', you give love a bad name

Found this in my old wip folder and it feels now more relevant than ever :)

Also these don't know why I never uploaded these they were just sitting there completely finished:

#good omens #crowley #aziraphale #michael sheen #david tennant #good omens fanart #go fanart #good omens tv #go tv #my art #other relevant lyrics include #an angels smile is what you sell you promise me heaven then put me through hell #and #your very first kiss was your first kiss goodbye #:D #for the record I am on team 'they are both wrong bc crowley can't keep trying to solve problems by spiriting his angel away to the stars' #like maybe your arguments should be more elaborate than 'lets just run away together' #like idk for example don't just say 'heaven is toxic' maybe give some reasons for that #MAYBE tell him what happened during aziraphale's 'trial' #or what actually happened with gabriel #u know #communication.

[tippenfunkaport]

That viral post that's going around about how people who write "book quality" mlm fic are too "normal" to publish and have real jobs so only "weird" people publish their "shitty" fanfic is so completely out of touch with reality and I am giving a massive side eye to everyone reblogging it.

Not only is it completely, easily verifiably untrue (you cannot enter any professional writing space without tripping over a dozen grizzled scifi writers who got their start by filing off the serial numbers and publishing their Star Trek fanfic even going back decades ago??? it's a whole thing?? plus how can you look at the mlm category on Amazon right now and say with a straight face that people aren't publishing shitty Spirk and Stucky fanfic??? Oh, honey...) it's also the perfect example of this kind of sneering elitism that true artists would never sully themselves by seeking profit, they do it only for the purity of the thing that always somehow leads back to, "no one should be paid to make art, actually."

The only reason you're seeing more published fanfic right now has nothing to do with the idealistic purity of your hypothetical government employee written smut of the past vs the debased scribbles of those awful straights of today and everything to do with the fact that a) self-publishing has created a voracious readership that wants a ton of content so it's become a viable, flexible income stream for many, especially disabled people b) anyone can publish now with self-publishing tools so there are less gatekeepers and c) lockdown got a lot of people into fandom and therefore writing who never tried it before.

And if you really think there's no "shitty" published mlm and no "book-quality" m/f writing out there that started as fanfic, then you are clearly not a reader so why are you even talking about this?

#love how they manipulated people into spreading that post by making it seem like a cishet vs gay thing #when the real message is OP thinks trying to sell your writing is cringe and 'weird' and 'normal people' with jobs would never #which would of course never have flown on the fandom website #so they played into the queer shipping is purer than cishet shipping puriteen thing #and it worked! #because my god people are gullible #this is the direct pipeline that leads to AI thievery #''normal' people write for the joy of it anyway so why do you need pay? you are just greedy and 'weird'!' #'oh no this isn't about who we get to call cringe and who gets to profit from art it's about um... #(quick what's a hated m/f ship?).. oh uh 'shitty' REYLO #and not our super pure uh... (spirk is still popular right? lets throw in that avengers one too to make it seem timely) stucky!' #I'm sorry if I have no sense of humor about this but the year is 2024 and people are still way too ready to sneer #about writers trying to earn a fucking living in the shittiest timeline #and i need you to look deep into yourself and ask you why it's so important to you to tell yourself that only people writing what you like #are 'normal' with real jobs and to vilify everyone else as 'weird' and 'shitty' #for trying to make an income during a financial fucking crisis #i would say sorry for ranting about this but I'm not sorry because wtf #write whatever you want #publish whatever you want #there is no moral fucking purity in what the content is #and one thing certainly doesn't make you more 'weird' or 'normal' than the other #like there is soooo much shitty mlm that started as fanfic??? #that post is 100% OP made up some guys to get mad about and called them relyos for the clicks #writing #publishing #writblr #writeblr #i wasn't going to tag this anything but you know what fuck it I'm mad #i had like 5 more tags but tumblr cut me off which is fair 😅 #fan fiction

[girlboyburger]

nothing to boil the blood in the morning quite like coming across an etsy page of AI generated furry adopts and going "okay, well, surely no one's *buying* these seven fingered airbrushed freaks," but, alas. almost 600 sales. making literal hundreds of dollars off of stolen work. fuck off and blow up.

#moo.txt #im still sleep deprived and this is actually making me want to bite ppl in half #just fucking spit on the artist while youre at it why dont you #for fucking shame to the 500+ people buying this garbage. #posting this to my art blog bc my stance on ai is very harshly the equivalent of stealing someones lineart and selling it with even less #effort #generating say. funny mario smoke a blunt is VERY different from generating art from stolen work #and fucking selling it like you did anything but type a prompt into a box #fuck OFF fuck off #aaarurugh #scum of the earth. suck my dick and balls from behind

[nattosoup]

Watch "Catprint Art Prints Review- Watercolor Artist Review" on YouTube

Prints were never a big part of my anime convention artist alley table. I did photo prints, but nothing larger than 4x6- I mostly sold original art and commissions! Adding prints to your merch is an affordable way to improve your sales margins and make your art accessible, but they didn't really sell for me, and I was never happy with the quality.

Since I'm shifting the types of shows I do as I get older, I figured I'd give offering prints another shot, and decided to take my friends' repeated suggestions to give Catprint a try! I was skeptical, because I've never been satisfied with how my watercolor art is printed, but Catprint really wowed me!

If you like my art, some of the prints shown here are available in my online shop- https://www.nattosoup.com/shop - and I'm working on adding more!

#con merch #convention artist #convention merch #selling your art #selling at craft fairs #selling prints #print review #catprint review #Youtube

[kastillia]

#volo #pokemon volo #pokemon #pokemon legends arceus #while looking up references i saw someone say they thought volo was one of the ugliest pokemon characters and i actually got kinda sad lol #he's just a little guy #your friendly merchant... that never sells you anything #but a curious history buff who shares little tidbits with you - and for free! what a thoughtful guy #i do this thing on twitter where i'll post a close-up wip with emoji/s as hints as to who i'm drawing and his was the piano keys emoji ;^) #please don't be fooled by this third consecutive daily upload i promise this level of productivity is unheard of from me #idk what's going on either #just 4 to go :O #my art

[himawanai]

Hi Hima!!!! Would you like to toast him together (illustration)...

toasting!!!!?????

#hima art #asks #yamada-ryo #Crying this popped into my head immediately i had to draw it #also im pretty sure youre way taller than me but the perspective was killing my brained sells #ILL RENDER ALL THE OTHERS I PROMISE…

[deadwooddross]

MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD! PATREON

#elden ring #frenzied flame #frenzy #art #doodled these up bc im in an elden ring mood and i wanted to finally have some stickers again #you can get em through patreon for now! #tell all your friends who sell stuff for a living that they're strong and powerful and throbbing with mana like energy

[the-exiled-comic]

illustrations i did for november's patreon prints weee

they dont align perfectly due to the fact i made them with the intent to print and making perfect alignments when prints have like... cut off and bleed areas eeeahh that seems hard lol. would be cool to try it one day tho

firespots being god's little beast and fishwhisker being the devil's little beast does something funny to my brain... my blorboronis

#fishwhisker #firespots #warrior cats #oc #waca #other art #tfw executing gods will means your bestie hates you enough to sell her soul to your evil dad #that sucks bro

[catmemer]

Some su characters!

#my art #doodles #steven universe #was gonna turn these into stickers for redbubble but they wont let me sell them lol #well theyll let me sell the jasper spinel and lapis but they wont let me sell the other ones for some reason?? idk lol #i guess if youre interested in those my redbubble is catmemer #but yeah. need to find a different site. or at least ill have to sell original stuff instead of fanart. oh well

[wickedcriminal]

(Tfw you're the most reliable person in the roster and you're only like 12)

Httyd 2 is where the Hooligans start to think Elder may be too carefree and naive to be chief, Snotlout is too gradious to do the job right, and find that they truly appreciate the wise, diplomatic nature of Younger. Maybe we should make the little guy chief instead 💁

Bonus:

#1 most irresponsible older brother 😂

(Speech bubble text beneath readmore:)

Hiccup the Younger: If I had a gold piece for every time Gobber told me to usurp my brother for the throne of Berk I'd have three gold pieces and at this point I'm starting to think he's being serious

Little Fishlegs: Well, why not? It's a very honorable position– and you'd be great at it!

Younger: Sure, but that's Hiccup's job. It's not like I WANT it. Besides, Snotlout's the runner-up heir, not me, so I'd have to challenge him, too. I'm in Last Place, Fishlegs. Maybe it's better that way.

Little Fish: You sell yourself too short. Most of the tribe would be happy to see you on the throne instead of Snotlout. Heck, they're prefer you to Mr. Elder! All the adults say Mr. Elder is too immature. Gobber even says they're going to approach Stoick personally about lifting your rank.

Younger: Very funny.

(Silence)

Younger: WAIT— ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

...

Astrid: Shirking your heirly duties, as usual.

Astrid: You know, maybe Gobber's right, and Minicup should usurp you and take over the tribe.

Astrid: NO— YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO AGREE!!!

#half brothers au #httyd 2 #httyd au #(i forgot to include baby tooth i offer my gravest apologies) #how to train your dragon #my art #logically minicup knows he'd be fantastic at the chief thing #it just rubs him the wrong way to think the tribe would only choose him because elder was half-assing the job #especially since he KNOWS elder is better than this #meanwhile elder is more than happy to relinquish the stressful duties of being heir to someone who has a chance at living up to their fathe #therefore it's actually elder who sells himself too short #and younger just wants nothing more than to see him succeed