/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>>4901195
It's from freelancing + merch sales (prints, apparel, etc.). Both are very difficult to get the ball rolling, in my opinion, though commercial freelancing is particularly tough. I was only making ~$10k-$25k the first few years before things started to click.

>>4776105
>>4775926
>>4771286
>>4773210
Stop this. Keep this shit in the social media thread.

>>4655541
>ITT art revelations
/biz/ related revelations
+ Financial success with your art is more reliant on your entrepreneurial skills than your artistic skill.

+ The world of 2D art is larger than sci fi / fantasy illustration, concept art, porn patreons, manga/comic artist, and furry commissions. There is a staggering amount of people on this board who think that these are the only sources of opportunity for professional 2D artists.

+ Buy the Graphic Artists Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines. It's a great resource for getting range of real-world prices in regards to what you can charge for different opportunities. Not only that, but you can learn about how many other opportunities are out there for 2D artists, and you can learn a bit about why some things are priced the way they are.

+ Tossing work up on your social media and expecting to be 'discovered' is a terrible business plan, if that's your only means of promotion. Social media should be supplemental to your own, more direct promotional efforts.

+If you want to work for ___, then reach out to ___ to share your work and express your interest in working with them. It does not have to be complicated. You are not a used car salesmen, you do not have to do a hard sell. Simply making yourself known, having good work and expressing your interest in working with a place is enough. If your work is a good fit, they will keep you in mind for future opportunities.

+ Building a passive income can be extremely beneficial. Having a consistent base of income coming in can help fund your other endeavors, even when money is slow from other sources.

+ Ever see published art in the world and wonder "How did that person get hired? I'm better than they are!"? Why don't you ever get hired? The answer is probably because that illustrator actually bothered to put together a portfolio site and promote it directly to the art / creative director of said opportunity, while you did nothing.

I have a lot of experience regarding the legality of fan art.

>>4356662
>Yes it's parody.
No, it's not a parody. Sakimi's work doesn't even come close to meeting the definition of 'parody'. You cannot create work that infringes on a copyrighted IP and magically claim 'PaRoDy!' and suddenly make things okay. Parody is a specific legal defense that contributes towards making a fair use argument (which is difficult to do), not some surface level excuse to protect blatantly infringing work. You claim 'parody' as a defense in court, not elsewhere. If Sakimi was taken to court and her defense was just 'duhhh it's just a parody!', then she would be blown the fuck out.

>>4356362
>how has she not gotten a lawsuit after her yet
She hasn't gotten a lawsuit because most of the time these things are resolved not with a lawsuit, but rather the copyright holder issuing a DMCA takedown to the hosting website. If she hasn't already been issued these in the past, then it's because whoever is responsible for issuing DMCA takedowns for a particular IP may simply not be aware of her infringing work. Either that, or they have decided not to pursue it quite yet. If an IP did want to take action against her, they could issue DMCA takedowns to Patreon and Patreon would be force to remove her Patreon post, and Sakimi would have to refrain from creating work related to that IP. If Sakimi kept getting enough DMCA takedown warnings from copyright holders, then Patreon would need to consider booting her from the platform.

Of course, when issued a DMCA warning, you can fight back. You can say, "No - don't take my work down. It doesn't infringe on X companies IP." THEN things could escalate to a lawsuit, where the fan artist with be unequivocally blown the fuck out in court.

>>4263228
That's a good question that I feel is really important to reflect on - is all this worth it?

It's hard to say whether the "conversion rate" is good or bad. The occasional freelance opportunity definitely rolls in as a direct result of posting on IG (I often ask where they found me), but the amount of times that this happens is not nearly enough to sustain myself. I think social media works best (for me at least) in a more supplementary way rather than the primary way of self promotion.

Compared to cold calling (emailing), cold calling has been much, much more effective and time efficient. Social media is a passive means of self promotion - you're sitting around hoping to be discovered by the right person, at the right time with the right project. That leaves a lot up to luck, and I think it's generally a good practice to remove luck as much as you can from your business. Cold calling essentially takes away that element of chance from being 'discovered', since you're bringing your work directly to the art buyer for consideration for freelance projects. From there, it's a matter of whether or not you're a good fit for them, and whether or not they have work available. Doing this is obviously easier said than done, but it's a much more proactive means of self promotion that you at least have a little bit more control over, as opposed to a more passive means of self promotion.