/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

It really bugs me how most artists here dream of being a freelance illustrator going from gig to gig, or just working in the industry at a studio or something when thats not really their dream.

>childhood dreams of creating your own stuff wether it be manga, anime, or games

>gets into art.

>gets good enough to charge

>Spends a year or two drawing random orcs or knights so you can get fantasy work or attract your favorite studio.

Now you have a portfolio of images that only do one thing for you business wise: sit on a host site for some random art direct to probably see it to offer you one of the handful of jobs available.

Meanwhile you could’ve spent a better use of your time just working on your project building a fan base and not putting your eggs in one basket. Have your personal project work as a portfolio while trying to monetize it and growing a fan base with normies.

90% of artist would rather just have fans support them living, Than slaving away at another derivative project.


I guess what I’m trying to say is that i see so many artists falling in the trap of drawing one dragon illustration after another to appease a specific art director for a shitty job that pays out $1k max, instead of casting a wider net to a normie audience and build something thats long lasting.

Jus think about it the digital art industry has greenhorns fooled. There’s absolutely no job security, youre competing with chinese art gods for like the 60 max AAA jobs open in a year, pretty much any artist on art station can deliver on any job posted on the site. It all comes down to the taste of the AD.

Attracting normies just make more sense. They arnt as critical of your art skill. All you have to do is make something funny or entertaining on some level. Any art station artist could start a comic on webtoons right now and get views on skill alone.

Tons of artists just have tunnel vision and wont accept this. Thoughts?