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/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

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4871317 No.4871317 [Reply] [Original]

Does someone here has made any money through commissions? any tips?
I wanna get me a drawing tablet since im tired of being a tabletlet, but im too poor to afford one so I though I could sell cheap commissions on trad or something, but im scared of it being just a meme

>> No.4871327

>>4871317
I tried it, sold one, got a great tip, I think it was $50 total. Happy customer. Tried again, SFW furry, came out to $100 after tip. Customer was truly a super nice guy.

2/2 def want to do it again so far it's been fun as hell and rewarding, but I don't think I'm at the point where I'm going to make a career out of it or anything.

>> No.4871330

>>4871327
It's okay if you don't want to show your work, but I'd like to gauge what skill level is necessary for this. Also how long did each piece take?

>> No.4871333

>>4871327
Still nice pocket money, and also paid practice, sounds good to me.

>> No.4871344

>>4871330
The first was a pen and ink piece for a sticker. I did a pencil draft, got a revision request, redrew it, got the OK and did the inks over it. It was probably about a 2-3 hours of actual drawing time.

The second one was a digital piece, tight lines, fairly basic color rendering, I kept everything in layers and was able to come back with 3 color variants, line-only variant, variant with a SUPER quick photobashed background etc. with basically 10 mins of additional overhead. I think the project was about 3-4 hours.

I will admit that I'm a SOMEWHAT accomplished pen and ink artist, and I've been doing digital illustration off and on for 4 years or so. Definitely not good enough to go pro or anything like that, but not a beginner by any stretch.

>> No.4871346

>>4871344
Render unto us ye craft

>> No.4871411
File: 248 KB, 481x500, 1341884682708.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4871411

>>4871327
>treating commissions as if it were paid-practice

oh shit, i think you just opened my eyes anon
now im more inclined to making art again, as greedy as it sounds. but id be more inclined to do it if it made somebody else happy.

[spoiler] which means im going to have to make myself a social media presence in order to get the ball rolling.. [spoiler] which i dont like [spoiler] which also means I'm probably going to have to deal with cancel-culture and weirdos if it meant i want to go anywhere and will probably be stuck dealing with Twitter mobs if i want to get anywhere [spoiler] which makes me not want to draw [spoiler] fuck [/spoiler]

>> No.4871416

>>4871330
>what skill level is necessary
pretty much none if you do porn. you'd be surprised what people pay for.

>> No.4871439

>>4871411
>be me
>had to draw a Coco Bandicoot on model
>had pay a lot of attention to not get her out of model
>several hours of trial and error until it looked like her
Yep, it's great for your soul and wallet

>> No.4871447

>>4871439
Is it kind of bad that I feel like the money validates my skills, along with the attention that comes along with it? Might be because I like the idea somebody appreciates my work but I feel kind of selfish for feeling that way. I feel that me just enjoying the process of creating art should be enough but maybe I'm just lying to myself..

>> No.4871464

>>4871447
Other anon here and I m going through something similar where I can't draw anything 'for myself' when I'm not studying/copying, but if it's for someone else (like it would be for a commission) then I get all the motivation back and I'm super into drawing again

Find the /draw/ thread on /h/, there's loads of reqs there and any kind of effort is appreciated, I've been doing it sometimes and it really is rewarding, even without the pay. When you start your social media account it will also be a good place to plug it. And like you say, it's really good practice

>> No.4871487

>>4871464
But how come I can't enjoy drawing for myself anymore? Is it because I've spent too much time with myself or what? Or is it because I haven't updated my drawing abilities as much as I could? It'd be great if I had the motivation just to do my own projects and propel myself the energy to do it but I dont know why I dont have it in me.
Maybe I'm just afraid of the spotlight and what it could do to me.

>> No.4871504

>>4871487
https://dictionary.apa.org/overjustification-effect

>> No.4871506

>>4871487
I need help understanding that too anon, I think in general taking a break of a few days or even a week really helps to break you out of the routine, because you will (hopefully) feel compelled to draw something after a long break, and I think that is a major factor; knowing what you want to create.
People who commission have such a strong desire for the art they're describing and that rubs off on you, they know what they want and you want to create it. In my case, if I'm drawing for myself I tend to doodle random shit or draw something repetitive like the same headshape, same eyes...
Tldr, take a break, take in some art medium of your choice and draw what you want to create... I have no help besides that, sorry

>> No.4871512

>>4871317
Best tip is to
1. obviously git good and make sure your work is appealing (you'll know by your ratio of likes/shares:views
2. post your work at optimal times
3. have "commissions open" in your name or in your descriptions
4. while you're working your way up to getting enough attention for people to want custom work, post popular characters (make sure they are ones you actually like or else you won't put soul into it) for peak engagement
5. accept half payment up front and half after sketch, everyone will agree to this because it hurts less.

Hope that helps. This is coming from a hentai artist who's done a few commissions.

>> No.4871517

>>4871506
You know what it might possibly be?
Maybe drawing or making art is like learning to be a doctor or learning first-aid;
you need to help others on their artistic recovery and journey in order to learn the skills to help yourself. Perhaps we really just need to learn how to help others for a while in order to learn to help our creative selves.
I'll definitely consider taking your advice onboard too. Its also important to take breaks in order to give your mind the space to figure things out. Thanks anon.

>> No.4871519

>>4871512
So take 50% upfront, send sketch, apply revisions if necessary, request the other 50? I've never taken one, are people generally okay with paying fully before getting the final product?

>> No.4871525

>>4871517
Yes, maybe being so focused on what the "self" wants to create ends up feeling hollow and meaningless, maybe the balance is in doing both. Thank you too anon, we're all GMI, get started on that smut acc and get them coombucks

>> No.4871647

>tfw when too beg even for porn

>> No.4871930

>>4871519
>apply revisions if necessary
A couple of months ago I had this one dude that kept wanting major revision countless time, it drove me insane. That's why now I always ask for references as a mandatory rule

Btw the 50/50 rule is only recommended if you already built some bit of presence. Clients are usually doubtful on giving any kind of money beforehand to literal nobody. So for the first few commissions you might have to accept cash on completion

>> No.4872174

>>4871930
>kept wanting major revision countless time
the revisions were probably enough for his peanus weanus. literally free commissions

>> No.4872402

>>4871416
Where do I find people that pay for begshit?

>> No.4872414

>>4871512
what would be optimal times?

>> No.4872419

>>4872402
you need to enter the furry world anon. The good news is that required skill scales inversely with depravity. You might need to brush up on your diaper-drawing skills if you're just getting started, so be warned.

>> No.4872460

I make a fulltime living drawing nsfw, and I live in the center of a major western capital. Superhigh cost of living.

>start getting comms early = paid practice
I started improving crazy fast once I started out as I was churning out commission after commission, at a rate of around 1.5 a day back then. Started at around $60 per piece. That was in 2015.

I now charge around $250 on average for a piece and get by comfortably not working anywhere near 40h / week.

>> No.4873315 [DELETED] 

>>4872460
But what about time spent per picture? What kind of quality do you do? Do you do lineart or fully rendered pics? If rendered do you do cellshading or smooth shading? Do you do bgs etc, and how much does this affect your workload/price? I can charge decently high but I take far too long to complete them

>> No.4873584

>>4872460
Where do you go to get nsfw commissions when you are still new and have little to no followers?

>> No.4873634

did two paintings of a woman's kids for $265 this week. Idk I don't get many commissions

>> No.4873641

>>4873315

I spend 2-4 hours on a piece, depending on complexity. Usually I can finish 2-3 pieces per day in a normal-workday timeframe. I always do fully rendered with smooth shading and fancy lighting and always do a background, usually not a complex one.

>>4873584

post your commission info sheet in the commissions thread in /aco/, and other than that just post constantly. If you don't get commissions do art you like and just post it on hentaifoundry, fur affinity, twitter, wherever and say it was a commission for anon or something like that. That's what worked for me in the beginning.

>> No.4873646

>>4871317
Yes and I hate it 90% of the time, I vastly prefer gaining income through other means: Patreon, Gumroad, etc..

>> No.4873651

>>4873641
thanks a lot anon! will check the thread then.

>> No.4873684

Can someone post an example pic of what skill level you need to be before you ask for commissions for nsfw art? I’m kinda new on social media and only had one person ask if I was open for commissions before. When I posted my art in a commission thread I was told my art was not good enough to take commissions yet. So I’m just curious I suppose on how much I need to improve before I can take commissions.

>> No.4873714 [DELETED] 

>>4873641
You can manage 3 of them in one day? How on earth do you not get burnt out? If you're able to do 3 of them in a day they must not be as advanced as what I have in mind

>> No.4873895
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4873895

>>4873714

I don't know what you have in mind. This is one of my latest commissions that I'm very happy with how it turned out. Took 2-3 hours.

The thing is you not only need to be able to produce high quality stuff but you need to be able to churn it out via a repeatable, dependable process that does not waste any time and is very step-by-step. You just go through the motions and optimise your workflow until you're half machine. This isn't something you do if you enjoy the process of painting/drawing desu. I think that's best left for personal art.

>> No.4873998

>>4871512
I hate your kind but your tips stay really helpful.

>> No.4874185

>>4873634
Please don't tell me it was an oil painting unless it was small.

>> No.4874190

>>4871317
I haven't done any commissions in a really long time. I know that i have to open them up another year, but I'm not really looking forward to it.

>> No.4874254

If you're doing commissions, why don't you have a patreon too?
If you're on patreon do you still accept commissions?

>> No.4876313

>>4873895
how much for this one?

>> No.4876373

>>4876313
I’m curious about this as well.

>> No.4876962

testrt

>> No.4877395

>>4876313

$275

>> No.4877409

>>4877395
Thats quite cheap for the ammount of detail...

>> No.4877513

>>4877409

It is? Well then I guess I'm just not that popular.

>> No.4877534

>>4877513
Yep, I have seen retards who are worse than you charging 300+, but still not bad if you are thurdwordler, with thoose 275 I can eat and pay bills for a month, and have a little to blow on silly shit/save.

>> No.4877545

>tell price 20$ lower that I actually want
>no further messages

>> No.4877557

>>4877545
They were just window shopping, has happened to me many many times, dont feel bad.

>> No.4877784

>>4873895
How did you do the background? Is it a photo just blurred? You state it took you 2-3 hours to do this piece total, correct? Also what’s your blog?

>> No.4877926

>>4873895
Holy shit, i cant believe it took you only 3 hours, it would take me a couple of days only to draw the lineart and charge for fully renderd piece like 20 bucks, maybe i just autistically grind every detail to be perfect, i feel like a dumb piece of shit

>> No.4877944

i made the mistake of starting to sell traditional paintings, no one buys digital commissions anymore unless it's nsfw/fetish art (i don't mind) now what am i supposed to do with this new ipad pro but drum up hype for acrylic pieces!!!

>> No.4877946

>>4877926
Yes, you are retarded

>> No.4877989

>>4871327
Never got a tip, how do you even push for that?

>> No.4878330
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4878330

should I ever lower the price so that the guy buys at all?
I have nothing else to do and 30$ instead of 40$ is not that big of a deal..
i dont know im just a neet living with parents i want money for video games

>> No.4878342

>>4878330
Don't lower the price to the point where it isn't worth your time. There are lots of cheap shits and they can go waste somebody else's time.

>> No.4878346

Remember to always charge in euros, you'll win a good extra chunk each commission

>> No.4878371

>>4878346
I was considering doing this, and it would net me more money but most of my clients are burgers so theyll have to pay more

>> No.4878374

>>4878371
They pay anyways, trust me.

>> No.4878436

>>4877989
add the "leave a tip" option in paypal invoices. people will still tip on $200+ commissions

>> No.4878441

>>4878436
This is also true, once I got 50 USD just on one tip, and I think I have make around 300 USD overall, wish I knew that sooner

>> No.4878471
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4878471

>>4871317
I started making money off my comissions in july, Only about 300 bucks since then but thats my own fault for being both lazy and bad. The trick for me was to just post a lot and remind people with every post that Im available for comissions and a bit of posting to /aco/. I even got hit up by the wonderbread guy but I refused. Pic related is my work so its proof you dont actually need to be good.

>> No.4878476

>>4878471
Past the contact of the breadguy, pls I need money

>> No.4878478

>>4878471
>got hit up by the wonderbread guy
Based.

>> No.4878874

>>4877395
How long did it take you to do this?