/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>>2550307
Also one more thing I rememberd. Every day, before I start drawing I write out a list of things I need to do. Every day is all about getting every position on that list marked out.

I think it helps having clear goals every day.

I aim to do 8h a day, 6 days a week. I fall short most days but I still manage around 7h average. Right now I am trying to get myself to that solid 8h average.

It wasn't always the case. I used to have a huge problem with working consistently. Being able to draw day in day out is something I needed to work towards. One thing that helped is keeping close track of how much I drew every day and always pushing myself a little bit further. You're not gonna be able to just start drawing 40h a week out of nowhere. But you might add a couple of hours every week untill you are where you want to be.

Keeping detailed stats for each day is good to. For example this is today:

10:55 to 13:35 2:40
14:10 to 15:55 4:25
17:00 to 19:00 6:25
20:05 to 21:40 8:00

The act of writting down how much I worked throughout the day somehow gives me a feeling of accomplishment. If I managed to do 2h of something hard, writting it down feels like a reward.

Having things to actually work on also helped since art is my only source of income. I don't think I could just do studies and purely fun projects this consistently. For the last year I always took a bit more work than I could handle. Since I am lazy by nature I have to rely on outside structures for discipline.

Also switching things up helps. If after 3 hours of inking I feel sick of drawing I might work on some other project. Do some coloring, or sketching. Today I started inking after I could not handle sketching anymore.

>>2509294
I was writing specificly about artists that are trying to make money on the internet. Meaning through patreon, doing commissions or other ways of getting your money directly from your fanbase. I have no idea how being hired by a studio works. Never did that.

And of course it's best to focus on both artistic and entrepreneurial skills at the same time. Never suggested otherwise. An artist that can do both of these well will obviously go far.

I should have been more clear that I was talking about a very specific situation.

>>2509281
>In the context of making money on the internet

Damn it

Just being a good artist is not enough to make money. You have to be an entrepreneur too.

In the context of making on the internet money artistic skill is just a tool you use to create product that people might want to pay money for.

A lot of people on /IC/ are 'muh loomis' autistic types who focus only on the artistic skill and react with bewilderment when they are not showered with money and opportunities for it. A medicore artist that is a good entrepreneur will always make a lot more money than a good one that is shit at marketing himself.

Also, having the spark helps a lot but it's not necessary. You can make up for it with hard work.

>>1976340
I don't draw no ponies man.

>>1951449
Oh yeah, and there's also this thing, which I only found out about after I bought a fucking year of hosting.

http://simplewebcomictheme.tumblr.com/

It's a template for tumblr that works like a webcomic. I don't know how good it actually is, but it looks like a good place to start your webcomic if you don't want to run an actual website. Which is a pain in the ass.

>>1951450
Yes. Your mum.

>>1951434
It's all financed through patreon. And the site is built on wordpress and the comic easel plugin. I know nothing about building web sites, and I managed to rustle one up somehow. It's really easy if you follow tutorials.

>>1951438
T-thank you Aoki san.

>>1951258
>Day job

I make 3k$ a month drawing porn. That's my day job.

>>1950590

>could you tell me how much is too much money a month to go legal ?

Hard to say. It all depends on how brave you are I suppose. And if you want to do this long term.

>>1950592
If you are off the grid, it's very unlikely that you get caught. But it could happen if you are unlucky. If you make a lot it might mean fuckhuge fines.

>>1950595
To be fair, he's been doing his patreon since july. I only really started pushing it since late november. Before that it was just my shitty halfling comic, that I didn't advertise anywhere.

And I am doing my own characters and stories. Which means a lot to me.

>>1950601
I am kind of sick of the blue cunted aliens. They are too hard to draw. I don't know what I was thinking, giving them those retarded horns.

>>1950581
I did that for like 5 years :D. But then I started making too much money, got spooked, and went totally legal.

Technically you should start your own company and declare the income you get from commissions. But there is virtually no way that our IRS would catch you not doing that, so you should be good if you are not making too much money.

Only way they would catch you is if somebody told on you, and IRS got a warrant to check your bank account. Then you would have to explain how you got all that money without being employed. It wouldn't be worth their time to do all that for somebody who makes a couple of bucks a month.

Patreon is a bit harder, because it requires you to have a tax ID to fill out that WBEN-8 form. Trying to dodge taxes, while doing patreon might be trickier. Not sure how to go about that.

>>1950580
Dunno. Never did that.

>>1950577
Yeah you need either a fanbase, or to be really amazing in order to get real money off patreon. You could always do shitty commissions untill you get big enough. It takes time tho.

>>1950573
In poland, you just go to our equivalent of IRS and fill out a form. You have to have one to be employed, even part time. Dunno how it works anywhere else

>>1950455
Man I wrote a rong reply to this but chrome crashed and I lost it.

Short version: My accountant told me to just fill out the 1st and 3rd page of the WBEN-8 and ignore the 2nd one. If you don't know what the 2nd page is about, then it doesn't apply to you, most likely.

You have to have a tax ID number tho. Which means by filling it out you get on the grid.

You can ignore the WBEN-8 and still make money for a while. I ignored it all through november and december, and only filled it out when it blocked me from paying out my money in january. So you could, maybe, ignore it for the next 12 months if you don't want to get involved in all that silly tax nonsense.

>>1926085
Patreon had the "no porn" rule for a while now. The new ToS didn't change anything. Porn patreons are doing fine. I expect that eventually there will be a crackdown on porn, but for now we're good.

>>1906067
These things take time. Only way to get popular in two weeks is to have a godly amount of skill. And you don't have that.

There is not a lot of tricks you can do to get more popular. People are not gonna suddenly start liking your drawings because you are a swell guy. It certanly helps, but that's only a bonus.

You get popular by providing content that people want to come back for. When I fav an artist on HF or on Tumblr, I do it because I don't want to miss the next update. Not because I like him or her as a person.

In the end it comes down to providing content that is either good or frequent. Preferably both.

>>1906095

You don't have to be your customers friend. If you want to make money off your fanbase, a certain level of involvement with them is required but it can be minimal. You don't really have to talk to your fans if you don't want to.

If somebody asks about something important, answer them, if they want to be your friend ignore them, or decline politely.

If you are basically polite and proffesional, even if you are a loner, people will consider you a good guy.

Your work, if it's good enough, will speak for itself.

>>1906100
>>I mean, there are numerous ppl doing it, but the average skill is really low.

Average skill level seems to be raising lately. The scene is slowly maturing. New, good artists see that it's a valid way of making money, and capitalise on that. And old ones are getting better every day.
TL;DR:

You want to get popular? Git gud, draw a lot, and don't be a cunt.

>>1784419
Yes it does. Being willing to draw things that people are likely to commissin helps obviously. But I think what I wrote still applies.

>>1783706
I usualy work with a big queue. I take on 10-20 commissions at one time and work through them over a couple of months. After I take a commisison I send the client a step by step of how I work, and an estimate of how long it will take me to get to his slot.

Here's the step by step:

1.We talk about the details of the picture. You send me the reference pics you have etc.
2. draw a couple of rough sketches to figure out the pose and angle
3. Based on the rough of your choosing I draw a bigger, detailed sketch
4. At this point I get paid.
5. I take around a week to finish the picture

I allow the clients to request big changes during step 2 and minor changes in step 3. When step 4 comes I send them my paypal e-mail, and start work on the inks/painting when I get the money on my paypal. When the picture is finished, I sent the low res to them. I add the high resolution if they ask. After they see the pic I upload it errywhere to promote myself. I feel they should be the first ones to see it.

>>1783715
That's pretty tame. I am talking full on dicks in assholes, werid fetishes etc. . But a nice find anyway.

>>1783667
Not being aggressive. I just realised you are arguing about your theories, not actual experiences.

>>1783681
That's a good question. All I ever heard are opinions like >>1783667

I know of 3 people who's real lives are linked to their porn.

>Dmitrys

Draws ridiculous futas. I heard his day job is doing art work for some vanilla thing. Can't confirm that unfortunately

>Joel Jurion

Draws shota, looks like he still has work in comics.

>Carl

A lesser known artist who draws guro. He's actually a polish guy that despite being outed as a guro guy still has work in marketing, , graphic design and comics.

Not to mention all of the japansese aritsts who started out in hentai and moved on to manga and anime.

Is there a documented real story about a guy who was blacklisted because he drew porn? Never really heard of it.

>>1783656
It's all very vague. The laws are worded very poorly.

>Can't draw minors
But you can fuck them. Age of consent is 15 here. I could fuck a 15 year old, but I could not draw myself fucking her.

>Can't draw porn that is linked to the representation of violence or use of an animal

Whatever that means.

The whole porn section in polish law is a clusterfuck. You can't even be sure if it all applies to drawings or not. It all depends on the interpretation of the prosecutor, and that's not something I want to depend on. So since neither bestiality, loli/shota, or rape is really my thing I stay away from it.

>>1783633
Well then it sucks to be you. You should explain where you live before scaring everybody with your tales of social stigma.

Also it seems like you are talking out of your ass. There is a lot of "would" or "could" in your statements. I am not saying I know everything about the subject, but at least I have 5 years of experience being the porn guy.

>>1783584
thank you :*

>>1783585
I think with the internet becoming big in the last couple of years people's attitudes towards porn are shifting. It's slow, but I think it's getting more acceptable. Yeah you might loose opportunities, but I don't think it's a complete blacklist if you draw a tit... I base this opinion on absolutely nothing. I really have no idea how real world works.

As for my social life, lately I've been a hermit, but not because of porn. Everybody I know, including my fucking grandparents know I draw porn. My mom brags about it to her friends at work. She downplays the porn part, but still. I never hid what I do, and I never ever had a bad reaction. On the contrary, I had a couple of people sit me down and actually say that they have a huge amount of respect for me for chasing my dream like that. They might have reacted differently when they saw all of the weird shit I draw, but I don't think it would be very different.

I've gone out with two girls since I started drawing porn and both dumped me for unrelated reasons. Neither saw the gallery tho.

I am open about some of the themes that I deal with. Not with my family, but my friends know I draw dickgirls, and I am slowly starting to admit the gay shit. I get some teasing, but so what. Reminding them that I make three times what they do, doing what I love usually shuts them down fast.

Admittedly only one person that I know in real life ever found my gallery. I keep a tight lid on this shit. A girl I know ( a gamer girl and also an artist) found it and she really didn't say much about it. She didn't shun me or anything like that, just made a couple of jokes and complimented my style. That's it. I could tell she was a bit uncomfortable, but she dealt with it . I was never really big friends with her tho.

Media likes to play up the outrage but regular people don't really care about that stuff. It might be different for where you live, but here nobody gives a real shit.

>>1783547
Right now I make around 2 - 2.5k $ a month. Which is waaaaaay above average for where I live. And I am pretty sure I can get it up to 3k with some effort.

>>1783549
Nobody that matters.

>>1783554
I thought we were talking employment opportunities. Yeah in real life nobody wants to talk to a guy that draws shota, that's for sure. But he still get's work so it must not be that big of a deal for him. As long as you don't draw something really awfull I think people would be understanding. You might get teased but so what.

>>1783560
Yeah you can alway say that it's just a job. People understand money.

>>1783561
I never let my clients write anything even hinting that it's porn in the transaction details. Also I don't use my work e-mail as my paypal e-mail. You can't just report me. A client only learns my paypal e-mail when he is supposed to send me money. And since I treat my clients well there is really no reason for them to backstab me like that. Also if somebody bought porn from me, and then reported me, he would also get in trouble.

I used to be really afraid of paypal banning me, but if it hasn't happened after 5 years, I don't think it will happen. And now I have enough options, other than paypal that I am not worried. I can go full paysite, I can take western union, or bank transfers or whatever paypal alternative there is. It would be a pain in the ass, but I think I could keep my income at the same level even without paypal.

>>1783550
Drawing comics for money was always my dream, and I started drawing because I wanted to draw pretty girls. What I am doing right now is pretty much living the dream for me. I am not gonna throw that away because some people might not like it. Do you really want to live your life like that?

If you are doing porn as a cynical cash grab, then yeah it's a risk. But for me it's more, so being exposed as a perverted weirdo to everybody I know is a price I am willing to pay if it comes to that. I can deal with that.

>>1783546
Joel Jurion draws little boys getting fucked in the ass as JJfrenchie and nobody cares.