Cheaper stuff can help , like more basic sketch and what not, make people with less money able to afford and then maybe they will even be tempted to spurge a lil more the next time while you get a lil income for less work yourself. The economie is in the gutter and people struggling on every front so...sadly thing like art qich aint life essential are the expense we cut into the most...

I see ok I can offer that then!! Thank you so much for your advice I really appreciate it.

Smaller/simpler pieces that you can bang out faster (and thus charge less money for) might help drum up business.

ok I will try that!! Thank you so much!

Some cheaper pieces that take less time to do may help. Maybe some single-subject pinups or 'speedpaint' type things? Maybe something less clean lined and/or flat shaded or some combo of all of those things. Just some ideas.

My guess as someone currently in america is that the dry spell is at least in some part related to holidays coming up so american watchers will probably be spending their free budget on travel or fireworks etc. I'd bet people will pick up again towards either end of the year as people's budgets do their thing. My anecdote is I've just got a huge backlog of people I want to comm and only so much time and money to do it.

You're a fantastic artist and I'd hate to see anyone get discouraged. I doubt its really a quality or substance issue because you do draw very well. I also understand talk is cheap, but I do hope you stick this dry spell out and that it starts turning around for the better soon.

aww thank you so much for your kind words ;; It sure is about that time so it does make sense. I will try some cheaper stuff!!

Other people have mentioned cheaper commissions and stuff as a suggestion and that can be something to at least try!

On a personal level, I've wanted to comm you forever but something else always comes up before I can save that kinda $$ too, so maybe a payment plan option? But be careful with those so no one takes advantage of you!

And one day I will comm you when life stops being mean <3

Aw thank you so much that really warms my heart ;; I completely understand like I myself never really have the extra money so I completely get it. I hope life stops being so mean sometime soon!!!!!! You don't deserve it.

This last month? Well, the biggest thing that's happened on FA in the last month is their Announcement and enactment (as of july 1) of their 2.7 update: https://www.furaffinity.net/journals/fender

Could a bit be why, because A lot of people are frantically rummbling around other art sites the last month, testing out new sites n such spending time there. Specially feral, Feral-anthro, pokemon, digimon, and small species folks.

Perhaps if you are struggling bunches temporarily having some lower prices to catch who ya can. I agree with Nicoya that Smaller simpler peaces so that they can be quicker and also not be too much extra work without having to lower your prices of your regular works.

Oh I see I didnt know of this but I will try cheaper stuff then! Thank you!

I hate to say it but... yeah cheaper stuff until you build up a bigger enough audience anyway
speaking of I still plan get that one thing this weekend once I get my first full 2 week paycehck

aw thank you so much luna ok! Just let me know when.

Have you ever considered doing a PWYW stream with a set minimum? I did a handful of those when I was in need of grocery money years ago, and a lot of people are willing to kind of pay what they can afford and get some art with quality matching the pay. I would primarily do it for either chibi or sketch commissions since the detail in those is less and a little faster to complete.

Or you could also try doing a fixed number of discounted commission slots (Like, 5 sketch commissions for 20% off as an example). Sometimes a sale can entice some customers, and that can at least hold you over for the time being.

i've never tried that but I think that would be cool to try! I never really had set slots because I always need more but...it might not help I'm always open for commissions

The set slots are more like, "The first 5 people to commission this get the sale" kind of situation, if you wanted to handle it that way! Like a limited time offer deal!

I think what others say here is right. Best to try and focus on cheaper pieces. Even I've cut a lot of my art budget out because things are tight so I imagine it is the same for a lot of people.

This is one of those really shitty parts of the year money wise for quite a lot of professions. At least in my experience most of my art friends struggle around now especially. I for example want art from you, i think about it pretty often. But budget wise right now it would take me 2-6 months to save up the extra money to afford a piece from someone with your price range. And at that point there are just other things that end up being more important to spend it on. You do great work, and people like you. So don't think you're doing anything wrong per say. But you might need to change some things as times change.
Lots of high profile artists offer low price sketch commissions, or patreon programs, etc, to fill in the gaps between big orders. You might have to look into some of that.

i see that makes sense! do you know what people usually charge for sketch commissions?

I don't have a ton of experience to give you very strong prices. But the ones i've purchased in the past have been 30dolallars and 50 dollars.
These were uncolored, little to no shading pieces. I could show you some if you want an example.

yeah if you could! But even just an estimate of the price range is really good as well.