Making a pricing guide is absoloutely a good way to go. The hard problem is pricing it well. Too high no commissions too low and your swamped with work but, then you run into Overstreet. The key is balance for that.

I mean if one takes in the average time I spend on sketching, making edits, inks, cleanup.. and then the price that goes through it, I think I average out about $10-12/hr on a GOOD note. And the last couple of times I told someone new the price, the blow back I got for it was pretty devastating. One they tried to get me to do less then half what I was suggesting, AND wanted me to color it. Which I don't even do. I've been doing this lil freelance gig since the 90s, and the only time someone has refused my prices, it happened 2 or 3 times, all last year.

That really makes ya really question 'am I doing a good enough job?', 'is the competition so strong that I'm just not worth the same thing anymore?', stuff like that.

And that's not to ask for a pity party or anything, and yeah we're in a "PoSt CoViD ErA" (God I hate that phrase) but between that and the ineffectual knobs running the globe people seem to be having a bit of hard time putting food on the table. I understand that what I do is a luxury, but then I have to evaluate if it's even worth my time to continue. Bleh. I dunno. Maybe this head-cold is making me scramble where normally I would just shrug it off. U_U

Welp if you need help or assistance with it hit me up on telegram. When I wake up or I'm able to respond I will. Hopefully it is just a passing season and things improve for you.

I'm hoping; but all of 2023 was pretty dire for jobs rolling in. Guess it kinda hit like a truck though when the actual numbers were tallied :c It's been a really emotional roller coaster of a week though. Thank you though, I do appreciate it ^_^ If there's anything you think that might help draw in more business, please feel free to lemme know. And if you got ideas, send em my way too :)

Unfortunately I don't have any good advice in that regard. :( Other than, try something different and see if it works.

Gonna have to. It keeps dropping by nearly 50%; at this rate in a few years it won't be worth it, it feels like. I don't think I could quit, but not sure I could even call it a side gig anymore at that rate.

A price guide is an absolute must for commissions.
The amount of people that will be interested in your work and unable to find that information, that won’t reach out is unreal.
A price guide gives them the vague idea of what they’re expected to pay without any awkwardness if you’re not in their budget.

It's just so strange. I've been doing this for quarter of a century without one and never had a problem. Then suddenly, last year, it's a problem. Often..?

Like wtf changed? Either the market did, or I did without realizing it, gotta be one or the other. My style? Have I floundered and gotten lazy or too casual where the audience (for lack of a better term) is disinterested in what I have to offer? Have I "Lost the Spark", so to say? u_u

My theory on that is an overabundance of available artists compared to how it was. I think with COVID more people being home meant more people doing the art thing.

The other thing is more people these days are focused on social media and kinda snubbing gallery sites. Dopamine rush of "likes" I think is the reason why they go trough algorithm hell.

In lieu of the price guide I mentioned I still believe a dedicated art account on social media will play an important role in attracting clients.

I got one on BlueSky, but doesn't seem to have much traction. Thinking about a Twitter one. What do you think would be a decent one?

BlueSky we're still waiting to see how that pans out but there isn't much of an algorithm there that fights you like it tends to on Twitter. Fortunately you can manage multiple accounts from the Twitter app itself or even on a browser. Just post all your shit on both. Kinda wanna use those accounts to focus on the artwork, not so much the politics though. Business accounts if you will. Sadly a big part of marketing today involves social media with a strong art gallery presence as well because those sites are trash for an art gallery especially when the algorithm works against you thus why the problem exists of artists who all but abandoned their art galleries for Twitter have been in panic mode over the new changes.

Hey, just going on what I've observed of people's behaviour in terms of art.
Make that shit easy for people to find. The easier you make it for potential customers, the less likely they'll take the exit route.

The market is always changing, that's the bugger. Are you keeping up with trends or trying to target people who are already here/into similar stuff you're into? Like, you've got a lot of Star Wars related stuff in your gallery amongst the porn. Are there any other nerdy markets you can tap into?
How often do you go out of your gallery/page to network with other artists?
(Just trying to get a thought on where you're at, you know?)

If you're ever on Discord, would love to chat, and maybe try to help you figure it all out, would hate to see you stop.

Oh it's all good :3 I hope that didn't come off as rude or anything; I wasn't in a good mood but wasn't trying to be snarky or overly negative or anything :(

To be honest, I don't really get outside of my wheel-house because I haven't had a need to. I'm always looking for new topics to do.. but no one seems to be wanting them enough when they come to me, so I don't really dump the time or energy into things that might just be a waste of said time to cater to an audience that isn't even within the overlapping Venn diagram, ya know? I used to mingle more, but having several kids and a full time job as made communicating with other people hard with a lack of time, unfortunately :(

Plus, with how reactive and vitriolic many fandoms have become over the sudden politicization of damn-near EVERYTHING, I've had an almost NEGATIVE desire to interact with other humanoids. RL friends biting my head off for not toeing their preferred ideological line has put me psychologically into the Porcupine's Dilemma.

I had to delete Discord after one of their ToS updates that I thought was a breach of privacy and an over-reach of their power as a simple communications program, but I do have Twitter and Telegram. 'Would love to talk to you more often, too :)

numbers are ruthless, can confirm. wish i could help out :/ *hugs*

It's all good dude; I still got things to catch up for you :) *hugs*

aww