It might be because commissions are so open-ended.

Sometimes I'll get some bites on an YCH from people who would never buy a full comm.

Thank you for replying!!!

Life isnt kind to anyone right now as Everyone try to scrap $$ to get by day to day even Rent/bills and foods. :<

Thank you for replying!!! Hope this year is so much better than the last for you!

you are welcome but don't doubting your own prices and other things. but I can believe that 2025 may bring a good. Just doing what you able to offer and keep reach out to people see them. maybe add tags on submission as they can find what they look for. it's vary on people with their income could afford one or few arts on once monthly.

first month of year always rough on all of us.

Personally, I think your prices are absolutely worth it. Especially for the quality work you always provide! But in my area, the price of living has skyrocketed over the last few months and even with the sales, it has been hard to make room in the budget for artwork. I imagine it is similar for many out there right now.

Thank you for the feedback ! It's been...a tough 18 months for me, and I've begun to doubt certain things, so I appreciate your sharing!

I've noticed a HUGE dip in sales and inquiries in general this whole year...I think everyone is cutting back on 'luxury' type purchases such as art. :"(

Thank you for replying!!! Hope things look better for us all soon!...super soon!

I wish I could help you.

Which I know is useless to say. But I felt I should reply so that you'd know you were heard, if nothing else.

Sorry.

Thank you for the consideration! Yeah, it feels like I be posting into a void all alone most of the time. So I really do appreciate you replying!

I think a big part of it is that with economic factors being what they are, the last year has been rough for sales for most people.

Thank you for replying!!!

2024 was an absolutely shitty year for many folks, myself included. Most are still trying to recover and the outlook for things get better is looking dim. I used to commission tons and tons of art, but that dropped to almost nothing last year.

Your prices are extremely fair, its just that life is not at the moment.

Thank you for replying!!!

Adoptions are a small area for selling
Not many people collect OCs
Most of the flurries stick to 1-2 characters and prefer to get art of their own characters.

Thank you for replying?
Your last words have me a bit concerned you don't think I offer things for client oc: so I hope you don't mind me mentioning: half or more of my sketch offers should clearly show client ocs are welcome. Or were you just speaking generally? I assume it may be the latter but, never know these days :)

My post was only about the adopt a character part.

I know that you offer other services in which you also drawing other people characters.

In regards to that topic.
Other here mentioned before that economy is tight for most of the people. Art is a luxury. So, if someone is struggling with their own budget they will most likely not get a lot of different art or any art at all.

The market is a hard competition with other artist. Advertising or self promotion is worth a lot to draw attention to your service.
Accessibility is another important topic. Some of your price sheets look like an awesome art portfolio for application to a company.
But the important parts are not so obvious stated like the price. In my opinion I would recommend to simplify the sheet a bit - take a look to other people commission price sheets.

Thank you for replying again! And I JUST now saw that "?" at my first sentence: COMPLETE mistake! So sorry! I try to check before i hit send, but I swear I didn't see it there (I replied through my phone, which likes to....be "helpful" but putting text I don't mean).

Again, thank you for confirming you know I offer things for folks oc.

Unfortunately, now im confused again: i have no "price sheet" per se. I have http://fydbac.com/skethform and http://fydbac.com/sketch (the latter is mainly still up just for those with discount codes). which I mention everywhere. Sounds like you never seen them before, though they are linked everywhere, so just making sure: you really never seen them? Or are the price still not obvious on those?

And concerning self promotion: it's disheartening that you think i DON'T do that. Here are some of my tactics (mostly tattoo aimed, but i still apply most to my other art services as well): https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAUg.....RlODBiNWFlZA==
15 years of this and I do all the tactics, peers and clients have said I do more than most. I actually cut back on my marketing because folks have said they felt turned off by my promotions, or overwhelmed by them. Either im doing too much, too little, or the balance is never right.

Please let me know if you really never seen any of that. That'll be VERY troubling. I'm afraid it's really frustrating when folks seemingly want to help, yet seemingly have taken not even a second to see my efforts, my setup thus far, or even see my efforts and still assume I never tried ads, self promotion/ etc.. (not saying that's you, but...it has happened before).

Again, thank you fro your time.

I don't think its an issue of product or prices, its the economy, sales have been going down steadily for basically all commission artists I know of since covid. people are just in a rough spot finances wise and likely will be for a while longer. Price fairly for your work and just to survive off the few orders you can get rn is kinda just the state rn, its how im barely managing to scrape by personally.
I wish you luck

Thank you for taking the time! Hoping the best for you as well!

I don't know enough about the state of commissions and art sales to say much, beyond my own experience. I am bound to a very limited income that is upset by the smallest sudden expense. I may have enough for one commission a month now, unlike when I was working. I can only assume part of the difficulty is for similar reasons on other people's accounts lately.

I have never had difficulty with your forms or commission process though. I don't think your prices are too high either. I think some of it may be that a lot of artists are having a tough time right now, and there are more sales and commissions/adopts available then commissioners really have funds or resources for.

Like most people said, 2024 has been abysmal, getting commissions is one of my favorite things to do and I am beyond frustrated I was unable to get almost anything last year - what I got were shared pieces.

That being said, I went to your commission tab and followed the link to your page (some people don't like leaving FA to check on comm prices and rules). Your page is beautiful, but it looks more like a portfolio to attract companies to hire you with examples of your art, rather than a list of what you do and for how much. I was looking for a simple 'commissions' tab, and eventually decided to try out 'Illustrations', even though it's described as 'comic covers, sketches, ref sheets', etc. Then I was confused by the lack of prices and realised you can see them only once you go to full gallery and even then I think they should be enlarged, bolded and a different colour than the rest maybe, I didn't notice them outright. Prices themselves are not informative - sketch starts at $60 and pro starts at $60, but there are no examples of what kind of money gets you what kind of art. Also, the 1hr sketches - is it $60/hr, where you can pay multiple x$60 depending on how many hours you draw, or are these sketches one hour flat and no more? Lastly, when I clicked 'order', I got a 404 error.

Sorry about all the nitpicking, but I'm really trying to point out everything that would be a problem for me as a commissioner. I do love your art style, I think it's hella unique!

This ☝️

I'm not positive if the website is the problem, but it seems pretty convoluted and script-y/ai-i/code-generator-i. It's also laggy on slower machines, especially if you turn off GPU acceleration in the browser.
What I want to say is, it's very neatly designed, but maybe having too much functionality. Navigating through it doesn't feel like a good experience to me.

Thank you for sharing.
I genuinely don't know how to make it even more simplified. Its...admittedly incredibly frustrating to hear such feedback. Thankfully, most don't have trouble. And for commissioning, navigation isn't even necessary as the commission order page is linked in every single post. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for replying! And especially for letting me know of the outdated links on the galleries!


Concerning people not wanting to leave FA for "rules" and commissioning...It's unfortunate those are not my target audience. I realized years ago that I can't appease everyone, so I only hope that is not a majority of people. :)

Your remaining mentions are...incredibly alarming. My sketch service order pages are http://fydbac.com/sketchform and http://fydbac.com/sketch , which i link under EVERY post, promo, etc.. AND on the site, same tab bar of the "galleries",there is a "commission" tab. You really didn't see those? Please let me know.

Not nitpicky, I really appreciate your time! Actually wish you were even more picky, then maybe you would have seen the sketch ordering pages mentioned XD

I'm glad I could help!

Also, no, in your profile tabs, the 'Commissions' tab first line links to fydbac.com, not fydbac.com/sketch or sketchform. Check it out, because it may need to updated to a new link.

Thank you so much for checking! Okay, just checked, and this is beyond weird: so let me make sure we are talking of the same thing:

Either phone or desktop: going to "commissions", the first tap is actually the tip jar, and then it shows, "sketch form", and "sketch store", all links working. And when just clicking "commissions, just the tab drops down. But you are saying...the first line...the "tip jar"?

Please let me know! I appreciate your time in solving this mystery, even if it turns out to be a misunderstanding. To show my appreciation, ill add a few loyalty credit (you can use towards saving on a store commission), if you make a profile on fydbac.com (if you already have a profile, be sure your username is in the info and I'll search for ya!).

We may have misunderstood each other a little :P

Here on FA, when I go to your profile there are 6 tabs: Home, Gallery, Scraps, Faves, Journals, Commissions. When I go to commissions, the link is just fydbac.com, which directs to the page I previously described. I'm using a phone now, can check on PC later.

And aww, thank you, I'd love to grab a sketch from you one day!

Oh! You were talking of fa? No no, I thought we were on the same page of fydbac.com . Because that's what I linked before as where folks place orders, fydbac.com/sketchform and the other. So I thought you were saying that the fydbac.com menu bar "commission" tab was being weird.
Then yes, the commission tab on fa SHOULD lead to the site: where if someone would just look at the menu there, they'd see the commission pages.

If someone thinks it's too much trouble to make one or two clicks to my commission page, even tho it's one click faster to just go to the direct links in the art posts, then I'm afraid they are not my target audience.

Thank you so much for your time! Mystery solved :) yeah, just make a profile, make sure your username is mentioned, and I'll be sure to add those extra loyalty credit so you can save.

Like others have said above with available cash, I've cut my comms down to one a month now where previously it was 4-5. The project I am currently working on, I'm trying to keep the art consistent but once I am done, I will be looking out for new arts. You're on my list of artists to comm, but yeah, restricted cash has delayed things :/

Everything is kinda fucked right now, economically, and there are signs that it'll get worse. So I think a lot of people are holding on to their money that they would normally set aside for 'I can have nice things' just to get more basics and survival capacity.

That's my guess at least.

At least for me it's because I am broke as shit. Christmas wasn't all that long ago and my free funds are pretty non-existent.

I don't do auctions, and money is insanely tight, at least in the US.

I have to agree with a lot of folk out there. The fandom is FLUSH with great artists, so there's no shortage of folks that want to work. The problem is us commissioners, and being broke. Money is so thin, necessities are being prioritized over luxuries. Unfortunately art is a luxury for me. Blerf. I see a lot of artists who are having problems at times with getting work.

I think your pricing is fine, the economy is just kicking everyone's a** right now, I work as a receptionist at a tattoo shop and even some of our guys who are usually booked for months have only had a sprinkle of appointments the last year. Its gotten to the point some of our artist have drastically lowered their pricing to draw ppl in. There has also been a big drop in apprentices due to how hard its been and ppl need to find another job. Hopefully with tax season coming up the art industry can get some money flow coming back in. So don't lose faith!

Yeah, with tattooing as one of my fields as well, I'm definitely seeing and feeling all you mentioned on all sides.
The low apprentices is understandable, but it's funny you're the only one i've seen mention it, and instead, I've been seeing too many (on threads) saying, "i want to tattoo, how do I start", kinda posts. And in my head im like, "really?" XD

Thank you for replying!

You have done a lot to make your commissions easy to set up, the form makes it super easy! Your prices are also completely fair for an artist of your skill <3

Personally? I am just waiting to save up enough to get another piece from you. January are generally is generally a slow business month for me and still recovering from the holiday cash crunch. I think a lot of people are in the same boat.

That said offering YCHs like another reply suggested may get you some business, sometimes people just don't know what to order or what you are cool with drawing until you post it! Also offering busts or half bodies at a lower price point might get you a little traffic (I know its at least worked for me before). I hope things pick up for you soon, its not easy being an artist and I know you are always going above and beyond to be a great one!

Thank you so much again for your input! And ESPECIALLY for your support! I'm about to experiment with something, and it may work okay with the busts. I realized im so busy trying to find an enticing offer, I forget about some of the basics, like busts and specifically half bodies. I may give it a try, thank you for the reminder!

Glad I could help! Sometimes little things are easier to sell. Hope you get some bites!

A lot of good comments above, and honestly pretty accurate.

Economy plays a big part of it - we just went through the long holiday season: I work retail and noticed a slump is spending.

Your offerings and style are a favorite of mine, and the process from start to finish is nothing short of professional. A lot of the furry pieces that get attention out there are either rule34 or fanart porn stuff, for some reason it's what people crave.

Thank you for sharing.

It feels like I very rarely get furry clients these days. Used to be that's all I got. I kinda miss em. I'm trying to figure out how to get that same momentum, then I'll be in the black again.

I know this is from a couple days ago but my two cents: Your prices are great. I'm just poor. But I look at your prices and the results and go "yeah that makes sense, and i would want to pay this amount for that result."

I do think it's a bit intimidating that you take NO direction, because some of my characters don't have accurate references and I'd want to be able to say "no human ears" or something similar. but if I could afford to commission you I likely just. wouldn't send you those characters? Idk that's my only real hangup but it's your right to decide and you did -shrug- no skin off my back.

Thank you for sharing.

I allow direction: been a few months since I've added it, (feels like a year, but probably 8 months, not sure XD). Does the "vague direction" add on not come up for you in the sketch form? http://fydbac.com/sketchform

Maybe i missed it last time i looked. My apologies. I have followed for i thik about two years now so i likely had outdated info in mind.
This does make me excited for when i have money again though, ive wanted to commission you the whole time haha.

<3 Thank you for the long interest. Looking forward to working together someday!!

I'm not an expert, but I'd guess money issues and the misery of politics are putting people off buying art. On top of that, Twitter collapsing probably means people who were finding artists through there no longer do.

Fanart of currently-popular shows/movies can be a decent way to connect with new audiences because it's searchable? Especially if it's a little unusual, e.g. gender-swapped. Obviously helps if it's something you like and WANT to draw, though.

Centaurs and merfolk also have lasting appeal, particularly in queer communities.

(Again, though, not an expert - just thinking through how I've found new artists lately!)

Thank you for sharing!