Heyo!

Based on my personal experience, seems like BlueSky and Instagram are the best bet to build a fan base nowadays. FA sadly has a very outdated system that does not favor newcomers, and it's very easy to get buried under the massive volume of new uploads that flood the site every day. Since you already have a specific interest in maws and paws, you already have a few niches to focus your art on; it's easier to grow a community if you focus on a few niches rather than trying to cater to as many unique audiences as possible.

As for commissions, each artist usually comes up with their own process. Do you have a PayPal yet? That's the easiest way to get money internationally, and it usually has the most affordable fees. One thing that most artists usually fail to realize in the beginning is that when offering, for instance, a $40 commission, they will not get $40 in the end. There are currency conversion fees, transfer fees, platform fees and sometimes even bank transfer fees. To be on the safe side, you should expect to lose 30% of the full amount on such fees. In most cases it won't be that much, but always be prepared for the worst. So in the $40 example, if that's the final amount of money you want to have, I'd suggest you charge at least $52, as $12 is 30% of $40.

I'd also suggest you make sure if digital goods are taxable in your country. Nowadays most countries do tax it, but depending on how income tax is handled in your country, you might not have to worry about it before it reaches a specific amount. For instance, in my native country (Brazil) I don't have to pay taxes if I make less than 20k yearly, but in my country of residence (Canada) every amount received is taxed. In Canada, you also have to pay taxes for selling goods (on top of income) if your profits exceed 32k, so also be aware there might be extra taxes you'd have to pay to your government.

I don't recommend Patreon right off the bat as it has several fees of its own. You have to use payment processors (PayPal, Payoneer, etc.) to withdraw the money from Patreon to your bank account - Patreon doesn't do that for you. So you'd be making less money upfront as you're paying for more fees.


I'll take this opportunity to offer an invite to my Discord community that is mainly focused on creating a friendly environment between artists and commissioners. It's very small, about 20 users overall and about 8 active users. 5 of us are artists. There's not a lot of engagement there, but we're all very friendly, so if you're looking for some new friends, we'd be happy to welcome you! You can grab an invite to it here: https://thejaguarslair.com/invite/

The server also offers several features I coded myself, and among them there's a commission system. Commissioners subscribe to us on Patreon, and each month they get tokens they can then use to commission a piece. Since these tokens are paid in advance, artists are sure to get paid, as sadly some commissioners sometimes might refuse to pay. Therefore, when offering commissions, NEVER deliver the final piece before getting the full payment, no matter how sad of a story they might tell you!!

That could be a way to ease yourself into commissions in a safer environment if you think that could benefit you. You can charge as much as you would when offering commissions by yourself, and you'd still get the same amount, as platform costs (Patreon's, PayPal still takes their cut) are absorbed by the Patrons (whereas normally it is taken from the artist). Just bear in mind we can only make payments through PayPal at the moment. Since it's such a small community, I can't ensure you'll get a commission in a timely manner, but we already have 3 Patrons, so at least there's a chance!


This is getting a bit long, so I'll stop here for now. Hope this helps.
Good luck on your journey; looking forward to witnessing your growth into a pillar of the furry community! ❤️

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the advice it is super helpful :D
I'll definitely be taking those tips on board.
I'd love to join your discord community! I'll have to make one hehe :3