Make both a journal and a picture ad, which can point to the journal. Don't use FA notes as they are considered faulty and like to disappear. Paint people to Telegram and discord and/or ask to write you an email. I personally use emails for the initial talk ^^

I read journals, but not everone does so so best to post both pic and journal.

Interesting, I wasn’t aware notes could disappear. This is good advice, thank you!

I was going to commission you but saw it was closed before I could fill out the form. Perhaps leaving it open longer will allow for more customers.

ahh yeah, since it was a relatively small opening I was able to get all the clients I needed. But definitely could have left it open a little longer for people to get on slot reserves for next time.

I’ll second the making both a journal and picture ad. That captures everyone looking at your account. Just be sure to put the picture ad in scraps so it doesn’t clutter your gallery.

gotcha, thanks for the advice !

My preferences for places to look for commission slots are FA first and Bluesky/Telegram after that. I very rarely chesk Discords or Twitter for open artists

gotcha! thanks for letting me know

Why do you think the Google form is deterring people? Personally I prefer ordering through google forms because it leaves less to be confused. But I think advertising on FA, which you can then link people to the Google form, would probably bring in more attention.
Agree with the people saying journal + post.

yeah maybe its just discord. might be all in my head that people are deterred from forms. thank you for your input!

Definitely siding with everyone else's comments about a dual journal/picture announcement. I read and clear all my notifications but many just let them pile up and/or only ever check submissions.

Personally I prefer to talk to the people I commission over Discord rather than FA notes. The note system is not only in need of a major update, it's also flush with scammers who go after people bidding on auctions and such, pretending to be 'agents' or mimicking artists. Have your social tags displayed an up-to-date so people know they're talking to the right person. It does add complication because you'll have to denote their preferred platform, but it opens the door wider.

Google forms, afaik, shouldn't be a major issue. Their biggest downside is they usually require a link to an uploaded art for reference sheets, which not everyone likes to do.

yeah, i gotcha. Thank you for the input!

I usually look out for pictured ads as well as if I wanna comish a specific artist, I will look at their profile to see if they are open for comish. I think it's helpful to have in your profile page

gotcha! thank you!

i will chime in and say that im apparently in a minority who prefers notes for contact; i dont have telegram and i dont give out my discord freely, so if an artist staunchly only uses those for contact, i will generally not consider them :'D idk how many others are like me though.

seconding announcements in both submissions and journals! i do read journals personally but i know many dont

interesting. if a client is keen on notes i wouldn’t mind using it, but i’m def more comfy with discord or telegram

As mentioned above, most artists do a picture announcing commission openings along side a journal where the journal gives directions, a link to the form, gives a link to your commission page or an image showcasing pricing, and ya. The journal is the main focus on informing potential buyers on what you might want to do, or mentioning any specific info, or well, talking to your audience and saying whatever is important.

As for if people read journals; I would say yes as they don't come flying as fast as submissions do at your viewers. You see less and less journals being posted and the long time question is what you asked "Do people read journals?" "I hope I'm not bothering people by making journals" those two questions have haunted this site since it first started. Its almost hilarious how those two thought processes to this day are a constant.

ALSO: I MUCH MUCH MUCH prefer filling out a google form. I really like it. Feels more professional. I also don't mind notes or DM to an artist but forms are just...better in my opinion. Form to give some references and such, something to get the ground work, and then you move to DMs to fill in the gaps if need be.

yeah! thank you for your input!

I read journals! And i think they're better... Discord is way too scattered between too many servers to follow.

Also, no problem with google forms, unless they're overly complexificated.

But yeah, "Commissions open" journal with "Ping me on Discord/telegram" or a google form works.

Sometimes it's better if it's possible to throw idea at before filling forms, because forms tend to be "Your form has been submitted" into a void.

thank you! yeah, after reading through what people said above ill probably do a double post and leave the google form open until i’m full.

I largely decide to commission people via FA Notes / Gallery posts here that have commission notices

As others have said a picture ad that you're open for commissions can be pretty useful. It's what the artist who's done all of the art that I've got on here does. It's also something you can remove later if you feel like it's cluttering up your gallery.

Journals wise I read all of the journals for anyone I'm following, though said reading might be delayed a bit as I'm not actually on here every day.

FA Journals/Comm Announcements are my primary way of keeping up with openings, mainly due to the ease of external tools that can alert me for them. Discord is a terrible way to find openings because of the closed nature of the platform, and it's rather annoying and cluttering to be in a discord just to have opening announcements.

As for forms, I don't mind them, though I'm flexible to most forms of communication, so long as they're not FA notes.

I recommend having a "business" discord/telegram account if you go that route, if you can to better separate it all, but up to taste.