Well the talent is there for sure, and would suggest if you could go to a art college and get a degree in such things as advertising or any program at interest, that would always help.

or find other means to make money such as personalized furry t-shirts etc etc.

Being a full time artist not only takes time skill and practice it also takes knowing what people actually want, how to promote yourself and how others view you and your art.

Start sending your nonfurry art to local galleries, or better yet, bring a portfolio in after a call to such a place. That's what I'm doing this summer! Seems to be working alright so far.

But yeah. Most furs are cheapskates, and it's darn hard to make a living at just furry art.

Try checking around with video game software companies, they are always looking for artists

I moved into web design myself (make a pretty good living at it). If I had to move into commercial illustration it would kill my creativity in Furry art. There are always problems turning what you love to do as a hobby into a career...believe me at the end of the day the last thing I want to be is creative.

If you did regular gallery art as Tamen suggests I would see that as a viable option, at least you won't be killing yourself with deadlines. I would not show furry art in a portfolio tho, people will label you and will cut off your possibilities. In other words they won't take you as a serious artist (believe me I know).

Or do as draft suggests, go back to school and get a degree, it will help in getting the job you want.

hey , what is " a pretty good living", for you ? a $_$ range please ^_^

that could be a light in the dark for my career ;)

Web Design hugely varies on who your employer is (ad agency, in company, freelance) and where you live. When I started on the web I was making $55k (making more than that now, own a house, etc...) that was several years back. But I have to note that some companies may treat you and pay you like an over glorified fast food worker... had to endure that the first couple of years out of school to get experience (when I was doing print design). Also, the more knowledge you have in tools and scripting (flash, javascripting, etc) the more you are likely to get hired and better paid.

as a professional you need to be able to draw what your customer ask for,

all the things they want ! ( even a vegetable , a table , an house , or a car ...in fantasy style of course :D) and not what YOU like.

you may lose your freedom of creativity

except when you turn to be 'hype'( a star in the community ? ), then they ask for pieces of 'your style'

Else ...
yep, game companies , or cardgames company look for freelancer but it's more a part time job ...

and 'Tablet+Painter devil duo '-addicts make their way with Fantasy-book covers illustrations.

except when you turn to be 'hype'( a star in the community ? ), then they ask for pieces of 'your style'
hey, _I_ am asking for having it done in an respective artist's style when i comission someone.

does that make me an exception?

...do you ?

LOL ok for fandom ... ;)
aber next level is in industry...the big great worldooo
( with a lot of "idontknowhatisfurrysoifyouwantmymoneygivemesomethingelse"-people ) :D

the industry never asks for creativeness, unless it's about making more money. as you might be well aware of, when they contact an artist someone else has already worked out how it is supposed to look like. so ther you have them "giemiesumthin'else" people. :P

Well, honestly you shouldn't do art as a career. It's an unreliable source of income and having to churn it out for a job sucks all the joy out of it. Do what you like as a job, and do what you love as a hobby. If you do what you love as a job, it just becomes work.

A hobby that makes you a little money on the side is a good hobby.

If you want a career in art, you'll need a degree. Otherwise you might have to be satisfied with part-time job money.

That kind of art is one of those fields that you sort of have to be in the 'inner circle' to make real money at. It takes a long time to do it. Take Jennifer Janesko for example. Makes a ton of money.. but, well, her page would tell you the rest.

Most companies won't hire you without a degree in what they're looking for unless you're an absolute mastermind at all kinds of artwork (flexible) or are very lucky.

The person you need to ask is Iron Badger. He does furry art for a living, and does work for Shanda Fantasy Arts, among other things. And hey, he's here on FA as well! 8)

Most people who claim that making a living from art is impossible are the type that just sit there and wait to get noticed. Living modestly from your art is not incredibly difficult, but you do need to have a very broad range of skills.

1) Do life drawing classes regularly. 90% of the art you do will need to contain very realistic humans or things much like humans.

2) Spend a few hours a week on landscapes. Travel around, sit on a hill and draw.

3) Practice perspective until you can do it freehand without any noticeable errors. Taking a night course in industrial design is a good idea as well.

4) Also grab a big book on architecture and begin breaking down buildings into simpler forms, trying to understand the thought processes of the architects. Doodle a building a day, 20 mins max.

5) Learn to paint digitally so your final product stands without linework.

With all that practice, you should start emailing comic artists and publishers, art directors for games and movies, fantasy book publishers, fantasy calender publishers... everyone. Attach a few of your very best pics that are relevant to the person in question and ask for advice. Don't beg for a job - if they like your stuff enough to give you a job, they'll tell you. Just keep emailing new people and re-email the old ones about every six months to show you've improved and learned from their advice. A job will come, eventually.

Talk...to Beowulf Kennedy. He's an artist here on FA who was contracted by Archimedes Games for artwork, and he made a good living off them.

If you have your life drawing skills and observation skills maxed out then you'll have no problem being versatile in styles and task. At that point, multiple doors are open to you, illustration, concept design, interior design, graphic art. Also knowing a couple of programs can help in your quest get a job, commonly used photoshop, illustrator, flash etc.

well its not really an idea on how to help, but i think a cool theme of art would be industrial of the 1900's, with steam engines and gears and everything. use them as backgrounds or something.

sorry that wasn't much help.

I just want to repeat waht others have said, because it's so true. You need the college degree, I know from firsthand experience. Years back when I first moved out I knew a good bit about computers. I could operate and figure out just about any work related programs/software, assemble one from just parts, install an OS, diagnose and fix common problems, etc, all self taught. Enough to get me a decent-to-well paying job just about anywhere here in Austin. The big problem was, self-taught. I had absolutely no proof of schooling proving that I actually knew all this stuff, and thus after the company I got my foot in the door with with went out of business. I could not despite my best efforts get another job in the computer field, and wound up working retail just to keep a roof over my head, where I am still stuck today. That college degree means practically EVERYTHING, in getting a job in a field that you want to.

Is college a possiblity?

After obtianing a college degree at minimum, to seriously make money in art, you can take a few paths.

The Seven Day A Week Job
Go to school for a commercial drawing program. Become skilled with Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Quark, and minimal familiarity with other associated programs. Most likely you will find yourself working on a Mac.

Most corporations have in-house artists who work for them. You could find yourself anywhere from a Casino to a factory.

You will want to attend local commercial arts conventions, and get to know 'the people' around you, because chances are you will find yourself fighting to gain entry into the 'old boy' network in your area. Once you break into the old boy network, you could find yourself working for a movie firm for commercials, or a company that works on pamphlets and flyers for random companies. These companies may be of 'limited stability', but would likely be easier and more interesting than the casino and factory sort of jobs. The old boy network will also help you in the chance you get laid off or fired from a job, which for an artist happens seemingly at the drop of a hat when a company needs to shift resources, or a new outsourced company moves in to manage the affairs of an established company.

Hitting It Big
Go to school until you feel your art stands out from the rest, and looks visually appealing, and you can do what you want to do. I can pretty much say that without a shadow of a doubt, you will not be doing much furry artwork that will rake in your money, so get aquainted with other creatures and styles and objects.

Fish yourself around to various comic book companies. Some of them even have online means of application. Outside of living from freelance job to freelance job, there isn't much out there besides comics that simply thrive off of creative art on a fairly stable basis.

Be prepared to eat beans, and get to know the various flavors of Maru-Chan's noodles in a cup. I recommend the chicken flavor.

After many, many years of being a starving artist (this is seriously no joke here, as you will be starving), you may, may hit a point where your art goes into 'automatic'. Having published enough art books, comics, and done enough freelance work with royalties attached, money will start to flow in and you may find yourself living comfortably. I dare say, after time, you may even find yourself rich.

This, however, is not at all easy.

The Failed Artist Path
This is me. I've been there, done that, and discovered that the time invested vs the monetary outcome was going to be a severe uphill climb that I could not afford. I worked at Monolith, Interplay, and several other small game companies as a freelance employee. I got to the point where I was actually going in to an office at Monolith, complete with magnetic key card and free reign of the break room, to do art. Unfortunately, life is not cheap, and thus, I had to give up my dream.

The next day I was valet parking cars at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma for a security firm. Then I moved to Nebraska and got involved with telemarketing. After that, I moved to MS and continued my life as a telemarketer for a vacuum company, and alas, our wires crossed amidst my years of failure.

However, many, many years later, I'm trying to find the urge to dip into art again.

One thing you need to know is that once you take your passion to a professional level... it stops being a passion. In fact, unless it really clicks and you really enjoy doing it, you'll find yourself not wanting to do art at all unless there is money involved. It's taken me nearly a decade to get to the point where I want to do artwork again.

Enjoy.