Sometimes a note hits my inbox, or a shout hits my page, that just gets me giggling a bit. Particularly bad solicitations for commissions often do this to me. I'm not saying this with malice or anything towards advertisement (heck, this is the guy who asked people to suggest artists, including themselves, to watch and consider for commissioning), as honestly even when things are cut-and-paste flubs I get some enjoyment out of the scenario. I certainly don't mind getting watches from people who, to the best of my ability to tell, are hoping I'll visit their page, see their Comm TOS/prices, and drop some money on them.

Regrettably, at the moment, I don't have my usual non-discretionary reserves (i.e. in case of emergency) reserve where I prefer it - it's a few hundred short due to a non-discretionary (i.e. emergency... new tires) expense. This means that my discretionary budget is mostly shot for the time being.

Now, you may be asking what caused this post, and you'd be right to ask. ... *crickets chirp* ... Oh, an answer. Well, basically the trick is that I got a note over at dA from a commission artist that they really liked a commission that I got and they'd love if I would work with them. However, the note reeked of cut-and-paste, with some generic statement about how under-appreciated the commissioner is and blah-blah-blah... it didn't sound like he really paid attention to the picture in question aside from the title. This amused me to no end, but got me thinking about how to properly gear an artists' drive to woo money - I mean commissioners.

The ads on FA are relatively effective. I know that I've taken on a couple commissions through them. Some of the artists advertising I only really ended up considering after I saw the ad even though I had already noticed them, or even watched them.

Word of mouth, like way back when I think it was nim-nim or luckypan suggested in a journal that people like me should check out tatious. However, it's hard to control and trying to bribe people into it can be painful (as tatious recently learned...)

Direct contact has to be handled well to be at all functional. When done right, the least I'll do is give you a polite reply. It has worked with me in the past, but it takes me perceiving honesty in your message (instead of "I send this to everyone") and an interest in your artwork at your prices sufficient for an impulse-grade decision. Remember though that when you send a message directly to someone you have to engage them enough to get them to talk back to you.

Watching someone is similar to direct contact - chances are they'll view your page, so you've got a chance, but it's still hard to sell like that. This reminds me I do have a few "thanks for the watch!" messages to send though >.>

Another way I've seen effective is what genesisw does as a recent (to me) example. Work hard, draw great art that people fav, let your name get out there, do promotional things like livestreams and ACEOs and generally work hard at taking your new job seriously while keeping it fun. It works, quite handily, and will often result in a fair degree of word-of-mouth... "yeah, I'm watching an awesome stream, come on over, it's fun" can do wonders for loosening purse strings, ya know.

Anyhow. I hope someone enjoyed this rambling brought on by me getting a copy/paste note. Had the soliciting artist even so much as mentioned my character's name (aside from copy/paste the submission title) or engaged in any dialog, I might have done more than laugh with some friends at it and close the window. As it is, this might as well have been a romance fishing bot like I got over at myfur today and the note left me with much the same feeling.

Remember: most of you out there are really awesome artists - at least I'd like to think so. Your choice of advertising should reflect that and not sound like some regurgitated ass-kissing.