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wondering from my point of view.
13 years ago
There is something that i have wondered a lot about ever since i came into the fandom- why do some furry artists insist on making a living on their drawings alone? The world is getting harder to live in, and moving to America i have actually seen people trying to make ends meet in this current state of the economy. Believe it not some of my friends and relitives here have two jobs just to pay expenses. So whenever I hear or see a member of the fandom who is an artist strike out on their own and use the money they make from commissioning art as their sole source of income, it leaves me scratching my head and wondering "why?"...
From what I have read up on, the adverage minimum wage here in the US is $7.25 per hour. When you do the math, that is close to around $350- $400 every two weeks. The adverage price for a picture by a furry artist is close to $45. When bunched together with a list of commissions, it sounds like a lot. However it is sometimes not so simple. If you take in the cost of living in your area (rent on a decent apartment is around $600, which at times doesn't include utilties and that can reach around $300 total) plus add the expenses on food, other bills like cell phone service, internet, and a few luxury expenses here and there; then most of the time what an artist tries to rake in taking commissions will not do. They begin to worry about trying to make it another month, but still keep on the clouded path of "my hobby will cover everything". The sad truth is that it doesnt 80% of the time, and the artist will sooner or later break themselves and lose their minds over trying to stretch what they can do on their own to the limit.
In my honest opinion, one should never take something like drawing porn, which is more or less a hobby, and turn it into a way to live. If push comes to shove, you will have to expect that art won't keep you afloat and seek actual employment. This form of living isn't stable, and your income you make solely on drawing pics for others gravely depends on the demand and popularity at the time. If the damand for your work lowers and your popularity wanes, then you will face some pretty serious problems...
From what I have read up on, the adverage minimum wage here in the US is $7.25 per hour. When you do the math, that is close to around $350- $400 every two weeks. The adverage price for a picture by a furry artist is close to $45. When bunched together with a list of commissions, it sounds like a lot. However it is sometimes not so simple. If you take in the cost of living in your area (rent on a decent apartment is around $600, which at times doesn't include utilties and that can reach around $300 total) plus add the expenses on food, other bills like cell phone service, internet, and a few luxury expenses here and there; then most of the time what an artist tries to rake in taking commissions will not do. They begin to worry about trying to make it another month, but still keep on the clouded path of "my hobby will cover everything". The sad truth is that it doesnt 80% of the time, and the artist will sooner or later break themselves and lose their minds over trying to stretch what they can do on their own to the limit.
In my honest opinion, one should never take something like drawing porn, which is more or less a hobby, and turn it into a way to live. If push comes to shove, you will have to expect that art won't keep you afloat and seek actual employment. This form of living isn't stable, and your income you make solely on drawing pics for others gravely depends on the demand and popularity at the time. If the damand for your work lowers and your popularity wanes, then you will face some pretty serious problems...
that is if they work you full time which MOST minimum wage places do not.
But I make far more with art than a dinkie minimum wage job that treats me badly...
I may only earn $9 US an hour, and deal with some rather strange customers that come into the store during my shift; but it is something that I am happy to do.
I know MANY artists who say the same exact thing. Their job is not less legitimate than yours.
I mean you're right, it's near impossible to do it own it's own merrit. That will never come into question. But that's kind of that whole survival of the fittest. If you're work is good, you're consistently good, you're consistently and in a timely manner providing a good product then you are providing good business. As you continue to improve you continue to surpass the expectations of your customer base, as what any business does and should do. Learning to invest in your own innovation is another part of it. But a lot of people think there's just a bunch of people that want dick, when as a matter of fact, most of the time people want well rendered dick XP
Also drawing art for the fandom in order to make money in itself is a very risky endeavor mainly because it is extremely hard to secure a firm footing with it outside of the fandom. If you draw mostly cartoon porn, inside the fandom that can be a nice way to earn some scratch, but beyond it something like that is hardly ever requested or wanted. Outside the furry walls the artist must quickly develop another skill to add to their trade, or else they end up never being taken seriously by those businesses that looks to people with their kind of talent. Since you do freelance work, you should know that a business that takes you in will look at your past works to see if you have what they need or not. If your past works are nothing but a mass of lewd renderings of cartoon animals, then the changes of that business giving you a job is remotely slim to none. Some of the veteran furry artists like Cooner and Blotch are able to make a nice living off of their trade because they did the reverse- secured a job that required their skills, then took that talent into the fandom to make extra money there. In fact Cooner is a cartoonist that has even done work for Disney, and Blotch has done cover art for several magazines along with stuff with several other businesses. Both of them draw porn, but had already secured a financial footing for themselves before ever doing work within the fandom.