I think you should draw more fursona-like characters. Develop a style for that. You have a KICK ASS style for ferals and humans, but haven't done enough in the way of fursona/anthro goes.

Yiff. You must draw yiff, because that is what sells in this community, even just light cheesecake/beefcake stuff.

Thanks very much Asria. :) I really appreciate your advice. *hugs*

I disagree with ExTo below to a certain extent.

Your 'skill level', if there is such a thing, is just fine for commissions. I have seen many below your skill level do lots of art for other people for money.

Sex does sell. Of 100% of the people who want commissions, that I have seen, about 80% want yiff to light cheesecake. The rest want something between meaningful and just plain ordinary.

You will always improve, everyone does. You CAN get commissions now, if you want them, by just doing more anthropomorphic and slightly more yiffy characters.

I do not think porn artwork is a mask for bad artists. Many artists genuinely enjoy doing porny pictures (myself included), and that is what inspires them. Fantasy artists are inspired by fantasy. I would get nothing out of drawing something devoid of sexuality unless the mood struck me, and I imagine it is the opposite for fantasy artists.

I do think, though, that you should go with whatever it is that makes you happy. That is above all the best solution. Whatever makes you feel good about your artwork. If you want to draw all out fantasy scenes, go for it! Just improve on that. Commissions are tiring anyway, and you will definitely get a few who want that type of commission (because you are good at it.)

Oh I didn't mean to imply that I thought porn is a mask for bad artists - Plenty of yiffy pictures on here are just beautiful. I wish I felt more encouraged to draw that sort of thing, but I guess it just doesn't keep me interested enough. :-/ I probably will just end up drawing what inspires me, even if it doesn't get me any commissioners. It would just be terribly convenient to get money for it. :3

The one thing that is incredibly discouraging, and I have a hard time pushing past, is that my art really hasn't improved in at least two years, and I draw a hell of a lot more than I actually post anywhere online. Here's my gallery from 2006: http://imaginarygoddess.deviantart....../gallery/#2006 I'm not quite sure what to do to get past this wall I've hit. I've tried anatomy studies, painting practice, lighting studies, landscape painting.. none of it has helped. What do you suggest?

Oh no! I wasn't saying you were. I was just saying in general, sort of in response to what ExTo was saying.

To things always help me. First one is, taking a break from art. A few months at least.

The second one is, taking in free art requests. Gets your creative juices flowing. Doing complex poses suggested to you, etc.

Two*

D: I'm not sure I could take a break from art for even a month, even if I wanted to. It's what I do to take up my free time, I'd be so bored without it.. :-/

I like your second idea though.. and now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever even thought to offer art requests to people before. I think I'll try that.
Got any requests?

Thanks for your advice, Asria, your thoughts mean a lot to me. :)

xD Uhmm, my commissions or requests are usually porny. What do you charge for commissions, anyway?

Well, nothing right now, I think I tried offering Halloween pictures for $10 or $15 and icons for $5, but I think I'll wait a bit before setting prices on my artwork, I feel a bit too variable about their quality right now.

I don't mind drawing porn! I swear. :) I just don't really get around to drawing it of my own accord. So it's probably good for me to get a request of that sort, will help with anatomy and stuff, I'm sure. :)

I always have a hard time setting a price for my work, even when I did freelance drafting.

Just browsing through the gallery from 2006, I don't think you realize how much you really have improved: your vector art has become much better, your anatomy (human, animal, and anthro) has improved, your methods and style have become more refined. I also have to admit that you seem to always have a good eye for color and have always produced delightful line art. I think that makes it hard to recognize how much you have improved without looking at the full size images.

It may help to switch mediums for a while, or at least your predominant medium to something you use less often-- I don't know if it will help, it's just a random thought I came up with.

I would say it's a combination of two of the three things you mentionned. 3 above all, for your subject matter is generally "feral" insects, very animal-like mice/insect furries and semi-complete fantasy pictures... unfortunately, none of this is a huge seller in this fandom.

Sadly I also feel 1 plays a role. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, but in this fandom, what people want to see is characters, and much like me and many, many other artists, you still need to work on anatomy and poses. Some people can get away with this if they draw porn or are popular for some obscure reason, but people like you and I will not get much attention unless we improve or change subject matter (which is the easiest way out but probably not the wisest).

I definitely disagree you have no style, though. You really do have a style, especially when it comes to coloring, but also in the way you draw eyes, paws/feet, etc etc... I can easily tell apart what you've done from what an artist of similar talent whom uses similar mediums has done.

And you really have those awesome pieces sometimes, like that lamb you made for Lulu, or this.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1574853/

Seriously, this is just fucking awesome.

You have a few solid points, but let me get this straight.. you think http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1104766/ is one of my more awesome pictures? It's a generic furry in a generic pose. How is it in any way remarkable?

Thanks for your comments, though they're mostly just discouraging. Sure I need to improve, but I've been trying to improve since 2006 with no progress, no matter how much I practice. I guess that's just how it is for some of us.. :-/

I am seeing http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1574853/ not the lamb one in his post.

He mentioned the lamb I made for Lulu before that, which I was referring to.

It's mostly about the colors in that one, I'd say.

I do like it. I guess I never really thought out *why*, I really just do.

Fair enough, I guess that's how it is sometimes. Thank you very much :)

I fit into category #4: too cheap/ poor to pay anyone :) I love your work and have thought of doing a commission or exchange (once I do any of my own again, that is) but I don't normally buy art anywhere else in life either. I have thought that it would be fun to send you a family portrait, commission you to draw it and use that for a Christmas Card :)

Aw, you're always so sweet. I would love to do an exchange with you sometime, you know, if you ever get the free time to draw something. :) I know you're busy.
The portrait idea sounds like fun, though I'm not yet sure I'd have the leet skillz for it. :-/

I only thought of the portrait because I know you have the crazy 1337 ski11z to pull it off.

As noted above, sex sells. You will see that the artists who tend to be neck deep in commissions tend to have galleries with lots of porn.

Character illustrations sell also. Again, you'll see the artists who are neck deep in commissions often have lots of illustrations of other peoples' characters.

Your skill, as noted above, has improved over the course of your gallery uploads here. You could expend more effort on anatomy and posing, but then that is something that should never stop improving for any artist.

Statistics-wise, you have less than a hundred watchers. You'll note that the artists who always have commission lists generally have several hundred watchers. If someone has a thousand watchers and usually has ten commissions in the pipe, that doesn't mean someone with a hundred watchers or less should have one commission in the pipe regularly. There seems to be something of an edge-trigger, a critical mass, if you will, beyond which you're likely to regularly get commissioned as an artist.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the fandom has a limited number of people with the funding to actually commission artwork. Of that limited number, only a few are 'regular' commissioners who constantly are commissioning work of their characters from different artists. Attracting the attention of one of these people is not guaranteed by any quantity of watchers. You either are doing what they like, or you aren't.

My advice: Don't sweat the lack of commissions as a statement about your quality as an artist. It really isn't. It's much more likely, due to what the standard commission subjects tend to be, to be a statement about what you are drawing versus what people like to commission.

If you want to make money at this, and are not concerned about drawing only what you want to draw (and if you're going to take commissions you must be prepared to draw things you don't want to draw) then upload a couple dozen pieces of porn and see what happens. *Shrug*

Thank you so much for all the input! As I look through your comment, I think you're right about everything. I do waffle back and forth between wanting to be paid for my artwork - on one hand I want to draw just what I want to draw, but on the other, it would be nice to get money for something I work at, since I'm greedy and all. ^_^; I may decide just to forgo any effort to sell anything, I don't want to become one of those artists who don't have any work of their own inspiration. But thank you very much for the advice and encouragement, it looks like you've been in this furry mess for a while so you know what you're talking about, I really appreciate it! :)

I don't want to become one of those artists who don't have any work of their own inspiration.

There are worse things that could happen. I had a 'dry spell' of over a decade that is only now beginning to break. Why? Because I burned out on other peoples' expectations of what I should be drawing. I burned out on commissions. I burned out on requests. I burned out on turning out illustrations for fanzines. I burned out on doing art that other people wanted instead of art I wanted.

This doesn't happen to everyone, obviously, but there's no hard and fast rule that says it won't happen to you. My advice is to never become mercenary about your muse...It might get put out and go for a walk.

And you do not know when it may come back, if ever.

That sounds really terrifying. I would hate for that to happen to me. :( I'll do what I can to keep myself motivated.
Thanks.