Do you post art on any other outlets? Twitter/Instagram/Facebook can help generate traffic too. Also join some local area Telegram chats and share artwork from time to time. I'm in a couple and not only do I get more attention I have taken on a handful of commissions from there too.

I will admit it's been slow, I want to say the last commission I got was a room sign right before ANE and it feels like my art uploads get passed over but if I upload a suit photo then the comments/faves start pouring in so I totally feel you here.

Yup, I have a DeviantArt, Weasyl, Tumblr and Facebook. I used to have an Instagram but I barely got any traffic on there, and posting on so many different platforms was too much to manage for me so I don't use it anymore.
I do post my artwork occasionally in groups on Telegram and I got a few of my friends to watch me, but no commissions yet.

Yeah I feel the same way. I constantly post my commissions are always open. I don't ever really get commissioned either. Typically I get commissioned by local furs and stuff. I don't know but I feel as though FA has become a site for just uploading but I don't know. Your art is amazing by the way!

Aww thanks!

Well, unfortunately, furry commissioners prefer getting nsfw most of the time, not a fun thought, but it's a common complaint I see from the SFW artists I follow. The SFW commissioners I know tend to want the very best, stuff they can put on their walls, hard to attract them as well.

Yes... this is true. My artwork is pretty strictly SFW. X'D

From what I've seen, the SFW artists that actually have a following and get regular commissions, started as nsfw artists then switched over, seems like that's a big part of how they originally got the followers.

I can maybe offer a little bit of advice?
So I do commission work fulltime, and it can be challenging at times. I will also say that you do NOT need to do NSFW to get by. I don't. It can help get you noticed faster, but it's not necessarily going to solve everything. Only go the NSFW route if you want to and would enjoy drawing it, I don't recommend doing it just because you feel you have to.

Best way to get sales is to get lots of watchers. That means lots of advertising outside of your own galleries. Facebook has tons of furry art communities where you can advertise sales and your art in general, and each community can have over a thousand+ followers. Post on multiple communities (I usually post sales on 5+ at a time), and post often (because your posts will get buried by other users' posts and you want to make sure everyone has a chance to see what you're offering). For example I'll put a specific type of conbadge on sale, then a few days later I'll put icons or something else on sale and keep rotating. I don't personally use it, but many artist friends of mine say Twitter is good too because people can just share your posts and reach bigger crowds that way.
Other things that help are attending and dealing at conventions. When I have a dealer table I keep my business cards out and almost always get a bunch of new watchers shortly after the con.
Post a lot on your galleries. Things on FA get buried on the front page quickly, so post your art on different days and at different times to reach various crowds. Try to post at least once a week if you can, the more often you post the more often people will find your art.

Not sure if any of that helped, or if you're already doing all that. That said, sometimes it's just hard. I've always said commission work is a 'feast or famine' situation... sometimes you're drowning in commissions and sometimes it's bone dry and you're scraping by.
Your art is lovely and unique and your prices look totally reasonable to me, so I wouldn't worry about that. Just keep pushing sales and I believe you can do well!
Also if you want, feel free to add me on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/Kalika.Tybera.Art ). Just let me know who you are if it's under your real name, I only add people I know on there. You can look at the communities I have added and try posting on those.

Thanks for all the advice!
I'll probably follow you on Facebook (I'll note you with my real name there) and see where you're sharing your art. I already share my art regularly to a few groups but it doesn't typically get noticed.
I am already doing most of what you mentioned and have been for a while, except for dealing at conventions. I've had tables at Artist Alleys a couple times before and would love to continue doing so, but I wouldn't be able to manage to fit it into my college schedule. Some of the students at my college do manage to somehow, and make hundreds of dollars, but I really have no idea how that's possible at with how busy the classes here are. Maybe if I sacrificed sleep or something.

I totally understand having a tough schedule to work with! I have a 3 year old son, so my commission time has been severely cut down and I only do 1 or 2 cons per year now, at most. Working around a tight schedule is definitely an added challenge.
When I mention posting in groups, make sure you do it often too, and always at different times of the day to vary who sees the posts.
It's tough though. I've been doing this for about 10 years now, and I still struggle sometimes.

Actually check that... going on Facebook and looking on my groups again reminded me. I USED to post my artwork to a few different groups, but those groups would get SO MANY posts of people advertising their reeeally low priced commissions that I found it more frustrating than anything... and it probably wasn't the right audience for me if that was overwhelmingly the kind of posts they were getting anyway. So I left them because I felt like the people in them had learned to expect good art for really cheap... and now I need to find some new groups to post in. :P

My prices are give or take around the same as yours, so I understand. It IS frustrating to see so many artists posting for dirt cheap because it drags down the value of art everywhere else, but that's a whole other problem. Even with higher prices, I still post. Sometimes nothing sells, but sometimes it does and it's worth trying anyways. Remember that sometimes people are willing to pay more for a unique style (which you have) or for quality (which you also have).

I've noticed people's budgets are all tighter lately too, so consider trying to offer some smaller pieces that can be sold at lower prices? Icons can be good sellers and don't take very long to make. If you come up with themed icons, people tend to like those too.

Not sure what else to suggest, but I hope things pick up for you!

I've actually be in a somewhat similar boat! I actually JUST had a discussion about lack of interest in my artwork with two friends over the weekend.
I've done massive posting of my artwork, I've done freebies for people in the past, and I've done commissions. The biggest problem I face is that I'll do freebies or commissions and they won't get posted by the people that asked for them and received them. So that has been difficult, and I've been massively trying to better my style to get my art out there and encourage people to post it. I think I've stepped up my game from what I used to draw like 3 years ago.

With that said, something some of my more popular friends say, is to get yourself out there by REALLY keeping up with the social crowd. It's not so much what you upload that gets attention, it's how you interact with the community. So any time you see somebody with an art piece you enjoy, comment on it, and possibly leave some helpful feedback if they need it! Leave comments on peoples profiles about how you feel in regards to their gallery or them as a person, and try to make it as positive as possible. People love compliments and positivity and they'll gravitate towards you if you're positive and happy. I think it goes hand in hand. Keep putting your art out there, but also talk to people as often as you possibly can. Leave compliments, comments, advice, etc. The more people see you on other peoples profiles and under their artwork, the more interested people get to click on your page and they may even decide to commission you if they like what they see!

I also agree with the person above - attending conventions in general really puts yourself out there. After I went to two furry cons, I not only made a lot of friends, but I got a lot more attention towards my FA account because I told people who I was and people saw what I did and chose to commission me. If you set up your own vendor table, or even just make business cards to hand out and leave on convention tables around the con, people are bound to bite at your art for a commission.

Also once the holidays have all fully passed and peoples tax returns have come in, they'll be looking a lot more to commission artists. This is just my take on everything. Trust me, I wanna get out there myself and make myself noticed, and someday be able to take commissions, but I guess you just have to start with a lot of social interaction and putting yourself out there on your own.

Thanks for the advice! In the past I've felt like people have mostly ignored my comments on FA but I'll keep trying. Unfortunately I can't make it to many conventions these days but maybe I'll try making some newer business cards and leaving them around at the conventions I CAN make it too.

That's what I decided I will probably start doing at upcoming cons. I need to make business cards myself. I know the feels of not making it to many cons. I go to one convention a year, and I'm so jealous of people who go to like 9 conventions in a year or more lol. Money doesn't seem to be in the picture for me often. And yeah, not a ton of people reply to me either in comments. But when people do, some times, out of like 10 people I might make one friend or watcher and that gains more attention towards my artwork as well. So while it takes a lot of work, I think continuous effort really helps. Slow progress, but it will be worth it in the end I hope.

I'm not an artist, but I am someone who gets a lot of commissions. So a a buyer I can definitely give you advice on what I look for when I want to commission someone.

First and foremost, I will definitely say that based on your art-style, I'm honestly surprised that you don't have more watchers. Because your art-style is quite lovely. I also commend you for doing strictly SFW art instead of just going the NSFW route, even if it would get you more commissions. After all, working on art that makes you uncomfortable isn't exactly motivating work-wise. I know that based on my own characters and commissions I've gotten in the past may seem otherwise, but I myself am not very big on NSFW art either (I may be into bondage but I prefer the non-sexualized, clothed variety XP).

If I had to guess one of the main reasons you aren't getting as many commissioners, I would say that it's your prices. I think the prices for each extra character and for backgrounds in artwork you draw is more than fair. However, the base prices seem to be fairly expensive when compared to other artists I've commissioned. For example, when looking at your commission sheet, your charge pencil illustrations at $50. To most people, that price is quite high for a black and white picture. No offense. My suggestion would be to look at other artists artwork and prices, compare their artwork to your own, and then adjust your prices based on that. If you want, I can tell you a few artists I have commissioned in the past and why I chose them.

I do hope I haven't sounded rude at all. If I did, I apologize. I'm just doing my bet to give advice because you seem like a nice person and I feel like you art desrves morre recognition based on what I've seen. o.o

Thanks for the advice. I figure the prices are at least part of it, but I have to price myself fairly so I'm not using a lot of time for so little money. I think part of why I charge high base prices is my sketch process - I typically do 2-3 sketch variations of the client's idea and they can choose which one they want to continue with from those. I haven't commissioned many artists in the past, but the ones I have didn't offer any sort of sketches, so I didn't know what I was getting until I saw the finished product. Do you think maybe having this approval stage is unnecessary? Or do people prefer to know what they're getting and I just happened to commission artists who didn't do that?

Additionally, I've just always been a slow artist and I'm not sure why. The pencil illustrations typically take me at least 5 hours for a single character, including the sketch stage, so charging any less than $50 would be underpricing myself anymore than I already am. I WOULD like to have lower prices, but when I did commissions in the past with lower prices I was always acutely aware of how I felt like I was underselling myself.

Well, one thing I will say i that every artist I've commissioned has allowed me to view the commission in stages as it being made (pose, sketch, line art, flat color, finished piece). The few who don't offer it upfront, I ask them and they're happy with showing me the WIP's. So I would definitely say that you happened to commission artists who simply didn't do approval stages. Although for the most part, as I said, if you ask someone to do the approval stages for you after paying them, before they start drawing, they're completely fine with it at no extra cost.

It is understandable if you feel like you're underpricing yourself. A lot of artists feel that way. I have a friend who has been having money troubles and decided to up the prices of his commissions not too long ago. And he started getting less commissioners as a result.

Here's one way of looking at it; your price for a single character digital illustration is $75. If you lowered that price to, say, $50, it may seem as though you're underpricing yourself at first. However, if you're getting more commissions than you did when the price was higher, cumulatively it will amount to a higher amount of money being made.

So what I would probably do if I was in your position is lower the badge prices by $30 and $50, pencil illustrations for a single character to $30, digital illustrations for a single character be lowered to $50, colored pencil for a single character to $60, and avatars/icons to $20. Like I said, at first it may seem like your underpricing yourself. But if you're getting more commissions, you'll be making more money overall. However, I'm not saying you have to listen to me. These are simply my suggestions.

Whatever you decide to do, I just hope that everything works out for you! :3

Perhaps I will do sales for specific types of commissions and rotate them around as Kalika suggested above. That would bring my prices down to about what you're mentioning when that specifc type is on sale. I'm not going to permanently lower my prices unless I suddenly speed up a lot, which I doubt will happen. XD Since, while I can afford to now, I don't want to be doing art at less than $10 an hour not including materials for the rest of my life if I can help it.