You're right.

young thugs making it rain XD

If you have a degree in the right field, disposable income isn't an issue.

The thing is I could afford easily more, but there has to be a budget to spend on furry porn stuff and for stuff I actually can need in real life. I mean, think of how much awesome stuff you can buy from 1000$? Like a new PC for example.
It seems like many people here on FA have so much money they don't even have to care about anything in life. xD
Without calling names, but when I see the same person getting 300-400$ coms like 10 times a month, they must be millionaires, right?
My brother has a master in vehicle engineering and that would be a big percentage of his income.

Like I said, if you have the right kind of degree, especially certain kinds of STEM degrees, you can easily make a six or even seven-figure salary. If you're single and without kids, you can easily have enough for all those things.

if I lived alone, I would also indulge myself in everything I live and no matter how much it would cost)) ahah perhaps you are right about that.
But is the FA really a lonely people site? I saw couples

(sorry for bad english)

Sometimes I think about it too.
I can see no equality of price and work. But there are worthy! Even I can not judge this, each work in different ways and conscientiously.

  The money that I earn on the FA is not enough for life, but it is about 100 (often less). And we spend time on creating a picture much more. Some sit and work on art in the office and not climbs. Work should be appreciated! This is not a stamp of the machine and manual work. Handicraft has always been expensive.


Clearly there is an imbalance but who will install it, at least.

You know. I wonder the exact thing every tinge I see it.

I've always wondered the same then realized I'm sinking about 20% of my own paycheck into art a month and not batting an eye. :P

I've talked to a few people I watch who seem to be on this trend and a lot of them don't seem to be working. I hate to assume they're using government assistance to buy art but I'm sure it happens.

Speaking just about european furries - the 300$ you spoke of is just 240 EUR right now, thanks to the weak dollar... Many furries are working in "nerdy" fields - and already with a pretty "normal" job in that kind of field, it is quite easy to have that as disposable income each month.

The question is then how that money is spent... and I guess that is all about about priorities and personal preferences ... Do you want to spend a fraction of that on alcohol, cigarettes, music, cinema, fancy food ... or furry art? Do you buy a new PC every year or every four or five years? Do you buy a high-end smartphone - or just a normal smartphone?
And even just taking into account furry-art expenses: How much does a well made fursuit cost? A LOT of money! So what are furries doing that don't like fursuiting but actually have a similar budget? They buy art ...

In addition there are lots of creative folks in the fandom who are actually selling stuff they make in their free time and maybe even back into the fandom ... Artists selling art / fursuits / other stuff - are not so unlikely to use the money they got to buy something from other artists as well ... There are also examples of people in the fandom who get a large 5 figure income each month on patreon for their furry work / art - and who uses that to buy furry art from others ...

I understand your point but I'm more referring to people I see like on every artist I follow, bidding and winning countless times a month for art which is super expensive (200-400$). Even if you have a master and earn like 6K a month, you can't afford that considering the constant money you have to spend for rent, food, internet etc etc.

Maybe they won the lottery, who knows cx

In my case I never asked that much for a half body, not even for a full body with detailed background

if I'm lucky I get an AB from time to time in my YCHs, but they usually sell for less than the value they'd have based in my price list... yet I paint them with all my effort to give the best outcome, like always
so, well, there are lucky people who get money thrown at them, there are people with less luck as well
Also some of us needs to do YCHs because there are no orders for commissions, but bills keep coming x3

Sometimes you pay the fame of an artist, sometimes you decide is better to pay for quality
As a saying we use in my country, for tastes the colors

Yea, I feel the balancing currently on FA doesn't only harm commissioners, but artists too. Some artists can do a YCH and 80% of the time get AB just because they exceed the borderline of many artists in lewdness, have a special cute style or a special realistic style, but artwise and effortwise there isn't much more to it. Kinda hurts to see some artists getting nothing at all even though their art is nice and other artists get like 400$ AB for a 5 hour picture. x3
But yea, that's how it usually works. Sex sells and people stop thinking if the style hits their nerves...

As an artist who has sold pieces for several hundreds of dollars, I am more hurt by artists undercharging for their work, leading to the perception that art is a simple task that is not worth much.

Also worth noting: price is not solely a function of time and effort, but also reputation, training, and all other factors that lead to "what the artist can negotiate".

I agree with you.

Exactly

But I'm glad you did this journal, seeing more people think about these matters is nice

and previous comment was supposed to be a reply, but no, FA loves to mess cx

I've wondered this a lot too.

Its supposition, but I'd posit that a lot of furries are what my generation would have called, "DINKs" or Duel-income, No KidS. It a euphemism for that time in one's life where there are no financial constraints (housing, education funds for kids, retirement planning for self or for parents etc) .

I could easily sink $500 a month into art (and my other expensive hobbies) if I didn't have to plan for 2 kids in University and my retirement.

My overall question doesn't refer to just affordable though, it also refers to that people spending disproportionate high amounts on specific art (for example 400$ for a 5hour thigh high picture). Even if you earn 10000$ a month, a normal thinking human would still consider the value of the payment. If it's just about 1 time a month I would say "ok, he/she really likes this artist and wants to get a slot before he/she closes for the next few months no matter the costs". But when I see people bidding and buying art like this for 10 times a month, I really want to know how much millionaires this community contains. I mean, they can have their money, but they basically checkmate other people with their bidding because that's not called competition but monopole. Don't get me wrong though, I'm happy for the artists getting supported.

Beats me how people have the income to buy some of this stuff. I'm personally struggling just to afford 5 dollar commissions.

Yeah, it bothers me that a lot of my favorite artists turned into YCH whores because of the overinflated pricing that people outbid for. It really sucks.

$400 not even for a personalised full body commission? Yeah at that point I think most sane people would tell the guy to fuck off. Especially since there are often far better artists who do both great work and are much cheaper.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8536814/
About sums it up.

But yeah, to actually answer the question ?
Most likely people that have nothing better to do with their money or people that simply don't use their brain as much as the average person.
I have a pretty damn good salary and even I refuse to pay upwards of 200+ on a ych when I know I can commission outside of an auction for 3 times less in price.

It's nothing more than a ridiculous bidding war where stupid people throw their money and feed the never-ending future YCH auctions that artists get used to.

Well, I'm more refering to people who spam the 300+ bids a month on multiple artists and win. A "overpriced" pic here and there once in a while is normal I guess if you like the artist and you want make sure to grab a piece but man, there's obviously some millionaires here lol.

I highly doubt that they are millionaires. I'm pretty sure I know who you are referring to as well since I watch enough artists to know who all the too familiar faces are.
I'd argue its more ... financial stupidity or lack of proper financial management. Glad you're more on the opposite side of things.
...which is arguably a shame because I honestly wouldn't mind seeing more of your character in my sub box.