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Please help: What kind of com. is most interesting?
7 years ago
General
Sooo first of I want to say that I absolutely respect people choosing to or choosing not to commission something!
I do not want to judge or blame or anything. I'm genuinely a bit confused and don't really understand a few things?
Essentially I've been feeling like I had to struggle more for commissions than I used to in the past. For a while I thought that had solely to do with me focusing more on commissions, and just noticing gaps in between commissions more than I used to when it was just a side thing (which I think still plays a bit of a role).
But earlier when I checked my stats out of interest and my most commented on submission, it was an offer for icons put up 3 years ago.
Headshots done for $20 each, with quite a bit of interest, which I can also remember still! I remember a few instances of putting up rather cheap things and getting a lot of interest! A lot of small things add up to big amounts, so I used to love doing that.
Buuuut comparing it to that I feel like instead of progressing (i.e. being able to offer more expensive things with equal demand) I've kind of stalled or even gone backwards?? I'm constantly stressed over getting enough commissions. I DO get enough, don't get me wrong. I'm occasionally contacted by commissioners themselves without me doing much and it pretty much always adds up to 'enough'.
But occasionally I want to spend time and effort into making more than 'enough', but it feels like I hardly manage to get past that lately (the last time I really did was with doing two art slaves in one month, and I do prefer many small things over few big things I suppose).
This is absolutely not supposed to be a "why aren't you commissioning me???", because you guys DO and it helps a ton. But I feel like there should be potential to improve interest and demand and I'm just absolutely lost on where to go I guess?
I offer very cheap things, and the interest is moderate.
I do some adoptables again after a while, and the interest is rather minor.
I try bringing up old faves again as offers, and I get maybe 2-3 commissions.
I've asked a few times before and got a small amount of answers, but if I ended up doing it, it wasn't really any different I suppose?
I've been wondering if interest would raise again if I were to work more on my art with personal stuff for a while, but I just don't really have the time or energy, because I NEED to do commissions. They are my sole income for the time being. It's literally my job. And I want to do better. It sort of feels like you guys (the commissioners) are my employer and I'm the employee asking how to get a promotion haha,,,
But seriously. If you have any constructive input, please throw it my way. Any possible offers or ideas, anything I could improve about my art. I'm super open to this sort of feedback but I rarely get it, same with suggestions. And if it's just "do your own thing", any feedback is super helpful!
UGHH this journal feels really whiny but honestly overdue as hell. I had a near mental breakdown not too long ago over life stuff and honestly the stress over making enough money is a constant in my life, feeding into this mess. It's probably not as bad as I'm making it sound right now, but it feels pretty poopy right now afhjkasf
I do not want to judge or blame or anything. I'm genuinely a bit confused and don't really understand a few things?
Essentially I've been feeling like I had to struggle more for commissions than I used to in the past. For a while I thought that had solely to do with me focusing more on commissions, and just noticing gaps in between commissions more than I used to when it was just a side thing (which I think still plays a bit of a role).
But earlier when I checked my stats out of interest and my most commented on submission, it was an offer for icons put up 3 years ago.
Headshots done for $20 each, with quite a bit of interest, which I can also remember still! I remember a few instances of putting up rather cheap things and getting a lot of interest! A lot of small things add up to big amounts, so I used to love doing that.
Buuuut comparing it to that I feel like instead of progressing (i.e. being able to offer more expensive things with equal demand) I've kind of stalled or even gone backwards?? I'm constantly stressed over getting enough commissions. I DO get enough, don't get me wrong. I'm occasionally contacted by commissioners themselves without me doing much and it pretty much always adds up to 'enough'.
But occasionally I want to spend time and effort into making more than 'enough', but it feels like I hardly manage to get past that lately (the last time I really did was with doing two art slaves in one month, and I do prefer many small things over few big things I suppose).
This is absolutely not supposed to be a "why aren't you commissioning me???", because you guys DO and it helps a ton. But I feel like there should be potential to improve interest and demand and I'm just absolutely lost on where to go I guess?
I offer very cheap things, and the interest is moderate.
I do some adoptables again after a while, and the interest is rather minor.
I try bringing up old faves again as offers, and I get maybe 2-3 commissions.
I've asked a few times before and got a small amount of answers, but if I ended up doing it, it wasn't really any different I suppose?
I've been wondering if interest would raise again if I were to work more on my art with personal stuff for a while, but I just don't really have the time or energy, because I NEED to do commissions. They are my sole income for the time being. It's literally my job. And I want to do better. It sort of feels like you guys (the commissioners) are my employer and I'm the employee asking how to get a promotion haha,,,
But seriously. If you have any constructive input, please throw it my way. Any possible offers or ideas, anything I could improve about my art. I'm super open to this sort of feedback but I rarely get it, same with suggestions. And if it's just "do your own thing", any feedback is super helpful!
UGHH this journal feels really whiny but honestly overdue as hell. I had a near mental breakdown not too long ago over life stuff and honestly the stress over making enough money is a constant in my life, feeding into this mess. It's probably not as bad as I'm making it sound right now, but it feels pretty poopy right now afhjkasf
I've kind of passively been working on posting my stuff on other websites, but I guess I should start doing so more actively! Do you have any favorites for posting art?
Also! Thank you for commenting, any insight seriously helps a ton!
I do think it has to do, as Chandraken mentioned above, with people simply having too much to deal with/not enough money to spare, I mean gas prices are so high right now that if I didn't have another stream of income I'd be hooped!
Another thought too is that it's tax season for a lot of people, and even traditional and non-furry artists have told me irl that this is the hardest time of year to sell work.
I also feel like a lot of people have been leaving FA in the past couple years, so branching out to other platforms may really help, as stressful as it may be to manage more than one site.
Maybe having a weebly for prices/examples that you can share everywhere may help? I've been thinking of trying that myself. Idk if you stream but that's where I usually get the most traffic as art is always an emotional investment!
Otherwise I feel smaller things have been selling more recently because again, folks just don't have a lot to spare and we artists always tend to feel the burn of that first!
Sorry for the novel, I hope this helped a bit at least though, and that the following month is less stressful for you!
I definitely do remember people talking about how there are more and more dead accounts and people leaving. But where to, ya know? I've been trying to branch out a bit, most actively probably tumblr. Twitter always feels weird to post art and instagram is a huge hassle with uploads only being possible from a mobile phone. :''') and I really sucked at facebook but technically have a page?
I do have a weebly actually! I can definitely recommend that, as I sometimes randomly get a mail through it. I've linked it everywhere so I guess people sometimes stumble upon in. It takes a bit to really get into and find what suits you but once you do it's pretty chill.
Regarding streams; I used to do it rarely, and therefore never really gained big interest. I tried selling in-stream commissions a few times but the interest was minor. I definitely understand your argument about the emotional investment, as I honestly feel the same. I haven't really thought about streaming in a while buuuuut maybe I should give it another go and just stick with it for a few months!
I honestly genuinely appreciate you taking the time and typing this out! Extra insight helps a ton, your guys' two comments have already helped me see that it's not something that's exclusive to me and some other ways I might go to mitigate it.
Thank you, and I hope you'll have more luck with commission again soon as well!
I almost feel like I'm not qualified to give feedback on this, since you've been freelancing much longer than I have and thus have more experience in general lmao, BUT.. I like to do some specials from time to time to keep it interesting? So that people gonna be like, what this boi up to next?
Like for example; art slaves or what I've been doing lately, the digital badges. Or you could take the time to offer one of those sketchbooks as an auction! But of course, it IS a bigger project.
I think and like, to keep things interesting. Because that's what would interest me as a watcher/commissioner. Special offers which are only available for a limited time (or like, "will only be offered sometime later in the future" you geddit), these are the things that make me go ham honestly.
AND
my absolute personal favorites from you are
- these kinda headshots you offered -
I love these, especially the sideview. It gives the whole thing a portrait look that makes you wanna hang it up on a wall over a fireplace LOL. 10/10 would get one.
- these kinda smol friends -
Not just talking about the style but also the kinda view it has. Instead of making it a single rendered chibi, making it a tile with a simple cute background is super cute and just appeals to me alot.
These are awesome too!!
Other than that, I really would love some more sfw portraits and scenes from you like I've gotten in the past. One might argue on this site it is harder to make money doing more sfw than nsfw, but I absolutely love how cute your style is no matter what context.
Mmm, I hope it helps though. Do you think it might be worthwhile to try to advertise your prices and open status with journals from time to time? Or on other platforms too like twitter and such, assuming you don't quite yet.
Hmm I'm honestly a bit afraid of just being annoying with advertising the same stuff time and time again? I usually post special deals or sales once across a few platforms (usually FA, twitter, and tumblr) and then leave it be. But apparently some people still miss it so maybe it might be worth being a bit more... assertive about it haha,,,
I'm generally not very art-focused on twitter though, I do have a tumblr that only posts art and art-related stuff though and it's been growing quite nicely!
But yeah I definitely notice it's mostly repeat commissioners at some times during the year, which I'm super grateful for and I've given a few major discounts for doing that!