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the customer is always wrong
7 years ago
people in these kindsa communities always be like "why do artists do this" or "how can artists get away with that" while rewarding artists for doing "this" and "that" in the form of donations and commissions and i'm so, so tired of it. i always hate seeing shitty people make bank just because they can (usually poorly) draw furry porn or whatever, but lately i've been getting more and more annoyed at the people who patronize them and then have the gall to complain when the artist keeps pulling their bullshit.
if someone's work is too expensive, you shouldn't be shelling out unfair amounts just to have a piece of your character with their name on it. don't buy from them.
if it's too cheap and you think they should raise prices, stop taking advantage of their obvious desperation or naivety and don't buy from them.
if someone's art gets more and more poorly drawn because quality matters to them less then quantity, either wait til they show signs of improvement before buying or don't buy from them.
if someone has shown they're not talented or versatile enough to give people what they actually ask for, refuse to take a gamble on whether you'll get decent work and don't buy from them.
if someone is a total asshole or bad at business or irresponsible, it shouldn't matter to you how good their art is. don't buy from them.
artists depend on a market that accepts their prices, their work, and themselves. they cannot have a business unless they have buyers and they can't get away with selling shit art packaged with shit customer service and a shit personality unless they have an audience that's encouraging that behavior by buying. a LOT of the responsibility to cultivate a good marketplace of quality work and decent people falls on buyers to have common sense and taste if that's what they wanna see from the artists they throw money at.
please for the love of god stop bitching about the exact same behavior you're enabling.
if someone's work is too expensive, you shouldn't be shelling out unfair amounts just to have a piece of your character with their name on it. don't buy from them.
if it's too cheap and you think they should raise prices, stop taking advantage of their obvious desperation or naivety and don't buy from them.
if someone's art gets more and more poorly drawn because quality matters to them less then quantity, either wait til they show signs of improvement before buying or don't buy from them.
if someone has shown they're not talented or versatile enough to give people what they actually ask for, refuse to take a gamble on whether you'll get decent work and don't buy from them.
if someone is a total asshole or bad at business or irresponsible, it shouldn't matter to you how good their art is. don't buy from them.
artists depend on a market that accepts their prices, their work, and themselves. they cannot have a business unless they have buyers and they can't get away with selling shit art packaged with shit customer service and a shit personality unless they have an audience that's encouraging that behavior by buying. a LOT of the responsibility to cultivate a good marketplace of quality work and decent people falls on buyers to have common sense and taste if that's what they wanna see from the artists they throw money at.
please for the love of god stop bitching about the exact same behavior you're enabling.
I'm rambling, I think artists should listen to fans more than friends. Friends will tell you what you want to hear rather than what you need to hear. But sad thing is a lot of these fans are suck-ups and brown nosers and will saying anything to get their buff rainbow wolf fucking cock.
Saying $40.00 is too much for a sketch isn't necessarily fair because art is such a relative thing that how can you even group up all artists who accept sketch commissions together?
People have told me my sketch commissions look like full illustrations but I know that's not the same for everyone.
If your friends cared more about your business they wouldn't sugar coat things and tell it to you straight, some of the best advice I've gotten are from my best friends who are also
in the art industry. Artists shouldn't always trust customers/fans as well when coming to pricing because I've had people deadass tell me they love how "cheap" I price everything because
their poor and don't want to spend a lot. I don't care if people don't have enough money to pay for an illustration from me, this is a luxury good I'm offering that is fully customized and
catered to my customers aka youre paying for my time.
TLDR : If you think someone charges too much for their art or can't afford it, fair. Just don't by it and don't go out of your way to say it to everyone cause there's plenty of people who are
willing to pay that.
Easy cause a pencil and line black and white sketch isn't worth $40. I don't care who you are or what you do. You could be the reincarnation of Picasso for all I care and I'll still say it, a sketch is not fucking worth $40. Okay your sketches look like whatever. A sketch is a sketch.
I'll tell you something else though; I agree with them. Just because art is a luxury item doesn't mean people want to spend a fortune on it. Eating out is a luxury and you can bet your ass I'm going somewhere cheap and good rather than expensive and good. All the times I've ever gotten commissions I go cheap. I don't pay the extravagant prices and move on. I don't tell people prices are overrated unless it's brought up like it was here. People can pay the stupid prices if they want, I'll still say it's fucking dumb.
unchanging and the generosity in their hearts and if cheaper artists work out for you then cool beans.
i never ask my friends for commission advice tbh. not because i don't respect their opinions, but because i'm not selling to my friends. i'm selling to the people who are interested in buying from me. in that case, i've found people who aren't emotionally invested in my success somehow (god bless 'em) tend to scrounge for lower and lower prices instead of higher ones. but i guess if your audience is either sucky at advice or limited, you utilize good ole fashioned common sense.
finish commissions, never respond to emails or like downright GHOST their customers and leave without saying anything.
Not too long ago a very popular artist ( who won't be named ) left all their customers hanging for months while their site was broken and no one
could get a refund or their art promised through their site. When they finally came back, people lined up again to offer business to them and I'm just like
WHY. Why would you continue to support them when they just don't have their shit together.
Tbh there's no time for people like this that have bad business practice and keep fucking up over and over meanwhile there's other lesser known artists who
are perfectly fine.
it's really disgusting and disheartening to see people getting away with that shit while people responsible with their business gotta live offa ramen n shit. half of making it as an artist is marketing, but the other half is. delivering
When I find good content I bump it,
When I find content too cheap, I encourage them to up prices and often not onl[y buy from them but tip them the difference and tell them.
I try to encourage and I genuinely try to fill my favorite section with art I'm trying to signal boost speckled with stuff people have made for me.
Ahh, your posts are always so cathartic. :') <3
i write so we all have a place to complain!
Popularity allows you to charge more regardless of your actual skill.
Attention is the real currency of furries.
I might be wrong, but to me that's just obnoxious
I guess I should have clarified better, for example, if a type of commissions is locked behind a pay tier on partreon, where, if you pay for that tier, you only get a chance of getting drawn in a raffle for that commission type slot, would that still be a fair way to go on about it?
Also yeeeaaaah I always hate those, but technically that's how a lottery works! And people pay for lootboxes all the time, and a lot of people's most coveted video games are CHOCK FULL of that kinda stuff :'). I can't knock these "low end business's" if you will for doing that when you see the overall same idea being very supported in games XD! Like jeeb has pointed out, all we can do is talk about it in an educated way like we're doing, support the right folks who don't do the shitty things, and just don't support them. Only buy their "sale" items. Then they'll realize what folks want!
raffles are just Art Gambling in the end, and even though most people will always find gambling skeevy to a degree, if the system works the system works.
I fret on it a lot, but with game companies more or less doing the SAME THING with such MASS SUCCESS and stunts like "diablo mobile" and stuff... well... I can see why certain really top tier folks go for the EXACT same model, but with furry porn. It's "shitty" , but it's working and it's paying their bills and they're not struggling NEARLY as hard as I know I am XD. It's a double edge sword and it's butts. Doesn't make it not effective though and it's EXCESS butts.
So you wait. And you just kinda quietly draw. :'D! Gosh those lootboxes that you swore you'd not sell out for sure look more appealing that way.
IN all reality though I keep experimenting :'), so far the people willing to just approach me and talk a little and not act like total ding dongs and who're willing to just help work stuff out are folks I end up working with, but the entitlement so many people feel like dishing out without thinking about situations from all their angles is pretty mind boggling sometimes.