Best of luck going forward! Though a small caution, people still complain even with free works. It's incredibly stupid, but that's a big reason why artists stop doing free requests.

that might be true - but my response to those people would be "enjoy being blocked"
the same way i got asked in the spirit of "how fast can you do my request, and how well you draw <this>?" - my answer would be "no..."
(or to be honest there was no answer - as i found this bit insulting, something along the line of: "you work for free? - WORK HARDER!")

How unfortunate

admittedly it's kinda sad to hear you won't be doing commissions anymore considering i really really wanted more art from you, but it's better news to hear that you're doing this for your own wellbeing, and that you'll still be doing some art on the side even if it's not often at all. i hope i can get something drawn by you again sometime. i really enjoy your work. best of luck with feeling comfortable with art and such, friend!

Though you've clearly made up your mind - I do want to mention something about economics.

Value is ascribed by what other people think your work is worth. It's why Apple can keep selling 5-year-old features on new phones and charge double the price. Contrariwise, no consumer legitimately believes ads have value to the consumer (obv. they do for the business) which is why Google is so surreptitious about gathering user data. They can't charge a dime.

I'm not saying you should rip anyone off. Just, if you're not getting paid enough to support your work, and you want to work and have the skills, then there's no problem at least asking your customer base what kind of price they'd be okay with. You'll always get the "free lul" folks because people are like that but those who fail to consider your value entirely are not reliable consumers anyway. It's why the art industry tries to crack down on copyright so vigorously even though those people obviously aren't going to magically start shelling out. Big business wants to avoid creating more flippant consumers rather than actually deal with the sycophants.

In short - you have value. So long as you can create that value your worth can be realized via another avenue even when the original goal isn't feasible. This ability to look for new ways of doing business is the crux of any successful venture; there are literally zero businesses that start with no problems, even when they're being taken care of by a large corporation or rich family member. If business was easy then everyone would be rich... and we'd all be socialist.

Again, I know you said you were shifting priorities. Even if you don't choose to engage in comms in the future hopefully something I said will still be useful.

yeah i know - i had to take some "off-topic" courses during my engineering studies - and for me that was (roughly translated): "Sociology in Economics"
(plus i'm listening "The Economist" - Brits are publishing "audiobook" version of their paper - tho i think i'm hardly target group for them: as i think they aim for centrist-to-liberal-older-people not millennials but that is beside the point - and in the end i kinda listen to it for my english) ANYWAY:

i know current pricing model is: "however much they will pay"
and again at risk being called "commie" i'd say: "that is fair - but there still should be some decency, and upper end of margins on products".
apple being good example actually:
they sell phone which cost them - to R&D, assemble and ship - crica 200usd.
But the price tag is 1000usd, and people are willing to pay that much for it.
I'd say: that margins of 400% is insane - and that is why i never bought iPhone.
i was halfway through architecture degree before dropping it - but most stuff stuck around in my brain - and in building-industry - 400% is unthinkable, damn even 50% isn't - it's more like 5%-:-15% at the top end for "high skilled labour and good-quality materials" - if you want to "don't spare any expense" type of deal. asterisk - i mean "normal buildings" Zaha Hadid (RIP), Le Corbusier (RIP), Norman Foster or Santiago Calatrava etc. - notwithstanding. (fyi: these are bunch of high-profile architects i remember)

in art: it's kinda hard as old-fashioned formula of "<price> = (<labour>+<material cost>)*(1+<margin>)"
doesn't work that well as <material cost> are nearly zero (digitally i mean) and <labour> is arbitrary.
but i consider myself utterly mediocre at art - and my works would be worth basically "around that 30 usd price tag of mine".
and you know - "you live and die by beliefs" i guess - i consider Apple shitty company for pricing itself way it does (especially considering their behaviour in regards to repairs, ownership, privacy, 3rd party developers etc.) - i don't feel like doing same thing.
but when i started doing those "speedpaints" (i mean speed-up-recordings of me painting) i noticed: "shit! - it takes me upwards of 8 hours to make this stuff (up to 12) - i'm charging 30usd as that is what i consider my upper end of decency - that is below 4usd/hour - that is below minimum payment even in Poland - i can't be asked to be even mildly stressed, while paid at that rate: that isn't worth it"
thus i made my mind that i won't be doing paid work from now on - just free stuff for me as a way to relax after work.

as an side note: i not only never considered "working full time as an artist" i specifically decided not to do that. that is why ditching payment for my work here is "whatever" for me.
Thing is: i used to do all requests - then there was a point where i got more request than i could do: so i switched to doing raffles - but commission where option if someone would really really like me to draw something - that was an option - now sorry: there is no way to guarantee getting art from me. One will need to be favoured by RNG or have an idea which i like.

"my artwork isn't worth that much"-thing might be astonishing low self esteem or something - but i think that "your special snowflake" is dread upon modern world, and source of shitloads of problems - but to be fair: opposite (eg. Chinese) approach of "you're just replaceable cog of the machine, and no one cares about you" is equally or more nightmarish. So you know: i'm not politician - i don't need to think of solutions to problems - but what i can do is spot them quite easily tho.



*long winded answer? - i was bored - i'm waiting for lectures as i wrote this at the moment*

Cool. Well, you're right on every count, but one thing they don't seem to teach in any college course is that some people tend to take advantage anywhere they can. One of the flaws this creates is that these folks will manipulate society itself to increase the amount everyone else is willing/forced to pay - capitalist or not.

If these kind of people didn't exist then we could all be socialist and nobody would be around to muck it up. Capitalism only works as well as it does (as it has replaced socialist/communist attempts numerous times, or the latter has horrifically imploded) not because it's a better system (it's obviously not) but because it's better at restraining and redirecting the arrogant/selfish/haughty human natures toward technological if not social progress... Rather than taking dumps on eachother for fun or whatever it is the barbarians are wont to do.

Basically, all I meant was "don't disadvantage yourself by undervaluing your self-worth" but it seems you already have that figured out. Also, I guess I misunderstood; raffles are a very good choice for alternative income.