Selling Artwork Advice?

A

Aminirus

Artist
Hello, so I was hoping for some ideas in this as I struggle here the most. As an artist who wants to make art their career, its hard to find ways to sell commissions, where to go, and what to do. I've tried numerous methods and sites, but seem to fall short. I'm actually extremely lucky if I get even a $5.00 usd commission in a month, but no one can obviously live off of that. I also have loans and other bills to pay. I've been doing odd jobs here and there to make ends meet, but even that's falling short now too. I feel like I'm missing something something when it comes to selling commissions online, but do not know what it is. 

How do you guys do it? How do you sell your art online? Are there specific sites you go to or certain methods you have to take?

I've tried all kinds of things. I've made artwork for games, books, animals, fantasy, pets, creatures, adoptables, anthros, and even on extremely rare occasions, nsfw things. I usually come and go on the forums, but tend to reply when I can try to show off my work where ever I can. Do I need to try and do more traditional things instead of digital? Or am I just a bad sales person? 

I really don't know and thus I'm asking for help and advice. 

Thank you in advance.

 
It sounds like you have tried a lot of things. Some of those things I've tried too, and yes found it very difficult to get enough work. 

However, I find loads of work on Facebook. I'm involved in a livestock community. People like commissioning artists to draw 'logos'—they aren't always like simple logos, but often any drawings of the animals they raise with their farm name or other info on it. These typically get sold for around $10-30 per animal depending on your skill level and work put into it. The buyers might also want business cards designed using that 'logo' which may go for around $20-50 extra.

You can also find people looking for pet portraits and other drawings of their animals if livestock isn't your thing. And there might be other groups/subject matter you could try.

If you want to get into drawing animals for people on Facebook, I recommend picking some animals and joining groups. Make sure to read the group rules first (if you can find any), some groups don't want people who don't actually have the animals they are for, but you should be able to find plenty who are more open to anyone who is interested in discussing/premoting the animal (which is what you are doing with the artwork). 

Some groups also won't accept your request to join if you aren't already in a similar group, but don't let that discourage you. It's just a measure some use to avoid people with ill intent and it is not directed at you, though don't pester them. Kust try different groups until someone accepts you. I also recommend joining them even i they don't allow sales/commissioning of any kind because you will get to learn about the subject you're drawing. 

Anyway, best of luck with things, and I'm intereste din seeing if anyone else has ideas. 

 
What you're looking for is marketing advice, which is something I can't really help with, unfortunately. I have no idea how to market on anything apart from Deviantart, and you don't want to be doing commission work there. ^^;

Perhaps look into marketing tutorials? Maybe YouTube or Coursera? That's something I've been trying to find the time to do myself.

As Hare mentioned, I've also heard great things about FB. You might find this helpful:


I've had sales in the past, but it's super rare. I struggle just as much finding clients. I wish I could give you better advice x'D Best of luck though!

 
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It's a really tough market as there are a lot of people out there looking to make money from comissions.  A lot of times artists think that their art skills alone are what will sell them, but there are a lot of other factors.  As a person who hires people to make art, I have the following advice:

-It's not all just about the art.  Having someone who is willing to learn to conform to a buyer's project style, who can take constructive criticism with aplomb, who realises that they are hiring themselves out to do a job and thus must conform to what the person hiring them needs, are all super important.  Buyers don't want to deal with someone who thinks their style is the cat's ass and should be just fine for any site, whether it matches or not.  They don't want to deal with people who fly off the handle if asked to change or tweak something, or who run off to their internet friends to complain about what a demanding bitch the boss is because they actually expect you to create within certain parameters.  They also don't want to deal with a seller who is unwilling to work with the buyer to deliver what the buyer needs and not just what the seller wants to sell.  If you're signing on to a long term project, expect that yes, at first, you may be asked to change things a few times - while this may be frustrating, once you and the buyer can nail down what is expected, you'll be able to speed up your creation process without having to constantly alter things.

-Similarly, it doesn't matter if your art is the best ever seen, if you claim you'll be able to create 10 items by Friday but start rolling out the excuses when the buyer checks in to ask if they are done.  If you were working at an office you'd be expected to consistently meet your work deadlines regardless of whether your dog had to go to the dentist, your car broke down, your internet cut out or what have you.  As soon as you start missing deadlines and rolling the excuse dice to decide what reason  you have today for why you can't get your work done, the buyer is going to start seeing you as an amateur and not someone they can rely on to get work done.  They will start looking elsewhere.

-Check around to see what other people are charging for similar work.  If you haven't had a lot of sales and don't have a big following yourself, don't price your work in the top price bracket even if you think (and are correct) that your work is just as good as those who are getting top dollar.  They are probably getting top dollar because they have built up a following and are now in demand, which can take a lot of time and effort to achieve.

-Try to have as big a portfolio of different styles as you can.  Even if a buyer is only looking for one specific style, it's very useful for them to see that you can do a wide variety of styles so that they can have confidence that you are flexible and will be able to tweak your style to meet their needs or match the style they already have established for their project.

tl;dr reliability, flexibility and professional attitude are just as important as the quality of artwork you produce.  If you are consistently reliable, flexible and professional as well as producing a quality product, word will eventually get around!

 
I would actually try looking at local markets - where you live or see if you can get local contracts as an artist. With a digital portfolio you're already quite ahead of traditional-only artists, and could play to your versatility. I would recommend looking at local work, since you could leverage your name / build your brand / get referrals from client to client, and build a reputation that way. I feel online work is a hit or a miss when it comes to earning enough for part-time or full-time, especially with the volatility of e-communities, niche markets, or hell even exchange rates. Everything factors in at the end, unfortunately.

I struggled the way you did. My online commissions for web graphics or even digital illustrations vary too much month to month. And I wasn't too keen on forcing Patreon on my fans, so I decided to see if I could reach out to people I knew in my local community and do work for them. I went from maybe 1 commission every 3 months online to earning $18/hr as a graphic designer contractor, and I get 10-20 hours of work every two weeks for a small, long-term client in my field. I'm also doing web development for a smaller-revenue organization at $15/hr, but am close to landing a few more contract jobs from $20 - $30 an hour.  Once you can negotiate an hourly rate with clients, you've hit it. :)  I just finished a series of design work for the two clients last month and earned around $900, which I would personally NEVER see come into my bank account from online commissions. Never. And I leveraged my online commission portfolio when I started looking for local contracts. 

I feel like if you approached people you know in real life, or companies or within your social network, they're more likely to lend a hand than someone online. In the same manner, local companies or owners who contract out design jobs probably know the living wage conditions in your city and have minimum wage laws to abide to. And they'll have a better idea how much you're worth, and you have a better chance of showing them what you're worth. I always find it difficult selling myself online, since we're all behind a username, but in real life, it's easier to communicate AND negotiate work and pay. Plus if you have a uni or college degree, you can negotiate wages based on that by itself better in real life than online. Just my two cents. :)

Also! If you're doing local work, you could end up with pretty sweet contracts or opportunities to be a vendor at fairs or conventions. Or, you could also set prints up (those seem to sell pretty well so far, in terms of digital art), or see if you can get a consignment with a local artist group or gallery. Any of these channels could land you a long-term client or a big contract for your digital work, so you never know if there are cross-overs until a client approaches you with a "can you do this?"

This is just my advice haha, since I felt really shitty about my work / myself since my usual online commissions slowed down so much in the last 2-3 years. I had periods where I wanted to give up... but I couldn't just keep doing the same thing and hoping things will change. So I said 'screw it' to selling work online as my primary channel, and started looking for local contracts. And so far it's turned out well. Hope this helps!

 
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All you guys @Hare @kami @Onyx and @Cadence Thank you for your advice. I'll be reading through them more carefully and trying some different strategies. I would like to sell my traditional work as well, but I need to figure out where I can do that. I recently moved so still getting a bit used to the new surroundings and trying to figure out where stuff is at. The only thing I did find out was that only art groups in this town is 1 for a small group of grandmas and 2 groups for middle and high school and the college.... nothing for just people my age. Surprises me a bit since my last town had 2 different art based groups where people of various ages could work together, gather, talk, and learn and at least I wasn't the only one my age there. 

I'll have to dig better for Facebook. I've tried a few different things there, but I'll have to consider your guys' advice and words and see if I can adjust my strategy. You all are amazing and I can't thank you enough for the help.

If you have advice for any other media selling tips on other sites other than Facebook, I'd love to hear what you have to say too! BRING IT ON!! C:

 
Happy to help!

I guess in case you may want it, here's my tips on marketing on Deviantart: http://fav.me/d8ykf2k I guess it could be useful for general follower gaining, and they may share your stuff around which could help you reach the right people? Worth a shot, perhaps? XD

 
I agree @kami. I'll take a look. I do own a DA that I've had for 9 years, though I don't have a massive following on there but it does come in handy once in awhile. Thanks

 
I'm by no means rolling in the commissions, but I have tried a few different methods online. VPL was a very good start for me and I also got some jobs by browsing active pet site lists and checking to see if they were hiring.

I also began making custom digital invitations and selling them on Etsy in an attempt to make enough at home so I could quit my day job. My day job involves printing LOTS of Etsy invitations for moms planning their toddler's birthday party, so I was able to see that it has a very good market and was worth giving it a shot. If invitations aren't your forte though, other people make digital art packs of clip art and the like and sell them there for other people who aren't as creative. Since opening my shop in May I have made one sale; it's not much but I haven't advertised hardly anywhere at all and only have a handful of invites in my shop, plus I put almost zero effort into the shop and have already with one sale made an increase money-wise. Plus I can resell the same invitation over and over again and all I need to do is copy+paste the event info and I'm done. 

The biggest way I've made money thus far is actually by selling on pet websites. These are personal, non-commercial commissions almost 100% of the time by people who just want pictures of their characters. The thing about trying to sell your work on places like DeviantArt is you have sooo much competition, so it's in your best interest to find somewhere that has an interest in art but not much (or enough) talent to go around. Subeta is a good example of this, and while I no longer use Subeta (due to the requirement of having to accept site-currency and not strictly USD), it's a great place to get some extra cash. For you I might even suggest somewhere like Furry-Paws, which is a dog-based website that is very big in the art sales.

Art conventions are another way you can get some cash as well as new followers, but it's very much a "spend money to make money" hobby. I haven't gone to any conventions yet due to not being able to sell the entire weekends as per requirements, but if you live locally to any good conventions I would totally recommend them. The biggest issue with them is hotel+travel fees, so if you find something local you can PROBABLY be guaranteed to make a profit, depending on the price of the table and your merch. 

Off-line, I haven't tried anything simply because where I live is a very small town (the nearest decent-sized city is a good hour out - which is also the nearest town that actually HAS art-related jobs, and not the kind I want either), it's very rural and fairly poor, so I just don't feel like there's places available like local markets/art shows/what-have-you where I'm at. I may be wrong, but I don't feel there's anything out there for me to pursue as long as I'm here, so I cannot say to that extent. Hopefully your location is not as out-of-the-way as mine. 

I have several regular customers (both here on TGL as well as on the pet websites I frequent) but still haven't yet broken in the league of full-time freelancer as I'd like to be, but with time who knows?  

 
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I'm not the best for advice, since I only get about one or two art commissions a year between deviantart, furaffinity, tumblr, and various other forums, and customers usually don't believe me when I tell them that. (~$40 from art this whole year, definitely not enough to be a full-time artists like I'd like. I guess it's pretty easy for people to believe that artists just rake in piles of cash somehow.), last year I was lucky and got 4 commissions that were spread out across several months of nothing. I would say looking for pet/sim sites that needs artists is a get started if you're lucky enough. I have one regular customer I got in June for lineart/markings/recolors/etc, and that's been a total godsend for me.

Having an art booth at a convention could be a good way to sell since people actually walk by and see your work instead of being lost in cyberspace, but you have to be willing to risk if the expense outweighs what you earn. Me and my sister plan on doing this in the future, but having a booth practically bars you from going to any of the panels/workshops/activities if you wanted to attend them, unless there are large gaps of downtime or you have a partner/team that isn't interested in the panels that can tend the booth for you.

 
@Bingo speaking of conventions, there is thing my college holds every year and as an alumni, it's free for me to set up a booth so long as I sign up on time. I would really like to do one, but at this time, am not sure what to sell. It's held in November so majority of people like to sell christmas cards, shirts, knitted things, glassware, and so on. I always wanted to try it out, but other than making cards and some photo prints (since I also do nature photography), I'm not sure what else I could sell. I thought about enamel pins and stickers, but I don't know. I also thought about this artwork card collection thing with realistic pokemon. Like one side would have the realistic pokemon image and the other side would have some info and variations of that pokemon if found in other regions or locations. The only other thing that ever came to mind was shirts and a coloring book. Maybe some one of a kind traditional work and then offer business cards for pet portraits? 

Would that be interesting?

 
@Aminirus

I wish I could offer more advice, but I've only just been starting! Right now, I'm just trying to establish myself on social media. I only just started to get serious on dA and Twitter & very recently made a new Instagram and Tumblr. I'm trying to figure out how each platform works and what is worth my time, meanwhile I'm trying to get into the habit of posting nearly daily. I've only just recently hit 1k on Deviantart, and all my other follower counts are below 100. It's been slow progress and feels hard to get myself out there, but now that I've rebranded as Pepperish Studio, I've gotten more likes/favorites and new followers every time I post. I just need to keep it up along with my art improvement!

If you're thinking about printing on products to sell, I'd recommend checking out pawprinting - I follow them on Twitter and they've just started their business so you might find some competitive pricing (they do offer bulk quotes through email.) Of course research other options, but it's worth a try! You can ask if you have anything in mind you'd like printed that they don't offer yet, since they're still getting more equipment in (acrylic charms are next!) http://pawprinting.tictail.com/ 

And last thing, I'll drop this! It's a PowerPoint on "Art as a Business" by a furry artist who lives off their work. I've kept the tab open for weeks as a guide haha. I hope it helps you too!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/de3mg0nvjyft1pa/Art as a Business.pdf?dl=0 

 
@Aminirus I think that's a great idea! All the things you mentioned sound amazing. I would just try to do any research you can on that particular con and find out from others what sells the best (types of art styles/content interest/merch) I believe the only thing about enamel pins is usually you have to order in large quantities overseas (correct me if I'm wrong) however I would like to throw out that I personally own a pin button-making machine for 1.5 inch buttons (it's been said that's the most popular con size) if you'd be interested in buying some off me for you to resell. You usually want to have pretty cheap merch though when you're selling at conventions. Shirts, coloring books, and pet portraits are totally rad but they can get pricey. Something small like stickers, pins, and keychains seem to do well. I would even suggest making some keychain art, laminating it, punching a hole in it, and putting a chain on it.  Small, cheap stuff you can do in good-sized quantities. If car decals are an option they might be good too. As a Pokemon fan I personally love the idea of realistic Pokemon but I would advice you doublecheck that it's permitted in your convention you're referring to so as not to cause unintended trouble. 

 
Cool and thanks a lot @Bingo! I normally attend this particular convention every year so I know what normally is sold there and they don't actually have a strict set of rules. Since Pokemon Go came out last year, there was a ton of merch related to it, but the school didn't seem to care so long as it's your work and that you did it or have approval, if the artwork or item was created by another artist. Most of the objects sold are prints, original artwork, and christmas related material like ornaments and cards. The last couple years we had the artists and creators for a couple comics who had their books and merch to sell. There were some authors, and usually the rest of people who do crafty things like make bowls or birdhouses, etc. Really random stuff sometimes.

 
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