# too expensive arts or... ?



## Gela98 (May 26, 2017)

hi...I can't find any commissioners for a quite long time.Can somebody check my prices ? Are my prices too eexpensive ? warning: you can find many pony examples here XD (i was ... and i am still pony artist >.>)

my prices are here --- >   gela98cminfo.weebly.com: Commission Information



and second question...
how to get watchers on fA omg >.> ?!
I'm new in furry fandom and fA and I'm still learning how to draw anthro( human-like anatomy is killing me XD ) but I think i can draw ferals 

my bad anthro is here : 










fA: Userpage of gela98 -- Fur Affinity [dot] net
dA: Gela98 on DeviantArt


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## Yakamaru (May 26, 2017)

^ If anything, I think your prices are kinda low, as far as your skills and art quality is anything to go by.

I mean, look at the detail on your $5 headshots alone. In my opinion, your art and its quality is worth at least double their current amount, though you should probably adjust them higher over time.

..Oh. And consider yourself watched! <3


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## Gela98 (May 26, 2017)

Yakamaru said:


> ^ If anything, I think your prices are kinda low, as far as your skills and art quality is anything to go by.
> 
> I mean, look at the detail on your $5 headshots alone. In my opinion, your art and its quality is worth at least double their current amount, though you should probably adjust them higher over time.


you say my prices are too low ... but no one want to commission me XD Something is wrong here XDD


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## Yakamaru (May 26, 2017)

Gela98 said:


> you say my prices are too low ... but no one want to commission me XD Something is wrong here XDD


Personally at least I would say this quality is worth more than what you are selling it for.

There's a plethora of different reasons on why you may not get commissioned. It can in some cases be prices, but IMO for this quality, price is not an issue. Personally I would say it's your fan/watch base. Their budgets may not be adequate in order to commission you. Or your reach may be too small.

What you CAN do, is perhaps do a request in order to use it as a promotion/exposure tool? If done correctly, it can expose your art to people who ARE interested in commissioning you. However, that one is 100% up to you, as a decent amount of artists experience "art leechers", people who only follow you for free shit. I can link your artwork over Discord and the groups that I am in, see if anyone's interested, though I cannot guarantee any actual takers/commissioners.

Tell you what: If you can't find any commissioners by Sunday, send me a PM. I'm pretty sure I should have $10 left on my god damn Paypal..


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## Pipistrele (May 26, 2017)

On "request as exposure", while I woundn't use that as a way to promote myself personally (mainly because I have enough good connections to avoid the process of spreading myself through free work), it may work. Blindly giving away free artwork isn't a good strategic option though - while it's good for practice, there are many artists who tried to use that as promotion tool, only to find out that amount of work put into non-paid stuff wasn't worth it, and there are still no legitimate clients. What you want to do in this situation is to make requests in _exchange_ for exposure - I.e. give some artwork away to the folks that could potentially promote you to a good degree, and then ask them to shill a bit .3.


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## Gela98 (May 26, 2017)

Yakamaru said:


> Personally at least I would say this quality is worth more than what you are selling it for.
> 
> There's a plethora of different reasons on why you may not get commissioned. It can in some cases be prices, but IMO for this quality, price is not an issue. Personally I would say it's your fan/watch base. Their budgets may not be adequate in order to commission you. Or your reach may be too small.
> 
> ...



actually ... i thought about opening RQ for anthro and only anthro (because i want to practice )

and "art leechers" i think i have some of these people on my deviantArt account (800 wathers and no one interested in commission XD ) 


and it would  be very nice of you if link my artworks somewhere <3 

and please dont feel obligated to commission me if i dont find any commissioner ;0;


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## Yakamaru (May 26, 2017)

Pipistrele said:


> On "request as exposure", while I woundn't use that as a way to promote myself personally (mainly because I have enough good connections to avoid the process of spreading myself through free work), it may work. Blindly giving away free artwork isn't a good strategic option though - while it's good for practice, there are many artists who tried to use that as promotion tool, only to find out that amount of work put into non-paid stuff wasn't worth it, and there are still no legitimate clients. What you want to do in this situation is to make requests in _exchange_ for exposure - I.e. give some artwork away to the folks that could potentially promote you to a good degree, and then ask them to shill a bit .3.


^ This. 

Artwork for exposure won't always give you a 100% return in terms of reach for artwork price, it will depend on who you do it for. Some people's reach can be quite large, actually.



Gela98 said:


> actually ... i thought about opening RQ for anthro and only anthro (because i want to practice )
> 
> and "art leechers" i think i have some of these people on my deviantArt account (800 wathers and no one interested in commission XD )
> 
> ...


I usually tend to only commission those I like the artwork of, despite a limited monthly budget. This month I've gone way over it and into a bit of my savings, but meh. If only as little as $10 can save someone from getting kicked out of their apartment.. Well, they can have my $10.

Once your reach on FA start to take off, commissioners will eventually nibble. I find FA to be better in terms of commissions, though I might be mistaken.

I've already shared your weebly commission page on 4 different Discord servers/groups. One is pretty populated, but I can't guarantee any takers, obviously. Total exposure I would say lie around 350-400 people.


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## Gela98 (May 26, 2017)

Pipistrele said:


> On "request as exposure", while I woundn't use that as a way to promote myself personally (mainly because I have enough good connections to avoid the process of spreading myself through free work), it may work. Blindly giving away free artwork isn't a good strategic option though - while it's good for practice, there are many artists who tried to use that as promotion tool, only to find out that amount of work put into non-paid stuff wasn't worth it, and there are still no legitimate clients. What you want to do in this situation is to make requests in _exchange_ for exposure - I.e. give some artwork away to the folks that could potentially promote you to a good degree, and then ask them to shill a bit .3.


 this can be a  good idea, but yeah .. i must find good person for it i guess ...how I can distinquish this person ? (btw. sorry for my english... it isn't my native language XD )


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## PixelVixen (May 26, 2017)

I'm not a professional artist, so I can't speak from experience, but I will give my opinion. 

The price you set is what YOU think you're worth, not anyone else. Whilst it's good to see what other's are charging (just to get an idea), it can be difficult to set a rate based on this because there's  such a broad range of commissioners out there, each with different styles, and likely, different levesl of experience. It can be expected that when you start out, your rates will be a little on the low side to try to attract the punters and get some work in. Once you start to build up a good client base, and your experience increases, you'll likely increase your rates in line to reflect this. Those who continue to buy from you will do so because they appreciate that your skills and experience will command a higher rate. At the end of the day, what do people want? To pay that little bit more for quality? Or minimum price for something that may be quite mediocre, or lacks effort?

Again this is just my opinion, but I hope it can help in some way ^^


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## Gela98 (May 26, 2017)

Yakamaru said:


> ^ This.
> 
> Artwork for exposure won't always give you a 100% return in terms of reach for artwork price, it will depend on who you do it for. Some people's reach can be quite large, actually.
> 
> ...



I heard that fA is better in terms of commissions but now.... what can i do with 25 watchers ? i feel sooo smal here XD i must grow bigger heh.. 

and thank you for sharing my my page ^^' (btw. sorry for my english... it isn't my native language ;~; )


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## Yakamaru (May 26, 2017)

Gela98 said:


> I heard that fA is better in terms of commissions but now.... what can i do with 25 watchers ? i feel sooo smal here XD i must grow bigger heh..
> 
> and thank you for sharing my my page ^^' (btw. sorry for my english... it isn't my native language ;~; )


Don't worry, love.

Things take time, and so does reaching a large enough audience.


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## Gela98 (May 26, 2017)

Yakamaru said:


> Don't worry, love.
> 
> Things take time, and so does reaching a large enough audience.


i know i know XDD


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## Amiir (May 26, 2017)

Pipistrele said:


> On "request as exposure", while I woundn't use that as a way to promote myself personally (mainly because I have enough good connections to avoid the process of spreading myself through free work), it may work. Blindly giving away free artwork isn't a good strategic option though - while it's good for practice, there are many artists who tried to use that as promotion tool, only to find out that amount of work put into non-paid stuff wasn't worth it, and there are still no legitimate clients. What you want to do in this situation is to make requests in _exchange_ for exposure - I.e. give some artwork away to the folks that could potentially promote you to a good degree, and then ask them to shill a bit .3.


Ex-fucking-actly! Had the same idea. Great minds think alike, I always say that. Anyway, I wanna use this ''technique'' myself sooner or later... The popufur gets the free art, I get the exposure. Sounds like a great deal to me


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## Yakamaru (May 26, 2017)

Amiir said:


> popufur


.... I've been called a popufur recently. Made me shiver and gave me PTSD. 

The name itself just sounds.. Dumb. Why do we have to Furrify everything? >_<

Other than that, yes, it's a very good idea.


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## PixelVixen (May 26, 2017)

Again, I'm not speaking as a professional artist (I'm merely just a do-oer and sharer of arts XD)

I'm only speaking generally (not directing this at the OP), but could it be that people need to be more "open" in what they offer? I mean rather than saying, "I do X, Y and Z", people might think that's all you have to offer, and so won't bother asking if you can fullfill their specific request. If you actually prompt people to get in touch to discuss specific requirements, maybe that will help build up a decent network of prospective clients at least? I know for certain that when you are a commercial artist, you don't always get to do what you want, but if people are willing to pay because they like your specific style, then it can become beneficial to diversify what you offer. It's that trade-off I guess, you won't always draw the things that YOU want, but at the end of the day, if you're serious about commissions and want to be seen as an artist who can tackle a diverse range of things then...

Again, this is TOTALLY just my opinion, and I'm not saying this is what the OP should do. If anything, I've probably over-thought this! ^^


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## Amiir (May 26, 2017)

Yakamaru said:


> .... I've been called a popufur recently. Made me shiver and gave me PTSD.
> 
> The name itself just sounds.. Dumb. Why do we have to Furrify everything? >_<
> 
> Other than that, yes, it's a very good idea.


Lol I know, it's a silly and cringey word but it gets the point across so I use it anyway


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## fralea (May 28, 2017)

Well I don't think your prices seem too high to me. But here are some things that stood out to me:

1. If you've been mostly based on DA in the past, I personally have never had any luck selling there. It may take some time to get a fanbase on FA but users are more likely to be older and thus have more expendable income in my experience. Though there are some people who do sell plenty of commissions on DA I guess, I just don't know how they do it!

2. Your commission info was very overwhelming for me. There are lots of pages, lots of options, and lots of ranged prices, plus it starts to get a bit confusing on top of that. You say in your TOS that there is an extra charge for detailed characters. So for a $5-8 commission, would it be potentially $8+ extra? Or is the $8 including that extra charge? I chose a small example there that wouldn't make a ton of difference, but for a larger commission it can make it hard to tell if your art falls within my budget. For me it works best to make the prices as simple as possible, and just say that there may be charges for certain themes/characters. Then when I ask you for a quote, you can state how much extra you would charge if anything. (Actually, the way you have your commissions set up I guess no one can really contact you to ask questions or ask for a quote without actually ordering something. That may be another thing to look into... maybe leave an email address to direct questions towards?)

3. Your TOS saying "no refunds" would be an automatic dealbreaker for me if I was looking for a commission. To the customer that says if something goes wrong there is no recourse, even if you never start working on their commission. That's not even really a legal policy to have (may depend on where you live though?).  I would encourage you to actually write up a refund policy that details different possible situations.


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## Gela98 (May 28, 2017)

fralea said:


> Well I don't think your prices seem too high to me. But here are some things that stood out to me:
> 
> 1. If you've been mostly based on DA in the past, I personally have never had any luck selling there. It may take some time to get a fanbase on FA but users are more likely to be older and thus have more expendable income in my experience. Though there are some people who do sell plenty of commissions on DA I guess, I just don't know how they do it!
> 
> ...




thank you for commenting ;o; i changed it a little ... can you check it now ;~; ?


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## Yakamaru (May 28, 2017)

Gela98 said:


> thank you for commenting ;o; i changed it a little ... can you check it now ;~; ?


fralea was correct. I didn't notice when I first visited, but it looks better now. Less overwhelming in terms of different prices. 

Have anyone contacted you in terms of wanting a commission?


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## fralea (May 28, 2017)

.... well I still wouldn't be comfortable with your TOS but its your choice I guess. What if you send the WIP sketch but then I never got the finished product for a long time? Or you did it as someone else's character on accident, or so on. Other people may be fine with it though, everyone is different I guess.

Oh, on another topic, I just noticed this:
"_sorry for prices ... fullarts are very time consuming ;-;"_
Negative commentary like that won't make you look very good to a customer, I think. Someone correct me if I'm wrong  But to me it says that you aren't confident in your own work and don't think its worth the money. If you don't think your art is worth it why should I? You know what I mean? Of course if you need to lower or raise your prices you can do so whenever but that language didn't strike me as very professional.

Oh, something that might help you. You can put the link to your weebly page at the bottom of the descriptions of your image submissions so you get more visibility. That way if someone just sees your art on the front page they don't have to look far to find info. Even if your comms are closed, you can put the link and then (closed) after. It might now help much idk but I don't think it would hurt.


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## Sergei Sóhomo (May 28, 2017)

Gela98 said:


> you say my prices are too low ... but no one want to commission me XD Something is wrong here XDD


It also has to do with not having your name out there. I've never heard of you nor do I browse FA or DA but I do use FAF. Try putting your name out on multiple sites

And as Yaka said, your art is _definitely _worth more than you price it at but it's also up to you whether or not you want to adjust to reflect the actual quality, or undercut yourself to get more people interested in a short period


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## Gela98 (May 28, 2017)

Yakamaru said:


> Have anyone contacted you in terms of wanting a commission?



one person from fb ^^


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## Yakamaru (May 28, 2017)

It is only my opinion as a non-artist that you're undercutting yourself with these prices for this quality. Personally I would be happy to pay 2x those prices. The prices are ultimately your choice.



Gela98 said:


> one person from fb ^^


Nice. 

I think I'll commission you regardless. 

Will send you a PM in a sec.


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## Gela98 (May 28, 2017)

Sergei Sóhomo said:


> I've never heard of you


I'm new on FA but i have deviantart ;~;(but 800 watchers is quite low i think .-. ) I'm not very popular XD


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## Sergei Sóhomo (May 28, 2017)

Gela98 said:


> I'm new on FA but i have deviantart ;~;(but 800 watchers is quite low i think .-. ) I'm not very popular XD


Try other sites as well. Inkbunny and whatever other artistic sites there are


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