# Does anybody actually make money from commissions?



## SnC (Feb 6, 2014)

Maybe I should rephrase that. Obviously, some people make some money, some of the time, otherwise nobody would sell commissions. And more than once, I've seen artists I watch open "emergency commissions" because for some reason, they need cash right away. But I'm trying to figure out where the line is between taking commissions for fun, and taking commissions to seriously supplement your income.

I get that some people sell commissions just to make a bit of pocket change from their hobby. But for anything serious, the math just isn't making sense to me. If you sell a commission for $45, and it costs you 6 hours to make, that's $7.50/hr. Assuming you keep that up all day, every day, that's only $1200/month. And that's something, but it's not good to live on. If you're a good artist who can sell for $80-90 per piece, you'll obviously make a bit more. But the more you charge, the less likely people are to buy from you.

Furthermore, you need a good name and a decent following before you can sell. That requires yet more investment. You have to spend a lot of your time drawing personal art and developing your skills before you'll establish a reputation as a serious and talented enough artist to commission. Assuming that drawing is your hobby, maybe you would've spent some of that time drawing anyway. But when you're considering the economics of selling commissions, that time is still going to drive down your bottom line in terms of dollars per hour.

I like drawing and I follow a lot of artists who offer commissions, so this is something I've thought about on and off for a while. Maybe someone who's actually sold a few commissions can enlighten me on this?

Also, I don't know if this is the right place for this post, so I made an educated guess.


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## Aleu (Feb 6, 2014)

Of course people make money from commissions. Also you're going by "ifs" and then saying it's not feasible. I've seen artists charge far more than that, for example
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jocarra/ who charges $15 for sketches and up to $500 for illustrations. She still gets a buttload of commissions as you can see in her journal, she has quite the line.
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/senaydragon/ who charges from $5 sketches to $180 depending on the complexity of the piece.
Zenia ALSO does commissions and I'm pretty sure she gets them quite often.

There's also another person who does pretty much YCH auctions where autobuy is at $150. Fucking thing is gone within the hour. I see this constantly.


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## Batty Krueger (Feb 6, 2014)

Yes of course. I dumped nearly $400 on commissions this year already. Good artists can and do make a killing. And I respect that.


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## SnC (Feb 6, 2014)

Aleu said:


> Also you're going by "ifs" and then saying it's not feasible. I've seen artists charge far more than that.



Okay, now for a related question: Are the artists you're thinking of also professionals? Having a professional reputation outside the fandom would justify a higher price, and would also be a good fallback if the demand for commissions dried up for some reason.


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## SnC (Feb 6, 2014)

d.batty said:


> I dumped nearly $400 on commissions this year already.



Just curious: If you're commissioning digital art, do you make high-quality prints of the file, or do you keep it purely digital?


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## Centradragon (Feb 6, 2014)

I think the secret is just timing yourself (I have a timer on my desktop computer I use for speedpaints) and making the hourly rate worth your time. I gradually raised my rates over the course of many years, from something like $40 for a fully-rendered 20-40 hour piece (nowhere near a living wage) to $4-900+ for the same time bracket. It does take a lot of time/effort to get to that point, but I don't think most artists think about that too much. It's more important to do what you love, and if a few years down the line you're making money off it... well, can't complain about that!


Even in a best-case scenario, however, I'd recommend saving 3-6 months of utilities and rent before quitting a job and doing freelance/commission work. Some months are drier than others, and it's good to plan for emergencies (medical, pet, that brand-new video game) _before_ they happen. I think a lot of artists on FA forget that inconstant work is... inconstant, and they'll freak if one month they're not getting any bites. It's pretty normal, and I've heard professionals going a few months without work and being slammed the next.


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## Rassah (Feb 6, 2014)

Getting very little, or no money, for your work while you're not a professional sounds rather familiar. I was getting almost no money, and ended up having to go $60k in debt working while I wasn't a professional (university degree), and am only making enough money to pay it off now. I wonder if artists can't go the same route, earning little, or even going in debt, as they work to improve their skill, and then charging $100+ per commission because they can?


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## Aleu (Feb 6, 2014)

SnC said:


> Okay, now for a related question: Are the artists you're thinking of also professionals? Having a professional reputation outside the fandom would justify a higher price, and would also be a good fallback if the demand for commissions dried up for some reason.


Senay has gone to art school however she is unemployed atm.
Zenia is a seamstress with her own shop
Jocarra is freelance but beyond that, idk.
The other person I mentioned is a college student iirc. Didn't mention what.


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## Itzal (Feb 6, 2014)

Rassah said:


> Getting very little, or no money, for your work while you're not a professional sounds rather familiar. I was getting almost no money, and ended up having to go $60k in debt working while I wasn't a professional (university degree), and am only making enough money to pay it off now. I wonder if artists can't go the same route, earning little, or even going in debt, as they work to improve their skill, and then charging $100+ per commission because they can?



I think that all boils down to skill and then the demand for that artist's work. Some artists are to the point that their work is at a quality that buyers feel justified in paying $100+ for, and while commissions may not be their only source of income, an extra 100 to 500 dollars can't hurt, especially if they have debts to repay.


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## SnC (Feb 7, 2014)

Centradragon said:


> I think the secret is just timing yourself (I have a timer on my desktop computer I use for speedpaints) and making the hourly rate worth your time. I gradually raised my rates over the course of many years, from something like $40 for a fully-rendered 20-40 hour piece (nowhere near a living wage) to $4-900+ for the same time bracket.



I was hoping you'd respond. Your FA profile is pretty awesome. Assuming the best-case scenario of full-time work, $900 for 20 hours of work sounds pretty decent. Are you making a living solely by freelancing?

As a minor disclaimer, I am not planning to make a living selling furry art on the internet. I'm currently in college working on a computer engineering degree. And my art right now is nowhere near good enough anyway, although I'm sure it would get better with practice.


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## Batty Krueger (Feb 7, 2014)

SnC said:


> Just curious: If you're commissioning digital art, do you make high-quality prints of the file, or do you keep it purely digital?


Yes with digital art I get high resolution copies via email and my husband prints them out at work in the print lab.


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## Sammacha (Feb 7, 2014)

If your good, you treat people well and you can market yourself, well you can sell anything!
Some people can make a living off art, not easy, some people can make a couple hundred a month, you know great! Some people just a couple of extra bucks to throw around. Besides most of the people doing it enjoy it, so why not try to earn some money doing so?
People have been freelancing for forever, so it obviously works for some people.
It's a commitment thing in my opinion. You can invest hours making a name for yourself or you can hope for the couple of people that find and commission you. Nothing is easy and nothing is free, but hard work and patients is usually the key to most things.


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## Duality Jack (Feb 7, 2014)

I have a relative whom is dating someone whom pays her rent completely from this site.


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## BRN (Feb 7, 2014)

'nother commissioner, here. Think I've spent just over Â£150 on art since Christmas. I definitely try to support artists I admire!

I'll offer Maim as an example of an artist who seems to do well off commissions. Between periodically dropping a set of adoptables at $25per, opening a set of specific types of commissions ($35+), and working in collaboration with Sefeiren for the FriskyFerals project, everybody seems to win.


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## Tica (Feb 7, 2014)

SnC said:


> Just curious: If you're commissioning digital art, do you make high-quality prints of the file, or do you keep it purely digital?



I always specifically request that my digital art be 300 dpi so that I can print it. (After making the mistake of commissioning without saying that and getting these ittybitty 76 dpi commissions in return...)


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## Hewge (Feb 7, 2014)

A lot of people make their living just off of commissions alone.

But that, of course, would take a lot of time, effort, and self-discipline.


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## Zydala (Feb 7, 2014)

my wife does commissions and pretty much can pay our rent budget with her work (usually more than that). It's feasible.


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## Socks the Fox (Feb 7, 2014)

Several people I know pay their bills and whatnot (and often have a bit to save up after) solely through commissions. One I know has a goal of $200 a day (although expects more like $100) but works 6 days a week. She's thinking about getting one of those Cintiq Tablets (which she can then turn around and claim as a business expense on her taxes, given that it's how she earns her income). Another's struggling a bit but is in the process of getting back on her feet after a really crappy few months.


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## Rassah (Feb 7, 2014)

It would be cool if some artists could also make at least some of their living off of donation tips for stuff they currently post for free anyway.


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## Zenia (Feb 7, 2014)

I have a steady webcomic job that earns $160/mo and another one that is more sporadic, and he always tips well. Plus when I have the time I offer commissions for about $10 which take about an hour or two (so technically I should charge a wee bit more but I don't want to at the moment) and YCH flat rate. My YCH images are pretty good sellers, the clean ones take a little longer to sell, but the X rated ones usually go in less than a half hour.

Also, as Aleu mentioned earlier, I own my own tailor shop... so while I am making money on sewing jobs (which I sew after hours) I can work on commissions on my laptop while I am manning the front desk during the day. I am working 7 days a week at the moment. lol I don't think I would ever want my sole income to be form commissions... unless I was able to get like $100 per image and could do at least 15 per month. As I am living now, I really only need to make about $1000/mo and the extra would be savings/retirement/taxes.


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## SnC (Feb 7, 2014)

Zenia said:


> I have a steady webcomic job that earns $160/mo.



Mind linking me to the comic? I've always wanted to run one. Not  that I have time at the moment. I'm just curious to see how other people  do it.


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## Taralack (Feb 8, 2014)

Just to give you a rough ballpark estimate, last month I got nearly $1000 from commissions alone. This month I also got paid from doing freelance work, which brings my total earned in February so far to almost double what I earned last month, and the month isn't even halfway done. 

If you're relying on furries as your sole source of income, you're gonna have a bad time. As far as I know, furries don't give a shit over whether you have a professional presence outside the fandom, unless you're a superstar artist who already works in games or comics.


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## rjbartrop (Feb 8, 2014)

Tica said:


> I always specifically request that my digital art be 300 dpi so that I can print it. (After making the mistake of commissioning without saying that and getting these ittybitty 76 dpi commissions in return...)



That's a wise move.  I usually do colour commissions at 400 DPI,  though I've found that lineart looks best when it's at least 600 DPI.


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## Zenia (Feb 8, 2014)

SnC said:


> Mind linking me to the comic? I've always wanted to run one. Not  that I have time at the moment. I'm just curious to see how other people  do it.


Sure. You can find it on my comic account (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/zenia-comics/) it is linked in the top area and is called Tinas Story, although I post a couple of weeks behind the guy that is commissioning me to make it. How this one works... is that he has already written the story out just as a normal story. I read through each chapter and make a comic script for it and then draw the resulting pages.


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## ceacar99 (Feb 12, 2014)

one points out that if you are putting out actual high quality work then you can expect to get paid for anything. getting paid implies you are at least attempting to be a professional. this means being objective about your work and identifying its quality. you need to produce a consistent product that the public likes but is also of substantial quality. keep in mind that you can be very specific in your target audience and make money but if that specific market is flooded it will be an uphill battle for supremacy. 

as with any craft vocation mastering the latest tools can really improve your profit margins. tablets and digital color can allow for an easier coloring/shading job as well as greatly improving your ability to do editing. the final product is what counts remember. this is comparable to my vocation of gunsmithing where most of my money has gone into tools. you wouldn't believe the difference a high quality gouge compared to a cheap one makes. even if not going the digital route in art this can mean using something better than just crayola pencils.

so basically my suggestion. practice practice practice. get better tools constantly and USE THEM. post your work. look at others work. study and figure out what your niche will be. as your quality improves i am betting you the world will beat their path to your door.


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