# How do you personally find comissioners?



## jcelseyblock (Nov 20, 2010)

I'm trying to open up commissions and I get one here and there. I personally don't think the price is too horribly much for what I'm offering - however its a little more than others. Is it just getting out there, is it the big bump from being a little nobody to a semi-known artist?

Any suggestions?


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## Stargazer Bleu (Nov 20, 2010)

Offer a couple of free pieces. To help get your name out.
Even if only sketches, or ask for trades.


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## jcelseyblock (Nov 20, 2010)

That is a good idea, I did that once.


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## Fay V (Nov 20, 2010)

That's what I do now. Actually that's how I got a commission from stargazer :3
I like to do free sketches. It helps an artist do something they may not normally do, and people enjoy free things. 
Other than that I mostly just try to be nice to everyone and ask my customers to spread the word. I'm not rolling in commissions, but I have some loyal customers.


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## Taralack (Nov 20, 2010)

jcelseyblock said:


> the big bump from being a little nobody to a semi-known artist?


 
It's this. 

I've had this problem for years, until end of last year when I offered 50 cent sketches, which seemed to up my popularity a bit. I'm still nowhere near as "popular" as some of the more well known artists on this site, but I do get a pretty regular commission queue now. If you have lots of free time perhaps it is something you could consider doing.


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## jcelseyblock (Nov 21, 2010)

That's actually a super good idea, at least it's some sort of profit. Both of your ideas are wonderful I will have to give them a shot : D


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## Arshes Nei (Nov 21, 2010)

I was asked if I did commissions so I did them.


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## Eske (Nov 21, 2010)

I actually find a lot of my commissioners by word of mouth, lately.  Some of my commissioners who are especially happy with my work will sometimes refer friends to me.  I've heard of people setting up referral-rewards systems  (i.e. discounts, features, or free art for advertising), and I'm thinking about doing something similar, because it's a really nice way to give back to people for going out of their way to do that for me.  c:

However, there's one majorly important thing you need to do, to sell commissions -- you need to be friendly.  It sounds kind of odd, but it's so important.  Don't treat your customers like filth -- they don't _have_ to pay you for custom artwork, they _want _to.  You should show your appreciation for that, and always try to meet the customer's needs as best you can.  This is so important to me, and I really think people respond well to it.  Just be nice, don't freak out over silly things, and don't sit on a high horse.


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## Aaros (Nov 21, 2010)

I've never commissioned anyone or been commissioned, but from browsing around it seems like the best way to become known is just to be involved and talk to people. Blackminorscales, a friend of mine, isn't necessarily a better artist than me or most people (a piece of  his art) but his dA account has about 6 times more views than mine because he comments on most pieces of art he sees and talks to people and makes friends with them. He also comissions artists. I figure a good way to get people to notice your account is to commission a well-known artists that everyone watches, and then people might follow the link to your account and see your art and like it. A lot of the friends and family of well-known artists get lots of pageviews just because the artist mentions them; I imagine you'd get many more if you had them draw a picture of your character.


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## Smelge (Nov 21, 2010)

Aaromus said:


> I've never commissioned anyone or been commissioned, but from browsing around it seems like the best way to become known is just to be involved and talk to people. Blackminorscales, a friend of mine, isn't necessarily a better artist than me or most people (a piece of  his art) but his dA account has about 6 times more views than mine because he comments on most pieces of art he sees and talks to people and makes friends with them. He also comissions artists. I figure a good way to get people to notice your account is to commission a well-known artists that everyone watches, and then people might follow the link to your account and see your art and like it. A lot of the friends and family of well-known artists get lots of pageviews just because the artist mentions them; I imagine you'd get many more if you had them draw a picture of your character.


 
In other words, commentwhore and buy popularity.

Great plan.


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## Aaros (Nov 21, 2010)

Smelge said:


> In other words, commentwhore and buy popularity.
> 
> Great plan.


Well, it works.


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## Taralack (Nov 21, 2010)

Aaromus said:


> Well, it works.


 
Unfortunately.


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## Aaros (Nov 21, 2010)

Toraneko said:


> Unfortunately.



Double post alert!

Doesn't it make sense, though, that to get noticed in a community you'd need to be active in it and contribute and find ways to get your name out? People aren't very good at finding and running across unkown good artists on their own.


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## Taralack (Nov 21, 2010)

Aaromus said:


> Double post alert!
> 
> Doesn't it make sense, though, that to get noticed in a community you'd need to be active in it and contribute and find ways to get your name out? People aren't very good at finding and running across unkown good artists on their own.


 
Fixed.

I'd rather people noticed me for my art, rather than for art I bought from popular artists. :V


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## Smelge (Nov 22, 2010)

Aaromus said:


> Doesn't it make sense, though, that to get noticed in a community you'd need to be active in it and contribute and find ways to get your name out? People aren't very good at finding and running across unkown good artists on their own.


 
There are different ways of being active in a community though. The ways you are saying are the equivalent of jumping around in front of someone, waving your arms and screaming "LOOK AT ME" in their face.

It's obnoxious.

For starters, the commentwhoring thing means that the majority of the time, you're just posting comments or shoults for no purpose other than advertisement. They'll be inane comments with no actual purpose. Sure, chat away with people if it's relevant, but if you're commenting on a big-name artist, you're going to get ignored unless you do something really obnoxious.


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## Aaros (Nov 22, 2010)

Toraneko said:


> Fixed.
> I'd rather people noticed me for my art, rather than for art I bought from popular artists. :V


Think about it this way: people would like you for your art, but they would be directed to your art through seeing other people draw your character. So the solution is, draw good art, and people will like your good art because it is good. They just will have found it a different way.



Smelge said:


> There are different ways of being active in a community though. The ways you are saying are the equivalent of jumping around in front of someone, waving your arms and screaming "LOOK AT ME" in their face.
> 
> It's obnoxious.
> 
> For starters, the commentwhoring thing means that the majority of the time, you're just posting comments or shoults for no purpose other than advertisement. They'll be inane comments with no actual purpose. Sure, chat away with people if it's relevant, but if you're commenting on a big-name artist, you're going to get ignored unless you do something really obnoxious.


No, I don't mean commenting in that way. I mean actually talking about things with people, and not always on the pages of well-known artists.


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## Smelge (Nov 22, 2010)

Aaromus said:


> No, I don't mean commenting in that way. I mean actually talking about things with people, and not always on the pages of well-known artists.


 
Thing is, that's not what happens. The people who get the attention are the shamless whores running around spamming everywhere. People doing actual input is limited.


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## Gavrill (Nov 22, 2010)

I like to look through the favorites of artists to find obscure artists, then look through _their_ favorites, on a never ending hunt for obscure artists with amazing art.
Like Lochi, rychuu, Positronic, 3721, etc. (Warning: do not look those up there is creepy stuff :U)

Edit: Not for commissioners, but for people to commission in the future


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## Arshes Nei (Nov 22, 2010)

Like I said, I got asked if I can do commissions and didn't worry about "well gee, can I sell mah shit" until I hit a level of quality I'm comfortable with, usually I turn down commissions actually.

It seems today there are way too many artists obsessed with selling than the actual craft of making artwork. It's kind of sad really. Making money like that doesn't solve attention issues D: Work on getting better. If it's too hard to work, then maybe you shouldn't be working


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## mystery_penguin (Nov 22, 2010)

I'd like to do so much as a request, but I'm so bad about drawing regularly that It would take ages for them to get their art.


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## Sigilgoat (Nov 22, 2010)

I try to post a broad range of species and topics, I'm as friendly as I can be, I watch other people that I think have potential or I like already, I comment and I buy advertising space.

It's a lot of work for some people, not for others. Just keep trying and look at what other artists are doing. I got a piece of advice early on that said you should shoot for about 400 watchers before trying out commissions.


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## Aaros (Nov 23, 2010)

Sigilgoat said:


> I try to post a broad range of species and topics, I'm as friendly as I can be, I watch other people that I think have potential or I like already, I comment and I buy advertising space.
> 
> It's a lot of work for some people, not for others. Just keep trying and look at what other artists are doing. I got a piece of advice early on that said you should shoot for about 400 watchers before trying out commissions.



I thought one should get something like a thousand or so first. Or maybe that's just because all the commissioned artists I watch are on dA and have over a quarter-million pageviews already. 400 seems really small.


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## Fay V (Nov 23, 2010)

Aaromus said:


> I thought one should get something like a thousand or so first. Or maybe that's just because all the commissioned artists I watch are on dA and have over a quarter-million pageviews already. 400 seems really small.


 =X I got asked for commissions before that. granted I have a lot of work to do. I don't think watchers is a good way to figure it out. There are people that are absolutely horrific in terms of art, but draw a lot of porn and have a lot of watchers. There are people that repost commissions and have a lot of watchers. there's a lot of cases where number of watchers means nothing.


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## Sigilgoat (Nov 23, 2010)

It was a decent goal for me at the time (This was two years ago, and now I'm up to nearly 2200 watchers) It's not the only thing you should base your worth on, but it is usually a marker of how well known you're getting in the fandom.


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## Arshes Nei (Nov 23, 2010)

Sigilgoat said:


> It was a decent goal for me at the time (This was two years ago, and now I'm up to nearly 2200 watchers) It's not the only thing you should base your worth on, but it is usually a marker of how well known you're getting in the fandom.


 
I'd rather be known in more artists circles, not whether or not "I'm part of a fandom" because that means nothing in terms of artistic ability. It just means you're a big fan.


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## Sigilgoat (Nov 23, 2010)

Arshes Nei said:


> I'd rather be known in more artists circles, not whether or not "I'm part of a fandom" because that means nothing in terms of artistic ability. It just means you're a big fan.



There's a lot of different ways to run a business, no matter what you're selling. My methods have worked for me, and that's the only experience I can share.


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## Aaros (Nov 23, 2010)

Arshes Nei said:


> I'd rather be known in more artists circles, not whether or not "I'm part of a fandom" because that means nothing in terms of artistic ability. It just means you're a big fan.


 Being known in artists circles and in the fandom don't have to be exclusive. Why not be involved in both, if getting comissioners is one of your goals?


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## Iudicium_86 (Nov 23, 2010)

I've been having this problem for a long time myself. But more recently I've tried to change it. I've just opened myself up to trades both in my own thread here in the forums and with an uploaded pic to FA and my page stating this. No takers so far, but it's still only my first day. Can't expect much if anything.
I think my art is decent enough and try to do really good pieces but they hardly get noticed. 

What I do see getting noticed more is outright sexual stuff, dramawhores, and those who commission the hell outa others. I've seen pages with many, many views and their own harem of watchers, but not a single thing in their gallery was an original by them. It's nearly infuriating to a real artist trying to go by his own merits. >.>


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## Arroyo Milori (Nov 23, 2010)

Iudicium_86 said:


> I've been having this problem for a long time myself. But more recently I've tried to change it. I've just opened myself up to trades both in my own thread here in the forums and with an uploaded pic to FA and my page stating this. No takers so far, but it's still only my first day. Can't expect much if anything.
> I think my art is decent enough and try to do really good pieces but they hardly get noticed.
> 
> What I do see getting noticed more is outright sexual stuff, dramawhores, and those who commission the hell outa others. I've seen pages with many, many views and their own harem of watchers, but not a single thing in their gallery was an original by them. It's nearly infuriating to a real artist trying to go by his own merits. >.>


This. So hard. 

I'm probably one of the few who don't want the popularity due to drawing smut. Its a rather desperate measure to get views to sink that low, that and spamming shouts and comments. All I want is a honest lite critique so I can get better so I can produce good art so I can do commissions. D:


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## Iudicium_86 (Nov 24, 2010)

Arroyo Milori said:


> This. So hard.
> 
> I'm probably one of the few who don't want the popularity due to drawing smut. Its a rather desperate measure to get views to sink that low, that and spamming shouts and comments. All I want is a honest lite critique so I can get better so I can produce good art so I can do commissions. D:



Yeah, the smut gets far too much attention. Even I have just a handful of mature art on my gallery, and no surprise... they're the most popular >.> despite doing far more non-mature art. But even so, they're still not as noticed as other smut because even if I get in a rare mood do to sexual art, I try to maintain a level of taste in it. My coloring of a Flamedramon by Chokodonkey is my single most popular piece. But I can at least still be halfway glad it's one of my better mature pieces colored with care and style. lol. But was still a little depressing seeing how that far outperformed many of my other non-sexual pieces combined. >.< 

To try the smut theory out for myself I once did a very simple picture of a penis, by itself, nothing more. And it was also far more recognized and fav'd than more serious pieces I did from my heart. GAAAHHHH!!!


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## Eske (Nov 24, 2010)

Arroyo Milori said:


> I'm probably one of the few who don't want the popularity due to drawing smut. Its a rather desperate measure to get views to sink that low, that and spamming shouts and comments. *All I want is a honest lite critique so I can get better so I can produce good art so I can do commissions.* D:


 
Firstly, I just wanted to pop in here and say that if you really want critique, you need to grow some thick skin and go to somewhere like conceptart or cghub.  Someplace for serious artists, where you can get serious feedback.  It might be a bit painful at first because furries sometimes aren't really taken very seriously in those places, but that is honestly the best way to go.    Lite critique won't do you much good -- you need feedback sans the sugar and strawberries.  

However, if you're still insistent on getting critique a bit less heavy, there are places right here on FA where you can go and get help.  ilovecritique is a nice place to go.  The critiques can be a bit slow coming, but I find that even one or two bits of feedback is nice.  c:


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## quoting_mungo (Nov 24, 2010)

Most of my commissions, historically, have come from one of three sources: friends, FurBid auctions (I don't know how effective that is these days, but used to be people who wanted commissions browsed the auctions), and advertising in LJ communities. If you have small things (<=$10) for sale, the LJ community "teenycom" is quite good. 



Arroyo Milori said:


> I'm probably one of the few who don't want the popularity due to drawing smut. *Its a rather desperate measure to get views to sink that low, that and spamming shouts and comments.* All I want is a honest lite critique so I can get better so I can produce good art so I can do commissions. D:


Even if you didn't intend it, that comes off as calling anyone who chooses to draw adult art a sell-out. It's great to stick to your convictions and refrain from doing things you feel aren't right _for you_, but it's also good to stay humble enough to accept and acknowledge that other people have their own reason for doing or not doing things.



Iudicium_86 said:


> Yeah, the smut gets far too much attention. Even I have just a handful of mature art on my gallery, and no surprise... they're the most popular >.> despite doing far more non-mature art.


Interestingly, you know what's by far the most popular stuff in the gallery of my comic account? The comic pages and the stories. When I sat at SPX in Stockholm a number of years ago, the thing on my table that drew the most attention wasn't the fanzine with the advanced color cover that I'd slaved over coloring on the computer. No, it was the "free with any purchase" short (7 or 8 pages) informative comic I'd done for a school project and "printed" up on a whim. Because that one didn't _have_ a cover, it just started on the front; the fact that it was so undeniably a _comic_ drew people's attention.

My conclusion is that people like _narrative art_. I can't speak for your art specifically, but a lot of clean furry art (much of my own included) is just "character standing there". If the character is, instead, jerking off, you've added a sense of action (everyone knows jerking off involves movement) and therefore time to your image. Is that the whole truth? No. People also plain like sex. But it's _a_ truth, and one that is useful to keep in mind.


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## Sigilgoat (Nov 24, 2010)

If you really want critique, conceptart.org can be a good place to start, though they can be pretty harsh. Not rude, but just cutting to the quick.

The fandom may not be all about sex, but when a fantasy (fursonas) can only be expressed one way (through art or roleplaying), that's what people like. People have sex, people like sex. Character A and Character B are Mates. Other than those two people talking about it, or writing stories, the only other way for them to express their relationship is through art. If neither can draw to their satisfaction, and they have some money, they'll commission others to do it.

Porn and mature art probably makes up 60% - 70% of my commission base. I kinda like to draw it now. I draw many things I'm not into, but that goes for clean art too. A couple sitting on the beach really doesn't do it for me, but I still draw it. Same goes with vore! But at least I get to practice the angle of muzzles while I work on that.

I guess what I'm saying is: You choose to play the game how you see fit. There's an easier, faster way (draw a ton of porn, make hot characters, get a "mate" that's already popular, be a drama fiend), and there's a slower, more difficult way. There are some times when an amazing clean artist will get popular overnight, or that a not so great porn artist will take years to garner any recognition. Personally, I try and find something in the middle. I consider my furry art a business, and if I -can- do the work that's required for me to succeed (have commissioners), I will. c:


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## Arshes Nei (Nov 24, 2010)

Look you like drawing adult art and it's fun, go for it. The fact that people want both ends that they want to be taken super seriously when that's a majority of what they draw the bigger picture well...that sucks, I'm sorry... Yes, people like storytelling, that's pretty much what art is about - we're telling a story with our own interpretation.

Yes, there are places like CA and CGhub that have good critiques and there are those at those places that are like "eww furries" if that's all you draw then well you limit yourself.

Draw from life, draw your foundations, draw different stuff. You're going to have those foundations to apply to furry artwork. It only benefits you as a whole in the end.


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## Arshes Nei (Nov 24, 2010)

Aaromus said:


> Being known in artists circles and in the fandom don't have to be exclusive. Why not be involved in both, if getting comissioners is one of your goals?


 
See my post about limiting yourself.


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## Aaros (Nov 24, 2010)

Arshes Nei said:


> See my post about limiting yourself.



But you can still draw furry and normal art. 70% of what I draw isn't furry, but most of the non-furry stuff I never post onto the internets (on the internets, everybody only seems to want to see fantasy and furry art...).

I've looked and conceptart and cghub a few times, and I was scared away from going on there because I'm so far below the level of most of the artists on such sites that I don't really feel qualified to be putting my art up there. So I'll look for critique on FA and DA where I can find it.


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## Arshes Nei (Nov 24, 2010)

Where did I say in my post "do not draw furry at all"?

Damn man....read.

Also, bullshit about "everyone just wants to see fantasy/furry art".

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=870

Seriously go through the sketchbooks on CA/CGHUB, they're of ALL levels


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## Aaros (Nov 24, 2010)

Arshes Nei said:


> Where did I say in my post "do not draw furry at all"?
> 
> Damn man....read.


I didn't say that you said that. I was clarifying...


> Also, bullshit about "everyone just wants to see fantasy/furry art".


Well, obviously on those sites it doesn't matter. But for dA and FA, the places where I post my art, people generally don't like "normal" art.


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## Arshes Nei (Nov 24, 2010)

You're not making sense.


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## Arroyo Milori (Nov 24, 2010)

I believe the real reason most rookies in art don't go to to places like Conceptart for critiques is because they want to impress their superiors (who are the people critiquing you) first time around, which is rather impossible as a rookie seeing that a majority of artists are never satisfied with their own work. That and I do believe a majority of people who are into arts are just in it as a hobby, not a form of profession; and don't want to take it seriously.

But that's just how I see it, so I could be wrong in many level of ways. 

But this talk of critiques is derailing the topic a bit, so we should get back to the original topic's...topic.


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## Arshes Nei (Nov 24, 2010)

Arroyo Milori said:


> I believe the real reason most rookies in art don't go to to places like Conceptart for critiques is because they want to impress their superiors (who are the people critiquing you) first time around, which is rather impossible as a rookie seeing that a majority of artists are never satisfied with their own work. That and I do believe a majority of people who are into arts are just in it as a hobby, not a form of profession; and don't want to take it seriously.
> 
> But that's just how I see it, so I could be wrong in many level of ways.
> 
> But this talk of critiques is derailing the topic a bit, so we should get back to the original topic's...topic.


 
Right, I didn't argue about people doing it for a hobby, if that's what you like doing go for it. I'm just saying don't expect people to really take you seriously. You can't have it both ways unfortunately. You can try but really and honestly the real respect is not there. It's like the street baller who wants to be recognized as a Kobe Bryant ...wut?

I'm saying don't limit yourself when you work on your craft, some people want to take shortcuts and just want money, but if you're gonna be ok with with it, that's fine, but again don't expect people to take you seriously or think they have "nothing but great praise" if someone thinks one is a whore for doing so well what can you expect? That's the decision you made. D:

Working on foundations enough so that you can do any kind of work that earns you money I think has a higher benefit, it allows you to adapt. Too many times I've seen artists start with just saying they were happy with getting the money from porn, but I see it every time soon enough how much they're burned out by it and want to adapt to other things but never have the time. 

So I'm putting out a reminder, yeah it's cool to get some cash from times - but I said earlier people are obsessed with that over their craft overall, and I see how it hurts their progress. Then they wonder why their progress is stunted, why they have art block. 

For each time you drew donkey dick it was less time you spent on learning to draw everything else. You kind of become this "Troy McClure" of fandom "You may know me for squirty donkey dick". So it doesn't hurt to work on foundations and seek advice around the great because if you want to become great you hang around the same mindset. 

By the way you can substitute porn with "just furry art" or a singular type of art that's limiting.


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## Taralack (Nov 24, 2010)

Aaromus said:


> people generally don't like "normal" art.


Uhh lol? I post human art on FA all the time and it still gets faved as often as the furry art. I don't know what the heck you're on about. 



Aaromus said:


> I've looked and conceptart and cghub a few times, and I was scared away from going on there because I'm so far below the level of most of the artists on such sites that I don't really feel qualified to be putting my art up there. So I'll look for critique on FA and DA where I can find it.


 
As Arshes said, you don't need to be of any specific "skill level" to post your work there. You just need to be able to take their harsh critique. Critique on FA and DA is hard to come by if you're an unknown. I think sometimes people avoid giving crits on these sites because some people may construe it as trolling. 

Have you tried posting in the Tutorials and Critiques section?


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## Aaros (Nov 24, 2010)

Toraneko said:


> Uhh lol? I post human art on FA all the time and it still gets faved as often as the furry art. I don't know what the heck you're on about.


Then you've had a different experience than me, because I've posted human art and it will barely get any faves at all. I generally end up deleting it because people just don't like it.


> Have you tried posting in the Tutorials and Critiques section?


Yeah, I got some good critique once, but another time I tried it and nobody responded, so I figured people weren't interested.


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## MagicLocket (Nov 24, 2010)

I want to do the same.
I'm just going to do free sketches for a while and see what happens ^-^'.


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## Taralack (Nov 24, 2010)

Aaromus said:


> Yeah, I got some good critique once, but another time I tried it and nobody responded, so I figured people weren't interested.


 
You gotta have patience with these sort of thing. jwmcd, Zydala and myself give out crits to threads there on a regular basis, so if you haven't gotten one from either of us, we were probably offline at the time. You could try posting again, I suppose. As I said, be patient. And don't be afraid to bump your thread with more work.


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## Aaros (Nov 24, 2010)

Toraneko said:


> You gotta have patience with these sort of thing. jwmcd, Zydala and myself give out crits to threads there on a regular basis, so if you haven't gotten one from either of us, we were probably offline at the time. You could try posting again, I suppose. As I said, be patient. And don't be afraid to bump your thread with more work.



Well, I thought bumping was generally looked down upon, but I'll remember that in the future.


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## Taralack (Nov 25, 2010)

Aaromus said:


> Well, I thought bumping was generally looked down upon, but I'll remember that in the future.


 
Generally if you bump with new content it's okay.


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## dwolv (Nov 28, 2010)

I work corporate mostly company logo's and website developments. But before that I was a "fineartist" as in I did art show's and sold original works. What got my name out was by hanging around art studios. Asking people about their art other artists and doing community art projects. People saw my works gave me suggestions and once I made small social adjustments I kinda got rolling. The best advice is to get involved and open up socially. It doesn't matter if your selling commissions or starting a business the socializing part is a must. That is one of the big benefits of art sites having a forum and comment system.


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## KiyaraSabel (Nov 29, 2010)

For shame you gaiz!

CONVENTIONS!

Conventions are great because you get in direct contact with your market and peers. Hanging out in the artist's alley is the single best experience to finding out how to price, what to sell and how best to do it. The market is fluid and it's a lot easier to find out what's hot and what's not when it's right in front of you.

After that, make friends, be friendly, and be careful about what you say to whom. Know how to be clear about what you will and will not do, but try to keep it neutral.

For instance, don't go out on an tangent telling everyone about how you aren't a furry because they're all a bunch of sick perverts if they are your primary audience.


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## Taralack (Nov 29, 2010)

KiyaraSabel said:


> CONVENTIONS!


 
Unfortunately, not everyone can afford them.

*case in point*


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## Aaros (Nov 30, 2010)

Yeah, you have to pay for transportation and find hotel rooms and such. I have no money at all for that kind of think and I'm sure a lot of starving FA artists don't either.


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## quoting_mungo (Nov 30, 2010)

Cons are good, but they were never _that_ good to me. Save for FurryCon here in Sweden, and that was mostly because I could get the whole weekend for like $30 plus gas, so making the money back wasn't nearly as daunting as it could've been. (It's the only con _ever_ where I've actually had net _income_, and that even after buying a stack of out-of-print manga another vendor was selling.) Also note that these days you need to have tax permits or whatever they're called even for Artists' Alley (AC being an exception, I believe), which makes cons an infeasible (or at least very costly and fussy) option for most people crossing national borders to attend. Which is a shame.

One way of getting your name out there and pushing your own comfort zone that hasn't been mentioned yet is trades and similar. While participating in art exchanges may not directly get you commissioners, with every piece you do you potentially have someone reposting your art and linking back to you, which means the people following them will be exposed to your work.


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## Arshes Nei (Nov 30, 2010)

quoting_mungo said:


> One way of getting your name out there and pushing your own comfort zone that hasn't been mentioned yet is trades and similar. While participating in art exchanges may not directly get you commissioners, with every piece you do you potentially have someone reposting your art and linking back to you, which means the people following them will be exposed to your work.


 

 Uhh guys, are you even reading the same thread that I am?


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## KiyaraSabel (Dec 1, 2010)

In my experiences the costs of the con have not been all that prohibitive. By all means start with much more local cheap/free events where other furries are gathering(host your own meet if you have to, many times people will come even from out of state), but I generally at least break even on my costs, even if the con isn't doing well overall. And even if your direct at-con profits aren't spectacular, the networking is the real goal. Meeting your audience, as well as your peers and idols helps you hone your craft to what the market wants and can teach you smaller clues, hints and tips that aren't generally thought of to be shared. (Things like what lesser known products are cheaper and/or superior to more common items). Things like how to set up your workspace so as to be most conducive to your work and how to make it more portable/pare down to what you really need and toss out some of the extraneous stuff.

Of course, just going to and attending cons does take a special skill set I was lucky enough to develop long before I even considered selling art. You learn how/when/where to eat/sleep/shower etc. I attended my first con with intent to sell with no experience drawing on demand (I'd been drawing for years at this point, but even still tend to start and stop on my personal projects erratically), much less drawing the desired/wanted products like badges or color. I still broke even. Fast forward a year and I didn't have time to stop drawing for a second I got so backed up on work (unfortunately I wasn't charging enough for most of it). My biggest difficulties lie in trying to advertise/pick up commissions between cons.

The key difference is that people going to cons generally are looking to spend money and have given themselves a budget solely to spend on art, and they generally want it NOW. Lots of people will pick up your business cards (which you absolutely need to have), maybe half of them will hang onto them and double check on you after the con, and less than half of them will stick around or watch you, and after some time maybe one or two of them will commission you in the next year or so.

As much as you need to focus on working on your art, finishing pieces and improving your skills, you also need to make friends. Greet everyone you meet with a friendly, nonjudgmental and helpful air. Many of them will barely look at you, much less stop or chat, but of those that do, most of them will remember you, if you have anything worth remembering. I don't recommend resorting to gimmicks as they will wear out their shine, but you need to be distinctive if you want to get anything more. After you meet and chat with the same person for the third or fourth time at different cons, they might even buy a more expensive commission from you, especially if you have continued to improve.

If your prices are reasonable, you have an achievable turnaround for each piece, a competent mastery over your basics, and can draw and sell at the same time, all day long you'll get a start on actually selling commissions, much quicker than by internet sales and networking alone.


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## Anbessa (Jan 9, 2011)

somehow it boils down to advertising. not only at cons, but everywhere off the internet. as for me, I have my original drawings stashed away in a file folder to hand them out at fur meets and similar events, even at Role-playing cons (where you can meet furries, too, and more people are interested in fantastic creatures). even if you don't sell immediately it makes you known.


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## Archir (Jan 11, 2011)

Simply draw what people like to see. People will eventuallu commision you.

When Commisions arenÂ´t going that well and when i get less comments than usual I just make some fanart, people like that and will come back.

Also being a good artist helps.


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## FireFeathers (Jan 12, 2011)

Getting off the ground it's trades, and lots of them.  Contests are good as well. After that it's promoting yourself. DA has the thumbshare forum, having a good icon draws people to your page, advertisments here on FA are miracle workers. You have to operate like a business and figure in costs like conventions and such, start with things in reach and branch out from there. Keep costs low, sleep on floors, travel with friends, that sort.  Everything helps and just about everything works.


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