I’m just going to throw this out there: if you’re charging $150, $200, or even $250+ for a single image (or just a few) and your turnaround time after payment is longer than 1–2 weeks, that way of doing business is going to get phased out soon. And yes—I’m saying this because of AI.

You’re going to need to lower your prices and/or streamline your workflow to bring your turnaround down to a more reasonable timeframe. The days of taking payment for a dozen commissions at once and then spending weeks or months completing them are numbered. Be prepared.

You also need to treat commissions for what they are: a job, not a hobby. That means learning how to sit down and put in consistent hours—sometimes 8 or more a day—until the work is done. This isn’t me saying “lol, AI is better.” This is me giving a friendly heads-up.

There will always be a market for live, human-made art. But you have to understand how fast AI is, and you need to stay competitive. People will expect faster artists who deliver quality work at fair prices. If you want to stay in business, you need to be that artist.

That’s it. Good luck.