my second piece of advice is to work on either dropping that mindset, or striving for improvement with the acceptance of it taking time and not being an easy trip and aim for the goal where that mindset goes away on it’s own. if you demotivate yourself like that you won’t get anywhere and definitely won’t gain the confidence or work ethic needed to try and make a career on art.
even if you do hate your art make up a price list anyways, because someone out there might like your art. think you’ll never post it? just draft it and have the post perfect and ready to go then release it on a day you’re feeling particularly impulsive and brave. even if nobody buys right away or in the nearby future it’s still an important first step to opening yourself up for business, there’s no point in giving up before you start. all that’ll do is keep you stationary and closed up and you won’t even have the chance to begin a learning curve.
i’m not gonna say it’s easy to begin commissions and taking them, because it’s not, it’s a long trip to learning to get on your own ass to work and working on your communication skills and advertising yourself- all of this while still working on improving your own art skills to a point where you can sit there going “okay my art isn’t too shitty to sell, it’s a working progress that i’m happy with and can use to offer to others. i need to keep working hard and doing this because i love it and work on spreading the word on my offered services more.”
yeah at first it’s a punch to the gut when you don’t get business for weeks, and weeks, but like i said that’s an advertisement issue for the most part. spread/queue up your prices to post more, make journals on websites every once in awhile like “reminder my commissions are open!” even do the occasional event or sale like “buy one get one free” or “half off things themed for this holiday” and that can help bring in some patrons who think either the idea is cool or just want the chance for some cheaper art (cheaper being in comparison to the usual work) (imagine it like steam sales, i ended up buying like 20 games not because i even really wanted them it was more like I MIGHT WANT THIS IN THE FUTURE BUT IT’S CHEAPER RIGHT NOW I GOTTA)
any work in the artist industry through digital media is only a small piece based on talent, what really sells things is attitude and work ethic, studios prefer people who promote a good environment and work well over people who are talented assholes, because even if your work isn’t much up to part if you’re a good emotional asset to the team and can get stuff done it’ll pick up the rest of the crew and people are available to fix the hiccups anyways, if they’re happy to work because someone makes their day a bit brighter then that’s a huge bonus for the production. the same goes for commissions: good work ethic and positive communication/attitude are hugely important. don’t close yourself off due to a lack of confidence, take that leap as a first step to opening up.
commission traffic isn’t always based on talent, it can often be audience and presentation issues. if your audience and following is mostly younger people like 16 or younger then they probably aren’t going to have money to begin with, or at least not a way to use it online, that’s where the advertisement and expanding your viewership comes in, get into fandoms that are a half decent size and consists of a good older/adult population. and as for presentation you want to be friendly and inviting and never turn to being the whole “i’m not getting commissions my art is garbage i’m the worst i should just give up and quit nobody likes me :(” because honestly that’s just… not good. very unattractive to the eye of consumerism and hell even just a negative social hit as a whole. to me that’s off-putting and doesn’t really make me want to put my money towards the artist bc i don’t feel like talking to them at all, so it not only can chase off customers but also feeds into confidence issues in the sense that those thoughts work their way into muscle memory and a loop of negativity that’ll drag ya down. it’s okay if you’re a little brought down or it’s a hit to your confidence it’s very valid to feel that way just remember and try to think “what kind of attitude am i draw to?” work into the habit of turning that self-loathing into a self-driver. it’s hard and tough and a long process but it’s possible with determination.
none of this is a short process, like i started trying to do commissions back when i was like 12 and only in the last two years (ages 16 and 17, hopefully the future joins ‘em) did i actually get business, and that’s because i used furaffinity and fandom exposure to my gain, i learned how to properly advertise myself and price. keep ya heads up kids.
tangentwithtanner
prguitarman
blakekathryn
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