Hi! I've been thinking about opening commissions for a while now, but I have no idea where to start, so im asking artists I follow for tips. Feel free to not answer of course but if you have any recommendations on how to get my name out there, what payment methods are best, anything you wish you did when you started doing coms, etc.
Any advice would be highly appreciated :]
HEYOOOOOOOOOO I apologize for the late reply on this! I'm not sure if you still would like the tips for opening commissions but if so, this is what I got!
Before I delve into any of the immediate questions I do wanna take the leap and add a personal note onto taking commissions real fast: if you haven't already, ask yourself the reason behind taking commissions. Is this a side hustle you'll do on occasion? Or is this something you wish to turn into a career/full time job? If the latter, I would like to ask you take caution with it.
No one really ever tells you what happens to your passion/favorite hobby when you turn it into a job. It alters your relationship with it and can potentially be impactful in ways one may not foresee if you don't take steps in protecting that passion. I can't say for sure if it will, your experience will be different. But as someone who's done this for years as a side hustle, then years more as a fulltime career; it absolutely did for me and I had to relearn how to love creating again in the aftermath.
BUT that's a story for another time. ONWARDS TO YOUR QUESTIONS!
-Getting your name out there is gonna probably be the trickiest part. TLDR: you'll have to find your audience. How you do so largely boils down to a few things:
Posting consistently. I DO NOT MEAN EVERY DAY. Unless you want to post daily, what I mean is simply finding the schedule that works for you on a weekly basis, pick a time you want to post, and stick to it. Stick to it for a long time. Largely, consistency is what will play a roll in getting eyes on you and keep them on you if you're predictable with your posting.
Participate in events, fandoms, challenges, contests, and collabs/art trades. Art is a community, and to be known in it is to participate in it. Find the things that interests you in each category and make the point to participate in them. Talk to other artists, don't be afraid to ask for collabs, and reciprocate the energy. Participating in the things you like while simultaneously engaging with the community is what will help you build your audience, and remember. There is an audience for anything. I'll list a few events and challenges as a starter pack below.
Be good at art. Honestly this point isn't all that important if you're simply taking art as a hobby, but if you plan on having people pay for your work? You gotta have at least some level of skill for potential clients to justify paying for your work. This is largely because you need to consistently be able to create predictable results with your work. What I mean by that is basically recreating a level of quality in a consistent manner that can be relied on.
Social medias and conventions/markets. This is where you will be casting your net and hoping eyes land upon you. Whichever avenue you choose will largely do the same thing (which is put you and your artwork into the public's eye) but for obvious reasons, Social Media is gonna be your go-to as the most accessible. I would personally recommend maybe 3 maximum to manage and going ham on those. However, if you're able to swing it, I also highly recommend attending conventions because of how hugely integrated the art community is to them. Even vending at them if you can! Vending in particular because it gives you a space that is specifically for what you're trying to do: sell your work. I can go into detail on my thoughts here if you'd like but I'll leave it at this: social media and in-person events both play a very important aspect in building an audience. I dare say the largest artists you know in the community does exactly this: they build a community online and offline, and both serve each other as being two sides of the same coin.
SO. That's what I got for building and audience. If you would like to see others talking about it, I know Kiana Mai has made a post a few years ago I still think remains relevant and on occasion, she answers questions regarding it from the standpoint of being in the industry that is invaluable to know. Here's a link to that post specifically, but I do encourage reading her asks and just following her in general if you don't!
Moving on to Payment methods, this section will be small:
-I'll be honest, I'm a little outta the loop for this one. This is largely because I am strictly Paypal as my means of payment method, though over the years there's been similar companies that might honestly be more freelancer-friendly with their site fees. So you may wanna do some extra research on this one and find something that'll work for you. As it is, I'm still with Paypal because they simply work. They're built for professional and personal use and as a professional, it gives me access to resources that I find valuable enough to stay for despite my gripes. Invoice system, the ability to track my earnings and where my money goes, tax documents for when I gotta suffer through tax month. It's all there and easy for me to see.
Anything I wish I did/wish I knew when I started doing commissions, lightning round:
You will become a one-man army. You will have to do it all, and do it well enough to be credible. Communication, money management, time management, schedule discipline, accountability. By becoming a commissionable artist, you'll need to be both the employee and the manager. It's more lax if it's more side hustle, but it still applies.
Start small. I personally recommend 3 simple commissions (1 character, no BGs, no shading.) as a good starting point to really get the feel of working AND test your visibility in the market before you take on more than that.
Have a sit-down with yourself and consider a Terms of Service. I'll die on this hill: hobby or career, if you're gonna accept commissions you need a ToS as a guide for yourself AND for any potential clients. It tells them what you can and cannot do, what they can and cannot do, and what your process looks like. Basically? It's a brief summary to tell clients how you work as a commissionable artist and what they can expect by commissioning you.
Do not charge pennies. Contrary to popularly opinion, I'm of the thought that low pricing = low confidence, and an artist who doesn't have confidence in their work reads as someone to stay away from when buying art. That doesn't mean shoot your prices sky high though. What it DOES mean is really consider the time you take on your work, how long you've been drawing, and apply at least minimum wage + your level of experience to your price appropriately. This will take some learning, but here's a very concise and detailed guide from the late Dina Norlund that'll get you started.
aaaaand that's all I can think of as of right now? Please feel free to ask any other questions if ya have any and I hope this was helpful to some degree! :>
