do you have any advice for people just starting out writing? i'm struggling through my first wip rn and no matter what the pacing is rushed and the dialogue feels flat. my word count is stagnant and low. i rlly look up to you as an author so i was wondering if you knew anything about how to fix it. thanks!
first off—hi! hello! thank you! i'm so flattered that you chose me to reach out to and i’m also super glad you like my work! welcome to the writing community. i hope your time here is especially rewarding :D
i thought i'd put together a longer post of my biggest tips and advice to start out, based mostly on my own experience. feel free to skim if you’d like :) this is probably a lot more than you bargained for with your ask!
first off: tips for writing itself.
you mentioned pacing, dialogue, and word count, so i'll briefly address each of those in turn. keep in mind that i’m drawing from my own experience, so don’t feel bad if some of my tips don’t work for you. everyone is different lol.
pacing is a tricky thing. it can be your best friend or your worst enemy or anything in between. my biggest biggest tip for pacing is to outline your wip from the start.
“but grey!” you exclaim. “outlining is terrifying! where do i even start?!”
good question, my friend! outlining sounds scary at the start but it can quickly wind up being a lifesaver. you’ll have to find what works for you specifically, but here are some tips to get started.
my method is as follows—split the plot of your story into three, four, or five parts. depending on how long your fic will be, these can either represent chapters or arcs. if you’re using arcs, these will contain smaller sections.
i like to summarize each part with a phrase (see my example below that i originally made for of bush and briar). then, i add a few bullet points. what happens in that chapter/arc of the story? what are the big events that occur?
of course, this example is only a basic outline, but you’ll want to have an idea of where your story is going. this’ll allow you to pace each chapter or scene in a way that flows.
say (for instance) that you’re writing a three-chapter shorter fic which involves the budding relationship of two characters. strangers to lovers, if you will. i’d personally outline the plot like this:
i. characters A & B meet at a coffee shop
ii. they can’t stop thinking about each other
iii. finale where character A asks out character B
it’s sweet, simple, and gets you where you need to go. you can add all the details you want later underneath each roman numeral.
the next step in finding a good pace is sticking to the outline’s main structure as you write your chapters. you can always add details or extra scenes within those chapters, but make sure you drive the story forward each chapter.
in regards to feeling like your pacing is rushed: try to mentally slow down and expand the details of the scene. spend a few extra paragraphs describing the characters’ surroundings; write a little more about a character’s internal thoughts; add some humorous dialogue to soften the blow if your chapter is about a tough conversation. add more scenes to a chapter. showcase more conversations, or more face-offs, if your work deals with tension between characters.
finding a good pace is hard to achieve when you start out, but it’s worth putting some extra effort into your planning in order to figure out what works for you.
next up is dialogue. my advice for this is more specific to fandom and fanfiction as i’m assuming that’s what you’re asking about, so here we go.
in regards to writing better dialogue, i’d say that you should be familiar with the fandom’s content and the personalities/relationships of the characters you’re writing about. for instance, if i were attempting to write bedrock bros (tommyinnit & technoblade) for the first time, i’d go and watch any number of VODs where the two of them interact.
having that backup knowledge from the start will set you up for success. once you’re sure you know your characters a bit better, sit down to write. it can help to write the dialogue itself without tags first; for example:
“Pick up the phone, dickhead.”
“It didn’t even ring!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“That’s a first.”
then, go in and add dialogue tags or description. figure out where you want beats (fancy writer lingo for pauses) in the flow of your style. for instance:
“Pick up the phone, dickhead,” Tommy hissed.
Techno stared at Tommy in disbelief. “It didn’t even ring!”
“I don’t believe you.”
Techno scoffed. “That’s a first.”
see how the above additions add to the flow of the simple dialogue and break up the conversation?
that being said, i’m a big believer in using description over dialogue tags. it’s a method that allows you to really show your reader the characters’ body language. humans communicate by so much more than just spoken word—you should use their movement to your advantage as a storyteller.
now that you have your dialogue written (!!!), it’s time to test it. this might sound crazy and insane and super fucking embarrassing, but the best way to test your dialogue is this:
read it out loud in your best impression of the characters’ voices.
seriously. if you can’t hear the rapport between your characters when you read it out loud, then you need to change something. it can be as simple as running through an example conversation in your head or asking yourself how would I respond to that? not every conversation follows a textbook format.
writing dialogue is a skill, and like any skill, it will only get better with practice. you can do this by writing short snippets, watching TV and then transcribing the conversations with descriptions, or by writing more fics. there’s also tons of dialogue practice on the internet if you’re willing to search for it!
now, last but definitely not least: word count. this is every author’s enemy, no matter who they are or what they write. you are not alone in this struggle.
so, you’ve finally sit down to write, only to find yourself staring at an empty document with a blinking cursor. don’t panic. here are a few tips & resources to help with boosting your word count and fighting writer’s block.
first: if you’re out of hope and struggling to meet a certain wordcount, use the most dangerous writing app.
this website is the best. you can set a wordcount goal or a time limit when you start, and this website will delete your work if you stop typing for more than ten seconds. it’s usually enough to get me off my ass and writing 500+ words in a sprint.
(also, don’t worry, it doesn’t delete your work permanently—you can download the failed session as a word document so that your progress wasn’t for nothing).
an alternative to this site (aka if you want a sprint timer and no terrifying threats of losing your work) would be the discord bot sprinto, which allows you to set writing sprints with friends or alone. it’s very easy to use and also leads into my new point—finding friends to write and brainstorm with.
second: make friends in your fandom. you’ll want people to brainrot your fics with (and support you), which honestly will motivate you to write more for your wips. it’s much easier to slog through an assigned word count when you’ve got people on your side.
you can achieve this by dm’ing people, joining writers’ discords, following people on the foreign land of twitter, and more! you can also opt into fandom-related writing challenges (such as ficfests, big bangs, or collections) that pair writers or writers and artists together. part of fandom’s wonderful appeal is its community; you are never and will never be alone in your frustrations!
third: if the words just aren’t coming, you can always scrap a fic.
the truth is this: not every idea is meant to see the light of day. you should be passionate about your work and your ideas in order to follow through. you are never obligated to finish anything that you don’t love, and you are never obligated to post your work on the internet.
tldr: your work is for you and for you foremost. it can be far too easy to forget that when you’re seeking others’ approval, but try to write for yourself first.
i really hope my thoughts are able to help you on your journey anon! thank you so so much for reaching out. my dms are always open if you’d like me to take a look at your work or if you’d just like to chat <3
Uni in the UK is full of drugs. At some point they will be offered to you and I'm going to teach you how not to die.
It's so easy to say "just don't take them" but the chances are some of you will.
1. Weed
Weed is the safest, its harm is in regular use. One minute you're fine, the next you realise your sleeping pattern is fucked and you haven't been to lectures in 2 weeks.
2. MDMA + pills
The people who are most likely to die at uni from taking pills are ill advised and often showing off.
NEVER take a full pill on your first time. If you want to try pills, have a QUARTER. If after 45minutes you are feeling nothing, try another quarter.
DRINK WATER. If you're on a night out and you've had MDMA, don't keep buying and drinking alcoholic drinks. Getting dehydrated on MDMA is super easy and very dangerous. Get yourself some water.
Only buy your pills from someone who has TRIED THEM and can tell you where they got them.
Make sure you have gum to hand to make sure that if you gurn you don't hurt your mouth or damage your teeth.
3. Comedowns
The day after a high, your body will feel like it has been hit by a train, you might feel very low, you might not want to be left alone. STAY WITH YOUR FRIENDS. Make sure everyone has checked in with you the day after, look our for each other. Snuggle, watch TV and get a take out. But don't stay on your own, it might make you feel really low.
4. Ketamine
Ketamine is just gross, but if you're going to take it, don't drink lots too. It has a similar effect to alcohol. Your body can be so numb that you don't feel pain, and you can easily hurt yourself and not realise until later on or even the next day.
5. Cocaine
Cocaine is HELLA expensive and very addictive. I honestly wouldn't touch it full stop.
I know of three students at my uni this year who got addicted to coke and dropped out because they were mentally and financially ruined.
6. Psychedelics
Messing with psychedelics can be dangerous, you may have neurological issues that you haven't yet been diagnosed with which can be made worse by psychedelic drugs.
Only take psychedelics around good, trusted friends.
That's all the advice I can think of, i considered talking about alcohol but that gets covered at home and in schools.
Are you just starting to rp? Are confused by how people make gifs? Don’t know how to make friends on here? Or maybe you just want to try a cool new effect! Here’s a masterpost to answer all of your most pressing questions without having to feel awkward by messaging someone else.
Just Starting Out:
HOW TO IMPROVE AS AN RPER by me
My Advice Video by me
Advice For New People by @sirussly
Ash’s Key Piece of Advice For Newbies by @actinganimagus
When RP Hurts Your Self Esteem by @masksofmickey
How Not To Be A HP Roleplayer by @geethanksinternet
Gif Tutorials:
A Comprehensive Guide To Making Good RP Gifs by @asktheboywholived
Multiple Lines Within One Gif by @sirussly
Character Development:
Character Sheet by @egdramaqueen
Character Creation Masterpost
Effect Tutorials:
How To Use Spells by me
Twins Tutorial by me
Multiple Text Boxes On IMGFLIP by me
Makeup Tutorials:
Contouring + Facial Hair by @sirussly
Cuts And Bruises Makeup by @sirussly
Azkaban Tattoos Makeup by @sirussly
Winged Eyeliner by @siriusly-sly
Wolfstar Makeup “Tutorial” by @asktheboywholived
Did none of these answer your questions? Try these advice tags!
My Advice Tag
Jess’s Advice Tag
TT’s Advice Tag
This is a very, very, very quickly thrown together post and I know I’m missing so many other great resources here. Be sure to send a post my way if you think I should add it!
Alright here we go! I’ve recently noticed I’ve become the sort of person people go to for advice, and while I’m still very much figuring things out myself I guess I do have a fair bit of experience by now. So I thought I’d compile a list of advice I have, combining answers to questions people have been asking me as well as stuff I feel is useful but I never got around to discussing.
Keep in mind that all of this comes from my own personal experience, I am in no way an expert and what works for me may not work for you. If you’re curious to my art journey so far, check out the addition I made to this post a while back. Long story short: I’ve been drawing forever, but only got serious about it in 2013 or so.
Also, this is by no means a definitive list! I will keep adding to this as I go along, and you’re always welcome to ask me questions.
This is basically a novel so let’s put it under the cut!
ART
Draw what you like and don’t feel bad about it
This is by far the biggest lesson I’ve learned about art in all the time I’ve been doing this. Drawing what you like, be it fanart or your OCs or horses or self portraits, helps you in so many ways. Not only does it allow you to be more productive when you don’t have to come up with new subject matter all the time, it also keeps art fun. You’ll never get the mileage you need to level up as an artist if you’re not enjoying yourself enough to do it over and over and over again.
Draw A Lot
Sorry. I know you’re tired of hearing this, as was I before I tried it, but you can’t improve if you don’t draw. There’s this saying that 10.000 hours in anything will make you an expert, and while that statement is not entirely true, there is definitely some truth to it. The trick is you have to spend those 10.000 hours working towards a goal, consciously aiming to improve, for it to fully work. But even 10.000 hours spent casually doodling make you a better artists than you were before. And obviously you’ll notice your skills improving all the while, not just after you’ve reached the end!
I did daily drawings for three years, and have a fair amount of things to say about it. I’m definitely not saying daily drawings are a ‘must’ for every artist, but if you’re curious if you should give it a shot, you can find my first year overview here, my second year here, and my final year here! I also compiled a zine with all the drawings and some more in-depth views on my struggles and the things I learned.
How do you draw the same character consistently?
Somebody asked me this and I had to do a double take, because I honestly don’t feel like I’m consistent at all haha. When I look back on all the Alistairs I’ve drawn, they look super different to me everytime. So there’s that: you will always be more critical of your own art than others are, keep that in mind. I have, however, actively tried to be consistent about Alistair so I can tell you how I went about that. I basically took a bunch of screenshots of his face from different angles and traced over them, to figure out a ‘pattern’ of some sort. I explained it in more detail here. After that I went back to studies a bunch more times, mostly looking at other artists’ versions of him that I liked, trying to pinpoint what they were doing that I wasn’t. That gave me new ways to draw his jaw, his eyes and his hair so that I keep inching closer towards what I actually want him to look like. Another thing that probably helps with consistency from different angles is studying general anatomy, so that you know how to make those facial features feel real instead of being stuck to one angle, but to be honest I still have a lot of studying to do myself in that department.
Studies!
Speaking of studying, let’s talk about studies! If you’re serious about improving your art, you can’t escape doing studies. Here’s an overview of the kinds of studies I do every now and then, and what I aim to learn from them.
- Colour studies: take a picture and try to replicate that picture as closely as possible without using the eyedropper tool. Don’t worry too much about getting the shapes right, focus on the colours. This is a great way to train your eye to see subtle differences and to learn how lighting affects colour. Setting a time limit can be a good idea too, so you don’t get lost in the details.
- Value studies: same general idea, only without colour. Values are the foundation of every painting and they determine whether your character looks three dimensional and stands out from the background. Either take a black and white photo or de-saturate a photo, then try to copy it without using the eyedropper tool. This video tutorial helped me out as well!
- Landscape studies: this is just me trying to practice backgrounds but being too scared to take on perspective just yet, but I generally just try to copy landscape photos as closely as possible, this time paying attention to the shapes and composition too.
- Portrait studies: this helps me get a more diverse visual library which is really helpful when designing new characters. It also helps me understand skintones and textures better. You can use any photo for this, but I’ve found the Humanae project really helpful, as well as Reference Angle.
- Master studies: I haven’t done a lot of these myself, but they’re very interesting. You basically just take a painting by one of the old masters (Renaissance, Romanticism, anything that floats your goat) and try to copy it. This helps you see what artistic choices these people made when painting their subject matter, as opposed to just aiming for realism. If that makes sense.
- Material studies: pick a shape (a sphere or a cube or what have you) and now draw that shape multiple times as if it were made out of different materials. Leather, glass, metal, orange peel, jello, anything goes. It’s a good way to learn to understand materials by applying what you see in your reference to a different shape. There’s a lot of these out there if you need inspiration!
- Figure studies: if you’re sick of drawing only headshots but you don’t know how to draw bodies, figure studies are the way to go. I took a nude drawing course for a couple of months during my semester abroad and learned SO much. I wholeheartedly recommend in-person figure drawing sessions, but if you don’t have access to one there’s always the internet. This website has a large database of pictures, both nude and clothed, and lets you set a time if you want. There’s also the ever helpful Adorka Stock! Some tips from my teacher you can use to challenge yourself: draw a pose in ten seconds, draw a pose without looking at your paper, draw a pose with your non-dominant hand, draw a pose in a single line. It’s fun! The key is to not try and produce pretty artworks during these sessions, but just to get your eye and hand used to these shapes enough that they become ingrained in your visual library and you can build on that when you’re drawing your own stuff. It can be hard to let go of the need to make pretty art, but it’s actually pretty nice to know that even if you spend an evening making godawful sketches you’re still leveling up!
- Movie still studies: I’ve seen these around a lot and really want to try them myself sometime. Put on your favourite movie, animated or live action, and pause it when there’s an interesting colour scheme or composition. You can either make several quick thumbnails or colour keys, or take one screenshot and make a detailed copy in your own style.
I keep several pinterest boards for studies. Mind that whenever I post a study I always make sure to trace the source image back to the original artist so I can credit them (reverse image search often helps)! If you’re not posting them, there’s no harm in using uncredited resources for your studies.
Art books
I own several books on art, and while I’ve read them all I have yet to properly study them. It’s on my to-do list though! Try James Gurney’s ‘Colour and Light’ or Andrew Loomis’ ‘Figure Drawing for all its Worth’. I also own the art books to Brave, Tangled and Song of the Sea, as well as concept art books for Avatar: the Last Airbender and the Legend of Zelda franchise, which are just super fascinating and inspiring.
Revisit old art
If you’re feeling like you’re stuck, or just curious to see how far you’ve come, it’s always fun to take an older piece of yours and redo it! For this reason it’s always a good idea to save your old art. You don’t have to save it all publicly, though, if that makes you uncomfortable. Having a private folder marked ‘old crap’ will do just fine.
YouTube classes
Something I’ve been doing a lot is watch YouTube videos on specific art topics. When I feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start studying, or just don’t understand enough about the subject matter to get a lot out of it, it helps me to watch what others have to say about it. I’ve enjoyed the videos of Borodante, Sinixdesign and CG Cookie
Determine what it is you like
Something I’ve been doing when I look at art I love, is to specifically determine what it is I love about it. Not only is it fun for the artist to get these kinds of comments, it also helps me have a clear view of what I would like my own art to be and what I can still work on. For example, I’ll love the way someone handled the composition, or the colour palette, or the way they draw hands or noses. Note that you can both love one artist’s linework and another artist’s lineless art, and you don’t have to strive to be good at both of those yourself. But you could try both and see which one fits you best!
How do you keep yourself motivated when you’re not satisfied with the quality of your art?
I made art everyday for a while, and there’s a clear pattern of alternating levels of motivation. I’d have a couple of good days and then some off days, neither mood ever lasted too long. I think drawing everyday has put that into perspective for me: now when I’m in a slump, I know by experience it’ll never last more than a couple of days. And since I set myself the rule of having to draw at least SOMETHING everyday, even when I’m not feeling it, it’s easier to just let go and draw something you’re not happy with because you can try again tomorrow. It doesn’t matter as much anymore. Which is great because that’s exactly what I wanted to achieve with this challenge! In a sense, I think the same is true for my larger illustrations now. Even when in hindsight I’m not as satisfied with one, I move on to the next and just strive to do better.
Also in general if you’re feeling art blocked, it probably means your eye for spotting mistakes has developed and your art skill is lagging behind a little. That’s a natural process! And it will pass eventually. Doing studies can help your skill catch up with your eyes during those times, because it doesn’t matter what they look like only that you learn from them. But taking a break and going out to find some inspiration is always a good idea too. You can’t create art in a void: you need input from all kinds of places that will help you make your own. Take a walk, watch a movie, read a book.
Brushes
My general advice about brushes is: don’t focus too much on those, especially in the beginning. They do matter, but the backbone matters way more. I make 90% of my art with the standard HB pencil brush that comes with Procreate, only using fancy textured ones or final details in the skin or the background. When I used Photoshop, I’d stick to the basic round brush most of the time. I’ve puzzled together a collection out of existing brush packs from different artists, like Charlie Bowater, and free brush packs I’d downloaded over the years. Google goes a long way! What works for one artist may not work for another, so try out plenty of brushes to see what matches your work flow!
Software
I worked in a not quite licensed version of Photoshop for years and years, switching to Procreate on the iPad in late 2019. There’s loads of people who prefer Clip Studio Paint or other programs. I mostly used Photoshop because that’s what I started with and I’ve gotten too used to it to bother trying anything else. It has about a gazillion features I don’t touch or even understand, even after using it daily for years, because I only need my specific set of tools to make the stuff I make. So don’t let the scale of the software scare you too much! When I got the iPad, I found switching my workflow over to Procreate was easier than expected. It’s a very intuitive app that has all the stuff I need! Very much worth the handful of dollars they charge you for it.
When I first started out, I used freeware called ‘Pixia’, which allowed me to try out working in layers and had all the basic functions. I believe it still exists, but maybe there’s better free stuff out there nowadays.
I also used an app called ArtFlow, when I still worked on my Samsung tablet. It was recommended to me by a friend and it was a much better app than I’d expected. It has a free version (which I believe limits the number of layers you can use?) but the full version was only 5 bucks I think.
Hardware
Some people can make gorgeous art using a mouse. I am not one of those people. I’ve used different variations of Wacom tablets over the years, which can be pricey but have served me pretty well. Though I hear nowadays there’s a lot more competitors out there that make quality stuff for less, I personally have no experience with those so I suggest a quick Google search if you’re interested in getting one. Anyway, a tablet provides you with a digital pencil and paper which allows you to draw sort of like you do traditionally. I say ‘sort of’ because most (cheap) tablets don’t come with a built in screen, meaning your eyes are not where your hand is, which can trip people up. Try to borrow one for a bit or try it out in a store if you can so you can get an idea about whether or not it’s something you see yourself getting used to. I honestly never had any trouble with it, and I think most people get used to it fairly quickly. You can also scan traditional sketches or line art and color them digitally, which could be doable with a computer mouse if you can’t splurge on hardware.
The first graphics tablet I ever bought was an A4 sized one by Trust. It was terrible. I switched to a smaller one by Wacom, I think it was a Bamboo, which I upgraded to a small intuos after a couple of years. I liked the small size better because I could carry it with me in my laptop bag when I went to class. In 2015 I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 2014 edition (yes it’s very specific lol) which came with a stylus and allowed me to draw straight onto the screen for the first time (using the ArtFlow app mentioned above). Now that I could sit on the couch and draw, I was suddenly drawing a lot more too! In 2016 I even made my dailies on it. At that point, after 1,5 years of intense use, I felt like I had to upgrade to something with a more ergonomic stylus, and preferably something that could handle large resolution files so that I wouldn’t have to transfer them over to my laptop anymore. I decided to go all out on a Wacom MobileStudio Pro, because it runs Windows and can therefore run Photoshop: meaning I wouldn’t have to get used to new software again and could store all my important files on there as well. For about two years I made all my art on the MobileStudio, often with a cheap bluetooth keyboard hooked up to it, and while it was definitely a great step up for me, there were a lot of things I disliked about it. It was still very bulky so I wasn’t quite as ‘mobile’ as I’d wanted. I also experienced a lot of bugs in Photoshop, where my pen pressure would drop away for no clear reason, for example. Especially considering how expensive this thing was, I felt a little disappointed with it.
In late 2019 I sold the MobileStudio and bought an iPad Pro 11 inch with an Apple Pencil (2nd generation), after hearing many artists praise it. I’ve been using it daily for a couple of months now, and am 100% happy with it. I use the Paperlike screenprotector, that gives the screen a very nice texture and also works against glare. That is definitely a game changer. This iPad allows me to really draw anywhere anytime, it can easily be slipped into my bag and is very light. I now make all my art on this!
On-screen drawing tablets vs tablet-to-monitor drawing tablets
I feel like this is a much discussed topic nowadays so let me add it here, as well. It may sound like a tablet where you draw directly on the screen (ie a Cintiq, or the iPad) is the Ultimate Final Stage in drawing tablets that we should all strive towards. This is not the case. They have been very popular among professionals for a while now, but I’m starting to notice more and more of them popping up to say they now have back pain or tendonitis, and are switching back to a tablet with a separate monitor. On-screen drawing tablets can feel very precise and that’s neat, but they also tend to support terrible posture, and we should all be careful with that! As with everything: different people prefer different things. So don’t feel like you have to make that switch if you’re comfortable where you’re at!
SOCIAL MEDIA
How do you get noticed?
For me, everything changed when the fire nation attacked I discovered Dragon Age. Being a naturally obsessive person I suddenly had loads of inspiration and drew a LOT, and for the first time there was an actual response from people on tumblr. I was pretty much instantly hit with a bunch of people who were supportive, enthusiastic and actually eager to see my work. I interacted with artists I admired, sharing and commenting on their stuff, and I joined two secret santa art exchanges that helped me get more followers as well. Honestly, from there on it just… happened. I’m not sure how. I started making dailies, most of which were Dragon Age fan art as well, and as my output went up so did my follower count. I was afraid the amount of shitty drawings I’d inevitably be making would scare people off, but people have been nothing but lovely to me on this website. <3 I think what you can take away from this is basically just: draw what you like, preferably a lot of it.
Also be aware that every platform is different. My follower count on instagram and twitter is very different from the one on here, and all of them work in different ways and with different algorithms. There’s whole studies about the optimal time to post on each platform and the best hashtags to use to ‘beat the algorithm’, but I honestly cannot be bothered to keep up with it. For me, the stress of figuring that out is not worth the extra followers, since to me it’s really just a number. But if your livelihood depends on it, it may be worth googling some articles.
Your fellow artists are not your competition
I can’t stress this enough. If you start viewing your fellow artists as collegues and -potentially- friends, you can build each other up and help each other out. In my experience, that shit goes a very long way. It’s a much better feeling to be in this thing together, rather than feeling inadequate when someone else achieves something you haven’t yet. I’ve made some real friends this way, which is incredibly valuable to me as a person but also as an artist in this industry. Friends can get you into places and audiences you’d never reach alone. Now two important notes on this: first, you should never force a friendship with someone just so you can get ahead. That’s not what this is about. Second, you obviously don’t have to be friends with everyone. But thinking of people as coworkers rather than rivals is better for both your mental health and your career path. Be kind.
COMMISSIONS
Offering commissions: where do you start?
I’ve only been getting regular commissions for a handful of years; in the beginning it took me a while to get noticed. Mostly because I’d hoped to get noticed on deviantART, while my actual first jobs all ended up coming from facebook contacts. I think I did two commissions in my first year, then maybe three the year after, all for friends of friends and such, and only after I started gaining a bigger tumblr following (mostly by drawing fanart) did I start getting commissions from the random internet people I’d been expecting. Take note that I personally have only ever done part-time commission work beside a day job: I’ve never been fully financially dependent on it. If you are, things will probably work a little different!
What will you offer?
An important thing to know when doing commissions is what exactly you’ll be offering. Many artists have multiple available options. Mine, for example, make two types of distinctions: level of detail (sketch/flat color/full color) and crop (bust, waist-up, full body). I did this so I could offer lower price options for people who don’t have much to spend, without having to compromise my hourly wage. The different options require different amounts of time and effort from me, and the prices reflect that. But there’s also artists who offer one type of commission only. Consider what you’re good at and what you enjoy working on. If you dislike painting backgrounds, don’t offer them. If you struggle drawing hands and feet, only do portraits. Decide what your distinctions are, then make examples of everything and compile them in a graphic. I recommend having some options, but not too many as to overwhelm your clients. You can also do short runs of specific commissions, the way I offered headshot sketches for a limited time.
Setting prices
Next comes The Big Struggle: setting your prices. The first thing to remember is that your time is always valuable, no matter your skill level, so take care not to underprice yourself. The way I did it is I found commissions sheets by other artists who were offering similar commissions on a similar skill level, and compared their prices. I also tracked the time I spent on art (I used ManicTime, which autotracks your used software and lets you label time blocks. Procreate automatically tracks the amount of time you work on a specific file!). Once you know how much time you spend on average on your different types of work, you can decide on an hourly wage (do not work for less than minimum wage!!) and calculate your prices and add them to your commission graphic. Be sure to round up your time estimate to account for the time spent on client communication. It’s also helpful to keep tracking your time when working on commissions, so you’ll know when you stray too far from your estimate and when you need to adjust the price. And don’t forget to account for taxes, too! If you really want to offer cheaper commissions, don’t just slice your prices - offer something that works for a lower price. For instance, my limited headshot sketches were cheaper because they didn’t come with a correction round. This meant I could draw them in one sitting, cutting down the time spent on them, thus making them cheaper without slicing my hourly wage.
Make a form
When I relaunched my commissions in 2020, I decided I wanted communication to be as clear as possible. One of the most stressful things about taking commissions for me was the awkward back-and-forth of emails to work out the details of the assignment. In order to eliminate that, I set up a google form (now JotForm). This way, when clients apply for a commission, they have to fill out all the required fields before it even gets to me. This means if their information is incomplete, they’ll know, and they have a chance to figure out their stuff before contacting me. This has made a world of difference. So far, 99% of my commissions have gone incredibly smoothly, with clients knowing exactly what they want and communication going quickly and clearly. It’s been absolute heaven. 11/10 would recommend. When the filled out form gets to my inbox, I use it as the start of my email conversation with that client, so all the info is always at the start of that thread. I recap what I think they’re asking of me, I ask for any additional information I may need, and then make an official price quote and time estimate for their commission. If they agree to both, I put their name on the wait list (more on that later) and once I’m ready to start working on their commission, I contact them again, asking if it’s alright with them if I send them the first invoice (sometimes people might want to wait for their next pay check).
Getting clients
A great method when you’re first starting out is to announce your commissions your real life contacts, your friends/family/coworkers. Now when someone brings up illustration they’ll go ‘oh I know someone who can do that!’. These are usually not the most interesting jobs but they do help you get an idea of what it’s like to draw for a client and practice your business skills. And make a bit of money. Warning: In my experience, these clients are also often the most difficult ones. This is probably because they commissioned you because you’re the only one they know that offers them, as opposed to internet contacts who picked you out of this huge database of artists because of your specific style or skills. This often results in these clients asking things of you that are way outside your comfort zone. Be prepared for that and set boundaries beforehand! Right now I’m in a position where I can afford to turn down clients like this. I’ll often have a gut feeling about the ones that are going to be difficult, and I’d like to spend that time on projects I enjoy instead. If you can be picky from the start: great! But it took me years to get here and there’s no shame in that. :)
If you don’t get commissions at first, I promise you dropping prices is not the answer. Getting yourself out there is. So post a lot of art! Make some stuff you enjoy making! This will both help increase your skill and increase the chances of people finding you online. There’s also often threads on social media that will boost your commission information, or you’ll find people asking for an artist to work with and you can drop your info in the replies. If there’s companies you know are looking for artists, you can always send them your information directly as well. Just please don’t do that with regular people. Always make sure your commission information is easy to find when people visit your page.
Communicate with your clients
I used to postpone sending ‘unpleasant’ emails, (“I said I’d have the sketch to you by Tuesday but I didn’t get around to it”, “I still haven’t received your payment” or “I haven’t heard back from you in a while”) but I’ve been actively trying to get better at that and I’m already noticing the benefits. In my experience clients rarely mind the delay as long as they know what’s going on. So I keep that in mind, try to swallow my discomfort, and update them on their commissions often. Pro tip for ‘please respond’ emails: “Hi! I haven’t heard from you since ____ and I was wondering what the status of this project is, so that I can arrange my schedule accordingly.” and for ‘please pay me’ emails: “I just wanted to check if you’ve received my invoice, or if maybe something went wrong on my end.” (implicating email problems takes away the awkward accusation, which makes me feel more at ease). Also I once read that saying ‘thank you for your patience’ instead of ‘sorry I’m late’ is a good tactic, and I’ve put that to good use ever since.
Another great new tool I’ve used is a public wait list. I made a trello board that showed the status of all my current commissions. This way, my clients can immediately see whether I’m still waiting on their reply or payment, and new clients can check how many people are on the wait list before them. Having this information readily available takes a lot of pressure off me.
Ask more for rush jobs, even if you have the time
I’ve had many people contact me about a commission a week before their deadline, causing me a lot of stress. Since I don’t do this full time, my experience is that anything with a deadline less than 14 days away is going to be a close call (also since it takes a bit of back-and-forth through email and you never know how quickly someone responds) so I now ask a 20% rush fee for anything that crosses that threshold. This window is very personal though, you’ll figure out yours once someone crosses that line for the first time. The rush fee is out of principle, because if I have other commissions going on I’ll have to postpone those to make room in my schedule for theirs. Even if I don’t have other commissions, I don’t want people thinking they can come to me with rush jobs all the time because I don’t like working like that. There’s still people who will accept the fee, but some people just weren’t aware that it was a tight deadline and can postpone it. Be sure to put this in your commission info!
Ask more for extra corrections
Every commission will have a certain amount of tweaks and corrections, which is to be expected. If at some point you feel like you’re just endlessly altering things, or if a client asks for a fundamental change later on in the process causing you to have to redo a lot, charge an extra fee. I don’t have a set percentage or a clear threshold for this because it varies per commission, but you’ll know when they’re about to cross a line and as long as you communicate before you let them cross it (“any corrections after this point will cost ___ on top of the agreed price”) you’re good. I try to emphasize this too during the sketch stages: “please let me know anything and everything that catches your eye: at this point I can easily change everything but later on it will take more effort”. This usually works for me and I’ve rarely had to charge the extra fee. And when I did, clients often realized they were asking a lot and offered to pay more before I even brought it up.
Don’t overdo it!
Something I still have to remind myself of sometimes is to not put in more work than you’re being paid for, just because you want to please a client. There’s nothing wrong with putting in a little extra effort for clients who are great or if it’s a subject you really enjoy, but don’t make a habit out of it. You set your prices for a reason and by spending more time on something you’re essentially lowering your hourly wage, plus the client isn’t expecting more than you agreed to offer. Now if a commission takes more time than expected because you miscalculated or the client needs more corrections done than anticipated, that’s a different matter and you either leave it be or communicate about the added costs (more about that later). Just don’t let yourself be taken advantage of!
Reflect
Once you’ve done a couple of commissions, look back and think about how it went. What did you struggle with? Is there a way you can improve that? Does the time and effort still match the limit you were aiming for?
Also, don’t forget to raise your prices every year or so. Inflation is a thing, and you’ll have grown as an artist, so your prices should reflect that!
PATREON
Question by by @maartje-sue: “How do you deal with the stress of having to create things because you have patreons? I'm thinking about starting a subscription-system where people receive some kind of merch from me every month but right now I think I would die of performance anxiety.”
I created my Patreon because I noticed I was only drawing client work and quick dailies, and didn’t make time to create full artworks of the things I liked. Which was a shame because that’s where you have the most room to experiment and work out your art style, and it’s the art that is best for your portfolio. So I created Patreon specifically for that pressure to create things, because that sort of pressure is what worked for keeping up with my dailies as well. The cool thing about Patreon is that you are free to decide for yourself what you offer. You don’t have to put out something every month: you can charge your Patrons per creation. You don’t have to offer commission tiers. And lastly, the people who become Patrons are usually the people who just really want to support an artist, so in my experience they’re amazingly kind and chill people who are super understanding about you needing to take things slower sometimes. Patreon also offers a ‘pause’ option if you need a break. My advice would be to try it, see what works and what doesn’t, and make changes along the way. You can always quit if it’s not for you! No shame in that.
I’ve enjoyed using Patreon for several years, but eventually I realized the Patron commissions were taking up a lot of my time, and I wanted to be able to open up commissions to others outside the platform again as well. After removing those tiers, many people canceled their pledge. Which is completely understandable, of course, I’ve never felt bad about that. But eventually I felt like I didn’t have the time to offer rewards that were worth a higher tier, leaving the payout fairly low, so I decided to quit so I could focus my energy on other things instead.
RUNNING A BUSINESS
Question by @imrowanartist:
“Hey Eef! Immediately sending in a question regarding your freelance art haha. If you think this is too personal feel free not to answer or not post it publicly. I was just wondering how you handle payments, especially with your online commissions?”
PayPal invoices
I get most of my payments through PayPal, and there’s been a lot of posts floating around on tumblr about people getting in trouble when they’re not shipping physical goods. I’ve never had issues with this, but just to be safe this is how I do it: I create an invoice on PayPal (under ‘tools’) and fill out the fields. For ‘description’ I always put ‘digital art commission’ and one or two words about the subject matter. Then in the bottom right box with the terms and conditions, I put ‘digital goods only: no shipping required’. This is so that I can prove that the client knew they weren’t getting any physical goods, just in case someone decides to file a complaint to get a refund. It’s weird that you can’t just check a box somewhere for this, but there you go. The nice thing about PayPal invoices is also that you have more control over the specifics and a better overview of what is still pending. And you have an option for the client to add a tip! The downside is that this way PayPal takes a small cut of the payment as a fee, but I’d rather pay a small fee than run the risk of a whole legal battle.
Split payments
This is a system I’ve used to divide the risk between me and my client. If I asked for all of the payment upfront, the client runs the risk of me not delivering. If I asked for all of the payment afterward, I run the risk of the client running off with their commission without paying. I decided to split payment in half: the first half is due up front, the second half comes at the very end right before I send out the high resolution image. It’s all a worst-case-scenario plan, but it’s always worked fine for me. Nowadays I give all my clients the option to pay in split-payment or the full amount up front. It can work well for people who’d like to spread the costs over multiple pay checks, for example.
Have a filing system
I learned this from my part time job at an ad agency: file your projects right. Especially if, like me, you work on different devices and need to access the same files, be careful not to overwrite things. Here’s the system I use, again, shamelessly stolen from my old office job: I make a new folder for every client with their name (or company name). Within that folder, I make a folder named CLIENTNAMEXYYY project description. The X corresponds to the final digit of the year we’re in, the YYY will start at 001 and increase with every new assignment in that year by the same client (You could probably make do with just one or two Y variables, but the ad agency often had dozens of assignments per client each year). This way I can immediately see in what year a certain commission was made and it will make it easily searchable. Within this folder I make a separate folder for references, and if it’s a revision of something I did before I’ll make a folder called ‘archive’ in which I put the copied archived project. This is so I can’t accidentally overwrite it.
When an assignment is done and paid for, I archive it by copying it to my ‘stack’ account. Which is basically dropbox or google drive, whichever works best for you. Hard drives crash, so having everything in the cloud is reassuring to me.
Save psds!
In my early commissioning days I didn’t use the cloud and so to save space on my computer I’d delete the work files of my projects after they were done. Only to panic a year later when a client asked for an update and I didn’t have the original anymore. Don’t be like me, kids. DON’T DELETE PSD’s. If you need to save space, you can delete any previous versions you have or reference materials. Or spend a couple bucks to upgrade your cloud storage.
Sort your emails
I have a separate Gmail account for commission business and I use labels to keep it organized. The most used ones are ‘working on’ ‘waiting for reply’ ‘waiting for payment’ ‘discussing terms’ and ‘completed’. The labels all have their own color which makes it easy to see at a glance where you’re at. It’s a little thing but it helps!
HEALTH - MENTAL
Take at least one full day off every week
I’ve found that working from home on commissions, I rarely ever make 8 hour work days. Depending on the amount of work and the other plans I have I clock in between 1 and 5 hours throughout the day. This is also because there’s only so much work I can do on a commission before having to send it off to the client for approval again. I have three or four days a week to myself, but part of that is also my weekend so I always make sure there’s at least one day a week where I don’t do work at all. Which day that is, varies depending on what plans I have (that flexibility is great!). I’ve recently noticed it works best if I specify beforehand which days are going to be days off because otherwise I just sort of float about without really enjoying my free time. If I don’t watch out I’ll spend ten days working back to back, and that’s not healthy, however enjoyable your job is!
Don’t read email on free days
One of the best decisions I’ve made for my mental health is to make a separate email account for commission matters. Not only because it helps me be organized, but also because I haven’t installed it on my phone so I can’t see work emails coming in while I’m at my office job or when I have a day off. Cause if I did I would feel antsy about not replying or doing something right away. I used to set weekly auto-replies for office days that says ‘Hi I’m at my office job, I’ll get back to you this weekend, if it can’t wait please contact me at -my personal email- ’. Nowadays, my office days are more spaced out, so I usually get to check my email every other day.
Take a break every now and then
Something I’ve noticed in the last couple of years is that there comes a time each year where I feel overwhelmed. What I’ve done is just take a full month off from commissions. If you plan it beforehand you can make sure to finish up all running assignments so you can sit back without feeling guilty and recharge for a bit. Since I still have my office job I’m not entirely work-free, but it does free up my schedule to either just relax and play video games for a while, or to finally get around to larger projects. It’s a great time to do things like build a portfolio website, for example. I’ve also had much longer breaks in between commission periods, when I needed all my mental energy to deal with my new job for example, or when I needed to recharge from three years of daily drawings. If you can afford to, make sure to check in with yourself if you need to close commissions for a while. This also gives you a great opportunity to reflect and make adjustments to your setup and your prices if you have to.
HEALTH - PHYSICAL
What to do when your wrist hurts
I always knew I should be stretching my wrist regularly, but it’s the kind of thing you don’t start actually doing until it’s too late. One night in October 2015 I suddenly felt this horrible ache in my right wrist, I couldn’t move it without it hurting, so I did what any artist would do: I freaked out. I feared this is what I’d read about: the kind of injury that would severely impact my ability to draw forever. I went to see my doctor who referred me to a physical therapist, and she showed me some stretches and exercises that would strengthen the muscle to prevent it from happening again. It slowly improved, but it still took over a month for me to slowly start drawing again. That month was a difficult time, not just because I was in pain, but also because not being able to draw felt like losing part of my identity. I suddenly became much more frustrated with my day job because I felt like I wasn’t good at it, and that was much harder to deal with now that I couldn’t come home and do what I was good at. When it eventually healed, I knew one thing: I never wanted to go through that again.
So what do you do when your wrist hurts?
1. Drop EVERYTHING. Don’t draw. Don’t force a stretch.
2. Try alternating hot/cold baths, they helped improve the bloodflow and alleviate the pain for me.
3. Buy a cheap drug store wrist brace, it helps prevent accidental movement. Wear it night and day.
4. If the pain lasts for over a week, go see a doctor or a physical therapist!
How to keep your wrist from hurting
Ever since that time I’ve made it a point to stretch my wrist. I’ve installed timers on all my computers (I use ‘Time Out’ on my work Mac and ‘Stretchly’ on my Windows pc) that will pop up and lock the screen every 15 minutes, counting down 15 seconds which I need to spend stretching. I removed every ‘skip’ button so that I absolutely HAVE to do it. There’s never something so urgent it can’t wait 15 seconds. I usually hold my hand and gently bend it one way for five seconds, then the other for five, and then I roll my shoulders and stretch my arms for the last five. So far it’s helped prevent a fallback, even though I sometimes get a slight ache when it’s been busy. Honestly, I can’t stress enough how important this is. Do your stretches. Building the muscle in your wrist also helps, by doing yoga or pushups (if you’re one of those people who can do pushups lol). Other things to do to keep your wrist from hurting: try doing more with your non-dominant hand. Things like brushing your teeth, unhooking your bra, carrying that heavy grocery bag, I found that even using a computer mouse left-handed isn’t that hard to get used to.
Also take care of everything that isn’t a wrist
Learned this the hard way: stretching your wrist is all well and good but don’t forget to stretch your whole body sometimes too. You can seriously mess up your back and shoulders by hunching over your tablet for extended periods of time. I’ll be adding longer hourly breaks to my time-out apps so I have to get up and do some yoga stretches for my back and shoulders. I also have a desk I can convert into a standing desk, so when I feel like I’ve been sitting down all day I can work while standing for a while which is a nice change. It’s the SKARSTA from Ikea, which is even relatively cheap.
Go to sleep.
Something I noticed while doing daily drawings is that they cut into my sleep time. I usually would only remember to start drawing at the point when I was about to go to bed, effectively postponing my bed time for at least another hour. Eventually I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been asleep before 1 am and I was just always tired. Not to mention that the middle of the night isn’t exactly when I’m at my most creative, so I wasn’t even making art I was happy with. I set myself the goal that year to try and turn off all screens after 10pm, and be in bed by midnight everyday. I then set an alarm in my phone for 8pm everyday to remind myself to start drawing. I didn’t make it every single day, but every small step helps. I immediately noticed a change in both my energy levels and my mental state!
... Whew! I think that’s about it for now! If there’s anything I haven’t answered yet, or something you’d like me to talk about more: don’t hesitate to ask.
No go out, have fun, and take good care of yourselves :*
