Trying to make money as a freelance artist

a year later this is now the most popular video on my channel, thank you so much my doods <3 though with this vid reaching more and more people i've been getting some concerning comments. i think that some people are misunderstanding this video, so i just want to make it very clear; you do not have to draw NSFW to be a successful artist and my channel should be a perfect example of that. this is just a common joke within the digital art community, but in reality there are so many successful 100% SFW artists too. so please only draw stuff you feel comfortable with, especially if you are a minor as you can get both yourself and your commissioner in trouble (also there's a lot of weird adults out there, stay safe guys) and block people who say weird shit to you too. once again this vid is not to be taken seriously so please remember it's okay to have boundaries, have fun with your art and good luck to those of you who are starting out with freelancing - you got this ✌️

Someone: * Opens commissions * Nobody: Commissions: * Are NSFW * The users: i ' l l t a k e y o u r e n t i r e s t o c k

any commissioners: *offers nsfw* people with fetishes: f e e t

I feel like more content like this needs to exist to raise awareness for how to treat artists during commissions.

My daughter did this. She is really good. I felt so bad seeing how discouraged she became. Some people even stole her art style and claimed it as their own. They would request and not pay. Freelance work is crazy

"I don't pay BEFORE I get my food" ...good sir, have you ever BEEN to a McDonalds?

“Ooh no T H A T ‘ S N O T M O N E Y “ Yep I’m subscribing

God I feel so bad for all the artists who have to deal with this kind of stuff, I respect literally every artist who has the patients to do this kind of stuff, you guys seriously deserve more respect

Definitely relatable ~ But I will say one thing I feel most artist go through is undervaluing their work. Both because they themselves don't believe their quality and time is worth it and because they might reinforce that thought from a vocal complainer of the price or because they don't see much attention for their work/commissions being open. Often the later issue is more because you haven't marketed yourself enough. Many a fledgling and even experienced freelance digital artists will stick with posting their work and communicating with their audience through one website and use only the posting feature to get the word out there. You GOTTA market yourself. Post to various galleries not just one -- interact with various communities where your customers hang out in (could be a gaming forum, or a discord channel, or even a local friend group) -- art as a job is more than just making the art itself. You gotta get yourself out there~ and constantly~! (sometimes even asking people you know might be interested in some art from you rather than waiting for them to message you first) As for the value of art itself, I hate when people think the value of an artpiece should be compared to an hourly wage earner's value (or dramatically less). No -- the work someone doing retail (for example) for 8 hours and getting paid 11/h is NOT the same as an artist that spends 8 hours drawing an artpiece. There's the time it took to communicate with people-- the marketing involved-- the bookeeping -- gallery management (also let's not forget the various institutions that grab chunks of your commission pie-- like paypal transaction fees or government self employment tax-- which for me means all the money I take in is really 30% LESS than the front face price I charge someone. That 11/h worker has his taxes and other things usually accounted by the employer) Then there's just the value of the work itself and the fact that those 8 hours are accounting for 8 FOCUSED hours of work. In most hourly jobs you have periods of "down" time that add up -- I think on average most retail jobs will have something like 4 hours of "focused on task" work and 4 hours of "non-focused" activity (be it chatting with an employee-- checking your phone-- or in general just walking around and not actively focused mentally or physically) TLDR -- value yourselfs more digital aritists ~ <3 you're totally worth it. Don't stop yourself because of one or two vocal haters and keep on interacting and posting to more than just 1 gallery or social space!~

Artist: (open commision) Nobody: Artist: * got bored and closed it * Someone: aRE yOu sTIlL oPEn?

Commissions: open People: ... Commissions: closed People: allow us to introduce ourselves

SFW content and the people: Why is no one here NSFW content and the people: 99+ messages from unknown users

Yes, i know what nsfw actually means N-Never S-Safe F-From W-Waluigi

The letters “NSFW” are basically the new summoning circles.

"Oh a tip I've never gotten a tip before!" OH GOD THATS NOT MONEY

being an artist is hard, but fun to draw when you are bored

As a new artist thinking of doing commissions, this spikes my blood pressure. Amazing work!

"I don't pay before I get my food, wtf" KFC and McDonald's: what

“Artists are greedy” Artists: PLS GIVE ME COMMSIONS I NEED TO PAY MY BILLS

Getting so many requests after closing commissions is relatable to me...from the other side. More often than not, when I find an artist I like and I want a commission and I have the money, when I go to message them, I see that they have JUST closed commissions. I spent about 2 or 3 years without getting any commissions because that just kept happening over and over.