u/Awkquido

Commissions can be a tough spot for many artists and often I see things nobody enjoys bringing up when it comes to the reality of getting commissions.
To preface: I have done many commissions and used to do it full time which paid for my monthly living and then some.

1. Beginners. Beginner art and not knowing the fundamentals. Many people question why they don't get commission but when looking at their portfolio their skill is very beginner. With a saturated market you need to have somewhat strong fundamentals and level in art to be appealing. You are simply not ready to take commissions. Nobody wants to be the bad guy and straight up say this.

2. Pricing. Pricing is always a painful point because you want to pay what's fair to yourself but also be marketable. Here's the truth of pricing.

• Skill: If you are are newer artist then you cannot charge professional rates. Sure, an art piece might take you a long time but the quality needs to be realistic for the price.
• Influence: If you do not get commissions and do not have a large audience then you may need to lower your prices to built yourself up. Many big follower count artists charge higher because of the demand. It's demand vs pricing in many regards, not just skill level.
• Yes-manning. Stop telling newer artists to raise their prices. It's unrealistic and just leads to them not getting any commissions because they've jacked up their prices because people said "No, you're art is so good, you should definitely charge $100!". Be kind but be realistic.

3. Marketing. This is a big one. In this day and age if you don't know how to use social media and market yourself you're not getting many commissions. Sure, you may despise a website but that website might be what you need to grow and market yourself. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone to grow.

4. Spam and Unrelated Content. Artists, stop posting your portfolios on "looking for artists" when you do not fit what the client wants. SO many times I've seen people look for a realistic style and then an anime artist throws their link in. If you do not fit what the client wants then you're throwing a line with no lure on it hoping a fish will come. Apply to what fits you and what you can actually offer.

5. Guilt Tripping. I see many artists advertise their commissions with a message saying "I need to be able to eat food, please commission me". Listen, I'm not saying people don't have it hard, it's tough out here. But it's incredibly unprofessional to try and built yourself up on sympathy and guilt tripping. You want clients to buy from you for your services, not because they feel obligated to keep your lights on.

Thank you for coming to my Art Talk.

As an artist I find it fairly easy to tell what is and isn't AI. When an image is flat out AI or when people are tracing AI. It's generally pretty obvious for a combination of reasons including; skill level, understanding of fundamentals, progression, etc...

It's really frustrating to see how many people fall for AI and traced AI because they do not understand art like artists do. It almost always feels like talking to a brick wall warning mutuals about AI because they just simply cannot see it. And that's not their fault. They don't know the ins and outs of art and when you can tell someone is legit or not. (Obvious red flags that non-artists don't understand).

Just sucks because I find my enjoyment of art I have to question and double check whenever I see a pretty piece. Then seeing people get 'scammed' paying for art that is not legitimately made but you can't get them to see all the signs. (This especially hurts when it's friends who fall for it).