I'm in a few hobby gamemaker communities and I've traded art assets for code before. The occasional art for favors, like getting someone to test a site. Of course there's art-for-art, and sometimes I make posts (elsewhere obviously) where I give away completely free art just for a portfolio reason or just to have something to do. But I am more interested in hearing from artists who have treated it like favors for favors.

I know that in monetary spaces like this it is heavily frowned upon for clients to make those kinds of offers, but artists like me will sometimes do them for a trade. I've always been interested in the concept that at some cons and fairs people trade their physical merchandise at tables. Not all of them, obviously and I have never been, but I always liked the idea of it.

Have you ever traded art or goods for something non-currency related - and non-art too since that's so ingrained in the culture already.

https://preview.redd.it/tgmsumkiom1h1.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=42e54525ada405e8cae5183410dc5f520e7ecf56

Doing a little soft launch for the new showcase flair real quick.

Only verified artists and clients will be able to use the flair. If you try to post with it and you are not verified it will be immediately filtered by automoderator. Only posts made by approved users won't be.

It is only for completed commissions - not recreational art.

Artists can post their completed commission and advertise their stores, patreons, or social media (something normally not allowed). Clients can share their commissions and leave testimonials for artists they've worked with.

All showcase posts must include:

• Full cost of commission
• Link to portfolio
• Credit to the artist/client

Additionally, a completed commission can only be posted once. If you are paid to make a sketch you can post the sketch, but if you are paid to do a full drawing you cannot make a post with the sketch and another post for the lineart and another post for the color, etc. It is NOT for in-progress updates. Completed commissions ONLY. And each finished commission can only be shared ONCE.

Posting to the showcase flair does count towards your daily limit of 2 posts. But since you can advertise stores and such, this should help balance it.

If you have any questions ask below. As always you’ll be able to sort by answered, so the comments will be a bit of an faq.

Fake screen cap provided by mod SupportArtists

This is the first official thread where users can request the Verified Artist flairs. For more information on what those are click here.

Verification is optional and not needed to partcipate here, but it helps regular users stand out as trustworthy members of the community.

Before commenting, please read the requirements carefully. Requests not using the format may be skipped.

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🎨 Verified Artist Requirements

To qualify, you must have:

• Posted at least once per week for 30 days
• No rule breaks during that period
• A portfolio or social history showing your own original art
• A verified email connected to your Reddit account (do NOT send it to us. This is done in your account settings)

Some artists may be asked for proof (speedpaint, unedited video, etc.). Not verifying you/asking for proof does not mean we don't like you/your art. Please do not take it personally.

To proceed please use the following template in the comments below:

Type of Artist (2D/3D)

Link to your portfolio

Optional: Preferred flair text (if any (insert text or leave blank))

Here is an example comment:

https://preview.redd.it/94c4ma8qcszg1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bfe601a3cf3951a12cc32129e9ea5cae3a067f18

There are emojis available to you to represent multiple social media. They operate on Discord rules - so :emoji name: etc.

They are:

https://preview.redd.it/ltgonat3pszg1.jpg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8dc11abd0770a56da7f2c2b000c028e7a3d45a6

• Deviantart
• Dribble
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Patreon
• RedditGold
• HireAnArtist
• TikTok
• Tumblr
• Twitch
• Twitter (we onow its x now. This pack did not have an x)
• Youtube

And here's how it will appear:

https://preview.redd.it/yilv80b5dszg1.jpg?width=836&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1238bda1ddae0d40ad9fa0c0d790cb83330a4889

If you are missing a requierment you will be notified of which. If you are approved you'll recieve a message and a comment saying you've become an approved user.

If you ever want to change your post flair please contact moderation **through modmail**. No, "hireanartist-modteam" is not an actual account. That is automod. You cannot message automod. It's a bot.

If you want to become a **verified patron** at this time, you will still need to do so through modmail, since it's process is more complicated.

Post will be renewed next month.

That should be all. Go ahead and comment now.

We're running a community poll to decide whether to add a Verified-Only Showcase Flair.

If you are unfamiliar with our new Verified flairs, please read the pinned post before partcipating

This post type would be available exclusively to Verified Artists and Verified Patrons as a perk, and would allow them to share completed commissions - something users are not allowed to do under current rules.

The goal is to give verified users a way to highlight finished work and show the art that comes from our community.

Please vote in the poll and let us know whether you support adding this flair.

View Poll

We’re rolling out two new user flairs — Verified Artists and Verified Patrons — to help highlight real, reliable members of our community and give repeat users a few extra benefits.

These flairs are not required to use the subreddit. They’re simply a way to reward people who consistently use r/HireAnArtist in good faith.

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🎨 Verified Artist Flair

What it looks like

• 2D artists: cool tone blue flair
• 3D artists: cool tone green flair
• Default text: “Verified 2D Artist” or “Verified 3D Artist”

If you want it to show your social handle, a title, or something more fun, you'll need to contact the mods via modmail to have it changed. (Flairs can’t be freely editable or anyone could assign them to themselves.) You can have it changed at any time, or never at all.

We also have a set of social emojis you can add to your flair. See comments for an image of them.

You can see an example of our subreddit specific emojis and how you can use them in my own flair. My username is the same across most platforms, so it's just that and the icons of the media I use. But you can do whatever you want with them, however, I think there is a limit to how many you can use imposed by Reddit. (Edit: it's 10 emoji and 64 total characters.)

Because the colors already indicate 2D vs 3D, your text can be pretty flexible. As long as it's not a slur or offensive language, you can get weird/creative with it. Regulars will already know what the colors mean.

How to earn it

During a 30-day period, you must:

• Post consistently (at least once per week)
• Break no subreddit rules

In addition, you must have

• an off-site portfolio/social history showing art that is verifiably yours. So:
  • No AI
  • No bases
  • No tracing
  • and preferably has existed longer than a couple months. But thats not a hard rule.
• and a verified email (Connected to your account. Do not give it to us)

With bases and tracing, I mean MORE than that. If you do that for practice, that's not our concern, but you have to be capable of art outside of bases and tracing - which is what we are looking for here.

Some artists may be asked for proof (speedpaint, unedited video, etc.) Not verifying you/asking for proof does not mean we don't like you/your art. Please do not take it personally.

In practice, this just means use the subreddit as intended, like many of you already do. If you already use the subreddit normally, you’re probably already meeting the requirements.

If you think you should have received a flair and haven't, there is a section at the bottom of this post that tells you what to do.

What it does

Verified Artists become Approved Users - a Reddit feature that allows you to continue posting even if the subreddit is temporarily locked. This is unlikely, but if it ever happened, verified artists would still be able to advertise their work and patrons would still see guaranteed human artists.

It also acts as a trust signal:
If you’ve gone 30 days without breaking rules, moderation can safely assume any future mistakes are genuine mistakes - not a pattern of ignorant behavior or a malicious attempt to scab.

What happens if you break a rule while verified?

If you break an instant ban rule (e.g., advertising under “Hiring an Artist”), you lose your verified flair and are unapproved - not banned. From there, two things can happen:

• If you break the rule again, you’ll be banned like anyone else.
• If you then go another 30 days without breaking the rules, you can earn your verified flair back.

Exceptions:
If you’re caught stealing art, using AI, selling NFTs, etc., either in your own posts or in comments on others’ posts, you will still be banned. Those are not protected by verification.

And no, this system isn’t favoritism. I can already feel the comments. This flair is intentionally very easy to earn for repeat users. Over time, it will basically become standard for people who use the subreddit regularly and correctly. It’s not favoritism; it’s a reward for consistent, rule-abiding behavior. Moderators do not know or interact with verified artists personally. We could not possibly know all of them like that. Friends of moderation would still need to participate and meet criteria.

PLEASE REMEMBER: The average user who has posted here before can already appeal instant bans if they have a visible history of following the rules. This is not unique to verified users. A history of posting correctly is one of the four factors we already look at when deciding whether to unban someone. For my minecraft fans out there, being verified is like your totem of undying. A get-out-of-jail-free card. One use, and then you need to earn another.

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🧧 Verified Patron Flair

This one is harder to earn imo. It's meant for repeat, reliable commissioners, not one time posters.

How to earn it

Within a 3 month period, you must:

• Have posted at least two different hiring offers
• Provide testimonials from two artists you’ve worked with (from r/hireanartist or elsewhere, doesn't matter)

You will also need a verified email. Again, this is the email connected to your account, please do not give us your email.

We will contact the artists to verify the testimonials and confirm they’re real accounts (to prevent sockpuppet scams).

If you only ever post here once, you don’t really need this flair. It’s designed for repeat patrons of the arts.

What it does

Just like Verified Artists, Verified Patrons become Approved Users, meaning you can still post and comment even if the subreddit is locked, artists can quickly identify you as a trustworthy commissioner, and repeat posts from you are less likely to raise suspicion from wary artists.

We expect there will be far fewer Verified Patrons than Verified Artists, but the flair should be very useful for artists deciding who to work with.

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Shouldn’t I Be Verified?

If you meet the requirements for Verified Artist or Verified Patron status and haven’t received your flair yet, the next step is to contact the moderation team through modmail. Modmail is the only place where moderators can actually review your account properly. When you send a modmail, the system automatically shows us everything we need to determine whether you qualify. Without that information, we can’t verify you.

You should not be DMing moderators about verification. In fact, you should not be DMing moderators about moderation at all. Direct messages don’t include your moderation history, aren’t visible to the full team, aren’t logged for admin oversight, and don’t provide the tools we need to make moderation decisions. Modmail messages, on the other hand, are permanent, transparent, and visible to admins, which is exactly why all moderation actions must go through that channel. And unlike what a popular post here will tell you, modmail cannot be turned off and the feature cannot be removed. That's not a thing. Modmail is always accessible through the side bar (or about page on mobile)

If you qualify, we’ll verify you. If you’re missing something, we’ll tell you what it is. But the only way we can evaluate your account is through modmail, not through DMs.

Eventually, we will make a pinned post where you can just verify via comments, but for now use modmail.

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Final Notes

• Verification is optional.
• Casual users can still post.
• Everyone can still appeal bans. You always could, this is not new.

These flairs are simply a way to reduce restrictions and increase trust for users who have shown, over time, that they’re using r/hireanartist in good faith.

Now, this post should be in AMA format. If you have any questions you can ask them below and you will also be able to highlight comments that have been already been answered. This way the post acts as a faq of sorts. It'll be open for 48 hours, so get your questions in before then. This post will be pinned until the above mentioned verification post is made. That post will be more concise, I swear.