I'm surprised this doesn't have more views because it's a really informative video. Actually, it's even inspired me to think more about what I'm trying to achieve even though I'm not even taking commissions at this time. I'm a comics artist and am currently planning a comic that was going to be a fanservice/NSFW comic but now I'm considering making it more fanservice, less NSFW and having the NSFW as a bonus instead.

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

I’m really glad it helped you! If you want to share it to help increase the video’s reach, that would be awesome 🤩 so what’s your comic about?

@designingcomics

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor DONE. I don't have a large following but I shared it on Twitter. My comic is Celestial Chronicle Shion (available on Tapas, Webtoon and GlobalComix). It's a manga sci-fi/horror with a bit of romance. The story is about a space war with aliens who tried to invade Earth and the captain of one of the spaceships who can control it with her mind. There is also a mysterious twist the captain's brother is trying to resolve and he gets caught up in some crazy occult stuff. The fanservice comic is one I just started working on the story for so it's very much in the planning stages. The title is BL Demon Hotspring which as you can guess from the title is aimed pretty specifically to an audience. LOL

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

That’s so cool! Thanks so much!

I get that a lot of artists tell me to make a complete artsheet but i feel like its a waste of time because litterally NOBODY will see everything in the art sheet, so i always keep my offers clean, tidy, easy to read, straight to the point, and organized, i guess i was right!

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

You’re absolutely correct! Also, consider the source. Do they get lots of commissions? Because if not, they’re probably not a good source of information 😅 same goes if they get a lot but they’re too cheap. Ever notice that? You have about 3 seconds max to capture a client, so yeah, why would they read a whole sheet?

One of my biggest gripes when viewing commission sheets is the unnecessary sections for the drawings. Like for example, the one with the "sketch, lineart, color-only, cel-shading, & full render" you showed. My mind just did a triple backflip to the dirt of how ridiculous that is. Color or bw WITH shading, that's all they need, imo.

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Yeah they’re very poorly made aren’t they? Have you seen my video about art commission sheets? I made a whole video about everything people do wrong with them and how they aren’t even necessary

3D art is not a style, it's a medium, much like digital painting. It can come in many different styles and ways of execution in its own right. You could be doing realism, or any number of stylized styles, such as comic styles or anime. As far as execution goes, you could be doing highpoly sculpts, cinematic models, game-res models with PBR textures, lowpoly models with hand-painted or pixel art textures, or even voxel art. 3D art is a very broad field in and of itself, so 3D artists definitely need to narrow down their focus, as well.

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

You’re absolutely right! I hope you see I’m just using it as an example of a generic type of art to offer. Is that better said?

I dont understand why this only have 1k views! This is the most useful art commisions advices ive ever seen! You break down into many things and explain the reasonings well, impressive

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for saying so 🤩 what did you find most helpful in this video?

Il fix these soon man this channel has it all I love the work this guy makes.

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks I appreciate your support! Any questions so far?

Did you commit any of the common mistakes mentioned in this video? Did you change your mind and decide to fix them?

Very very informative. I narrowed down my style and what I want to do, which is anthro/furry paintings, I have examples and stuff. I don't like comm sheets at all, but ive heard some people say theyve gotten more comms through it so?? Yea idk. I also dont know if my pricing will scare others away, as before I narrowed it down i did more cheap things, but now I dont really want to do those as I havent found it worthwhile. My prices start at 80$ for a painted headshot with a background, which I think is okay as they take me minimum 6 hours. This video really had me think more about what exactly I am doing, thank you for this information, genuinely

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

You absolutely do NOT need a com sheet, nor should you use one! If you think your prices will ward off art clients, follow this advice bc I haven’t used one in about 4 years: Do I Need an Art Commission Sheet? NO! | Art Commission Sheets SUCK: Don't Make One! kzread.info/dash/bejne/dpOMmaayhrTac6g.html Let me know what you think!

thats genius. thank you you helped me a lot

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

You’re very welcome, my friend! What did you find most helpful in this?

Love the channel and all the advice youve been giving. A question: perhaps i havnt come across it yet, but have you made a video about taxes as a self employed artist? Would def love a video knowing what could count as a deductible expense, how often i should file, etc?

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Hey thanks and I’m glad you’re enjoying everything! That’s a great topic for a future video! I’m happy to add that into my future line up. That would be quite helpful for artists as they grow their art business huh?

Very informative, thank you

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

You’re welcome! Was there anything new you learned in this?

@zaxvolten

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I'm about to make a commission with a price on it, and learned thats a bad idea,(nobody talks about it) thank you so much,

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

Haha that’s awesome! Yeah it’ll make you look more like a pro. Any questions about the contents of this or any of my other videos?

gosh I wish I could find your advices before I dropped drawing. Sadly its too late for me, but I hope others will use it and make money ❤❤❤

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! …but why did you stop drawing? It’s never too late to start

@XxMarynataxX

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor I was really burned out and also I was in bad financial state which was the reason I stopped drawing. I tried to get commissions and I was pretty desperate, but it was something unachievable for me with semirealistic halfbody illustrations for 45usd...

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I can understand how all of that pressure mounted to that. Sorry to hear. Have you started drawing again?

Doing this right now, this is going to be the focus of September for me :)

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Great idea! This will help you so much 😁 so what’s your genre and style?

@alejandrogangotena9033

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor the ones I am honing in on right now are (digital) ink heavy lineart +flat colors. So its semi realistic similar to old comicbooks. Genre is fantasy, honing on DnD right now. I can do and enjoy doing other stuff, but will first try to get an awesome portfolio with 8 DnD genre stuff all in the inky flat color style first and see what I catch. Then I ll probably try to make superheroes in that same style. that will give me options to catch dA requests and find the clients who dig what I am offering.

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

That’s great that you’re focused 👍 now keep it up for a year and you’ll get more regular and repeat clients

@alejandrogangotena9033

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor hopefully less time, but we ll see

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Of course! Just use focused efforts to gain momentum over that time, and you’ll see little improvements all the time. It never comes all at once

I've moved away from price sheets, they feel like a waste of my time, like I'm never satisfied with them. Plus I can't scale my prices or be flexible with them. I set up a carrd with examples of my work and base prices for each option, and I let them know it's a base price up front. I've been reading lately that a lot of commissioners would rather have a base number to see if they can afford a piece, rather than having to DM an artist, talk through it, and then when the artist gives them a figure that's out of their budget, they feel as though they've wasted their time, and if they don't see any pricing, they won't bother (which might or might not be a good thing, could be deterring cheap/demading clients). I like to have a base price public just so that if anyone approaches me, they know what to expect. however, it hadn't dawned on me to just offer finished work. I always have trouble with the levels of finish for my work and how I should price it, so I'm going to do that now, definitely. I also struggle with "bust/headshot/waist-up/full body". It doesn't particularly matter to me how much of the body I'm drawing so divvying up prices for those things feels nitpicky.I have to be more deliberate about what I want to offer. There's a number of ways to go about it, and to keep the discussion going though. I've seen your "how to talk to clients" video and it's great advice!

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear you’re against com sheets too! The good word is spreading now lol. For the types of commissions and amount of seen characters, why not charge more ? It takes more time to draw a full character versus a bust, right? I mean even if it’s $10 more, consider the time commitment it’ll take to render the other half of the body, you know? I mean if you want a double cheeseburger, it costs more than a single but not as much as a triple, right? Lol. Good points made 👍

Hello There Thank you for all the videos. I've offered commissions a few times, but I wasn't serious about them at all. This time around, I want to be more active in the process, and your videos are very helpful~ I never understood the discount for more than one character. So you've drawn the first, but then the 2nd is half priced? You still take the same amount of time to draw that 2nd character though. I have a question about how you handle payment. Do you use PayPal invoices and ask for payment directly, or do you use a service like Ko-Fi commissions or Etsy?

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Hey thanks for watching! I’m happy to hear you found some actionable items to help out of my content. For payment, I recommend PayPal exclusively. I’ve heard of kofi being used for tips, and I’ve never considered Etsy. I admittedly don’t know much about it, since I don’t use that platform for my artwork, but with PayPal it’s very easy and I can have my money delivered to me and in my back in either seconds or a couple days. It’s very easy. Does that sound good? What other commission questions do you have?

@codabear48

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor I don't have any other questions at the moment. Thank you for such a quick response!

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

You’re very welcome! I hope you enjoy the rest of my content 😁

This advice is more for illustrators than fine artists

@TheArtMentor

6 ай бұрын

Illustrators aren’t fine artists?

@Sharperthanu1

5 ай бұрын

@@TheArtMentor It's not the same category and not the same type of "art." Personally I prefer commercial art (work by an illustrator) than "fine art" because no one can give you a definition of "fine art."

@TheArtMentor

5 ай бұрын

@Sharperthanu1 why do you say that when fine art has been defined for over a hundred years? Are you an artist or client btw?

Lineart illustration and cellshade illustration may be finished pieces too. I make cellshade for comics and lineart for book interiors. Not everything needs to be fullrender xD

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

Right both those aren’t commissions right? It sounds like you’re working with an agency or firm. Am I right?

@paulaedithilustradora

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor maybe it's because english is not my first language but I use 'work by commission' for all the freelance work. (The comics aren't tho, I'm in a selfpublish artists group and we make our own projects there ^.^)

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

If you’re using it for a portfolio of work then I agree it would be completed work, like a render. The issue with most commissions though is that my artists offer it as a cheaper alternative to completed work, that wouldn’t be part of a portfolio to show to more clients in the future. Does that make sense with that explanation?

Is it legal to do fan art commissions? Shouldn't that be copyright infringement? Or does Square Enix allow people to do fan art of their characters and get paid for it?

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

There’s an interesting topic. Essentially, it’s up to the IP owner and done at your own risk. Some IP’s like Sonic, I know keep a tight reign on who makes money off their IP. Others, like Pokémon, they care less about and consider it marketing advertisement. It’s acceptable unless the owner says it isn’t. Does that make sense?

1:49 My favourite part 😂

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

Those awful commission sheets are my nemesis, aren’t they? 😂

I've painted pokemon before and that's fun had someone commission me for a pokemon character. I do mostly paintings. I'll have to do more pokemon art since I've mainly drawn ponies for a long time.

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

That’s a nice transition that’s pretty similar then. Have you looked up the fan favorites right now? Those might be good examples for you

@jazzwolfblaze5250

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor I could try and draw some legendary mons or cute mons in my painting style.

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

I bet people would love that! Have you checked out some forums or job postings for that genre? I bet that might give you a good idea of what people want. That’s what I used to do 👍

@jazzwolfblaze5250

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor I'll have to give the forums from da and reddit a look.

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah let me know how it pans out!

How many genres is to many genres? Because I was thinking of these genres I can handle: Sci-fi, horror, adventure, & Fantasy, is that too much?

@TheArtMentor

2 ай бұрын

easy answer: more than one is too many. Think of it like this: do you want to nail one shot or miss five? Once you specialize, you'll thrive, and then you can branch out. How does that sound?

@GlowBean_Studios

2 ай бұрын

@@TheArtMentor Alright! Will do, I mainly do Sci-fi like alien creatures

@TheArtMentor

2 ай бұрын

great to hear!

Great video! Also yea there a ton of money to be made in nsfw to the point where even if people dont like drawing that stuff they make a good profit out of it which kinda sucks tbh, ive seen a ton of people who dont enjoy drawing it do it for the money

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah that’s always kind of bothered me. I think that will lead to a burn out eventually, what about u?

@Artist_Kai10

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor Yea I agree with that, burnout would be a big problem there like drawings that kind of stuff might leave some people feeling a bit embarrassed or Feeling abit disgusted in yourself, i dont think artists should need to go through that tbh, but hey its not like i hate nsfw artists or anything😅 i just think in general people shouldnt draw things they dont like just for money

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

I feel the same way! It’s a passion misalignment if it’s just for money. I’m not adversarial to nsfw art, so I hope it didn’t come off that way. Did it?

@Artist_Kai10

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor Oh no not at all! i'm sure most people could understand you were kind of speaking about drawing art your not passionate about on a general scale, especially considering you also put in the text to show that

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

Good glad to hear! Thanks for the affirmation haha. It really is an issue amongst all art genres, but it’s the easiest one to exemplify

I'm thinking about doing commissions in Tumblr but I am lost (because I've never done them before)

@TheArtMentor

8 ай бұрын

so how did this tutorial help you learn how to start out? And have you seen my other guides on how to get clients?

@m_ihsanart

7 ай бұрын

@@TheArtMentor It did. But I have some questions. So you don't recommend commission sheet, but what is the alternatives? I see many artists who use sheets and they don't seem to have problems with it (At least on the surface.) I want to open commissions on Tumblr, but there are many things I have no idea how to begin with, like marketing, whether I should have a big audience or no, or if my art is professional (my art is mostly fanart) and even the terms and conditions!

The art that gets the most views is fan art, and my historical stuff also does plenty of views. I cannot narrow it down too much, simply because I do much of my art mostly as a historian, not necessarely as an artist. So fanart (mostly Winx), historical stuff related to the Sanson family and some fantasy in the mixt. Pictures accompanied by stories tend to be whats most popular out of all my art work.

@TheArtMentor

11 ай бұрын

That’s a very niche genre. Have you ever gotten any clients for that?

@Lilas.Duveteux

11 ай бұрын

Not yet, but I seek in order to fill that niche do historical reconstruction with both 2d and 3d modeling. However, if my art has some story written with it, it gets a lot more views, and I mostly post a mixt bag on Deviantart and my small niche on Artstation. I don't get much views, but it allows me to stack my executioner-related art somewhere that doesn't depend on a USB or computer savings, and allows me to build a portfolio along side my masters degree to send to Ubi Soft, and I don't plan to work for them until I've done this master's thesis that would be part of my portfolio. @@TheArtMentor

@Lilas.Duveteux

11 ай бұрын

@@TheArtMentor Charles-Henri Sanson, executioner of Louis XVI. I am a bit obessesed with him.

do you have to post artworks everyday?...something about the social platform algorithm that my artist friends who are doing commissions are saying, most of the time

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Not at all. Have you heard that’s actually the worst strategy for finding clients? 😅 have you seen my guides for where to find art clients outside of social media?

@cloverfield_l9

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor ​thank you for your feedback, I'm really struggling on getting commissions or even how to start at the first place😓... yes I have seen your vid, and I agree your take on Instagram, its a bad platform, and plus the bots are annoying as of my experience.👍

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

She are you clear on what you’re offering? What’s your style and genre

thank you for the video. Do you have any videos on proper online exhibition to ascertain commissions? That's my main issue. I do caricatures.

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely! I have several guides on where to go and not go. Have you checked out my Commissions playlist?

@simimi4851

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor thank you. No I have not. I will look for it.

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Would you like a link?

@simimi4851

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor yes please

@simimi4851

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor is there a way for me to get one sale before the day is over online? I have discovered offline that if I have a vending table and even if the host actually has very little traffic, once the people see my work, the instant buying process begins. I just need a consistent sale a day online in the same way. Caricatures are quick. Sometimes I need, like now, very quick return. All I need is to position myself where they can see me. And they will come and ask the magical question "How much is it?"

Asking just out of curiosity.Whats the average price of your artworks?Or, maybe, what's the starting point of your prices?🤔

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

I can’t really answer that here bc #1) I wouldn’t answer that for a client without a full conversation happening first, and #2) I don’t want to give someone the wrong base price idea when they read this in a year or two, and #3) I like the freedom of increasingly pricing as I see fit. Does that make sense? Sorry, not trying to be allusive, but just fair to myself 😅 I’ll at least say it’s triple digits as a base

@orfiarts

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor three digits makes sense, thanks!:)

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for understanding 😊 how is your pricing? Are you wanting to start commissions or increase your pricing?

But there's a lot of asian artist doesn't use spreadsheet but just put their e-mail as means for communication for commission

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Have you ever tried not doing that either?

Back when you started art commisions, how long did it took you to get a client?

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

It took me six months to find my first client back then. Actively searching, still making art, and more. How long have you been searching?

@ishida_art9101

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor about a month and still have 0 clients.. but i am willing to wait for a client

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

That’s the best thing to do! No clients is still feedback, have you considered that? That’s usually an indication that you can shift your strategy to attract the clients you want

@ishida_art9101

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor ive been watching ur vids and im gonna start trying it on my post and hope for the best😍

I need to discover which area I need to narrow in. Someone asked if I can do nsfw, so I tried but it was too uncomfortable for me.

@TheArtMentor

2 жыл бұрын

I think you have a lot to offer! What areas interest you in your style? Also, yeah, nsfw isn’t for everyone so don’t feel guilty for turning it down

also for the NSFW point actually that's my second interest since i want to draw yuri fanart

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Like I said, no hate on NSFW art. Just not my scene or expertise haha

So basically narrow yourself. As a mixed media artist I dont like that

@TheArtMentor

3 ай бұрын

Well think of it as just a start, and then once you get some experience and success, then you can branch out. You don’t have to give up everything though, you can still have fun and practice what you like okay? 🙃

I opened my commissions back in December 2022, and I didn't got any clients 🥲

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Did you do these tips? What style and genre are you offering?

@enzodawolf3259

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor I'm a animal artist, Wich means I can draw animals in general but ferals

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

Make sure you watch my newest video I just posted today to help with a few strong suggestions for you then 👍

@enzodawolf3259

Жыл бұрын

@@TheArtMentor k, ty

@TheArtMentor

Жыл бұрын

My pleasure! Enjoy