@MangoLlama - by all means, PM and I'll see what I can do for ya. The thread's always been more sales/mareting oriented, so I may or may not be able to help with art, but I certainly don't mind looking.
Creative Corner
Share your own art and stories, or ask for critique.
TOPIC | free art advice, from moi
@MangoLlama - by all means, PM and I'll see what I can do for ya. The thread's always been more sales/mareting oriented, so I may or may not be able to help with art, but I certainly don't mind looking.
@spooner I'd love some advice on my joint art shop, especially with pricing! but if you have any suggestions for how i could improve thread layout let me know :]
@spooner I'd love some advice on my joint art shop, especially with pricing! but if you have any suggestions for how i could improve thread layout let me know :]
  
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@cartographic - No worries at all!
Flight Rising will resize any large images you post in the thread, to fit the thread. When you post the image, if it's larger than the forum size, people can right click on it/open it in a new tab to view the bigger version of the image. For instance, this is a big image:
[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/407183926277308419/828907995525939221/image.png[/img]
As far as what I meant by styles goes, I... don't think I can really elaborate, besides what I said earlier? I'm just talking about [i]how someone draws[/i]; a personal style. How someone colours, how they line, specific anatomy features, compositional biases. If you want to sell your art, it's advisable to look at people who you look up to who are already selling their art, and look at what makes their art special, so as to improve your own.
@cartographic - No worries at all!
Flight Rising will resize any large images you post in the thread, to fit the thread. When you post the image, if it's larger than the forum size, people can right click on it/open it in a new tab to view the bigger version of the image. For instance, this is a big image:
As far as what I meant by styles goes, I... don't think I can really elaborate, besides what I said earlier? I'm just talking about how someone draws; a personal style. How someone colours, how they line, specific anatomy features, compositional biases. If you want to sell your art, it's advisable to look at people who you look up to who are already selling their art, and look at what makes their art special, so as to improve your own.
Flight Rising will resize any large images you post in the thread, to fit the thread. When you post the image, if it's larger than the forum size, people can right click on it/open it in a new tab to view the bigger version of the image. For instance, this is a big image:
As far as what I meant by styles goes, I... don't think I can really elaborate, besides what I said earlier? I'm just talking about how someone draws; a personal style. How someone colours, how they line, specific anatomy features, compositional biases. If you want to sell your art, it's advisable to look at people who you look up to who are already selling their art, and look at what makes their art special, so as to improve your own.
Heya, I am still on the search for a proper price for my art. I've have the issue of taking commissions too cheap over the years and I'd like help finding a proper price.. I haven't drawn flightrising dragons other than this incomplete base I was trying to make a little while back.. Any advice you have for me is greatly appreciated ;w;
[url=https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/32888264_W3OTxpdbqCXyrHH.png][img]https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/thumbnails/32888264_W3O.png[/img][/url]
But other than that, I draw OCs and here's a couple examples of my recent work.
[url=https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/watermarks/33364242_2AL0ptH2j.png][img]https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/thumbnails/33364242_2AL.png[/img][/url][url=https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/watermarks/33287430_47sbrPrl4.png][img]https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/thumbnails/33287430_47s.png[/img][/url]
I would usually charge 50g/60kt for the shaded one and 200g/220kt for the fullbody (the last pic)
Heya, I am still on the search for a proper price for my art. I've have the issue of taking commissions too cheap over the years and I'd like help finding a proper price.. I haven't drawn flightrising dragons other than this incomplete base I was trying to make a little while back.. Any advice you have for me is greatly appreciated ;w;
But other than that, I draw OCs and here's a couple examples of my recent work.
I would usually charge 50g/60kt for the shaded one and 200g/220kt for the fullbody (the last pic)
But other than that, I draw OCs and here's a couple examples of my recent work.
I would usually charge 50g/60kt for the shaded one and 200g/220kt for the fullbody (the last pic)
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Raven Mokian
  Down to talk, trade, whatevs! Only friend me if we've talked plz |
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@daniil - Twenty-six pages, and we've only just hit a joint shop omg
Given joint shops are kind of confusing by their very nature (in a similar way to dom shops), I think you guys have done a very good job here. Of course, there's always room for improvement with these things, and I'll talk about some stuff below, but I would say overall, it's a serviceable shop that should get the job done.
[quote=Two's Company]
- Starting from the top here, I'm not sure I dig the banner. I love pink, my whole lair's pink - I'm just not sure a large block of pink is the best first impression for an art shop. It doesn't really say anything about what you two are offering, or even that there's two of you involved here. Have you guys considered something that might showcase a piece of art from each of you, or even one of you-? Even an all-pixel banner would likely stand out from the pack.
- I can see that the lettering on the headers (??) in the top post have the colours swapped - yours starts with blue, theirs with pink. The thing is, both of them are still alternating blue and pink letters, and it all looks a bit samey given they're sitting right next to each other.
[size=2] (It also doesn't help that on the next post, your header starts with pink... you broke your own rule... and look, I'm sure I'm the only one who would ever notice this, but. Still. [i]ur broke ur rule [/i] :( )[/size]
- Have you considered using different sets of colours for the alternating-colour headers, like blue/pink and pink/purple or something along those lines?
- Regarding the text itself - it's too small for me. I usually have FR on 125% and I wear glasses, but even then - too small. When I zoomed out of FR, it became even smaller, to the point where I'm wondering if you might have been zoomed in when you made the thread-?
Maybe my eyesight is just horrible, but here's what your text looks like on desktop at 100%. (This is a screenshot, so it's exactly the size I'm seeing.)
[img]https://i.imgur.com/oH0qoHc.png[/img]
- You have linebreaks between each line in your second and third posts, which is great, because it makes the text in those boxes more readable. But there's no linebreaks between each of your rules, which... makes them less readable, given the tiny text.
- Regarding the actual art - I do feel the pixels are being displayed a bit too large (they're going right to the top of the header and are also big enough that the large spaces of flat colour on them are looking too flat), and the gijinka is being displayed too small (I can't see all the detail on the flowers.) I resized one of your pixel icons to 75%, and I quite like how it looks as a smaller pic - but your mileage may vary on that.
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/RAOYnS3.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/ob7TMFs.png[/img][/center]
- Regardless of how you feel about the sizes, it's worth noting that FR's table system is resizing your icons, making them quite a bit larger - and blurrier.
- Price-wise, it's tricky, because I can see a lot of variance in what people could order here. With the gijinkas, you've left open the option of adding everything from horns to wings, and with the icons, there's no hard limits on apparel/accents/skins/wild eyes. It may be best to consider some sort of fee in the event someone comes up to you with a shuffling pile of clothing.
- Keeping that in mind, and also keeping in mind the gijinka isn't shaded and non-animated pixels are a bit of a pain to sell on this hellsite - I'm going to suggest $5/500g on the icons, and $10/1000g on the gijinkas, just to start with. See how you go, raise if you see interest, all that.
[/quote]
Best of luck with yer shop!!
@daniil - Twenty-six pages, and we've only just hit a joint shop omg
Given joint shops are kind of confusing by their very nature (in a similar way to dom shops), I think you guys have done a very good job here. Of course, there's always room for improvement with these things, and I'll talk about some stuff below, but I would say overall, it's a serviceable shop that should get the job done.
- Starting from the top here, I'm not sure I dig the banner. I love pink, my whole lair's pink - I'm just not sure a large block of pink is the best first impression for an art shop. It doesn't really say anything about what you two are offering, or even that there's two of you involved here. Have you guys considered something that might showcase a piece of art from each of you, or even one of you-? Even an all-pixel banner would likely stand out from the pack.
- I can see that the lettering on the headers (??) in the top post have the colours swapped - yours starts with blue, theirs with pink. The thing is, both of them are still alternating blue and pink letters, and it all looks a bit samey given they're sitting right next to each other.
(It also doesn't help that on the next post, your header starts with pink... you broke your own rule... and look, I'm sure I'm the only one who would ever notice this, but. Still. ur broke ur rule :( )
- Have you considered using different sets of colours for the alternating-colour headers, like blue/pink and pink/purple or something along those lines?
- Regarding the text itself - it's too small for me. I usually have FR on 125% and I wear glasses, but even then - too small. When I zoomed out of FR, it became even smaller, to the point where I'm wondering if you might have been zoomed in when you made the thread-?
Maybe my eyesight is just horrible, but here's what your text looks like on desktop at 100%. (This is a screenshot, so it's exactly the size I'm seeing.)
- You have linebreaks between each line in your second and third posts, which is great, because it makes the text in those boxes more readable. But there's no linebreaks between each of your rules, which... makes them less readable, given the tiny text.
- Regarding the actual art - I do feel the pixels are being displayed a bit too large (they're going right to the top of the header and are also big enough that the large spaces of flat colour on them are looking too flat), and the gijinka is being displayed too small (I can't see all the detail on the flowers.) I resized one of your pixel icons to 75%, and I quite like how it looks as a smaller pic - but your mileage may vary on that.
- Regardless of how you feel about the sizes, it's worth noting that FR's table system is resizing your icons, making them quite a bit larger - and blurrier.
- Price-wise, it's tricky, because I can see a lot of variance in what people could order here. With the gijinkas, you've left open the option of adding everything from horns to wings, and with the icons, there's no hard limits on apparel/accents/skins/wild eyes. It may be best to consider some sort of fee in the event someone comes up to you with a shuffling pile of clothing.
- Keeping that in mind, and also keeping in mind the gijinka isn't shaded and non-animated pixels are a bit of a pain to sell on this hellsite - I'm going to suggest $5/500g on the icons, and $10/1000g on the gijinkas, just to start with. See how you go, raise if you see interest, all that.
Best of luck with yer shop!!
Given joint shops are kind of confusing by their very nature (in a similar way to dom shops), I think you guys have done a very good job here. Of course, there's always room for improvement with these things, and I'll talk about some stuff below, but I would say overall, it's a serviceable shop that should get the job done.
Two's Company wrote:
- Starting from the top here, I'm not sure I dig the banner. I love pink, my whole lair's pink - I'm just not sure a large block of pink is the best first impression for an art shop. It doesn't really say anything about what you two are offering, or even that there's two of you involved here. Have you guys considered something that might showcase a piece of art from each of you, or even one of you-? Even an all-pixel banner would likely stand out from the pack.
- I can see that the lettering on the headers (??) in the top post have the colours swapped - yours starts with blue, theirs with pink. The thing is, both of them are still alternating blue and pink letters, and it all looks a bit samey given they're sitting right next to each other.
(It also doesn't help that on the next post, your header starts with pink... you broke your own rule... and look, I'm sure I'm the only one who would ever notice this, but. Still. ur broke ur rule :( )
- Have you considered using different sets of colours for the alternating-colour headers, like blue/pink and pink/purple or something along those lines?
- Regarding the text itself - it's too small for me. I usually have FR on 125% and I wear glasses, but even then - too small. When I zoomed out of FR, it became even smaller, to the point where I'm wondering if you might have been zoomed in when you made the thread-?
Maybe my eyesight is just horrible, but here's what your text looks like on desktop at 100%. (This is a screenshot, so it's exactly the size I'm seeing.)
- You have linebreaks between each line in your second and third posts, which is great, because it makes the text in those boxes more readable. But there's no linebreaks between each of your rules, which... makes them less readable, given the tiny text.
- Regarding the actual art - I do feel the pixels are being displayed a bit too large (they're going right to the top of the header and are also big enough that the large spaces of flat colour on them are looking too flat), and the gijinka is being displayed too small (I can't see all the detail on the flowers.) I resized one of your pixel icons to 75%, and I quite like how it looks as a smaller pic - but your mileage may vary on that.
- Regardless of how you feel about the sizes, it's worth noting that FR's table system is resizing your icons, making them quite a bit larger - and blurrier.
- Price-wise, it's tricky, because I can see a lot of variance in what people could order here. With the gijinkas, you've left open the option of adding everything from horns to wings, and with the icons, there's no hard limits on apparel/accents/skins/wild eyes. It may be best to consider some sort of fee in the event someone comes up to you with a shuffling pile of clothing.
- Keeping that in mind, and also keeping in mind the gijinka isn't shaded and non-animated pixels are a bit of a pain to sell on this hellsite - I'm going to suggest $5/500g on the icons, and $10/1000g on the gijinkas, just to start with. See how you go, raise if you see interest, all that.
Best of luck with yer shop!!
@BlazeMokian - Well, I can tell you that two bucks for a ref sheet is pretty much giving away art, given how much time you must have spent on that (it looks great, for what it's worth!).
But I think you already know that, haha. So, lemme tell you something else...
[quote=Pricing Your Art]
- I think in your case, the question's really more about how to price than solid numbers. You have no solid idea of what you're going to sell, after all, nor do you have tiers, nor an idea of where your audience sits or what they would like. So I'm gonna walk ya through that.
- Before you think about pricing, you need to think about what you're going to sell. Adoptables? Portraits? Ref sheets? What art of yours do people seem to like the most? Why do they say that is? Why do you think that is? Any art shop should lean into your strengths, and also target a particular audience - you don't want to sell 'good everything', you want to sell 'good x art'. X can be anything - good furry art, good pop art, good storytelling art, good ref sheet art, whatevs.
- Once you've figured out what you're going to sell, sort out yer tiers. Are you going to offer sketches? Shaded work? Flat colours? Will these tiers conflict or compete with each other (are you offering multiple portraits coloured in different ways)?
- Also, consider what's appropriate within your tiers - shaded refs are typically undesirable, for instance, because they are harder for other artists to work off. You may not be comfortable painting/shading your art, unless it's lined. So on, and so forth.
- Next, price your cheapest option. This is the absolute minimum you're willing to let people pay. Try to factor in the time spent - if people ordered three, or five, or ten of this item, would you feel overwhelmed, or would it be adequate compensation for your time? Do bear in mind that minimum wage in the US is $7.50/hour, or 750g/hour in FR money - it's not a hard rule you must always follow, but it's a good rule.
- Price your most expensive option next! Setting an upper limit is just as important as setting a lower limit, because the upper limit is what defines your mid-range - and the mid-range is where most people will buy. (Put it this way - if you have an expensive multi-tiered chocolate cake, a regular ol' chocolate cake, and a very cheap tray of chocolate cupcakes on a shelf, most people are going to buy the chocolate cake. Remove the expensive cake [i]or [/i]the chocolate cake, and most people buy the cupcakes. Having a is important.)
- If you're wondering what good upper limits are for pieces - do some research! Go onto the FR art forums and go find some people with similar art to your own. What do they offer? How much do they charge?
- With regards to ref sheets - it may help to price individual fullbodies before working out a 'bulk price' for a ref sheet with multiple fullbodies, headshots, etc! I would recommend doing these last, after all your other tiers.
[/quote]
@BlazeMokian - Well, I can tell you that two bucks for a ref sheet is pretty much giving away art, given how much time you must have spent on that (it looks great, for what it's worth!).
But I think you already know that, haha. So, lemme tell you something else...
- I think in your case, the question's really more about how to price than solid numbers. You have no solid idea of what you're going to sell, after all, nor do you have tiers, nor an idea of where your audience sits or what they would like. So I'm gonna walk ya through that.
- Before you think about pricing, you need to think about what you're going to sell. Adoptables? Portraits? Ref sheets? What art of yours do people seem to like the most? Why do they say that is? Why do you think that is? Any art shop should lean into your strengths, and also target a particular audience - you don't want to sell 'good everything', you want to sell 'good x art'. X can be anything - good furry art, good pop art, good storytelling art, good ref sheet art, whatevs.
- Once you've figured out what you're going to sell, sort out yer tiers. Are you going to offer sketches? Shaded work? Flat colours? Will these tiers conflict or compete with each other (are you offering multiple portraits coloured in different ways)?
- Also, consider what's appropriate within your tiers - shaded refs are typically undesirable, for instance, because they are harder for other artists to work off. You may not be comfortable painting/shading your art, unless it's lined. So on, and so forth.
- Next, price your cheapest option. This is the absolute minimum you're willing to let people pay. Try to factor in the time spent - if people ordered three, or five, or ten of this item, would you feel overwhelmed, or would it be adequate compensation for your time? Do bear in mind that minimum wage in the US is $7.50/hour, or 750g/hour in FR money - it's not a hard rule you must always follow, but it's a good rule.
- Price your most expensive option next! Setting an upper limit is just as important as setting a lower limit, because the upper limit is what defines your mid-range - and the mid-range is where most people will buy. (Put it this way - if you have an expensive multi-tiered chocolate cake, a regular ol' chocolate cake, and a very cheap tray of chocolate cupcakes on a shelf, most people are going to buy the chocolate cake. Remove the expensive cake or the chocolate cake, and most people buy the cupcakes. Having a is important.)
- If you're wondering what good upper limits are for pieces - do some research! Go onto the FR art forums and go find some people with similar art to your own. What do they offer? How much do they charge?
- With regards to ref sheets - it may help to price individual fullbodies before working out a 'bulk price' for a ref sheet with multiple fullbodies, headshots, etc! I would recommend doing these last, after all your other tiers.
But I think you already know that, haha. So, lemme tell you something else...
Pricing Your Art wrote:
- I think in your case, the question's really more about how to price than solid numbers. You have no solid idea of what you're going to sell, after all, nor do you have tiers, nor an idea of where your audience sits or what they would like. So I'm gonna walk ya through that.
- Before you think about pricing, you need to think about what you're going to sell. Adoptables? Portraits? Ref sheets? What art of yours do people seem to like the most? Why do they say that is? Why do you think that is? Any art shop should lean into your strengths, and also target a particular audience - you don't want to sell 'good everything', you want to sell 'good x art'. X can be anything - good furry art, good pop art, good storytelling art, good ref sheet art, whatevs.
- Once you've figured out what you're going to sell, sort out yer tiers. Are you going to offer sketches? Shaded work? Flat colours? Will these tiers conflict or compete with each other (are you offering multiple portraits coloured in different ways)?
- Also, consider what's appropriate within your tiers - shaded refs are typically undesirable, for instance, because they are harder for other artists to work off. You may not be comfortable painting/shading your art, unless it's lined. So on, and so forth.
- Next, price your cheapest option. This is the absolute minimum you're willing to let people pay. Try to factor in the time spent - if people ordered three, or five, or ten of this item, would you feel overwhelmed, or would it be adequate compensation for your time? Do bear in mind that minimum wage in the US is $7.50/hour, or 750g/hour in FR money - it's not a hard rule you must always follow, but it's a good rule.
- Price your most expensive option next! Setting an upper limit is just as important as setting a lower limit, because the upper limit is what defines your mid-range - and the mid-range is where most people will buy. (Put it this way - if you have an expensive multi-tiered chocolate cake, a regular ol' chocolate cake, and a very cheap tray of chocolate cupcakes on a shelf, most people are going to buy the chocolate cake. Remove the expensive cake or the chocolate cake, and most people buy the cupcakes. Having a is important.)
- If you're wondering what good upper limits are for pieces - do some research! Go onto the FR art forums and go find some people with similar art to your own. What do they offer? How much do they charge?
- With regards to ref sheets - it may help to price individual fullbodies before working out a 'bulk price' for a ref sheet with multiple fullbodies, headshots, etc! I would recommend doing these last, after all your other tiers.
Hi!
I’d really appreciate some advice on my art shop please!
I’ve had my shop up for a while, and have sold art for g/t up until recently, but always struggled to get many customers- I think a majority of the commissions I’ve done on this site are for people with LF: Art threads that I’d reached out to, and now that I’ve moved to only irl currency I’m getting no orders at all. Am I just being impatient, or is there something I can do to draw people in better?~
I’d really appreciate some advice on my art shop please!
I’ve had my shop up for a while, and have sold art for g/t up until recently, but always struggled to get many customers- I think a majority of the commissions I’ve done on this site are for people with LF: Art threads that I’d reached out to, and now that I’ve moved to only irl currency I’m getting no orders at all. Am I just being impatient, or is there something I can do to draw people in better?~
Hi!
I’d really appreciate some advice on my art shop please!
I’ve had my shop up for a while, and have sold art for g/t up until recently, but always struggled to get many customers- I think a majority of the commissions I’ve done on this site are for people with LF: Art threads that I’d reached out to, and now that I’ve moved to only irl currency I’m getting no orders at all. Am I just being impatient, or is there something I can do to draw people in better?~
I’d really appreciate some advice on my art shop please!
I’ve had my shop up for a while, and have sold art for g/t up until recently, but always struggled to get many customers- I think a majority of the commissions I’ve done on this site are for people with LF: Art threads that I’d reached out to, and now that I’ve moved to only irl currency I’m getting no orders at all. Am I just being impatient, or is there something I can do to draw people in better?~
Hey!
I'm thinking of opening up a small art shop, and I'd love a little help with pricing.
[img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/807668841039396908/829407285402796042/Fae-Scarlett-EX.jpg[/img]
This took me around 1 and a half hours to draw up (from scratch).
Usually with headshots the background would be transparent and there would be a little blur along the bottom of the neck but my drawing program was messing me around today, so this example doesn't have that, please disregard it :)
[img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/722138364199043169/736941735837696041/Gaoler_artswap_jpeg.jpg[/img]
This is a piece I did for an artswap (a little while ago now) which took me around 15 hours (rough estimate). This would be an example of a fullbody simple pose with background.
Certain things like my shading style has changed a little since this piece, but for the shop I would draw up 2 or 3 fresh examples of each type to ensure that the customer knows what style their piece will be in.
Thanks for offering your service, hope you can help :D
Hey!
I'm thinking of opening up a small art shop, and I'd love a little help with pricing.
This took me around 1 and a half hours to draw up (from scratch).
Usually with headshots the background would be transparent and there would be a little blur along the bottom of the neck but my drawing program was messing me around today, so this example doesn't have that, please disregard it :)
This is a piece I did for an artswap (a little while ago now) which took me around 15 hours (rough estimate). This would be an example of a fullbody simple pose with background.
Certain things like my shading style has changed a little since this piece, but for the shop I would draw up 2 or 3 fresh examples of each type to ensure that the customer knows what style their piece will be in.
Thanks for offering your service, hope you can help :D
I'm thinking of opening up a small art shop, and I'd love a little help with pricing.
This took me around 1 and a half hours to draw up (from scratch).
Usually with headshots the background would be transparent and there would be a little blur along the bottom of the neck but my drawing program was messing me around today, so this example doesn't have that, please disregard it :)
This is a piece I did for an artswap (a little while ago now) which took me around 15 hours (rough estimate). This would be an example of a fullbody simple pose with background.
Certain things like my shading style has changed a little since this piece, but for the shop I would draw up 2 or 3 fresh examples of each type to ensure that the customer knows what style their piece will be in.
Thanks for offering your service, hope you can help :D
@FluffyDragonCats - I'm not sure I'm going to be much use to you, since you seem to be a bit sick of marketing and I am very pro such tactics, but I can certainly give you my opinion! Sprinkle with salt.
[quote=There Are Five Points In Here, Somewhere]
- There's a perception, and I think it's a common one, that you should just be able to put your art 'out there', and it will sell immediately, with no marketing needed, because it is Just That Good.
- This is (sort of) backed up by the very early heydays of the internet - I'm old enough to recall a time where if you posted say, ponies when the brony fandom was taking off, it seemed like you would get One Million Commissions, almost regardless of the quality. This was, essentially, because there were less pony artists than customers who wanted the pony art, so a high demand and low supply.
- Here's the thing - if that perception was ever true, it's certainly not true now. Right now, the Art Sales thread has 1823 pages. With so many artists, there is the same demand as there ever was - but the supply is much more than it was, say, in the early days of FR.
- So, no. Just posting good art won't work, and I sorta feel like you've realized that, on some level - you've gone around the LF threads, which is good. A big part of getting customers these days is just in getting noticed, and as such, targeting the LF threads will help you do that. I recommend you start targeting that big Art Wanted thread on the front page, if you're not doing that already - the last few times I used it, I got [i]very[/i] few offers from interested artists, and what I wanted was pretty generic.
- However, as necessary as some prodding always is, I do think there are things besides just prodding people that will help you out! So I'll go through some of those.
- Firstly, there is no banner in your signature. When you do target people in the LF threads, you want to show those people not just the examples they might be interested in (ie what you post in their thread), but you also want to show off something premium - maybe a closeup of some higher-tier work - to try and get their interest. They might not be interested in you for that specific thing they're after in that thread, but they're clearly in the art-buying mood, and might be tempted to click if you do have an interesting banner.
- Secondly, your shop banner doesn't show your best work (the fullbody has whacky anatomy, but the headshot especially needs replacing - you have shaded pieces I think far surpass that one in terms of the lines and colours). Additionally, the choice of multiple fonts in bright red is not easy on the eyes, and does not go well with your images; consider a single font, in a more traditional colour that compliments the example image/s colour-wise. Remember - this shop banner is the first thing commissioners will see, and first impressions count!
- Thirdly, there is quite a lot of variance in the quality of images (in the lines, the colouring, etc), which I suspect is due to the age of the thread - it's been going quite a while! Consider replacing all older examples with newer ones, or just removing them altogether if they're not consistent with your other stuff. Don't worry about having lots of images - just one at a time will do. The important thing is that commissioners see you are consistently doing one style, all the time - this will make them feel more confident about what you might be able to draw for them!
- Fourthly, your symmetrical icon tier just doesn't make sense to me? You say they're symmetrical, then immediately offer an asymmetrical option, and even show asymmetrical options in the examples. It might be better to just call these icons. You also don't need so many examples there - they do look very busy, all together like that. I would say three or four would be fine, so just pick the best/most interesting ones~
- As an aside on the icons - I recommend you do line them cleanly. Icons are meant to be displayed at small sizes, so the lines need to be sharp!
- Also - all your icons have white borders, and I've no idea why you have not told people about that? You can't see it in your shop post, because FR's background colour on the first forum post of a thread is white. It might seem like I'm nitpicking, but having a border or not having one could be make-or-break for a commissioner.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/OyMFMsf.png[/img]
- Anyway. Fifthly, considering you have no dragon examples and you already charge extra for FR dragons - why not axe them altogether? Make this shop more of an animal drawing shop, with a focus/specialty of dogs, cats, dinos, pets, whatever. This lets you target just the people looking for animal OC or pet art (saving you time looking for them), and then when they get to your shop, they find it's a bit more tailored to their needs.
- Maybe even change your shop title to reflect this new focus too, so prospective buyers can see - it's not 'just' another art shop. It's always tempting to chase the biggest market possible, but when it comes to targeting, you'll be less exhausted and have more success if you go after people who are part of that small market - where maybe the supply is lesser. ;)
[/quote]
@FluffyDragonCats - I'm not sure I'm going to be much use to you, since you seem to be a bit sick of marketing and I am very pro such tactics, but I can certainly give you my opinion! Sprinkle with salt.
- There's a perception, and I think it's a common one, that you should just be able to put your art 'out there', and it will sell immediately, with no marketing needed, because it is Just That Good.
- This is (sort of) backed up by the very early heydays of the internet - I'm old enough to recall a time where if you posted say, ponies when the brony fandom was taking off, it seemed like you would get One Million Commissions, almost regardless of the quality. This was, essentially, because there were less pony artists than customers who wanted the pony art, so a high demand and low supply.
- Here's the thing - if that perception was ever true, it's certainly not true now. Right now, the Art Sales thread has 1823 pages. With so many artists, there is the same demand as there ever was - but the supply is much more than it was, say, in the early days of FR.
- So, no. Just posting good art won't work, and I sorta feel like you've realized that, on some level - you've gone around the LF threads, which is good. A big part of getting customers these days is just in getting noticed, and as such, targeting the LF threads will help you do that. I recommend you start targeting that big Art Wanted thread on the front page, if you're not doing that already - the last few times I used it, I got very few offers from interested artists, and what I wanted was pretty generic.
- However, as necessary as some prodding always is, I do think there are things besides just prodding people that will help you out! So I'll go through some of those.
- Firstly, there is no banner in your signature. When you do target people in the LF threads, you want to show those people not just the examples they might be interested in (ie what you post in their thread), but you also want to show off something premium - maybe a closeup of some higher-tier work - to try and get their interest. They might not be interested in you for that specific thing they're after in that thread, but they're clearly in the art-buying mood, and might be tempted to click if you do have an interesting banner.
- Secondly, your shop banner doesn't show your best work (the fullbody has whacky anatomy, but the headshot especially needs replacing - you have shaded pieces I think far surpass that one in terms of the lines and colours). Additionally, the choice of multiple fonts in bright red is not easy on the eyes, and does not go well with your images; consider a single font, in a more traditional colour that compliments the example image/s colour-wise. Remember - this shop banner is the first thing commissioners will see, and first impressions count!
- Thirdly, there is quite a lot of variance in the quality of images (in the lines, the colouring, etc), which I suspect is due to the age of the thread - it's been going quite a while! Consider replacing all older examples with newer ones, or just removing them altogether if they're not consistent with your other stuff. Don't worry about having lots of images - just one at a time will do. The important thing is that commissioners see you are consistently doing one style, all the time - this will make them feel more confident about what you might be able to draw for them!
- Fourthly, your symmetrical icon tier just doesn't make sense to me? You say they're symmetrical, then immediately offer an asymmetrical option, and even show asymmetrical options in the examples. It might be better to just call these icons. You also don't need so many examples there - they do look very busy, all together like that. I would say three or four would be fine, so just pick the best/most interesting ones~
- As an aside on the icons - I recommend you do line them cleanly. Icons are meant to be displayed at small sizes, so the lines need to be sharp!
- Also - all your icons have white borders, and I've no idea why you have not told people about that? You can't see it in your shop post, because FR's background colour on the first forum post of a thread is white. It might seem like I'm nitpicking, but having a border or not having one could be make-or-break for a commissioner.
- Anyway. Fifthly, considering you have no dragon examples and you already charge extra for FR dragons - why not axe them altogether? Make this shop more of an animal drawing shop, with a focus/specialty of dogs, cats, dinos, pets, whatever. This lets you target just the people looking for animal OC or pet art (saving you time looking for them), and then when they get to your shop, they find it's a bit more tailored to their needs.
- Maybe even change your shop title to reflect this new focus too, so prospective buyers can see - it's not 'just' another art shop. It's always tempting to chase the biggest market possible, but when it comes to targeting, you'll be less exhausted and have more success if you go after people who are part of that small market - where maybe the supply is lesser. ;)
There Are Five Points In Here, Somewhere wrote:
- There's a perception, and I think it's a common one, that you should just be able to put your art 'out there', and it will sell immediately, with no marketing needed, because it is Just That Good.
- This is (sort of) backed up by the very early heydays of the internet - I'm old enough to recall a time where if you posted say, ponies when the brony fandom was taking off, it seemed like you would get One Million Commissions, almost regardless of the quality. This was, essentially, because there were less pony artists than customers who wanted the pony art, so a high demand and low supply.
- Here's the thing - if that perception was ever true, it's certainly not true now. Right now, the Art Sales thread has 1823 pages. With so many artists, there is the same demand as there ever was - but the supply is much more than it was, say, in the early days of FR.
- So, no. Just posting good art won't work, and I sorta feel like you've realized that, on some level - you've gone around the LF threads, which is good. A big part of getting customers these days is just in getting noticed, and as such, targeting the LF threads will help you do that. I recommend you start targeting that big Art Wanted thread on the front page, if you're not doing that already - the last few times I used it, I got very few offers from interested artists, and what I wanted was pretty generic.
- However, as necessary as some prodding always is, I do think there are things besides just prodding people that will help you out! So I'll go through some of those.
- Firstly, there is no banner in your signature. When you do target people in the LF threads, you want to show those people not just the examples they might be interested in (ie what you post in their thread), but you also want to show off something premium - maybe a closeup of some higher-tier work - to try and get their interest. They might not be interested in you for that specific thing they're after in that thread, but they're clearly in the art-buying mood, and might be tempted to click if you do have an interesting banner.
- Secondly, your shop banner doesn't show your best work (the fullbody has whacky anatomy, but the headshot especially needs replacing - you have shaded pieces I think far surpass that one in terms of the lines and colours). Additionally, the choice of multiple fonts in bright red is not easy on the eyes, and does not go well with your images; consider a single font, in a more traditional colour that compliments the example image/s colour-wise. Remember - this shop banner is the first thing commissioners will see, and first impressions count!
- Thirdly, there is quite a lot of variance in the quality of images (in the lines, the colouring, etc), which I suspect is due to the age of the thread - it's been going quite a while! Consider replacing all older examples with newer ones, or just removing them altogether if they're not consistent with your other stuff. Don't worry about having lots of images - just one at a time will do. The important thing is that commissioners see you are consistently doing one style, all the time - this will make them feel more confident about what you might be able to draw for them!
- Fourthly, your symmetrical icon tier just doesn't make sense to me? You say they're symmetrical, then immediately offer an asymmetrical option, and even show asymmetrical options in the examples. It might be better to just call these icons. You also don't need so many examples there - they do look very busy, all together like that. I would say three or four would be fine, so just pick the best/most interesting ones~
- As an aside on the icons - I recommend you do line them cleanly. Icons are meant to be displayed at small sizes, so the lines need to be sharp!
- Also - all your icons have white borders, and I've no idea why you have not told people about that? You can't see it in your shop post, because FR's background colour on the first forum post of a thread is white. It might seem like I'm nitpicking, but having a border or not having one could be make-or-break for a commissioner.
- Anyway. Fifthly, considering you have no dragon examples and you already charge extra for FR dragons - why not axe them altogether? Make this shop more of an animal drawing shop, with a focus/specialty of dogs, cats, dinos, pets, whatever. This lets you target just the people looking for animal OC or pet art (saving you time looking for them), and then when they get to your shop, they find it's a bit more tailored to their needs.
- Maybe even change your shop title to reflect this new focus too, so prospective buyers can see - it's not 'just' another art shop. It's always tempting to chase the biggest market possible, but when it comes to targeting, you'll be less exhausted and have more success if you go after people who are part of that small market - where maybe the supply is lesser. ;)
@CatInDisguise - Heya~
Thanks for providing the drawing times for me - that helps quite a bit.
With respect to you, I would suggest you wait and improve before you open an art shop!! Not to be unkind here, but minimum wage for 1 and a half hours would be $15 for a headshot, or 1500g which most wouldn't be willing to pay unless the headshots were really anatomically dead-on. (I think I'd struggle to sell my own headshots for $15, so you're hardly alone!)
My biggest concern is that you would be very undercharged. Going off what I've seen sell at the beginning level on here, someone might be willing to pay you 50g for a headshot, but that's 50c for again, 1.5 hours of work! Which is no good at all. Someone might give you 200g ($2 USD) for a fullbody, but it's just not worth it for 15 hours. If you want to do this once or twice, of course you can, but by setting up a shop, you could end up doing lots and lots of these, and you could end up exhausted.
The good news is that as you improve in drawing, you will also get lots faster at it, because you will start to memorize where certain things go! I can help you out with some art tips if you would like me to, but I didn't want to be too critical in one post considering I'm literally advising you to not do the thing you were asking about. :'D
Thanks for providing the drawing times for me - that helps quite a bit.
With respect to you, I would suggest you wait and improve before you open an art shop!! Not to be unkind here, but minimum wage for 1 and a half hours would be $15 for a headshot, or 1500g which most wouldn't be willing to pay unless the headshots were really anatomically dead-on. (I think I'd struggle to sell my own headshots for $15, so you're hardly alone!)
My biggest concern is that you would be very undercharged. Going off what I've seen sell at the beginning level on here, someone might be willing to pay you 50g for a headshot, but that's 50c for again, 1.5 hours of work! Which is no good at all. Someone might give you 200g ($2 USD) for a fullbody, but it's just not worth it for 15 hours. If you want to do this once or twice, of course you can, but by setting up a shop, you could end up doing lots and lots of these, and you could end up exhausted.
The good news is that as you improve in drawing, you will also get lots faster at it, because you will start to memorize where certain things go! I can help you out with some art tips if you would like me to, but I didn't want to be too critical in one post considering I'm literally advising you to not do the thing you were asking about. :'D
@CatInDisguise - Heya~
Thanks for providing the drawing times for me - that helps quite a bit.
With respect to you, I would suggest you wait and improve before you open an art shop!! Not to be unkind here, but minimum wage for 1 and a half hours would be $15 for a headshot, or 1500g which most wouldn't be willing to pay unless the headshots were really anatomically dead-on. (I think I'd struggle to sell my own headshots for $15, so you're hardly alone!)
My biggest concern is that you would be very undercharged. Going off what I've seen sell at the beginning level on here, someone might be willing to pay you 50g for a headshot, but that's 50c for again, 1.5 hours of work! Which is no good at all. Someone might give you 200g ($2 USD) for a fullbody, but it's just not worth it for 15 hours. If you want to do this once or twice, of course you can, but by setting up a shop, you could end up doing lots and lots of these, and you could end up exhausted.
The good news is that as you improve in drawing, you will also get lots faster at it, because you will start to memorize where certain things go! I can help you out with some art tips if you would like me to, but I didn't want to be too critical in one post considering I'm literally advising you to not do the thing you were asking about. :'D
Thanks for providing the drawing times for me - that helps quite a bit.
With respect to you, I would suggest you wait and improve before you open an art shop!! Not to be unkind here, but minimum wage for 1 and a half hours would be $15 for a headshot, or 1500g which most wouldn't be willing to pay unless the headshots were really anatomically dead-on. (I think I'd struggle to sell my own headshots for $15, so you're hardly alone!)
My biggest concern is that you would be very undercharged. Going off what I've seen sell at the beginning level on here, someone might be willing to pay you 50g for a headshot, but that's 50c for again, 1.5 hours of work! Which is no good at all. Someone might give you 200g ($2 USD) for a fullbody, but it's just not worth it for 15 hours. If you want to do this once or twice, of course you can, but by setting up a shop, you could end up doing lots and lots of these, and you could end up exhausted.
The good news is that as you improve in drawing, you will also get lots faster at it, because you will start to memorize where certain things go! I can help you out with some art tips if you would like me to, but I didn't want to be too critical in one post considering I'm literally advising you to not do the thing you were asking about. :'D