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"How Much Should I Charge for my Commissions?": A Discussion

This is a post I wrote for my Reddit, however I wanted to include it on my blog too, as to have all of my writings in one place.  Note: This is all just a discussion, so don't take everything I say as fact. Be creative and experiment with what works best for you. This discussion mostly focuses on digital commissions being sold to individuals, as opposed to businesses and companies. One of the common questions I see on here, and many other reddits, is “How much should I charge for commissions?” It’s hard to put a price to art, and we, as artists, often undervalue our work. There is no concrete answer, and pricing is based on many factors: How many people want to commission you? How long does the piece take you to do? What is your skill level? What are similar artists charging? Is your style unique? But I wanted to try to break down these que...
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It's Not The Brushes, It's You: Breaking Down The Pitfalls of Digital Brush Obsessions

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To preface: You do not have to follow all of my advice. I don't know everything. This is just based on my experiences as an artist and my own personal observations. Be creative and experiment with what works best for you.  Have you ever heard of the phrase "A good craftsman never blames his tools."  It is allegedly an old French proverb, common in woodworking, with many different interpretations on the relationship between artists and the resources they use to create their work. You can find a variety of meanings in this, and all the fallacies that come with it.  In digital art, we have a world of resources at our fingertips. With thousands of brushes, textures, fonts, effects, and more, it is easy to get overwhelmed. How do we sort through all of this information? How do we process it? And how do we avoid getting lost? Art can be as complicated or as simple as you make it out to be, and part of this is all a matter of perspective.  For instance, Procreate, the...
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Creating Graphics for Commissions and How Clients Perceive Them

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To preface: You do not have to follow all of my advice. I don't know everything. This is just based on my experiences as an artist and as someone who commissions a lot of art. I am listing everything I think about when creating my own graphics, and also when commissioning others, and I wanted to be as thorough as possible. This guide is mainly for people offering commissions to individuals, as portfolios being sent to companies and businesses will have different requirements. Be creative and experiment with what works best for you and what you intend to use your portfolio for.  When you open commissions, you'll want to promote yourself. How else will customers find you, and how else will they know what you're offering? There is a sea of artists out there promoting their work, and you want to do everything you can to not only leave a good impression, but stand out.  I have commissioned many artists before, and as a customer, there are certain things that turn me off from wo...
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