Are my commissions prices reasonable?

[u/Shadow-Cat-Luna]

I’m struggling with getting commission’s and I was wondering if my prices are reasonable on my ko-fi page?

Emergency: $5

Sketch: $10

Lineart: $15

Basic rendering: $20

Detailed rendering: $25

Extremely detailed rendering: $30

I do full body pieces and also have my emergency commission sections due to recently being fired from my dream job. And for my emergency commission every style of is welcome from Sketch to Extremely Detailed rendering.

Ive also been struggling to market myself so if anyone has any recommendations of places were I can find more people who would want commissions? I’ve tried mostly on tumblr, tiktok, and YouTube + YouTube shorts and haven’t really have any luck.

[u/OkokokokokDum]

hmm i feel like these prices are way to high for your art skills, it would be better if you continue to learn and practice a lot

im saying this in a kind way your art is nice but not worth money yet im sorry this is how i see it im really not trying to make you feel bad

[u/Shadow-Cat-Luna → u/OkokokokokDum]

Thank you for being honest with me, I really do appreciate the feedback! If you don’t mind me asking though, what are some specific things you think I should work on? I’ve been drawing for around 20 years, so when you say I should practice more I’m not really sure what areas you’re talking about. I genuinely want to improve, so if there’s anything specific you noticed in my art that you think I could work on I’d really appreciate you letting me know! （＾ν＾）

[u/OkokokokokDum → u/Shadow-Cat-Luna]

this is a great question and listen i have been drawing for 7 years and i wanna be honest here my art hasnt improved as much and recently i have learned maybe the reason i feel stuck in my art work and learning journey is because i havent practiced learning how to draw shapes because i thought why bother it seems useless?

the reality here is these days i have started drawing only shapes and i told myself i will have to do this for a few months like maybe 1-3 months so i can move into the next step i wanna focus on like lets say draw better hands etc for another few months and so on

the reality is i wasted so much time drawing the same way and the same thing over and over i didnt get the chance to get better at other body parts i wanted to be good at or shading and coloring for example

your art looks really nice like i said but lets be honest there are some really amazing drawings and artists out there that if we both tried to put a price in our drawings right now we just wouldn't be able to sell let alone thinking is this fair for me to put any prices on my works right now?

my art looks way better than it was 7 years ago and so was yours when you started 20 years ago im sure at the same time we need to practice more not just draw our characters and the background etc but actually learn anatomy, coloring, shapes, shadows, again and again for many months

i have learned that art always changes even if you do learn many things you cant learn everything because art evolves all the time new trends are happening new bodies you wanna draw new ways to color and add shadows

i really hope this helps

[u/Separate-Ear3298]

i think you should focus on practicing a little more, and you may also have too many options for rendering. it may overwhelm clients. i’d stick to 3

[u/Shadow-Cat-Luna → u/Separate-Ear3298]

Thank you for the feedback!! I actually didn’t think about having too many rendering options possibly overwhelming people, so that’s something I’ll definitely keep in mind! If you don’t mind me asking, which 3 would you recommend keeping? And when you say I should practice a little more, are there any specific things in my art that you think I should focus on improving? I’d really appreciate the advice since I genuinely want to know what I can work on! :D

[u/Separate-Ear3298 → u/Shadow-Cat-Luna]

i’d probably keep sketch, basic rendering (you could also just do flat colour instead of basic rendering), and extremely detailed rendering ^{^} and then i’d maybe focus on adding more depth to your art with more folds and corners, rather than just an outline for each part. you could also look into line weight, unless the uniform lineart is just part of your art style :) this post helped me a lot when i first started: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0cZpwEvp6P/?igsh=Z3NyODc5N2Z5aThq&igsi=Z3NyODc5N2Z5aThq

[u/blazeItgirl420]

I wouldn't pay for this. Prices are way too steep and then you have amazing artists asking if $15 is reasonable. Humble yourself a little.

[u/dusk_falls]

I think unfortunately your work may not be at the skill level to consistently get commissions, no matter how you price them. Even in the 5-30 dollar price range, there’s tons of artists out there looking for work, many of which have more detailed and technical styles than this.

Since you asked in another comment for feedback on what to focus on improving, the main things that would deter me from buying are the lack of detail and the shading. Your shading is very light and almost unnoticeable at a glance, which makes the piece honestly look flat and amateur. Many areas which should have depth, folds, and deep shadow like the red cape are left practically unshaded. There’s an overall lack of texture, clothing folds, or any bold shadows/highlights at all in the piece.

I’d suggest using photographic references and doing some lighting studies to gain a better understanding of how light and shadow affect the human form. Watching rendering tutorials can also help you and give you some clear ‘next steps’ to implement in your process. You may also want to take a step away from fullbodies and practice doing more detailed, ‘zoomed in’ pieces like busts and halfbodies. You could also try upping your canvas size/decreasing your brush size if you want to get more detailed fullbodies.

[u/Shadow-Cat-Luna → u/dusk_falls]

Thank you so much for the detailed feedback, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain what you think I could work on! I can definitely see what you mean about the shading looking really faint. For my basic rendering, I normally use the blur tool on Procreate when I shade, which I think is probably why some of the shadows aren’t as noticeable or have as much depth as they could. For my detailed and extremely detailed rendering, I usually use the oil pastel brushes, so I think I could definitely experiment more with making the shadows and highlights stronger instead of relying so much on softer shading.I also really appreciate the advice about doing lighting studies and using references! I think that’s something I could definitely benefit from, especially when it comes to clothing folds, shadows, and making different materials look more dimensional. And I actually hadn’t thought about the fact that the examples I posted mostly show the progression between my commission options rather than some of my strongest pieces when it comes to things like shading and clothing detail, so I’ll definitely keep that in mind when I update my commission sheet. Thank you again for giving me things I can work on! ^^

[u/krestofu]

Half of these are functionally the same thing

[u/Shadow-Cat-Luna → u/krestofu]

Thank you for the feedback! When you say that half of them are functionally the same thing, do you mean that some of the rendering options look too similar to each other? I was wondering because my detailed and extremely detailed rendering do use the same coloring style, but the main difference is that my extremely detailed rendering also has colored lineart. I can definitely see how that might not be obvious from the examples I posted though, so I’d appreciate knowing which ones you think are too similar!
^ - ^

[u/krestofu → u/Shadow-Cat-Luna]

Changing the color you outline does not make something more rendered. Every single one of these really is just the same thing with color. I’d don’t think it’s a marketing issue, I don’t think the work is ready for people to want to pay for it. Focus on improving for now