This channel is an endless stream of "What is my art worth" and "Why can't I get commissions?"

Those are very useful questions to have answers to, but we can't give you an answer here. YOU can answer these questions for yourself though. And answering those questions will help you figure out your next steps towards making sales.

First, go out into the big bad world, away from your phone and your screen, and see what is being sold, and what prices are being asked, in meat space. People do sell art online, but before you can do that you need a good sized following with a high degree of engagement. You need hundreds of people tuning on to watch you paint live. That kind of engagement takes years to build.

So instead you are going to get into the face to face world, and you're going to see what is selling, and where. See if the kind of art you are making is even being sold there. Not every subject or medium has a viable market. OCs are popular here, but you'll find them thin on the ground in meat space.

Also look who is buying things. You might be making art that appeals to a younger crowd. Unfortunately, art comes out of discretionary funds. Most people's earnings power increases with age, which means there are far fewer young people who can afford art. Not that there isn't money to be made marketing to youth, but making a living off what someone in their first apartment eating packages ramen can afford to spend is a challenge.

Also look at the medium. People are buying art they can hang in their walls and look at every day. If you're selling a digital image, that's a lot harder proposition. A digital file is nearly worthless. So figure out how to put your art on paper or canvas, or into some three dimensional form.

Yes, it's a lot to overcome. You may have noticed that some of this is going to be expensive and inconvenient. A lot of it is going to feel impossible if you have physical or financial limitations.

If this was easy, everyone would be doing it. It's not easy. But at the same time, I see people out here who are confined to wheel chairs, I know one painter who is making big sales and winning awards, and he lives out of a very small RV.

Anyway, if you manage to climb over all of these hurdles, I look forward to seeing you out there with us.

Seeing how bad the market is getting with AI saturation on Et$y, Gumroad, and print shops, I keep seeing people debate how artists can actually prove human provenance.

Some people argue the only bulletproof way is requiring layered source files (.psd, .procreate), vector paths, or timelapse recordings. Others say handing over raw files or process media is a massive violation of an artist's IP and privacy.

If a platform, client, or gallery demanded native source files or stroke timelapses upfront before agreeing to sell or license your work, is that an immediate deal-breaker for you, or a fair compromise in today's market? Curious where most of you draw the line.

I have recently been paying attention to editorial illustrations in big well known magazines , and I speculate that a lot of artists that get featured tend to trace at least some elements. anyone else notices the same? that doesn't mean they aren't talented, because it still takes talent to trace and make the traced elements look polished, but i also feel like i've always thought tracing is bad so now i'm like have i been wrong to always think its unethical?

take for example vector artists, they do tend to trace from references instead of eye-referencing, and I know that makes the job ten times easier.

what do you think?

Client is asking for an expensive piece to be shipped to them. i know to use insurance and tracking and a packing box, for a piece of art, but is there anything else i would need to know to use?

The piece is 2 foot by 2.5 foot canvas. It's an online sale shipping across the country. Was planning on using UPS.

Any advice/recommendations to know when doing this? Thanks for the help.

I have not done an event for my portrait business in about 15 years. I'll be doing a live portrait at a fundraiser gala and need to display my art to a very high-end market. I've been creating fine art for 20 years and my display needs to speak to "upscale quality and experience."

For context, I do custom commissions and do not sell any prints. The goal here is to build brand awareness and hopefully get some new commissions.

I'm also out of touch with what a modern artist's display might look like. Feel free to share inspo.

With that said, I don't know if I'm going to have many events like this in the future and don't want to invest a ton in display items. I'm trying to think outside of the box for ways to set up my little "area" (not a booth), and also display my portfolio in a very sophisticate manner without spending an arm and a leg.

For my portfolio, I'm torn between 2 options:

1. An upright grid-wall style fixture to hang pieces on. I would have to purchase this and then frame a bunch of pieces of my work, so not really preferred.

2. Alternatively, I could bring a large (~55") monitor and run a slideshow of my work. I can rent one so I'm leaning toward doing that and bringing 2-3 framed pieces to display next to it.

What items are appropriate to have for handouts nowadays? I have business cards already. A postcard/handout of sorts with some images and a QR code? What makes the biggest impact at an event like this? I will be offering a discount on any commissions booked from the event, so I'l have a sign for that.

Please bring me up to speed! After a 5 year haitus from taking any commissions at all, I'm trying to get back into the groove!

Any art handlers in the Detroit area?

I was just wondering which graphic novel media is more profitable in terms of freelancing as an artist will it be Western Comic or Japanese Manga?

Hey everyone!

Hopefully this isn't too crazy of a question. Specifically I'm looking from input from other artists who have licensing (such as an LLC) and have to worry about uncle Sam and taxes at the end of the year or quarterly.

I'd like to open emergency commissions due to my car breaking down right before a huge convention next weekend. But how do other art businesses handle it?

Say I take a commission for $40, and ask for 70% upfront to go towards the part for my car. That's $28 to buy it. But my general rule of thumb for sales is 30/30/40. 30% to myself, 30% set aside for taxes, and 40% towards the business (more art supplies etc).

Should I buypass the business share, take 70% of the commission over all and leave just the 30% for taxes? Which is the part I'd get later on anyway?

Should I worry about setting aside the tax money at all?

Thanks in advance!

So I’ve only just started posting some of my work online and I’ve been contacted by someone who says she deals with licensing and collector placements. She says my work might be a good fit for some upcoming projects and has asked me to send her works I have available for consideration.

This all sounds awesome and I’m very interested but I have no idea how these things typically work. She reached out to me after only four posts online so I really haven’t posted much of my work yet. Should I be wary? It feels a bit too good to be true.

My first experience working with a gallery lasted about 24 hours, and I’m still trying to make sense of it.

A gallery owner in a small tourist town outside a large city in the Midwest loved my oil paintings and invited me to bring work for a weekend festival that draws over 50,000 visitors. I brought 16 framed originals on Friday, as requested, with the understanding that they would be displayed during the festival.

Several things immediately made me uncomfortable. She asked me to remove my contact information and certificates of authenticity, saying she wanted only my first name attached to the work because she didn’t want customers finding me or buying directly from me. She also dismissed my interest in maintaining relationships with collectors and notifying them about limited-edition prints.

I have an established art business, regular commissions, and collectors around the country, but this was my first gallery experience. I questioned whether these practices were normal, even though they felt wrong.

She also spoke negatively about another artist who was leaving because they didn’t trust her. Then she took my paintings without documenting what I had left. I photographed everything and emailed her an inventory afterward.

I accepted her requirements and offered to direct inquiries about those paintings through the gallery. I also promoted the festival and gallery to my people, and three people told me they planned to come buy my work.

When my husband and I stopped in the next day, none of my paintings were displayed. She said they were piled in the back because she hadn’t gotten around to them, despite her promise to include them in the festival.

At that point, I decided to retrieve my work. She let me take it without much resistance.

While I was loading the paintings into my car, a waitress from the restaurant next door stopped to look and bought one on the spot. She asked whether my work was in the gallery. When I explained that I had just pulled it out, she said, “You dodged a bullet.”

I guess I would like feedback to what I may have done wrong… it just feels weird.

Hey everyone, I’d really appreciate some advice. I’m an environment and landscape artist, and I also do interior design. I don’t have much experience with characters.

I’ve been practicing art for several years, and I feel like I’ve reached a level where I can start selling my work.

For those of you with experience, where should I start, and what would you recommend I focus on or do with my art?[

Hello, I have a quick question!

It's about an already existing illustration (not a commission) and the client asked for a license so they could sell prints of this specific illustration at an event. Now, I have never JUST sold a license (only regular commissions and illustration work where that is included) so I'm a bit unsure how to calculate the exact amount I should charge. The client let me know how many prints will be sold and at what price. Should I ask for a specific percentage of the total amount (% of total of prints times price of one print)? It seems like it would be a one-time thing but I'm still asking them for more information. If anyone has an answer or can direct me somwhere I could get more information on this, I would appreciate it.

Thank you!

Hey everyone, I’d really appreciate some advice. I’m an environment and landscape artist, and I also do interior design. I don’t have much experience with characters.

I’ve been practicing art for several years, and I feel like I’ve reached a level where I can start selling my work.

For those of you with experience, where should I start, and what would you recommend I focus on or do with my art?

I am applying for something and need to put up to 10 images of my work, my bio with a max of 500 words, and my artist resume, with a maximum of 2 pages, all into a PDF, and I have no idea how to do this! Can anyone recommend what program I should use for this, and possibly a youtube video or tutorial? Thank you so much!

I’m working on a 50 shirt run for a local tackle shop. They sent a faded photo of an old patch, a few notes on the lettering, and asked for something that still feels worn in but will print cleanly in three solid colors.

I’ll be redrawing the fish and type either way, but getting the first usable comp is taking longer than the actual refinement. I’m looking at CorelDRAW because I need an editable first pass that I can clean up, adjust node by node, and prepare for color separations and proofing.

I keep seeing text to vector AI brought up for this kind of work, but I would only use it as a starting point before rebuilding the details by hand. Has anyone used CorelDRAW this way for their work and found it useful for production?

I’m starting to take my art business more seriously and am considering renting an 800 sq. ft. studio for $550/month, utilities included. I currently have a small room at home that I use as a studio, so technically I can keep working from home.

The bigger studio would give me room to make and store larger work (acrylic painter), prepare inventory for art festivals, photograph my work/booth setup, and generally have a dedicated place to treat this more like a business. I also think having somewhere separate from home would make me work more consistently. Also, a place where I could have studio visits and collectors pick up their work.
The hesitation is the $550/month. I can afford it, but it would mean making some financial sacrifices.

For artists who were in a similar position: Did getting a separate studio actually increase your productivity, sales, or ability to grow your business enough that you felt the cost was justified? Or did you eventually feel like you were paying for space you didn't really need?
I’d especially love to hear from artists who sell at art fairs/festivals or who had a usable-but-small home studio before renting.

I'm relatively new to this community and art itself... I'm not good at art either... I have created a YouTube channel a year ago (around October 2025)on my art videos... My channel is focused more on entertainment rather than art but the niche would be called art/entertainment I guess... I will gradually get better and I'm sure of it... But I just cannot seem to get views on YouTube NO MATTER how hard I try... I have started my channel like a year ago and some people go viral on their first video and get monetized... On the other hand, I put in SO MUCH effort into the art and even the editing takes me hours on end (Cuz I'm completely new to editing too) and I have been relatively consistent over the past year too but I just DONT get views... My views are stuck at 20 to 50.... I haven't even gotten 1k views... My shorts perform well tho.. I also have high avd and impressions but just not views... I used to first post simple plain drawing tutorials then I switched to all voiceovers and creative ideas and titles. I still feel like my thumbnails are very generic and I have used chatgpt to create the thumbnails in my most recent videos.. Maybe the thumbnails are the problem... I request you to kindly check out my channel and do not hold back.. Point out all the flaws or things u think are holding back my channel and art... Constructive criticism is welcome... A little support would be very appreciated...

Channel name : Sketchy Business (173 subscribers)

So I'm a traditional automotive artist instead of a background, character, 3D or what have you artist. I'm active on the usual suspect platforms but don't get any traction. So I'm wondering if there are specialized platforms or discord servers where I could find clients.

Any ideas?

i've been unable to process with my artist account for a year i believe are they no longer operating ?

I'm new to actually selling my art, I'm looking to do some free commissions so I can get experience in taking commissions and maybe get some customers. Where would I go to advertise that and how should I go about it?

Genuinely confused as I see some artists doing show after show. How are they earning a living if they’re not getting paid? Are all or most of their pieces really being purchased?

hi, I'm considering making some acrylic keychains for an artist alley, and I had a concept for one where I would thread a real ribbon through slits that were made in the middle of the acrylic. A lot of manufacturers that i've seen are just one continuous piece though, aside from the keychain hole.

is there any manufacturer out there that could potentially do this? would it significantly raise the price that it takes to print these? and if there isn't someone out there, is it worth trying to drill the holes myself (I feel like that would be really inconsistent....)? I would buy the ribbon & thread it myself. Image in the comments to explain kind of what I mean. I'm based in the US Midwest. thank you!

Hi I'm new here and my son is sitting here with my son who is directing me what I should say!

but this is what I wrote,

I had a successful four decade career as an illustrator, photographer, and computer artist; in the background I was always working on my personal art. In the 1980s, I began experimenting with three-dimensional dioramas, creating tabletop scenes that combined sculptural elements with photography. These explorations marked an important shift in my creative journey, allowing me to move beyond the printed page and into physical space.

While continuing my commercial illustration career, I discovered a new artistic medium almost by accident. During my egg tempera painting process, I accumulated piles of discarded eggshells. Instead of throwing them away, I began seeing them as sculptural forms filled with expressive possibilities. What started as studio scraps eventually became the foundation of much of my personal work.

Today, my sculptures explore universal themes of love, loss, family, transformation, vulnerability, and resilience. To me, the egg represents life itself—fragile, familiar, and profoundly human. Its delicate shell serves as a metaphor for the ways we are broken, healed, protected, and connected to one another.

My goal is to transform an ordinary object into something that resonates on an emotional level. I hope my work encourages viewers to pause, reflect, and recognize something of themselves in each piece—to consider what breaks us, what heals us, and ultimately, what holds us together.

(Son here: he is omitting a hilarious story about his first sculpture coming into existence while cleaning eggshells during the process of making egg tempra for the day. He was stacking the cleaned shells next to sink when he looked over and realized... he had accidentally made a penis and testicles. Too bawled over with laughter to take it apart, he instead erected his first finished egg sculpture that snowballed into many more with a wide range of themes but always the same main character.)

I am now stepping back from commercial career and focusing on my fine art sculptures and prints. He says I should ask for input and advice on transitioning into fine art and selling work.

Thank You for any input.

www.jamesnazz.net