hello i'm mimi i'm a digital illustrator
running my own small art business and
today i want to share with you all my
tips for getting started selling your
first art commissions
this video is sponsored by skillshare
but more on that later
selling custom commissioned
illustrations was the first way that i
started making money from my art and i
know that it's the same for a lot of
other artists as well so if you're
thinking you'd like to start taking your
art from a hobby to a business or side
income then i think that commissions are
a great place to start a commission is a
custom piece of art personalized for a
customer or professional client and this
video is going to focus on getting small
scale commissions like portraits of
people or pets
so how do you get your first commissions
well the basic formula is that you need
an art style of some kind which is the
creative part a way for people to see
your art style like on a social media
platform which is the marketing part and
a way for them to purchase a commission
from you which is the financial part but
we need to go a little deeper than that
so grab a notepad and a coffee because
i've got a whole lot of info for you
today just keep in mind that nothing i
share is financial legal advice i'm just
a girl who makes art and has some tips
so today i've got tips on working on the
creative skills
building an audience
creating specific examples of your
commissions
deciding how much to charge
getting set up to receive money
spreading the word and marketing and
completing orders
so first let's work on the creative
skills if you haven't already
if you don't think your art skills are
strong enough yet or you don't think you
have an art style then that's okay
because those can both be improved with
practice and everyone starts somewhere
practice as much as you can and focus on
improving your skills and you will make
progress take classes on drawing things
like characters and pets if those are
the commissions you're going to offer
and then put those skills into practice
by drawing real subjects like people you
know or your friend's pets although i
don't think you need to have a set art
style to enjoy being an artist i do
think it helps if you're selling
something like commissions because your
audience will want to know what style
their illustration will be in before
they buy it
now we need to build an audience
so while we're doing all this practice
share your journey and build a social
media audience at the same time because
it takes a lot of time to build
it's totally up to you where you build
your audience but you will need people
to see your art somewhere and i think
the easiest way to do that these days is
on a social media or content sharing
platform like instagram twitter or
youtube
if you're watching this video then it's
quite likely that you've already been
building an audience and creating art
for a little while but if you haven't
then now is a really good time to get
started
show some specific examples of your
commissions
so you've been practicing your art style
and you've been building an audience now
we need to show your audience some
examples of the kinds of commissions
you're going to offer if you haven't
already done so it's worth thinking
about your audience here and what they
would want to commission from you and
create examples of those to put in your
social media feeds if your audience is
young people who like social media and a
cute aesthetic then maybe you'll want to
draw cute portraits that can be used as
social media profile pictures if they're
new moms then maybe create some
portraits of mums with babies or birth
announcement art if they're into witchy
aesthetics maybe you'll create some
witchy portraits that can be customized
you want to make things that make your
audience go oh i want one of those and
that's basically sales in a nutshell
to help with that now is a good time for
me to mention this video's sponsor which
is skillshare
skillshare is an online learning
community that you've probably already
heard of because they have thousands of
classes on all sorts of creative skills
including drawing portraits which is
perfect for commissions i just enjoyed
the fun with faces create a stylized
digital portrait class by charlie
clements which was such great fun and a
really valuable class if you're wanting
to explore your portrait style
i really like how playful her style is
and the whole class was really calm and
informative which is right up my alley
she takes us through her whole process
from sketch to coloured illustration and
has some nice procreate tips in there as
well
skillshare is a really nice investment
in yourself as an artist because there
are loads of classes to help you upskill
your illustrations and explore your art
style and if you want to try it out and
join the class i just showed you then
the first 1000 people to use the link in
my description will get a one month free
trial so spend that month participating
in classes that will help you level up
your commission skills thanks so much to
skillshare for sponsoring this video
because it really helps me keep creating
now let's get back to it
now decide how much you'll charge
if you find it difficult to price your
work then you are not alone it's a
tricky thing to do because you don't
want to under charge and you don't want
to overcharge
when you're pricing your commissions
factor in the following four things how
much you want to earn per hour how long
a commission takes you to create
how much value they have to your
customer and also if you have any costs
for supplies or shipping if you provide
physical commissions
so first you need to figure out how much
you need to earn per hour of your time
which is partly a practical question of
how much you need to earn to pay your
bills depending on your living expenses
and partly your self-worth question of
how much you value your art time at you
can then multiply that hourly rate by
how long on average the commissions
you're offering will take you
this is where it's handy to offer set
types of commissions and have examples
of them because you probably already
have an idea of how long they take you
to draw
so from that you'll now have a minimum
amount to charge for your commissions
charging below that will just be
undervaluing yourself
now also consider the value your
commission has to your customer
this might be something you adjust over
time as you collect feedback but if your
customer sees value in what you've
created way above what you're charging
then factor that in
you might be charging 50 for commissions
that your customers see a hundred
dollars worth of value in so remember
that the value of what you've created
isn't just how long you spent on it it's
also the value you're providing through
creating something special and
personalized for someone with skills
you've been practicing for hundreds or
maybe even thousands of hours
and now consider any costs associated
with creating your commissions and
factor that into the price as well
if you're a digital artist you might not
have many costs involved but if you're a
traditional artist you'll have costs for
things like paper or art supplies and
you'll likely need to post your
commission to your customer as well so
add the cost of those things into your
calculations or explain to your customer
that postage will be extra
so all of those things go into pricing
your work and if you're not sure then
you can always just start somewhere and
collect feedback from people to adjust
as you go
you can always see what other artists
are charging to use as a full park but
don't let that swear your minimum that
you want to charge for your time to give
you an idea i started out charging 40
australian dollars for a single person
or pet digital portrait from the waist
up which took me about an hour and a
half to make i just slowly kept raising
my prices and now i charge 65 australian
dollars for a single personal pet
portrait and people can add an
additional personal pet for 20
no doubt i'll raise my prices again as i
get more experienced and my style
develops but for now that's a
comfortable amount for me to charge
some people charge way more and that
might be appropriate for their time
input or their style
so let's get you set up to receive money
since you're going to be receiving money
for your commissions you need to make
sure that you have the business side of
things in order so that you can do so
legally rules are different for every
country so just make sure you look into
your country's requirements on money
earned through a side job and whether
you need to be registered as a business
or not once that's in order you'll need
to decide how you want customers to pay
you which is totally up to you
you could have an online shop where you
list commissions and customers can go
there to make their purchase and this is
what i currently do via etsy i have a
listing with different options where
customers can choose how many characters
they want drawn and then i message them
directly to collect all the details and
reference photos
or you could do something more direct
and invite customers to chat with you
via instagram dms like i used to do and
then direct them to a payment link when
they are ready to pay with something
like paypal
most payment or ecommerce platforms will
understandably charge a fee of some kind
for their service so weigh up the fees
to see what's going to work best for you
one thing i do really recommend you
consider is requesting payment upfront
to protect yourself from people taking
advantage of you i've always requested
payment upfront before i start any
drawing and i've never had anyone tell
me they weren't okay with that and just
be sure that you're using a reputable
system for accepting money and if people
aren't comfortable paying you directly
via something like paypal they may feel
more comfortable paying via an online
store
and now it's time to spread the word
about your commissions
so you've got the creative skills an
audience to share with examples of
commissions you know how much you're
charging and you're set up to receive
money now we just need to tell the world
that you're open and available for
commissions so let's spread the word if
you haven't already tell your audience
that you're offering commissions by
posting some examples of the commissions
you're offering and making it really
clear that you're available most of my
orders in the beginning came from me
sharing illustrations of simple
character portraits to instagram and
people wanting one personalized to them
you could create some buzz by offering a
giveaway of a commission as the prize or
run a discount for say the first five
orders put in your social media profile
descriptions that you're available for
commissions and how to contact you about
them and once you've got a few orders
under your belt ask your customers for
feedback and assuming it's positive
feedback and keeping their privacy in
mind
share that with your audience
testimonials and positive reviews are
something that i know makes me way more
likely to purchase from someone so share
with your audience that you have happy
customers
and then complete the orders
so once you've got an enquiry or an
order about a commission make sure that
your customer knows early on how the
process works so be sure to give them at
least the following information how much
the commission costs what reference
photos or details you need from them
how payment works and whether you
request payment upfront
when they can expect to receive the
commission
and what file sizes or formats they'll
receive the commission in when you're
giving an estimate of how long it'll
take you to create their commission be
generous so that you have a comfortable
amount of time in case you get delayed
by something if you think it'll take a
week say one to two weeks just to be
safe
now you might not get loads of orders
straight away in fact i find that often
when i announce things that orders
slowly trickle in and it might take a
little while to get off the ground but
keep practicing keep showing people the
commissions you offer and keep growing
your audience to reach new people and
i'm sure you'll be selling commissions
in no time if you're still not getting
orders then ask for feedback or look at
what might be preventing people from
buying from you i know that you might be
worried that nobody will buy your
commissions but believe in your art
believe in your ability to grow as an
artist and put yourself out there
because you've got nothing to lose by
trying and nobody else is going to do it
for you if you listen to your self-doubt
and assume you aren't going to be
selling any commissions then you're
guaranteeing that you won't by not
taking action
so i know that's been a lot of
information but i hope you found it
helpful for your art journey and i hope
you make lots of beautiful commissions
for people in the future if that's
something you've been wanting to do
thanks so much for watching this video
and supporting this channel it really
means the world to me see you in the
next one bye bye
[Music]
you