hi welcome to my channel my name is
Emily and these are my top ten tips for
how you can sell Illustrated portraits
online and hopefully how you can make
some money doing it so a bit of a
background on me I'm a freelance
illustrator and concept artist with a
degree in animation so I worked in the
animation industry since I left uni six
years ago but on the side I also do
these Illustrated portraits so I started
them in 2013 it was basically a way to
earn a bit of extra cash and I did them
for free for friends and family and now
it's sort of evolved and it's the way I
pay my bills you know it's my main
source of income so hopefully the tips I
give you a helpful it's definitely what
I've learned along the way so let's go
to tip number one okay so my first tip
is find your style there's so many
styles you can do you could go
traditional you could go digital you can
do very realistic portraits you can do
stick figures you can do cartoon you can
there's so many different ways you can
go and you need to find a style that
suits you I would avoid trying to
emulate someone else it's not going to
work you need to find a style you enjoy
doing and that's that's you so I would
go online and go onto Etsy see what
other people are doing it takes lots and
lots of practice you need to draw and
draw and draw you also want to maybe do
some for family and friends you know
don't charge them say hey mom can I can
I draw you Dad
it's all practice and and it's a great
way to get started tip number two is get
on social media I cannot stress enough
how important it is to be on social
media when you're doing portraits or any
sort of art work but portraits in
particular and I'll tell you why once
you've created your portrait for your
family or your friends the first thing
they're going to want to do hopefully if
you've done a good job is put it on
Facebook the biggest compliment is that
they put it as their profile picture
then what's going to
people come in hey who did that who did
this where can i buy one for myself they
need to be able to comment with your
Facebook page if we've got nowhere to
find you
you know you've missed out on a sale
there I I have an Etsy shop I have my
website but the majority I would say 90%
of my orders come directly from Facebook
I just use Etsy as a place to send them
to pay but all of my orders come through
Facebook and it's because people upload
the images that I do they tag me they
tag their friends friends it's a great
tool if you're not on social media I its
2019 so make a Facebook page make an
Instagram make a Twitter make whatever
but make sure you're uploading your
images to there you're gonna get lots of
orders trust me where are you going to
sell there's so many places you could
have a dedicated website you could go on
Etsy that's what I do you through social
media you could just link to a PayPal
you need to get your work scene for me
Etsy works for me I think it's a
brilliant website I can do a whole
dedicated video on how to build an Etsy
page and listings and and things like
that but I get most of my orders through
Facebook and then I link them to my Etsy
shop a lot of times people find me
through Etsy just by doing a random
search so you need to figure out where
you want to sell the main thing is you
need to be seen you need to be seen in
as many places as possible you want to
be linking your Etsy shop to Facebook
you just want to be on social media and
I can't stress it enough okay my next
one is pricing pricing is scary I
remember starting out and just oh what
do you charge when people say how much
does it cost what do you charge I still
I still have no idea if I'm doing it
right I think I found the sweet spot but
the key is when you're starting start
low when I started I said that every
type of portrait was a set amount and I
can't even remember how much I charge
maybe I was like 15 pounds for a full
color illustration as many characters
you want that came to bite me in the
book because people used to have 20
actors and I didn't know what to do I
was like okay yeah it would take me
hours stat low overtime you can increase
the price a tip I do is I charge per
character so one character is a set
price two characters set price three per
characters and then you can add on if
you want to add a background this is so
much it just it just means that a person
that wants ten characters and a person
that wants one character it's getting
two different prices and it reflects the
time you spend on it that's a really
important factor how long are you going
to spend on it when you first start out
you're gonna spend a lot of time on your
portraits as you should they should be
your best work don't be afraid to scrap
it start again you know you want it to
be the best especially if it's going on
Facebook but now as you get more
experienced like me and you know I'm six
years into this I've done hundreds of
them now if someone comes to me and
wants a couple of wedding I can I can do
it quite quickly and I've managed to
find the right price point because of
that so don't be afraid you will get it
wrong everyone gets it wrong just start
at a low point and as you get more
orders you know you can increase your
price a little bit and time yourself how
long does it take to do a portrait what
is your time worth you know you don't
want to be making a loss tip number five
follows on from the previous point and
that is I suggest you take a deposit I
say this because very early on when I
first started I wouldn't ask for any
money upfront I would say as soon as the
pottery is finished you pay me the
problem with that is some people don't
realize the time it takes to do so you
spend all your time making this portrait
it looks really happy you're really
happy with it it looks really beautiful
and you send it to the person and they
say actually I've changed my mind
well you can't resell that that's
personal to them you've just lost our
major I started taking a deposit even if
it's half half upfront I can actually
tell you a story so this happened a few
years ago it was Christmas time I was so
so busy and I was taking deposits
upfront it opened up
maybe 15 slots for Christmas and I was
asking for 25 pounds up from and the
rest was to be paid at the end and
something happened I was weather I
wasn't organized enough somebody had
done an order but they didn't pay the
deposit and I completely overlooked here
so I did I did the portrait they didn't
mention anything about payment and we
got through and it got to the end and
they decided they didn't want the
portrait and I thought well oh so
annoying but I took that deposit and I
checked and they didn't pay when I get
went back to mention it I noticed that
the picture I'd drawn was their profile
picture so I didn't water my water mark
my work
they took my part right they didn't pay
I lost out majorly and it taught me a
massive lesson and that is firstly water
mark your work and take a deposit it
shows that you are serious you mean
business you're going to do this work
and you want paying at the end and yeah
I'll earn a massive lesson and actually
now I don't even take deposits I asked
for the full amount upfront if you're
starting out that's probably too much
then you probably won't get orders
before that maybe you will I don't know
but for me now I have so many orders
come through and so many people message
me that I just need to work on the ones
that are serious and if they're serious
they're going to pay off for it so yeah
take deposit no matter how big small it
shows you're serious my next tip is work
in stages I split my projects into three
stages and I tell every person that
makes an order with me about the three
stages when they place an order and they
pay in full or take a deposit I ask them
to send photographs I need lots of
pictures from you know the head the hair
they can be together apart I need all
the details I need to know if you've got
tattoos I need to know
their personality do they like to wear
pink do it you know I need to know these
things once I have that we do search one
and that is a sketch a very very basic
sketch it's very rough and it's just my
idea down on paper and I send that
across they can make their first set of
changes here so they can tell me if they
like it don't like it once the happy at
this stage we've got stage two so stage
two is the line out phase it's when I
take the sketch and I just do the final
complete line and it's it's all ready to
go that gets sent again I do that so
they can make any final changes before I
paint it the final stage is paint this
is the part that you know it makes it
look beautiful but if you've already had
approval at the lineart stage then you
don't have to worry you don't have to
worry that they're not gonna like it at
the end and oh my god why they don't
like it in the beginning I used to just
do the full portrait and hit Send and be
like and you know what the majority of
the time it was fine but there were some
people that would say hide no I want
them sat down why are they stood up well
first of all they should have told you
that by the time and it meant I had to
start all over again oh if I'd have
realized and just sent the sketch that
takes ten minutes they could have told
me oh I don't like them stood up can we
sit down and that would have been no
problem to change so do it in stages
don't worry about them not liking it you
know it's better to find out they don't
like it when you spent ten minutes on it
then when you spent hours its heartbreak
interest me okay another tip I have is
follow trends or seasons or occasions
you really want to jump onto that my
biggest time is Christmas everybody
loves a portrait Chris as it seems
so I decided a few years ago right
instead of just doing your typical
portrait that I sell all year round
let's do something a bit different so I
decided to put them in a Christmas
wreath and put Christmas jumpers on
people and it was so popular
oh my gosh I pre-drawn the reef so I
didn't have to keep drawing that every
time another one that I tend to do is
weddings weddings is also my most
popular thing and I draw the bride and
groom or you know the bridal party
that's another trend to jump onto you
need to just keep up with trends and the
great thing about Etsy is they remind
you of holidays coming up you just want
to stick with those trends so now you
figured out your portrait you figured
out your style you know you've got it on
social media you're starting to get some
interest you need to decide how you're
gonna package everything and how you're
going to brand yourself it's a really
important thing I feel when sending out
my portraits that people get excited to
receive them I love the idea that
someone has waited for this portrait and
it's been delivered they've got the
envelope they're opening it and it's an
exciting experience and I try and do
that through my packaging it's evolving
and I've already got ideas of how I want
to make it better invest in a good
printer I would say nothing worse than
really flimsy paper you want thick nice
paper and that feels nice once I printed
my portrait I put it in a plastic so
theme back and it goes into a hard
packed envelope to avoid it from bending
I also pop in a little thank-you
postcard you know to thank people I used
to have
I used to use these and before I changed
my branding and I just used to pop a
personalized message on here and just
say you know thank you so much I really
hope you like it it's just a nice little
personal touch now I have an actual
postcard that's already printed I always
seal the back of an envelope with a
sticker of my profile picture I want
someone to turn the envelope and their
app to open it see that it's my face
know what they were about to open I
think it's just such an exciting thing
think about your packaging think about
how you're going to send it you want
your customer to receive it in the best
condition possible so following on from
my last tip this one is send your file
digitally a lot of my portraits now I
don't even need to package up because
people just want the digital file some
people don't like this and if you're
working traditionally then you know this
doesn't apply this just applies to
people that work did
they like me the positive thing about
sending your file digitally is the first
thing they're going to want to do is put
it online and they're probably gonna
attack you it's just the best cheapest
well it's free free marketing it's
brilliant I always say if you can send
the file digitally send it
some people charge extra for that and I
can understand if that's like a typical
out print and you're worried about them
you know printing loads and selling them
but this is something very personal to
them you know you can't resell that to
somebody else I think personally sending
digitally is absolutely fine and I
actually charge now for the printed
version just because it's very rare that
people want a printed version now and
here is tip number 10 my final tip is be
kind be a lovely person when you're
working with a customer they've come to
you for a portrait because they like
your work you know it's the biggest
compliment someone could give you is
ordering from you and I try my best to
just be as as nice as possible once I've
sent the portrait I make a real effort
to follow up see if it's a gift see if
they liked it and it's a great
opportunity then for to maybe ask for a
review on Facebook you can you know you
can ask for reviews on it so you can get
stars five stars is you know it's
brilliant my biggest tip is to just
enjoy what you're doing be really kind
to your customers I can promise you now
I have so many people that come back
every year for an update on that
portrait that I've made a lot of friends
now because of this business you know
I've watched families there's one family
that I'll say hi to Jess and Dave you
may not be watching this but I drew them
so many years ago oh my god I drew them
as a couple and now every year every
other year I've drawn them and watched
their family you know expand so I drew
them as a couple I drew them when they
had a dog when they had their first baby
when they had their second baby you know
it's just ah haha it just makes me so
happy so there we go
they are my top ten tips for how you can
create your own portrait business
online hopefully the tips have been
helpful they're just what I've gathered
over the years of doing this if you want
to check out any of my work I'm over on
Instagram or Facebook make sure you set
up your own Facebook page I'll also link
my Etsy shop below so you can see some
of the work I have on there
but yeah I really look forward to
hearing from any of you that maybe take
this advice and start your own business
obviously it's not for everybody but if
you like to draw you need something on
the side why not try I mean that's all I
did please comment below with any other
tips you might have lish let's share
more tips and please subscribe I'd
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we've got lots more videos to come yeah
thank you so so much for watching and
I'll see you soon