Hello there!! I am a self-taught artist of about 6 years now with little to no academic knowledge.
Despite this, I am foolishly looking to open up commissions [because I’m broke]!!
Unfortunately, thinking about this has caused more problems than it would in theory be solving so I’m looking for some help. I have a few limiting factors:
1.) I suck at perspective and poses so I need to offer things that will allow me to draw characters somewhat rigidly [not in emotion or stance, just no super complicated poses].
2.) It takes me a long time to get anything done and I’m unfortunately decently busy.
3.) I have no grasp of what proper pricing is for commissions as I have seen so many different pricings before.
4.) I have an intense and crippling sense of imposter syndrome and am worried about taking on the title of “professional” since I am self-taught and have very little knowledge of anatomy and color theory.
I think I’ve solved some of my own problems already? I was thinking of offering headshots, expression sheets, character sheets and reference sheets [the difference between character and reference sheets would be that there were be less art for the character sheets and more room for writing about the character, and the reference sheets would be all art as well as being a little bit more detailed]. My pricing thoughts for those were as follows in the same order as above: $20, $30, $50, $75. I still have questions though.
I’ve heard that Reddit is the place to go for all questions, so I ask of you these following things: Do those pricings look right? Are they too high or two low? How do I go about dealing with commissions as well as other time commitments? Is it okay to only have a certain amount of slots at a time and be closed otherwise? How does one deal with the fear of being cheated out of money via doing the art but not receiving the payment? Best places to advertise? Best places to do the actual commissioning? Best way to do the exchange of money for goods [venmo for example maybe??]? Tips? Tricks? Thoughts? Prayers?
Help :’]