a discouraged artist

Like others have said, the art market here is rough. Trying to sell art here (or any other game/sim type site) is going to be really discouraging if you know your value. Games like these attract a lot of artists so the art market will be filled to the brim with shops, and you get a lot of younger folks who are willing to charge pennies for their work because they haven't realized their stuff is worth more yet. You also have the fact that many artists selling here don't have to worry about paying bills so this is just a quick way to get some in-game currency.

Please don't take it personal if you're not able to sell your work for what you know your value is. It's just the market here. I can't sell art here for a quarter of the cost I get anywhere else, which made me realize it's not worth trying to sell here unless you're okay with greatly undervaluing yourself.

If you guys don't sell your art here, where do you sell it?
I was experiencing the same thing here but would like to sell my art for real money. 

im beginning to understand that, but recently ive become glad for the slow business!

i actually did get a commission from someone, and they were extremely kind and polite. almost like the higher price works as a filter! ive noticed it on twitter, too. (at least in the furry community ! )

i do value my art a lot because my friends are nice to me and hype me up!! even when i am really sad and discouraged i can always count on them to boost me up..!! even if i make anatomy mistakes or do bad coloring, they remind me that not every piece is perfect, and that beauty is subjective. art doesnt have to be perfect for it to be good. you just have to enjoy it <3

everyone who has replied to me helped me feel better and im glad you all are so thoughtful :3

@Kodiak

i sell my art here on wolvden and on twitter! (though i dont link my wolvden, twitter, and tumblr accounts) theres also ko-fi, tumblr, even deviantart (but i dont recommend deviantart lol). anywhere you can garner an audience, really. it helps to have supportive followers, i think. what they were saying about marketing is totally right !

@Kodiak

Furraffinity / furry amino / ect furry places are the best places to make money for some reason furries seem to have the deepest pockets. 

Deviantart and Tumblr are also decent places, but it is harder to get traction because it is super saturated, furraffinity I think was easier for me to get traction on because I posted so much, but to cheat your way to popularity you can make NSFW art that stuff sells super well allegedly at least, I haven't tried. I don't use twitter, but I do think its important to have multiple social media accounts to garner attention, some artist even use twitch / tik tok / youtube to get attention, but I don't know how it contributes to sales. 

Linked In is also a social media by all technicality and while I haven't done this one of my friends is a graphic designer and they get business by people finding them on Linked In, there's also Behance which is a portfolio website that seems more professional. 

Etsy is good for paintings / photos / customs / 3D objects, but you still have to advertise. If you do let's say, custom pet portraits you will come up in etsy's feed with all the other custom artists but you get seen first if you're newer / more popular which you can get by advertising or just having an eye catching style. Other places to sell art would be storenvy that have a marketplace. Shopify / carrd / your own website rely solely on you to bring traction to so they aren't good for new artists. 

If you just want to draw things once and get paid infinitely with passive income you can draw stuff for redbubble, zazzle, cafe press, society 6, ect. You can also make custom plush patterns / fabric on spoonflower. 

Also, I know with covid this isn't really possible everywhere but try to apply for art shows / flea markets. It's like a con but cheaper? Pick a day with good weather...I did not the first time I went to one....and just put yourself out there. People are much more likely to give you money if they can see you in person vs online. 

I don't know your range or what you do to recommend other things but uh there's some ideas? I hope this helps lmao I'm just rambling ~

^^^ all very good info :3

furries are usually of a certain type of people and we just think artists should get paid above minimum wage like any other worker ^w^ thats why they tip so often and are willing to pay more !

also i guess being part of a group that's made fun of so often you tend to try and be polite so people dont think less of you :O

I always just figured furries placed more value in art since it's more of 'a way of life' thing than a pretty photo? Like, If I wanted a human character I could just use picrew, or some other wardrobe game, but it's a lot harder to get a fursona down and especially for people who see themselves as the character it means a lot more? I'm not joshin' furries or anything, but with that said, please do not enter the fandom just to make money.

It's pretty fun to make your own animal characters and draw them and stuff, but I feel like if you have a shop that goes "I'm not a furry but..." not only is it not ideal for business, but you're telling everybody else there that you aren't really with them which is kinda mean.

Plus the more involved you are anywhere, be it in any fandom or social media the more content you'll create for it and the more connections you'll make so try to enter a niche that your heart is in. So really this is a PS for other platforms lmao I don't think all of us already drawing wolves here are going to statistically harm furries in any way, just thought I'd throw that up as food for thought. 

im sure some furries see it as a way of life, but for me its more of like a hobby or interest! i use my fursona as another form of self-expression. :D

i used to say the "'I'm not a furry but..." line when i didnt want people to know i was an actual furry yet aklsjdlsdj,, im sure some people would think its weird tho, yeah

i think if youre willing to make furry art for money that just means.. ur a furry

but yeah dinaro back at it again with the good points!!

Ha yeah, I agree I just rolled self expression and way of life into one statement since I figure living is expressing~

I also started off with "I'm not a furry but.." then it was like ??? why not, I mean people called me a furry for drawing anthro things anyway so I might as well embrace it. Plus yeah if you're making money off furries, drawing furries, you have a fursona and then you say you're not a furry...bro what?

That said, it's also a getting out there thing like you mentioned, but just like it can be a confidence issue with art like we've said earlier you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain by throwing yourself out there. So hey, just call yourself a furry artist what's the worst that could happen. 

Thanks, at least my rambling is coherent 😅

FA and twitter seem to be the best places to get comms. You just need some sort of following so people know you’re there.

On the discussion of why furries value art so much, i think its because there’s literally no other way to consume furry material than within the fandom. Its not like the anime, movie, or comic fandoms where you can get your media from companies and buy already made merch. I have friends who are willing to throw a lot of money at artists to bring their ideas to life because there is no other way to get it.

If you’re an artist who specializes in anthros, the furry fandom on twitter and FA seems to be the way to go. 

Also, glad you got a com! Hopefully its the first of many.