Promoting your art commissions nowadays

[Klaustasya]

Hello guys!

Today i need to ask a question that was probably already asked a thousand times over the internet, but i'm asking here on the Tapas Forum as well because, after doing my own researches i couldn't find many 'good' tips to promote my art online.

Instagram has been oversaturated from a couple of years now and getting visibility there is almost impossible if you don't have a consisten follower base yet (which is my case as well). About Twitter, i recently found out that taking part into art share thread is a good way to earn more visibility for your content, but only among other artists, which is not bad neither.
Facebook is kinda...trash: there are too many facebook groups where to post about your commissions but people tend to keep veery low prices and kill the whole art market (so i don't even recommend it).
Theb we have Reddit, not bad, because is well organized into specific subreddits (though some rules are kind of strict, you're careful enough you shouldn't have any problems).
Fiverr: a waste of time, for now.
and last....the almost-dead Tumblr, but is quite interesting to see that i gained more commissions in general from there (that looks pretty desolate now) than from other social media.

For artists who are currently trying to promote their commissions, how are you handling it? I feel like the whole COVID situation as well is not really helping the economy at the moment.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I sold a couple commissions a few months ago...I can't say whether that means anything though, because my average is 1-2 a year...^^;

I don't think the market is dead, though. Standard art commissions run 30-50 USD, and people who have that kind of money to spare on a regular basis still have it, as far as I can tell.

And speaking of dead:

and last....the almost-dead Tumblr, but is quite interesting to see that i gained more commissions in general from there (that looks pretty desolate now) than from other social media.

...I don't understand why people say this. =/ I've gained more followers on Tumblr in 5 months than I have in 2 years on Twitter. And I know that doesn't automatically mean the site is buzzing, but for a newcomer to be able to pull numbers like that, it can't really be dead, can it...?

Furthermore, most of the people I followed from Twitter onto Tumblr are equally active on both sites. Maybe the site isn't as alive as it used to be (?) but it's far from a ghost town; and I hope anyone who's considering branching out there understands that.

[Inspector_Spinda]

I've gained more followers on Tumblr in 5 months than I have in 2 years on Twitter

twitter is so impossible lmao

[silverraven0]

Not sure about others but most of my commission came from twitter. I just need to promote like crazy and dreaded getting my account suspended for the 4th? 5th? Time. I also did get some from Reddit hungry artist. And Instagram is kinda hard to get a client.

There’s other like artist and client but I never get any here so i closed my account. Deviantart also have forum to look for work, but like Twitter, competition and lower price makes it hard here.

I opened my commission last year and kinda stopped when COVID happened. I still get one reoccurring client and and a new one during the time. Opened it again last month and yeah, I promote like crazy. It’s tiring but I like drawing new and different characters. Still hard to get commission and I’ve been thinking to start a live2d commission. (I can’t rig lol)

[ghelas]

Reddit is a pretty good place. I would like to recommend https://www.reddit.com/r/HungryArtists/ to everyone looking for work. You will be competing with a lot of excellent illustrators, and you need to be familiar with the subreddit rules, or they will delete your post and perhaps even ban you. The up side is that there are a lot of people looking to commission work, sometimes for projects rather than just personal use!

[VibrantFox]

The only place I've ever gotten commissions out of is Twitter and I recently streamlined my process for ordering by setting up commissions on Ko-fi. Promo is really difficult no matter where you go but the main thing that's kind of helped is art shares and drawing challenges to get the name out and then browsing through the looking to commission hashtags (so #lookingtocommission or #lookingforartist) there's never really any solid guarantee of getting a sale but it's like all i know.

I don't really bother with Instagram because the more time passes the worse their algorithm gets along with the rules for what keeps posts afloat (now instead of just saving and sharing they want you to zoom in on pictures )

I've also been trying to invest more time in using artfol and it seems like the best way to get more interactions is just participating in challenges, making one of your own or using the critique function. It kinda of suck that it's mobile only but it seems okay even if the userbase seems to be more artists than those consuming art

I really would love to know what people are doing to get eyes on their stuff on tumblr because i can't quite figure out the key to getting engagements. I know for a fact i could stand to post more but that aside I really would like to know what on earth i'm missing

I don't dare try to rock the boat here on Tapas though it's been pretty obvious that there are some folks out here looking for artists and willing to pay. it's just connecting the two that's an absolute pain

[Klaustasya]

Yes, a lot of people told me they get more commissions from Twitter but to be honest, i tried promoting like crazy there as well, and still got nothing XD so it's kind of a mystery to me haha

[sarahmcsquish]

Facebook can work well for commissions if you do it right. For example, this year I offered Animal Crossing pet portraits (your pet as a villager). I sold 35 of those! I found an ACNH art group, posted a drawing I did of my dog as a villager and said I'd be happy to draw other people's pets too. Now this worked when the game was only a month old. Now the groups are flooded with posts like that, but they still do get commissions from it.
It's about finding the exact thing. Don't join art commission groups because it's just 50 artists asking for commissions from the other 49 artists also asking for commissions. You draw dogs? Join a dog group. You draw Danganronpa? Join a Danganronpa group, etc.
Good luck to all! It's a tough world, but we can do it!

[Klaustasya]

I have to agree with you about the Art share threads, they are a good way to get visibility 'fast' especially if your art is at a good level. About Tumblr, that was i was trying to say too haha i wish i know how to create engagement there because otherwise it feels pretty emply/lonely.
Also it is true that looking for clients instead of just posting and waiting is a good way to catch more commissions i'll have to practise that XD

[Klaustasya]

This a very good advice! I still suck at finding fitting groups for my commissions (because i draw a lot of girl characters & don't know where someone would need that XD) but you're right, Thank you!

[silverraven0]

Yeah, you really have to stalk the search button and scrolling down the comments for hours at times to find some people's that's looking for commission. It's a time consuming task especially if you're a very small artist like me.

[nostalgicroxas]

GAIA online and another character avatar site - lots of people there want art of their characters, who a lot of them are girls. And while a lot of people deal in the site currency, there are those who will shill for real cash commissions if you provide them your business email ect. One of my friends gets exposure and practice through both means on GAIA and it just is like everything else- communication constantly on the forums.

[sushy00]

Twitter has never worked for me XD
I didn't know you could actually get commissions on Gaia I gave that up a long time ago XD

[Klaustasya]

What is GAIA in the first place? XD

[milejdyvan]

Bookmarking this thread to get back to all the awesome artists in here for some commissions in the near future

[nostalgicroxas]

GAIAonline.com - a custom dress up your character site Eons old, still very VERY active.
Here's a link to artists currently selling. https://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/art-shops/f.82/
(There's 2 currencies right now: platinum and gold - the insane numbers are usually meaning they want gold.)