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Commissions soon...? Also, FA opinions? by drawhound
Hello lovelies! Lately, despite being busy applying for multiple jobs, I've been feeling bitten by the commission bug! I've been taking on large personal projects behind the scenes, and I've really been itching to do some work on the side that's fun and could make some people smile. I'm thinking primarily icons, sketches, and colored character pieces on simple backgrounds for now, but I may be open to negotiation if anyone's interested in something else. I've got to revamp my ToS first, so I'll be doing that (may ask for some feedback here later, if y'all don't mind!) over the next few days, before I really get into anything. Pretty excited about it!
I had a question, speaking of the whole commissions bit. Do y'all conduct business on Weasyl and FA both? Does FA bring in more traffic? I'm just curious. I've been hesitant of FA after lurking for years and watching poor business and PR practices from its leaders, but I can't deny that from the outside, FA seems like a better place to take commissions due to interest levels/high hit counts. Obviously I'd be limiting things to rather vanilla subject matter, though, so... For those of you who use both (or did at one time), how have your experiences been?
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I love artists_beware! I agree, it's a fantastic database; they're actually one of the reasons how I know the practices of certain people on FA without actually being a member. Not gonna lie, I've been combing their TOS posts for ideas for mine. :D So many people are so helpful and organized there!
I think I could swing updating two galleries with commission information. It's interesting that people still watch you even though you've moved, haha, that's kinda telling of the traffic over there, I suppose. I'll have to keep looking into it! Hmmm...
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I cleared out my gallery and specifically made a post on my journal about how I was coming here. I've gotten five watchers since then. :/ I'm debating going back simply because of the volume of people that are there, but I'm mostly uncomfortable with the whole rape apology thing going on. >>
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FA opinion in a nutshell: like the user base, don't like the site/staff. For me personally, I don't like FA. Too much drama and outrageously poor PR.
That's a generalization, though- some consumers are horrible and some of the staff are great, I'm sure.
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Yeah, I figured that's how it'd be. If I was to do anything there, I'd be with artists_beware by my side like a virtual bible the entire time, haha. I don't want to invite drama into my life if I don't have to. /O\
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The only reason I'm still on FA is because I got one commission on Weasyl when I was actively advertising here, vs. the several commissions a week I get on FA without advertising any more than just uploading my work. I can't sustain paying my rent and such from Weasyl alone. :/
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Yeah, I'm wanting to open up right now because my current job just isn't supplying the hours, so I would definitely want it to be a decent-sized supplementary income, since I have a lot coming up soon...! This is kinda what I figured. Thanks for the perspective!
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FA brings in more traffic because I've been there longer than here, but I hope to change that.
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Good luck! I definitely want this site to grow, so I'd be doing business in both places, but I can't deny that my need to eat and pay rent is a little more immediate than my need to solely support Weasyl at the moment, ahahaha. D:
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FA tends to get alot of traffic but left for personal reasons. I haven't lost any business sticking with just Weasyl! :]
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I don't go on FA anymore and won't buy commissions on there, personally. Since I don't offer commissions myself, I can't speak to whether it would be better to advertise there or not. If you do open up commissions, please post here as well!
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Oh no worries, I'll definitely be posting all of the same information here! I know that, regardless of what I do, I will enjoy the userbase and layout of Weasyl more (I haven't ever had a gallery at FA, but I've had lurking accounts, and I don't appreciate their organization system or their aesthetics, among other things), so I'll definitely be doing whatever I can to make things easy for my Weasyl followers. c:
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I haven't advertised for commissions in quite some time (gotta get back in the game, d'oh!) but I will say that I found it very easy to get commissions on FA, and everyone who contacted me (even the kinksters!) were very respectful of my desire to NOT draw adult work. Hell, my first big graphic novel gig came right on the heels of me posting advertisements on the FA forums, because an author of a semi-well-known furry graphic novel series saw my ad and contacted me, which resulted in a really wonderful job that taught me a LOT about both art and working on a collaborative project with someone else's concepts.
So while I definitely understand the wariness of FA (I'm trying to shift my posting focus over here because FA really leaves a sour taste in my mouth), I wouldn't call it a bad place to look for work. Sadly, it's probably the most active furry art site out there so naturally it's one of the best places to get exposure. In general most people respect the artist's preferences and just want cute art of their characters.
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Wow, that's awesome! I'm glad it has worked out so well for you. c:
Yeah, I think that, so long as the general experience is positive, I can handle the few stragglers that may bring problems with them. I do have experience with taking commissions, so hopefully that paired with the sense I've gained from reading artists_beware will get me to where I want to be! Thanks for your perspective. :D
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Thanks! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I was able to do it.
But yeah, I think you'll be fine! You seem very professional and I doubt you'd have any trouble sifting the riffraff out
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I don't sell commissions but a lot of the people I watch advertise on multiple sites and then cross post to them. Like an artist i watch on here is running an auction on both sites and just updates the comments when a bid is placed on either site. Right now FA has volume, I mean I'm just there as a watcher with an account that has one pic saying that I moved over here and I still get people +watching me there. If you aren't already a member, I would suggest joining the artist_beware livejournal if you are concerned about people with questionable practices. You can search the tags there for both artists and commissioners. There are also helpful posts from other artists regarding things like TOS. Good luck!