Whether you want to make a living from your art, or find the confidence to just start commissions, there’s a lot of fear in being an artist or creator.

I uploaded my first commission sheet 3 years ago, and since then I’ve slowly improved and learned from my mistakes. I hope that by sharing the lessons I’ve learned, you’ll go out there more confident than I was. Here are 7 lessons I’ve learned from my client and business fails as an artist.

Table of Contents

1. Don’t Let Fear Stop You
2. Be Careful of Overpromising
3. Know Your Worth
4. Track Your Hours
5. Keep Your Vision Aligned with the Client’s
6. Don’t Let Ego Take Over
7. Conclusion

Lesson #1: Don’t Let Fear Stop You

Being an artist isn’t easy. By sharing our work, we become vulnerable to criticism and ridicule. Especially as NSFW artists, there’s a lot of stigmas attached to what we’re proud of.

But whenever I hear an artist say “I can’t do that, it’s impossible”, the first thing I ask is “have you tried?” A lot of the time, it’s the fear of failing that keeps us from doing.

A lot of my milestones and achievements came from going out of my comfort zone. Things I thought were impossible were difficult, but achievable with hard work.

• Slowly raising commission prices from $6 to $100+
• Building a successful Patreon, after closing my first one
• Working on projects with game developers and voice actors

Sometimes, the fear really was all in my head! A year ago, I shared my NSFW art on Facebook. All I got were positive comments and congratulations. The fear of being ostracized (which was highly unlikely, to begin with) never happened. Even if it had, I felt lighter for overcoming that chip on my shoulder.

The school library director saw me when I visited after, and asked “hey, aren’t you that guy who draws porn? Hentai?”

Yessir.

Your fears often guide you to what you want. Listen to them, but don’t let them stop you.

Lesson #2: Be Careful of Over-promising

I love surprising clients with more than they ask for. A few have even mentioned that I stand out with the effort I put into commissions.

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But there are times when that can go wrong.

For example, a client asked if I could do more alternate versions with clothes being removed (without extra payment). Wanting to keep him satisfied, I said yes. It didn’t seem like too much work anyway.

A few weeks later, I sent him the commissioned artwork, but not the alternate versions.

In hindsight, I could’ve been more apologetic, but I was tired of how picky he was with the details, and I had no motivation to work on the alternate versions anymore.

I rationalized that since I made the promise, I could break it if I had a good reason to (which is not professional at all). I ended up destroying my relationship with the client.

I’m an advocate for always doing your best, but be careful not to over-promise. If you’re thinking of doing more to impress your client, keep it to yourself until it’s executed.

Lesson #3: Know Your Worth and Charge That

When I started taking commissions in 2017, I thought low prices meant higher demand, so I charged a measly $6 for finished artworks.

Surprise, I didn’t get any commissions.

Not only do you devalue your art by charging so little, but you might resent your clients when you do so much work for so little. Artist Melissa Dinwiddie shared how she earned $700 for a piece that took 70 hours. It’s no surprise she felt resentful.  

Don’t go too small when setting your initial commission prices. If you’re afraid of going too high, you can start low then adjust your prices based on how much time you put into commissions, and how in-demand your art is.

Which leads us to the next lesson…

Lesson #4: Track Your Hours

Time is money.

Unless you know how much time you spend on each commission, you won’t be able to price accordingly. This is work, after all. You wouldn’t want to charge $50 for a full-body artwork that you worked on for 15 hours (that’s half the minimum wage!)

I use Toggl to track how much time I spend per stage of the artwork.

As I timed my drawings, I learned which stage of the artwork I spent the most time on, and adjusted my prices accordingly.

For example, I created 31 background artworks for HTopia. It was my first time doing such a big project, so I had no idea how long it would take.

I priced it at $140, thinking it wouldn’t take too much longer than my usual illustrations.

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I I was surprised to learn how off my time estimate was.

Though I earned less than minimum wage, does that mean the project wasn’t worth my time? Nope! I learned a lot and was more confident in my skills afterward. It also taught me that I was really bad at time estimates.

If you want to start time-keeping, here’s a list of apps. I highly recommend Toggl Track because it’s cross platform and free.

Lesson #5: Keep Your Vision Aligned with the Client’s

As an OC artist, it’s a part of my branding to work closely with clients so they get the art they envision.

Whatever your process is, make sure you communicate closely with your client by showing early sketches, so they know what they’re getting. It’s also a good opportunity for them to ask for changes as you haven’t polished the artwork yet.

Handpicked for You: How to Build Your Unique Brand as an NSFW Artist and Stand Out

Once, I tried to surprise a client with finished artwork, not showing them the sketch. I was surprised when they said, “looks good, but this wasn’t really what I had in mind.”

You may be able to deliver a good drawing, but if it’s not what your client wanted to begin with, no one will leave satisfied.

One of my mistakes was thinking a good drawing meant a happy client. But if your vision isn't aligned with your client's, no one will leave satisfied Click To Tweet

I like doing simple thumbnails to capture my vision for the client’s written description. For example, one client wanted me to draw their harpy OC looking down at a caged person.

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Though I only did 4 thumbnails, it shows how many ways there are to depict the same scene. Make sure you’re on the same page as your client.

Lesson #6: Don’t Let Ego Take Over

Everyone says you shouldn’t take shit from clients, that artists should respect themselves.

That’s true, but I’ve also learned that we have to differentiate self-respect from ego.

That means knowing how to distinguish between feedback and disrespect. You will burn bridges if you’re always fighting back against what your client says.

For instance, a few days ago, I asked on an art server if anyone had miscommunication stories. An artist (let’s call him John), said his client had allowed him to “make aesthetic changes to make the character look better”.

John did change some aspects of the character, though his client disliked the changes. John disliked it too, so he dropped the commission.

What stood out for me was how John described his changes. “[The client] wanted some stupid simpleton robe when I drew a way cooler battle robe [since the character] fights other dragons and crazy creatures, of course he’d have a more versatile robe”.

Another artist pitched in, saying “It looks so cool, stupid client”.

Though I understand John’s frustration, and I don’t know how the client interacted with him, it saddened me to see them talk about the client that way. They didn’t seem to realize that changing a character’s design isn’t as simple as “it looks better”. What if the robes conveyed the character’s frugality, or another important aspect that only the client knew about?

Additionally, most of my closest friends online are clients I still work with, so it’s frustrating to see artists shoot down relationships because they dislike a client’s choice or feedback.

Guard against ego. Know when it will do you more harm than good.

Conclusion

To recap:

• Lesson #1: Don’t let (irrational) fear stop you from achieving your goals.
• Lesson #2: Be careful of over-promising, in case you aren’t able to deliver.
• Lesson #3: Know your worth by making mistakes and learning from them. Charge accordingly.
• Lesson #4: Track your hours, time is money, and you need to optimize your process.
• Lesson #5: Keep your vision aligned with your client’s, or you both might leave unhappy.
• Lesson #6: Don’t let ego take over your decisions, know when it will do more harm than good.

Becoming good at something takes time and mistakes. You, I, and any other artist, will screw up but we will also get better.

I hope these lessons will help you become a better artist and businessperson. What lessons have you learned from your art career, and what are you excited to apply? Let me know by commenting below!