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Hey Beats,

I’d like to figure out the business parts of my NSFW Business, specifically with the following questions:

1. What is the best Niche for me to hone in on as Professional Ecchi Artist? Should I embrace all of my unusual fetishes (Same Size Vore, Eproctophilia, ect.) for my business or would I risk alienating my potential audience?
2. Should I focus on OC Fanart over Fanart from popular shows? I’d like to have a business that caters to NSFW OC Fanart, if possible. I’m not sure if I would be as comfortable having a full time business focused on NSFW art of pre-existing characters.
3. While there are specific Niches that I’m more than happy to draw for, there are many others that I would not be comfortable drawing, even for business; will this hold me back from becoming a Full-Time NSFW Artist?
   
   MY ART PLATFORMS
   Newgrounds: https://xzol.newgrounds.com/
   Pixiv: https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/104555486
   Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/ngxzol
   Twitter: https://twitter.com/NGXzol
   
   Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope to hear from you soon.
   
   – Xzol

Hey Xzol,

Thanks for reaching out!

1. Best Niche

Hmm, that’s a great question. Usually I’d suggest embracing both, but fetishes (especially the one you shared) can be polarizing: someone’s either strongly attracted or not. Doing both fetishes might mean too small of an audience size for a viable business.

I’m not sure how long you’ve been posting, but what I’d do here is to test the waters with both types of content and slowly tailor your content strategy after you see what works with your audience (which might be different on different platforms/specialty sites too).

I haven’t met any eproctophilia artists, so I would research for inspiration artists and see how they conduct their businesses. Are they successfully mixing in other fetishes? Is their following big enough for constant commissions? Might give you a clue if this is something that can work.

Also, check out my article on niches if you haven’t yet.

2. Focus on OC Fanart

Go for it! I only cater to NSFW OC fanart myself. I would say the difference is OC fanart is commissioned by fans, while show fanart is crowdfunded (patreon support, fans want to see art in the artist’s style). A good example is https://www.patreon.com/afrobull.

That said, the challenge is finding people who want to commission you. In my case, it’s easier because I just like drawing OCs in my style, so I message OC owners to talk about backstory and show my interest. In your case, if you want to draw OCs in the context of your fetishes, that might be a harder sell (and potential clients who see your fetish content might not want to work with you after. Polarizing!)

3. Niches

Nope, I don’t think so. In general, people are attracted to you for what you post. For example, if a client wants you to draw something realistically, then that’s an oddball client: you haven’t posted a single realistic artwork, so why should you take on that work?

If a ‘client’ like this comes up, simply say no and move on. It’s on worth your time or theirs, and you’re better off working with people who want your work. High-quality clients, so to speak.

But nah, I’ve said no to plenty of clients who I felt I didn’t work well with, and many who wanted things I didn’t enjoy drawing. It’s healthier for your business to do so!

Hope that helps. Cheers, Beats