Beats here! I recently discovered that one of the artists in my server, Galaad, is a full-time nsfw artist. Of course, I was curious how much he made, and what kind of lifestyle he had. I hope the interview sheds some light for you on the opportunities of an NSFW art career.

Want to share your knowledge and expertise to help other NSFW artists? Check out the contribute page!

Introduction

Q) Welcome! Tell us about yourself
I’m Galaad, a digital artist and writer. I started character design many years ago, and digital art around ten years I’d say. I started with mouse and keyboard if you can believe it! After that, with a tablet, the first one in 2014. Now, I’m making art for a living, with bikini armors, D&D/RPG characters, pinups, and NSFW scenes.

Q) How did you get into NSFW art?
A) I love to draw the human body and face. Even for SFW content, I draw the naked character so I can add the outfit on top, which is really important when I want to make several outfits for the same character and to match the folds with the movements. I tried NSFW a few times before putting it aside. At first, I wasn’t satisfied with the result, lack of anatomical knowledge and accuracy, and not-so-great rendering. Then it was more of a theoretical struggle, I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of being tagged as an NSFW artist, especially by my family. But I continued leveling my skills, drawing mainly my OCs, as it wasn’t my job at the time.

And then, I discovered the world of 3D modeling and used it as reference. I was able to create accurate human body shapes for my characters, with a 100% consistency between illustrations. Wasn’t long before I headed back in the NSFW realm, now with the possibility to create better perspective, camera angles, light and expressions. I started testing custom 3D refs with sexy/suggestive pics I could post on my old Instagram account. I was making some NSFW sketches, without posting them, both by embarrassment and a lack of platform.

Finally, I decided to make a Twitter account where I can post everything I want. Of course, there is a large community around NSFW and this kind of content draws more attention. With more activity around my NSFW work, I made more, learning, trying things and getting more comfortable with posting it, realizing the wholesomeness of this community.

Q) What are your goals in the world of NSFW art?
A) What I’m looking for with my porn/lewd art is drawing and painting the body in a better way each time. I want people to feel the textures, the shapes, and the life in the characters. Faces are thus an important part of the pics, making expressions that reflect accurately the mood I was looking for. I want people to feel the intimacy, tension, lust, or whatever feeling runs the illustration. So in a way, NSFW allows me to work on many things at the same time, and pushes me to become better at it.

Q) What prior experience do you have?
A) Well, I’m a digital artist (mainly NSFW) and it’s a fairly young career. I started taking commissioned work as a serious source of income back in May 2022. Prior to that, I did fine art, but nothing I learned in school as anything to do with what I do now. In the meantime, I was drawing random characters, focusing on the outfits as I have my favorite elements I’m never tired to draw, like belts.

I learned anatomy, lineart, shading, and composition by myself, looking at other artists’ work that inspired me. I’m using porn pics you can find anywhere online to get poses and camera angles right. It’s professional work aimed to please the eye, they know what they are doing when taking a pic. I use an anatomy book specially designed for sculptors, character designers and such, very helpful tool to correct the 3D modeling limits (like joint twists and bends or muscle movement according to pose)

Money Chat

Q) So, you said you started seriously in May 2022. At that point, how many followers did you have? And how many do you have now?
A)At that point, I had less than 1k followers, and in the time since I’ve grown to 1.7k.

Q)What does your income look like at this point, from each of your types of NSFW art?
A)In May, I made €1,500 (Note: Roughly 1,620 USD at the time). In that month I had 1 porn scene commissioned and 6 outfit commissions, which are usually more sexy or suggestive. That comes out to 440€ ($475~) from NSFW and 1075€ ($1,160~) from outfits.

Q)And do you have any other sources of income?
A)Outside of art, no. I do have a Patreon (that just passed 10 Patreons an hour ago!) that I made about 91€ from in May and June combined, though I only had 5 or 6 followers at the time. I’ve also started streaming recently as well, so that could be an income source as well sometime soon.

Q)Seeing your commission info, how much does a client spend on average, and what packages do they buy?
A) So far, nobody has taken the lineart option. Most people want a full body shot, with only 2 or 3 having taken the 3/4ths body option (meaning legs partially out of the image). More recently, people have increasingly asked for multiple outfit alts in a single order, which given the base pose and character is the same, allows for a discount per outfit. Of course, this includes nude alts as well.

A lot of the characters I’ve been commissioned to draw have also had the complex details that add additional costs too, like tattoos, complex hairstyles, full-plate armor, wings, tails, scales, fur, excessive lace, etc. As an example If I was to break May down by order, it’d look like this: 190€, 95€, 190€, 190€, 220€, 190€.

Q)Could we see an example of how the 95€ order looks versus a 220€?
A)Sure. This is the 95€ order, with no complex detail charges and cropped.

And this is a 220€ image, with the biggest extra charge being for the snakes and complexity.

Q)How do you usually find work?
A)I get work through Twitter most often, as well as Discord. When I open commissions, I make a post and add “COMMS OPEN” or similar to my Twitter username. Otherwise, I also participate in artshare posts (where artists retweet the original post and comment with examples of their own art), and sometimes other people even tag me in them as well. Twitter has several possibilities like that to advertise yourself.

The latter is particularly nice, as it means people who have commissioned me are spreading the word with their commissions, showing them to friends and such which in turn makes them want to commission me as well. I try to run giveaway contests as well (In fact, there’s one running right now), which not only allows people who might not be able to afford a commission the chance to get art, but also because it’s good for account visibility, interactions, and the general Twitter algorithm.

Lastly, when I’m not working on commissions, I still draw often. I’ll draw either my own characters (building the “lore” of my page), fanarts, or other artists’ OCs I really like. Not only does it increase visibility and give consistency, but it also lets me bond with my community as much as I can.

Q)How do you handle payments?
A)I use PayPal. I’m French, and living in France, so converting currencies every time I make a commission makes using bank transfers would be a pain. It’s not hard, but you really have to learn how it works, how to do calculations, reductions, taxes, and so on. One time while waiting for a commissioner to respond due to time zone differences I spent time learning the maths, but it’s simpler to lets PayPal do that work so I can focus on the art!

Q)One thing that’s always interesting is an artist’s commission price progression. How did your prices change since you started out?
A)What I do now for 190€ I did for I think 125€ starting out. I quickly felt like I really was working a lot for a price that wasn’t reflective of the quality of the work and the worth of the time and effort spent. On the other hand, I also made several mistakes in pricing early on, such as charging for extras without putting that information on my comm sheet. It’s a learning process, and as I learned I changed things accordingly.

Work Life

Q)How much time do you spend creating your art?
A)While it depends on the picture, for something like the 220€ piece it can take 15-20 hours, I’d say. I try to split that between 1-3 days, but sometimes I’ll spend 12+ hours in a single day.

Q)What’s your daily routine look like?
A)Wake up at 6 A.M., and go to the gym for an hour to start the day. Once I get back, I eat breakfast while checking mails, Dms, and notifications. By 8 A.M. I’ve started working on art, and will continue to draw until late evening, often between 7 and 9 P.M., with a break for food. Every four days I’ll take a break from the gym, and begin drawing more or less right when I wake up.

It’s a lot of work, very intense, but I make enough money in a week to be able to live for a month or two. On the other hand, I live a very simple lifestyle that allows me to get the few things I want without a high cost, most of what I own is my drawing setup.

Q)Would you mind showing us your workspace?
A) Not at all! It’s actually a co-working space shared by 12 other people, each of us claiming our own space within it. I moved into it recently, a really big house we all live in with 5 floors, 3 bedrooms, a shared kitchen, this co-working space, and even a workout/cinema room! This is actually in what would be considered the “basement”, but there’s roof windows to give good lighting.

Q)That looks like a lovely workspace, and I agree about the lighting! In a shared space, I’d assume your flatmates know you draw NSFW art?
A)Yes, it’s hard to hide that in a space like this. My brother also knows, as do my parents!

Q)You mentioned drawing for 12 or more hours a day. What lets you work like that, and what keeps you consistent in that routine?
A)When I moved in here, I went from paying no rent to now owing rent, so that’s motivating on it’s own! But the real answer is that this is my passion. I love drawing and writing, and while making what you like isn’t easy, it’s “filling me up” in a way. Spending this much time on it also lets me finish commissions in a very quick time frame without sacrificing quality, which my commissioners like a lot!

As far as how I work through that time frame, I’ll put on background noise like music, ASMR, or videogame longplays while I work (and sometimes even just silence, depending on how I feel), and tend to get into what I see called a “flow state”. Now that I’ve started streaming, that also keeps me honest to my routine, given that people are watching it means you can’t take breaks too often, or draw for short periods.

It might be off-track, but I spend time learning the basics of neuroscience, how the brain works and stuff. I chose a “boring lifestyle” (people talk about it on YouTube) since it seems to me that it’s the best way to stay consistent, efficient, and motivated in what you’re doing. I don’t use my phone often, even for calls or messages. I don’t use social media much, so I don’t get that same need to scroll through it for hours every now and then. I don’t smoke either, removing some “needed” breaks.

Q)It seems like you’re very dedicated to your art! How do you avoid burnout over a long period of time?
A) It might sound cringy (and sometimes it even feels cringy), but I do the same thing for art as I do for the gym, or anything that I want to improve at: I support myself every day. I praise my progress out loud, verbally make good comments about what I’ve done each day. It’s easy to fall into a trap of trash-talking yourself, but that only gives trash consequences. Praising yourself gives you confidence and energy, which other people then notice and feel, which leads to positive social interactions and positive reinforcement from those around you. It’s a healthy cycle of morale boosts.

I also cook, too. It’s a great way to take a break, you get to make yourself happy by making good food for yourself to eat, then you get to eat it which makes you even happier! I allow myself to do things I like to do like that. If I want to sing, I’ll sing. If I want to spend time with people, I stop what I’m doing and go spend time with those people.

I trained myself to be consistent, though, and I have goals I want to accomplish with my career, so those never take precedence over my work. Allowing them in, though, is healthier than trying to push through without them.

Q)I know at the start we asked for a quick overview of your goals with NSFW art, but since you mentioned them, what are your goals with your career as a whole?
A)I want to be (or, should I say, stay) financially independent. I want to have enough money to be able to regularly upgrade my setup, live in my dream house, give gifts, and help the people I love when they need it. I want to become as “big” as possible, but that’s more related to my writing creation, a fantasy saga that I hope to publish.

That being said, while those are my dreams, I can say I know how to live without money. I’ve been through the everyday struggle, and my family has too, so I decided to change that. It lets me overcome the fear of not having a place to sleep or food to eat, which leaves me free to try my best at those goals. It’s an enormous pressure off my shoulders. I get to see support, joy, and respect in the eyes of my parents, which is also very motivating!

Q)What kind of advice would you give to yourself a year ago?
A)At that time, I thought I needed a perfect plan to succeed, and several thousand followers to even consider myself to be in the game. I was sure I was doomed to fail. I made a lot of excuses to justify my fears, both of failure and success. Now, I find that the biggest thing that was preventing me from growing was myself. I would advise myself to be honest with myself and others, and to respect my own values: don’t accept things I disagree with, and don’t take things personally. Make sure what you want, but also balance it by staying in line with what people want. They don’t pay me to make what I want, they pay me to make what they commissioned after all!

Q)That sounds like good advice. When did you realize that you didn’t need a lot of followers in order to be successful?
A)Around the middle of May, I opened commissions for the first time. Within a few hours, all 3 slots I opened were filled!

Q)What was your account like leading up to that opening?
A)At first, I was mostly doing random NSFW posts without any “link” between them. Things were good, but I had a project in mind for my account. I wanted to make it like it was an armor/lingerie/outfit/high fashion account but set in a fantasy setting. It’s called the Bikini Armory, with its own logo since in-universe there’d be side branches) staff, lore, and stuff. So when posting I wasn’t writing “outfit I made blabla…”, I wrote “the Bikini Armory team designed this swamp theme outfit blabla…”

I added lore in each post, and as people most commonly commented on the quality of my lines, focused on lineart. Eventually, I made a post saying that the armory needed models to wear the first outfits, which was a giveaway in a lore disguise. It worked very well in attracting a lot of people, ending up in 3 bikini armor gifts, and launching the Armory on track! I opened comms shortly after that, taking advantage of the interaction my account received during those days.

Q)Were they taken by people you had interacted with a lot?
A)One was an author I already worked with one time, but the other two were new people.

Q)How did you get the idea for the “Bikini Armory” branding?
A)I looked at other artists’ pages and I COPIED! I saw these artists making links between their works, an overarching branding, and how it worked for them. I don’t think it’s absolutely mandatory to have, but I thought it could give me a direction and coherence that I was looking for. At the time my bio said that I was a digital artist, or illustrator, something like that. Not something telling people “You can pay me to get your character done in a fabulous way” for sure!

Q)Who were those artists that inspired you?
A)Wow, I want to give so many answers that I’d be better off pointing you towards my “following” tab on Twitter! To name a few: LM sketch, Aroma Sensei, OthalaM, Minko, Cheunart, and Captain Popcorn. Calms Draws might be my number one overall, as well!

Q) Great, thank you for your time! Good luck in the world of NSFW art, and in your career in general
A)Thanks!

Galaad and the Bikini Armory can be found on Twitter and Patreon. For more interviews and Business of NSFW articles, join our newsletter here!