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01 Nov 2019 12:40 PDT
Could I ask you something?
Hello there.
This may seem a bit odd, but I'm writing you and a few others with regard to what you said within Tricksta's most recent journal entry, the one where he's asking if he should keep drawing or not. You made a few good points and I wonder if I might get a bit of insight from you. My situation is different from Tricksta's and I'm not trying to hold anyone emotionally hostage. I'm simply looking for help for how to succeed with my art in developing a fanbase and clients to purchase my works. If you would like to help, let me know and I can go into greater detail of where I am and what I could use help with.
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01 Nov 2019 13:10 PDT
Re: Could I ask you something?
Sure, I'd be glad to give insight. I must admit I haven't slept, so I may be slightly less coherent than normal, but I think I'll be able to do just fine. I can still think just fine when I'm like this, I may just be slightly rambly.
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03 Nov 2019 13:48 PST
My apologies for getting back to you so late. RL got a bit chaotic for a bit there. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to give your insight. My situation is I'm trying to expand my fanbase in conjunction with some of the other work I already do. I'm a freelance artist or trying to be one. I do contract work such as projects for T-shirt companies, small businesses, and I've even started work with the military. This is however separate from what I would like to do with my more personal works. Fanart and furry stuff. The contract work pays well, but it's sparse. $400 for a short tutorial animation is great, but it doesn't come that often. I was hoping to have more personal works help fill the gaps. I do YCH and commissions, but they also don't come in quite as often or reach high bids. It was expressed to me that exposure might be the problem and I sort of have to agree. My DA page is reaching near 900 followers, but places like here and FA have barely crested 200 and my twitter isn't even over 100. The major difference I see with DA and all the rest is I can post to other groups of similar themes so more people see my work. I can't do that anywhere else. I post a picture and it's visible for maybe 10 minutes before it's out of rotation. I use tags best I can, but it's still not that helpful. I can't help but wonder where or when should I post something if it's only going to be seen for a split second. People seem to like my work though. There was someone that featured me in a journal post of theirs and from that I must have picked up at least 30-40 new faces here. So now I'm wondering if I need a better network, those that are willing to share my work. I suppose in some ways all of these methods are valid ways to expand, but I'm afraid I don't really know how to even begin. Going around and asking people "Hey, will you share my stuff" seems like a bad idea on paper. I'm not sure how to do it and not come off like a "begger" and I don't want to beg if I can help it. I love drawing, it's a deep passion of mine to create something and share stories through art. I suppose I could just shift fully to my contract stuff, but I feel that after a while that would grow stale for me. Always drawing what other people want and nothing of my own. So I'd like to balance the two. I'll be looking up a few art agencies next year to see if more contract work can come my way or hell, be hired by a company full time. Either way, I'd like to have something like a Patreon or Ko-fi page for extra cash and I feel having a decent sized fanbase is needed for that. 1000 followers I think was the target number someone told me.
Sorry if this has been longwinded and rambley
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06 Nov 2019 08:33 PST
Sorry for not replying before. I was busy, and then I just forgot.
I think that good tagging actually helps more then you think. I get people all the time who randomly fave one or more of my older submissions, and then watch me. The only way they could have found me is through the tags, Of course, I have a very small following, but it should scale somewhat.
Unfortuanatly, I don't really know a quick way to get estalished enough for a Patreon. However, from the people I've seen who have both Patreon, and Ko-Fi accounts, I think Patreon's a lot more worth your time to focus on.
Maybe one way to make some extra money in the mean time would be to find a way to sell physical prints. You'd just have find the right marketplace. I know there must be one. There's even one that caters especially to cub porn, so there has to be one for more general furry art/porn.
Sorry that I can't be more helpful. I'm just not very well-versed on the "getting established" side.
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06 Nov 2019 10:45 PST
Thank you for getting back to me. I know how it can be sometimes. I'll go back and have a look at some of my tags, but if you were to take a look at some of my work, perhaps there are tags I'm missing, something I should put in for current and future posts. I try to hit major things like character name, fetish, and themes but if there is more I should focus on I'd be happy to add it.
Prints is something I hadn't considered outside of going to a convention to sell things there. While I'd like to eventually get there, selling prints without a convention would be nice. I'll have to look into that.
Thank you for your help. I can add it to others that have helped me.
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11 Nov 2019 10:49 PST
Sorry for not responding before.
I suggested some tags for some of your recent works, but admittedly, I don't know much about the common tags for females and straight stuff.
Sorry I can't be of a bit more help.
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