People! I have returned!
The site exists for artists, and yet a very small amount of the people paying attention are artists. In a sense, it works, because the customers of those artists come to us and bless the site so we can bless the artists. However, a lot of those people have recently come to me asking for assistance on surviving as an artist in the internet age, so I shall give you all the shortcuts here.
#1. Get good!
You can’t draw dragon ball characters and traced selfies forever. Life drawing, studying anatomy, learning about lighting and blending modes and crazy brushes, all those will make you a better artist and give you a diverse skill set to pull from, opening you up to more opportunities.
#2. Hot girls and fanart!
Since we’re taking shortcuts, and supposedly you’ve developed a modicum of skill, here is the shortcut to your success. Everybody loves hot girls, everybody loves fanart. You draw those two, and tag a bunch of people, you will eventually be found and praised. If you wanna get crazy, throw a spin on the fanart. Appeal to people’s fantasies and desires. Doesn’t look like the black anime wave is going away any time soon, but try some mashups, or style changes, or fashion changes, and see what happens.
#3. Know your price.
I price my art based on time and effort. The lower your prices are, the more your time will be wasted unless you cultivate an audience that doesn’t waste your time. The higher your prices are, the better your skill must often be. A fair rate for a basic anime drawing is $60. I charge $90 because I learned to draw in the authentic anime style. Then, if a customer wants backgrounds or crazy lighting, that number goes up because the effort goes up.