Do you want independence, or independence while supporting yourself with art? I’m sorry you’re feeling down, it looks To me like your expectations are really high, which leads to a bigger disappointment... get a day job, there’s no shame in making a living with a not art related job. Working as an illustrator is hard and long road, and there are almost no shortcuts. It took me about 4 years to be now able to have a steady income with illustration only and I STILL don’t have an agent, my portfolio isn’t perfect and I have a lot to learn. So don’t worry, you’ll get there, just don’t give up, keep your sanity while working hard on your illustration skills and don’t rush it. A year of trying is really not a long time (I know it is, for you, but not in general and it doesn’t mean you’re not good enough). It will get better!

Hi all,

I wanted to post this questions because I'm interested on how you all view or approach sales tax if you sell your work.

The reason I was thinking about this topic is because I have some down time and was considering offering pet portrait commissions to a group of people...But the more I think about it the more I think about invoices and taxes and headaches. And so then I think maybe I should just work on some personal work instead lol. But I also don't want to go on forever being intimidated by these tax realities.

For me personally I'm not math or accounting minded. I prefer simplicity which seems to be something that simply doesn't exist when it comes to filing taxes correctly. My mom is an accountant and after having a long conversation with her about nexus and destination/origin state taxes and then also county taxes I was so lost and a little concerned I wouldn't be able to realistically keep up with it. I mean if I sell something digitally for a few bucks how do I even find out where the purchaser is located to make sure I charge tax correctly - I guess etsy keeps track of that but what if you want to sell outside of etsy? And if someone purchases something do I need a program that calculates their tax before checkout or do I just factor it out of the overall profit once the sale's done (is that even a thing?). Do I keep a detailed spreadsheet or is there some useful software most people use? Do you hire an accountant or do it all yourself? How does one stay meticulously organized without going insane or spending ridiculous amounts of time on it all. Or maybe that headache is just part of the process?

If you sell online what's worked for you and do you have any tips or learning resource recommendations to help it all make sense? Do you recommend sites like etsy or setting up an independent shop on your own website? I used to like etsy but it has it's limitations when it comes to calculating taxes so I wonder if it's even worth using it versus just selling independently.

I always use a strathmore or Canson smooth Bristol that is at least 100LB
20170513_160735.jpg

@Janette 😂 what a great story! And thanks so much. My girl and egg illustrations are inspired by childhood experiences too. When we were growing up my sister had ducks for pets, and one egg wouldn't hatch, so she "helped" it and because she was the first thing it saw, the duckling imprinted on her -- it thought it was human and was scared of the other ducks!

I just noticed some of the classes had 2-3 stars, which surprised me as I know the quality of education work on this site. When I checked out the actual reviews, they were 100% positive, but some of the reviewers didn't add a star rating. I think that, if not added, the site counts no stars as just that - 0 stars.

SO for the SITE MANAGER - you might want to fix that so that no stars is just null and doesn't bring down the score! Make the lowest counted score a single star so people have to actually click the stars to affect the score.

AND for STUDENTS - remember to star the reviews accurately so the number of stars reflects the quality of the course. If I wasn't a super curious person at heart I might have ignored some of the 2-3 star classes, when in reality the feedback on the bottom of the pages was great!

@txels Oh I definitely can't just make it happen 🤣! I'm by nature not a routine guy at all, so I really need to schedule to make schedules with alerts built in. I use the BeFocusedPro app, and I have it set it so that I work in 50 minute chunks of time. So when I start doing my graphic design work, I hit start on the timer, and after 50 minutes, an alarm sounds, and the screen switches to a 10 minute timer for a break. Once the ten minutes is done (while I'm drawing), I start a new 50 minute block of work.

What I also like about the app is that I can create multiple projects titles, so I can track my time on individual illustrations and tasks when I have more time to commit to illustration. This has really helped me in doing a better job planning and budgeting my time for projects, as well as figuring out better pricing for my work.

@CLCanadyArts said in Looking for "Best" Children's Books?:

Actually @Braden-Hallett you would probably love that book, I thought of you when looking it over.

That looks totally up my alley!

@idid 11x17: https://www.amazon.com/Canson-Boards-Preprinted-Non-Reproducible-Sheets/dp/B00DIHMC1C/ref=asc_df_B00DIHMC1C/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=216516892019&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14865485478432401344&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026847&hvtargid=pla-351892135823&psc=1

These are pretty helpful with formatting layouts too.

@Melissa-Bailey-0 It's the cat instinct 😂

@CLCanadyArts D'oh, you're right... Thanks for the reminder.

@jimsz said in DPI Printing Logo for Van?:

usually 720

I assumed they meant 72 DPI since 720 DPI is a strange number.

Either way Jimsz I think you're right. In my experience the bigger you go (and the further you'll be viewing the design) the lower you need the DPI 🙂

But yeah. Talk to the client to find out who's printing it. Get specs from the printer. The printer will have specs. The printer will thank you for asking for specs. Seriously. Ask the printer for specs. The printer knows.

@Judy-Elizabeth-Wilson It definitely makes sense to increase our prices every couple years, for sure! Especially as we get better and faster with experience - if we charge based on time for personal use and get faster, we'd essentially be giving ourselves a pay reduction over time which is a bit backwards to say the least!

@NessIllustration Thank you so much, that is really very helpful! 🙂 Sophia

Is someone willing to share an example of a character development sheet they've submitted to a publisher for a book project? I'm trying to figure out how much to include on mine. It's my first character design for this book and I want to be sure I don't miss something. Thanks!

Piggybacking off @jimsz comment. I agree that if you haven't sold your prints before then investing in an expensive printer right off the bat is quite high risk and it might take you a while to make your money back. I'd suggest you start by using a print company with then move on to printing yourself if you feel confident that a decent customer base is there. What I've done in the past is ask on social media who might be interested in a particular print and use this as an informal pre-ordering system. Then I ordered a very small run of prints knowing I'd sell them and they wouldn't be gathering dust at home. Of course with most of these printing companies it works out cheaper to buy in bulk but that's up to you to weigh the risk and reward. Btw just from browsing your insta I think your work would look awesome as prints! Best of luck 🙂

Thank you! Your insight on this topic has brought some clarity and gave me something to discuss with the authors regarding crediting and contract stipulations.

@Isabel-Reyes-Feeney they uploaded to YouTube!

Highlights from the episode where they were breaking down ideas for someone starting a webcomic:

Tier (potential) Breakdown:

Support tier (No rewards) - start at $2, not $1. The return at $1 is not worth it. Digital exclusive or Early Access tier - $5. For the exclusive, low to mid level demand or level of effort. Side stories for an ongoing comic. Small pieces of an ongoing/collection of story as a PDF. Process videos High Demand Exclusives tier - $10. Side stories more appealing to a bigger part of the audience. Live draws on Twitch. Community specific rewards. High res art/pinups. Commission tier - $20. Pays out a reward every 2 or 3 months Digital Commission tier - $50. Limited availability. Something you can use as an exclusive for another tier.

Exclusive content is key. Patreons can only get these items there.
Research what others in your field are doing on Patreon and make note of what rewards they offer and what you can similarly do.
Let the backers know what is in it for them!
Keep the tier descriptions short.
Be confident.
Understand that Patreon is not the place to grow your audience.
Also understand that your backers want more of you and it's impossible to spam them with too much .

@Michael-Angelo-Go Wow great breakdowns. You hit every struggle point I had with it that I could'nt articulate.
Funny because the buildings, windows and hands where points I really got lazy on and I KNEW it!

The hands I did as a quick after-thought and the original drawing was the Ninja First then I mirrored the villian from side to side so thats why that looks cleaner versus the freehanded ninjas Lineart. So I get what you mean by it not looking as clean on the Ninja.

The shading was me practicing some Shading/lighting style from Dave Rapozza so thats why it looks off. My usual work has more single focused shading with one or two light sources.

Thanks for the tips on the buildings and contrasting more foreground background consistency. I tried a lot of new things for me on this one and it helps to get insights like this. Cheers!