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SELLING ART ON LIODEN - a guide

🌾 honey (#30473)
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Posted on
2020-05-23 15:58:55

SELLING ART ON LIODEN:
a guide by honey

HELLO!

hi everyone! i'm honey, and i've been selling art on lioden for 8 years. before lioden, i took commissions on deviantart, other pet sites, and real life. i've been doing art for as long as i can remember!

over the years, i've learned a lot about selling art: what works, what doesn't, etc. while looking through the art sales forum here on lioden, i often see tons of mistakes related to selling art (i'm not talking about mistakes in the art itself!) and i always want to help. hopefully this guide will be beneficial to those who are considering selling art on lioden, or are struggling with getting customers!

as a disclaimer: my tips are just that -- tips! you don't have to follow them, and you can still be successful without them! there are tons of possibilities when it comes to selling art and designing your thread and whatnot; this is just what i've found works best in my experience. :)
PRICING

the standard conversion of currency on lioden is
1200 = 1 = $0.50 USD

i often see newer users selling full art pieces for extremely low prices because they're unaware of how much beetles are actually worth! while you might feel like 1 GB is a lot when you have none, keep in mind that you're putting time and effort into an art piece for the equivalent of 50 cents!!

i've been selling art since i was in elementary school, and i know that no matter how low you price your art, it will always feel like you're overpricing. unfortunately, our society makes us feel as if art is "lesser" work and shouldn't be paid the same as "real" work. and that's a load of bullshit!
"but honey, i enjoy doing art, so it's not work!" that's wonderful, but you don't really hear other professions saying that. there are tons of people who LOVE their jobs, LOVE going to work every day, but definitely wouldn't settle for less than minimum wage. so you shouldn't either!

if you're having trouble coming up with prices for your art, think of it this way:
if a shaded fullbody takes you roughly 3 hours to complete, then you should not price shaded fullbodies below minimum wage x 3.
here's a formula:
[minimum wage for where you live] x [# of hours it takes you to complete art] = MINIMUM price for your art.

don't forget that underpricing your own art can hurt other artists as well!
when people see art that is priced extremely cheap, they believe that other artists' art should be priced the same way. while one person's underpriced art might not ruin the market, when it becomes commonplace it can make selling art in a market almost impossible. i won't namedrop other sites, but there are many sites where selling art for minimum wage is considered overpriced because the market has been saturated with people underselling themselves. if you won't price your art correctly for yourself, at least do it for the sake of not hurting other artists!
MAKING YOUR ART THREAD

before you open your art thread, make sure you have examples prepared for every item you are offering! not only are people less likely to buy something that has no examples, but providing an example for every item prevents clients from buying something and then complaining that it "wasn't what they were expecting". of course, there can always be clients like that, but it's far more likely when there's no example for them to go off of.

now, html is not needed to have a successful thread, but damn does it help. there are tons of free html layouts available here on lioden, and guides to using html if you're new! it doesn't have to be showy, in fact it's better if it's simple. too much craziness happening in your html can detract from your art and even turn people away if it's too busy/cluttered.

here are some tips for your thread:

• don't use crazy fonts! seriously. if we can't read your thread, we won't buy your art. also, many copy-paste fonts don't work on certain phones, and mobile users will be left in the dark wondering what ☐☐☐☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐☐ ☐☐☐☐ means.

• don't use flashy/animated backgrounds or obnoxious colors. if your thread gives people a headache, they probably won't want to do business with you.

• put a favorite art piece at the very top of your thread! that way, when people open your thread, it's the first thing they see. this will draw them in!

• don't hide your examples behind links! when your examples are just a list of links, you drive away tons of potential customers just because opening links is annoying and time consuming and we humans don't like to work any harder than we have to. you can put your examples in a spoiler if you'd like to save space, but i highly recommend having IMAGES on your thread, not just links!

• when adding images to your thread, make sure the width is set to a decent size, or your pictures will break the page! i usually use width=500 or 600 max.

• i'd say put your prices at the top, but my prices are literally the first thing listed on my art shop and people still ask where my prices are, so don't even bother. expect people to ask for prices no matter what.
TAKING COMMISSIONS

so now you have an art shop set up and you're ready to take commissions!
every artist takes commissions a little differently, but the most important thing is to make it very clear how you will be doing it. people like to be sure about where their money is going and when it's going, and how it's going, and at what intervals, and are there refunds? make sure your process is very clear to the clients.

here are the main methods commissioners use.

payment upfront - client pays full amount before artist starts working.
pros: pretty much impossible for artist to get scammed.
cons: if you don't have a good reputation selling art, clients may not feel safe paying in full without seeing some evidence of work taking place.

payment after - client pays full amount once artist has completed the work.
pros: pretty much impossible for client to get scammed.
cons: most likely for artist to get scammed, especially if they don't heavily watermark the piece before sending it to the client.

half and half - client pays half upfront, and the rest once the artist has completed the work.
pros: makes both client and artist feel comfortable with the exchange.
cons: client may "lose" the other half of the payment ("oops i forgot and i spent it on applicators!").

some commissioners have more complex methods of taking payment, but it's completely up to you and what you feel most comfortable with!
CONCLUSION

i hope this guide helped a bit! if there's anything you'd like more information on, feel free to comment or dm me and i can answer it!
this guide is likely going to remain under construction as i remember more things to add later on. i'm sure i didn't fit my whole lifetime of art selling knowledge into this little post, so i might have to come back and add some more stuff as i remember!

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Edited on 25/06/22 @ 15:56:55 by 🌾 honey (#30473)

🌾 faerie {lethal
lover} (#112180)
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Posted on
2020-05-23 16:22:45

🌾 faerie {lethal
lover} (#112180)
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Posted on
2020-05-23 16:22:45

#304443159706

this is a perfect guide to selling art. thank you so much, honey!

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Creek (#188551)

Deathlord of the Jungle
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Posted on
2020-05-23 16:26:05

Creek (#188551)

Deathlord of the Jungle
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Posted on
2020-05-23 16:26:05

#304443159714

this is such an in-depth, extremely helpful guide!! Tysm for this honey!

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🌾 honey (#30473)
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Posted on
2020-05-23 16:45:48

🌾 honey (#30473)
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Posted on
2020-05-23 16:45:48

#304443159748

i'm so glad it was helpful to yall! <3

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Micah (#76335)

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Posted on
2020-05-23 16:46:53

Micah (#76335)

Bone Collector
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Posted on
2020-05-23 16:46:53

#304443159752

Thank you for making this Honey! ;;
I see users underprice themselves so often on here.

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BunFyre (AimPyre's
Side Acc) (#105032)

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Posted on
2020-05-23 18:51:11

BunFyre (AimPyre's
Side Acc) (#105032)

Good Natured
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Posted on
2020-05-23 18:51:11

#304443160116

Logged onto Lioden just to bookmark this fdsnkfsndjk wonderful guide, thank you!

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PeachMilk 🍑 lil
Low Rider (#8330)
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Posted on
2020-05-26 12:07:21

PeachMilk 🍑 lil
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Posted on
2020-05-26 12:07:21

#304443168725

wow thank you so much honey for this!

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Catalina (The Rat
Queen) (#179820)

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Posted on
2020-06-06 19:48:36

Catalina (The Rat
Queen) (#179820)

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Posted on
2020-06-06 19:48:36

#304443209092

I have a question!
How do you know if your art is... worth it?

I don't have much confidence in my art!

If you can, could you maybe check my art out for pricing?

I take harsh criticism very well and encourage it!

Here's a link?

https://toyhou.se/Lilac589

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Edited on 07/06/20 @ 11:03:58 by Catalina (The rat queen) (#179820)

Ungabunga [G1 Flint
Mod.RL] (#98033)

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Posted on
2020-06-29 12:59:23

Ungabunga [G1 Flint
Mod.RL] (#98033)

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Posted on
2020-06-29 12:59:23

#304443268600

Hello! I wasn't sure who else to turn to and didn't want to spam chat with questions, so sorry for the bother! I have no clue how to make my avatar/icon come out clear instead of blurry! The one I currently have is one that I drew at 150x150, and since the canvas was so teeny the brushes were very pixelated. So, I tried to resize a drawing from 1408x1423 to 150x150 on imgur like someone suggested, but it came out even more blurry! I have no clue how artists on here made their icons/tags/avatars so clear, any help would be appreciated

I plan on eventually selling icons, but I'd prefer they be as clear as possible first

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Mots - RP Loved🏒 (#5378)

King of the Jungle
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Posted on
2020-06-29 13:09:52

Mots - RP Loved🏒 (#5378)

King of the Jungle
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Posted on
2020-06-29 13:09:52

#304443268632

Bookmarked.

But I also have a question that may or may not be related, but I guess kinda falls into Catalina's question too. I've encountered a lot of... not so nice people and what they say about my art, but also I get confused with what I see and what they say.

I take critique, but nothing too harsh. I've been hurt far too many times. I will take helpful hints and such, like how do I get better with what I have. I don't like being told my art is too this and too that, it makes me feel worse and not want to do anything commission wise.

Or like things that may seem simple to others, but may not to be to me. I have a hard time conveying what I mean, so I apologize if I come across confusing sometimes. Downside of being an Aspie I suppose.

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Abgrund (#138360)

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Posted on
2020-08-18 20:48:18

Abgrund (#138360)

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Posted on
2020-08-18 20:48:18

#304443421798

Hey Catalina! @Catalina (The RatQueen) (#179820). I'm not Honey..but I'm kinda happy with the art working/hobby! Come on, there's kinda..bad people, and there's great people! Your art is not bad uwu, but if you let me tell you something.. You need more draws! while you more draw you're practicing! you can see some tutorials, some videos, check at threads, pages that can help you! but the most important thing you need to take in caring... Don't feel less!

I'm not an profesional, nothing like that! but I'm really happy with my art... If you want, just If you want, I can help you.

See my thread here! https://www.lioden.com/topic.php?id=304429404885

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Abgrund (#138360)

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Posted on
2020-08-18 20:53:45

Abgrund (#138360)

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Posted on
2020-08-18 20:53:45

#304443421803

Hehe, ,@Ungabunga - Bast Worshipper � (#98033) Maybe, it will the program(? Idk, but check the brushes, the colours, maybe your graphical tablet(? I don't have a one xD for that can Can't talk about it because I don't know ;w; feel free to try with layers, and layers!.

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