Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hey, lovely as I
am shale Connor, I'm an illustrator and graphic designer from
Atlanta, Georgia. And in this class, I
really want to talk about how to sell art
commissions online. As an artist and
an entrepreneur, it's important to diversify
your income streams. So for me, I sell my art
online in my Etsy shop. I take on freelance work
as a graphic designer, designing logos and branding. I paint murals, I teach, but one of my biggest sources of income is selling
commissions online. I've been offering commissions
for the past five years and have sold hundreds
of them over that time. I've really streamlined
my process. I have learned ways to
clearly communicate with my clients and
set boundaries. I've learned how to
set my prices to make it worth my
time and my energy. And I've learned how to sell my commissions and promote
them really successfully. I'm going to share
all of that with you. So by the end of this class, you should have the knowledge and know-how to be able to start offering art
commissions yourself no matter where you are
in your art journey, I truly want to
help you thrive as an artist because I
really think that there's a space for all of us here in the
creative community. I also want you to be
able to earn money from your art without
overworking yourself. And I'm happy to share
all the tips and things that I've learned
over the past five years, the hard way so that you
can just jump in and start being able to offer
art commissions now. So there's gonna
be quite a bit of talking by yours
truly in this class. So grab a notebook
or a sketchbook, and I will see you in class.
2. Choosing Your E-Commerce Platform: Let's start by talking about which e-commerce platform you want to use to sell
your commissions on. Some examples would
be Squarespace, Shopify, Wix, or Etsy. I personally use Etsy as
my e-commerce platform, but you're going to
be able to apply all the concepts that I'm
going to talk about two, whichever e-commerce
platform you prefer. I personally like
Etsy because it's organized and trustworthy
and established. And while I am responsible
for bringing a big chunk of my customers over to my
shop via social media. C is already established and they have a pool
of shoppers who are looking to support creative
small shops just like me. So it's a great place
for me to be on. That being said, at C, we'll take a cut
of your profits. So you just have to
do some math and decide What's worth it for you. I set up my commissions as digital listings, not
physical listings. This means I'm going
to send the client a digital file like a jpeg, not a physical item when
the order is complete. And what's great
about this is that you can select made-to-order, since it's not a physical item, you don't have to set
a time window when this order will be
completed or shipped. And working with each client is different and you
never know how long the process is going
to take based off of communication or the
amount of revisions. So setting up orders as digital and made-to-order
makes it to where you're not facing a time
crunch and you're not beholden to your clients
communication style. Also, by setting up your
listing as digital, you can sell commissions all
over the world and you don't have to face a super high
international shipping costs. It's also really nice because when you're done with
each commission, you just say complete order and you attach your
digital file there, and then Etsy will send the client that
actual attachment. And it's just super tidy. I also offer a print ad
on option for my clients if they want to be
able to hang up their portrait in their space. This is a separate
purchase that I set up for them once the
commission is complete. And then that way you're
not rushing to finish their commission within a
certain window of time. And I'll tell you more about
how I set this up later. But let's get back to
setting up your listing. So if you're not a
digital artists and you create commissions by
hand, that's totally fine, but you will have to figure
out shipping costs and timeline details a little bit differently than how I do it. This is totally doable
and also very marketable, but it's just not quite
as tidy as creating digital art and delivering
the files digitally. So to recap, figure out which e-commerce
platform you want to use to sell your
commissions on. Ask other artists what
they're using or try and find a way to make the
platform that you're already using work
for your commissions.
3. Setting Up Your Listing: Alright, now that you've decided which e-commerce
platform you're using, it's time to get your
listing setup in a visually and verbally
clear way that explains exactly what your
client will be purchasing. Etsy allows you to use several
photos in the listing. And I think that this is a
great way to show examples of previous commissions
that you've done so that people can get a sense
of what they're about to buy. It's also a great place to add informative texts like
instructions or pricing. I often add an image saying, please read the description
for details on process and pricing to remind folks to read about what
they're going to buy. I used to set up my
commissions all in the same listing based off
of how ever many figures, but it was just getting
way too complicated. So I've ended up separating out all of my commission types
and different listings. So one listing will
be for headshots, another listing would
be for one figure, another listing
for to figure and so on just helps
me keep everything compartmentalized and keep
better track of my orders versus putting all of
those Commission types in one single listing. I also don't always offer
every type of commission. Each time that I
opened my commissions. Sometimes I just only want
to be able to do head shots. Those are a little
easier for me to tackle. So I'll just open
a couple of those. Let's say that it's
a specific holiday like Valentine's
Day is coming up, then I'm going to
offer a to figure portraits so that people can
have a couple's portrait. Or let's say that the winter
holidays are coming up. I will add more figures
as an option for if people wanna do a family
portrait for a holiday cards, it's really just
dependent on how much time I have in my schedule and how much money I need to make over the next
couple of months. So to recap from this
lesson is start a draft of your listing and
brainstorm what type of commissions you're
going to be offering. So how many figures
and what art style? I mean, maybe you're not
a portrait artist and you're going to be doing
more flora or fauna. You just need to figure out exactly what it is that you
want to offer to people and start setting up
that listing and a really clear, concise way. Find examples of your
previous work so that folks can see what type of art
they're about to be buying. And also write a
clear description of your process and make sure that your pricing
is transparent. And in the next section, I will be talking about
my process and pricing, which might help you define your ears a little bit better.
4. Collecting Client Info: The first part of my
process is collecting information from my clients so that I know where
to get started. So what I need from clients, I need some reference photos. I usually need three to
five pictures of them, maybe a close-up of their face, a full body shot. And I just want a couple
of different angles. I really just want to collect as much information visually
as I can so that I am not making assumptions
or making up information because this
can get really murky. I could offend somebody or
hurt their feelings by drawing their body type inaccurately or missing a key facial feature. The point of my
commissions is to elevate the client
in my drawing style, also still making sure that
they are recognizable. And it can be a little bit
of a delicate balance. But the more photos
that you have, the better of an idea you're going to get
of how they look, how they pose, how they dress, do they smile a lot or not? It's just going to
help you fill in a lot of those
details versus just making some things up and
potentially offending somebody. So three to five photos
is what I recommend. But honestly, the
more the merrier, the next bit of information
that I need are specs. I need to know what
dimensions to size my canvas tube before
I can draw anything. So I usually recommend sizes that I can offer
as a print add-on. A lot of times clients
don't really know what size they want and
what the options are. So this is a really
great time to actually sell the print add-on. I'll say something like I offer
these sizes as a print ad on option if you're
interested in and here are the
corresponding prices. No worries if you're
not interested, but just thought
you might want to have all of the information. And I actually sell a lot
of print add-ons this way, most people really do want
to have a physical print of their portrait that they can frame and hang up in their home. I'll share a little bit more
about my print add-ons and which vendors I use and how I print them in just a little bit. But for now, just remember
to collect the specs and understand which size you need to format your art too. The next bit of
information that I want to gather are some design details. So I want to know if there are particular hairstyles or
clothing accessories, poses, color palettes
that they want to be drawn in, anything like that. And I want to gather that
information now so that I can include it now
versus having to add it later and keep
tweaking this sketch. So the more information
that you can acquire before you even
start drawing, the better. Some plants are
really, really great about explaining
exactly what they want included and providing all of the information that
I've asked for. But others don't really
know what they want. And in that case,
I usually try and send them over to my
Instagram and ask them to shop my art and give me some references from things
that I've already created. I would rather
them use my art as a reference because they're
choosing me to draw them. So if I've drawn it before, I know I can draw it again. So that is a lot of
information to acquire. Some clients really,
they are so good at getting you everything
that you need. But a lot of times
they forget to give you something like
even the specs, which seems so simple
and basic as an artist because we know we have to draw according to
a certain size, but they might not know. So I've made a
little commissions guide and that has
really helped. So as soon as somebody
orders a commission, I send them this PDF saying, Hey, thank you so much for
ordering your commission. Here is a little
quick guide of all of the information I'm going to need in order to
draw your portrait. That has really
helped give people an actual checklist of the information that
I need from them. Your homework is to create
your own commissions guide. Create a list of all of the
information that you need, the things that you will want
your clients to give you. In the next section, I'm going to talk a little bit more about communicating with
clients clearly and also setting boundaries.
5. Boundaries and Communication: Okay, the next thing that
I wanted to talk about is communication and boundaries. My biggest recommendation to you is that you would keep
your conversations to Etsy messages if that's the platform you're
using or email, don't let people
cite into your DMs. Don't share your phone number and have a text thread going on. So it's really going to help you keep track of the
conversation a lot easier and it makes it feel
just a little bit less casual or that they can reach
you at any waking hour. I will say most
of my clients are wonderful about respecting
the boundaries, especially once I
establish, hey, let's please keep the
conversation to Etsy messages. It will help me keep
better track of your order and respond
more promptly. They will totally understand. But if some people don't, I just have to keep
reiterating if they sign into my
DMs, I just say, Hey, I really I'm having
a hard time keeping track of our conversation
and I would really prefer to chat via Etsy messages
and then they'll get it. Yeah, DNS and texts can
just get really casual and friendly and boundaries can
then start to get blurry. So I would just say talk to your clients how you
want to be talked to, be respectful and
courteous to your clients. And when you think about it, they've chosen to pay
for your artistry, which is super flattering and
it's really vulnerable for them to have somebody analyze how they look and
then to draw them. But that being said, you
don't have to be friends. So maintain a friendly
professional attitude. Use complete sentences with
proper capitalization. Maybe don't use exclamation
points after every sentence, which is a hard one for me. And also steer clear of emojis. If you can reread
everything that you type before you send it and make sure that you have a really friendly, respectful, and still
approachable conversation style. Most of my clients are
truly delightful to work with and they're
very kind and excited. And I haven't really had
too many tricky clients, but when I do have one of those, I just kinda go by the mantra, kill them with kindness. And I know the customer
is always right, doesn't gel with everybody. But for me it helps me sleep better at night if
I know I was really polite and kind and I handled everything the
best way that I could. And also because I use Etsy, I am really beholden
to customer reviews. So I really want good five-star reviews
because it helps give my shop a lot more credibility and it pushes my
shop to more eyes. If I am a star seller or
if I have five stars. So I really do want to make
my clients happy for that. But then also just so that I feel like
they're delighted and have had a great
experience with me as a human and as an artist. Okay, So the homework and the recap was really
easy on this one. Just to keep the conversation
to Etsy messages or email, not to texts or DMZ, and then speak to
your clients the way that you want
to be spoken to.
6. The Creative Process: Thank you for hearing
my little tirade about communication. And of course you
don't have to follow everything that
I'm doing to a t. I'm just telling you how I've done it and
how it's worked out successfully for me so
that you just at least have a foundation or a
place to get started. Now, I want to talk about
my actual drawing process, which is pretty simple. Okay, so let's say that you have gotten all of the
information from the client that you need to get started on their commission. What I start with is just a black and white
sketch and I don't have any limit to the amount of revisions during this process. The reason for that
is that clients have reached out to me because they want to be drawn
in my art styles. So there's already
enough trust established between my artistry and
what they're looking for. So I haven't really actually
run into any issues with a crazy amount of
revision that being said, maybe it's a good idea
for you to include maybe two to three rounds of revisions in this
sketching phase. And you can say
that that will be charged at your hourly rate, but I would make sure to really clearly communicate this to the client before you start
making any actual art. So the reason that I start with a black and white sketch before adding any color is that if they want any revisions made to say the pose or the alphabet
that they're wearing, or an expression that they have. It's so much easier
to make that change. Now while I'm just doing
some rough sketches versus when I've added color and I'm really trying to
finalize the artwork. It's just going to help protect you before you move into color. Also, for clients who don't
know exactly what they want. Doing a sketch sometimes just really gives
them something to be able to react to and to see what they do or
what they don't. And it will just help you understand their needs
a little bit better. So once we're in
the color phase, only revisions to the colors can be made from this point on. And I make sure to really
clearly communicate that with my clients before
we jump into color, I like to give them a couple of days just to mole
over the sketch. Just think that they want any
changes made at all versus rushing right into
the next phase of the commission's process. I have no limit to
color revisions. Again, if that's something
that you want to add into your process and really clearly communicate
to your client. That's totally fine. I just haven't run into an issue with it in the five years that I've been working on these. But again, I think
that's because I have a really clearly
defined style and process and people just already had that sense of trust with me. And it's really helped. One thing to think
about with colors is that let's say you're going to be offering
that print add-on. You want to make sure that the colors depicted on your screen, we'll translate really well to an actual physical
printed piece. Okay, so your homework is to define your process
and write it out so that you can verbally communicate that with your
client in a clear way. And you also need
to figure out how you want to handle revisions. Also, you're going
to need to decide if you are planning to
offer a print add-on, which we will talk about
in the next section.
7. Offering a Print Add-On: So as we've chatted about, my commissions are
delivered digitally, but oftentimes the
client would like a physical print
of their portrait to frame and hang in their home. I used to print these printed
add-ons on my home printer, which is an epsilon x p 960. I love it so much. The print quality is great, but it takes a lot
of time and money to buy all the ink levels and to do all of
the test prints. And it's a pain when
the client orders multiple prints
because each print has to match colors perfectly. So it was just becoming
a bit of a headache. I also had to figure out my
shipping cost and packaging everything up to so it was doable as I was getting started, but eventually it
just turned into more of a hindrance than
an extra added bonus. I would just rather not offer a print ad on at that point. So as a result, I ended up partnering
with a print on demand company
called printf full. And I chose them because they
have an Etsy integration. So it works really seamlessly with the way
that I set up my shop. Using principal has
really allowed me to offer more sizes. Previously with my home printer, I could only print
up to eight by 10 ". And now using printf full, I could offer an 18
by 24 inch poster if that's what the
client wanted. The print quality is
really wonderful and I also don't have to
fulfill the orders myself. I clearly communicate to my
client that I will get there, print out on listing setup for them after their
commission is complete. The reason I do this is
so that I don't have to choose a specific shipping
time and then feel like I'm in a time crunch
because I have to get this commission done
within two to three weeks. And the reason I do that is because every client
is different. There might be
multiple revisions. Their communication style
might be a little bit slower. So just getting it set
up after the commission is complete is really just
going to save you a migraine. So you're going
to want to define your prices for your print
add-ons ahead of time. And again, I usually talk about the printed
add-on offered with my clients at the very beginning
of the process when I'm trying to collect
information from them about specs where I'm like, Hey, here are the
specs that I offer. I do actually have a
print ad, an option. So here the corresponding
prices for those specs. This way, the client
isn't just going to have this unexpected surprise
of an extra added price. And you won't feel like
that kid who is just like making up new rules as they
explain the rules to a game. So if you're using a print on demand company like prideful, keep in mind that they are going to take a cut of the profits. So you just need to
define your price in such a way that you will
actually still make a profit, but that you're not charging
an exorbitant price to your clients who
have already paid good money to commission you. And I actually will
be talking about pricing and the next section. But for now, your homework
is to decide if you want to even offer a print
add-on option at all. If you want to print
it yourself at home, or if you want to partner with a print on-demand
companies like print full.
8. Setting Your Prices: Okay, pricing, I'm happy to be very forthcoming
about my pricing. I feel like there's a lot of
gatekeeping and a lack of information being
shared about how to price your art with
specific numbers. So I will be an open
book so that you can see where I'm at
with my pricing. Figure out where to
start with your pricing. Or if I'm totally wrong with my pricing, you can let me know. This is a platform where
we can all learn together. I'm teaching you what I've
learned along the way, but that does not mean that
I'm not still learning. So within this entire video, please feel free to chime in with ideas or things
that you've learned so that everybody here taking this class can grow
and learn together. One of the main factors
that helps me to define my pricing is knowing how
many figures will be drawn. So the more figures that
are going to be drawn means the more time it's
going to take to be able to complete
this commission. I offer from headshots, which our shoulders up all
the way to five figures. And I also offer Pet Portraits. Another thing to think about is will a background
be included? A lot of times with
my commissions, I don't include a background. I just have a solid
color background. Just because drawing
a background is more time and more energy and
more effort to include it. But I also will say, I don't love having
backgrounds in general. I really liked the people
to stand out the most. So I have found that when
they're on a solid backdrop, the figures really
just pop more. So it's definitely easier, I guess, to not
include a background, but I just liked
the look of it to one other factor to think
about is turnaround time. How long will this take you? I like to communicate
with my clients that my commissions take
4-6 weeks to complete. They could take less, they could take
more depending on how quickly the client
communicates with me. Some clients do have a
specific timeline in mind. So if they want something
done really soon, I want them to be
able to let me know, but I also I think it's a smart
idea to charge a rush fee for that because they are asking to be bumped to the
very top of the list. And for me, my commissions
are first-come-first-served. So I worked from the
first-order all the way down to the last
order because it just seems very fair that way. So out of respect for
all of my other clients, if somebody really
does want to get bumped up to the
top of the list, they just need to pay extra. I'll say the only time that that issue really
ever comes up is if there's a special occasion like an anniversary or a wedding, and that's when people want
the portrait done quicker. But usually I try and
really get ahead of that issue because let's say
for holiday commissions, I will offer those in
October so that I've got up to two months
to be able to complete them so that they
have them in December. So I just kinda cover myself
a little bit that way. I charge a flat rate
for my commissions, but I use my hourly rate to help me decide
how much to charge. But I think whenever you share an hourly
rate with clients, I have found that it usually
freaks them out because they don't understand how
long it's going to take. And I also don't like to box
myself and by saying, cool, I think this is going to
take me somewhere 8-10 h to finish and my hourly
rate is 100 an hour, but it could take more time, it could take less. That kind of freaks clients out. I think what I have found is that clients
prefer just to know a flat rate and
understand that they're gonna be guaranteed this really
cool product at the end. So they don't need to know
the inner workings of your hourly rate and how
you've defined what that is. But you need to know the
inner workings of that, so we'll talk about
that in just a second. Okay. So your hourly
rate is usually defined by your years
of experience in the field and by your skill level and by
what industry you're in. So I've worked in
the illustration and graphic design industry
for over ten years now. I work very quickly and efficiently because I have
a very streamlined process. I offer a one-of-a-kind product. So I charged around 100 an hour, which I think is a fair rate. So you can just use
where I'm coming from, maybe as a foundation for where you're coming from and what
you think you should charge. But I would definitely
recommend just looking online, seeing what other artists
are charging in your field, like even on Instagram or even
in your specific location, just do some research. But for me, I'm
based in Atlanta, been in the industry
for ten years, pretty solid, creatively. Hundred and our fuels
really fair for me. And I will just
keep increasing it every single year because
of inflation and because I keep growing and my skills as an artist at the end of the day really tried
to undersell yourself. You are drawing something
custom for a client who specifically seeking your
skills and your style. And that has value, so make it worth your
time and your energy. If you sell your commissions
for super cheap, not only are you undervaluing
yourself as an artist, but you're also bringing down the whole creative community. And it brings down
the market price for other artists and just hurting all of us together
as a creative community. So for me, I feel
like pricing is a moving target because you're always trying to figure
out who are your clients, what can they afford? What are they willing to
spend their money on? How much money do they
want to spend on art? And then trying to figure
out yourself and what your own value is based
off of your years in the creative industry and your skill level
and your expertise. So there's just a lot of
different factors going on. But I also don't think you have to totally be locked
into your prices. So let's say I'm
100 and our now, but next year I definitely want to increase my prices again because inflation and I've grown more and my skills
when you think about it, every single business, they
raise their prices too. So we should as well. For reference, like, I think I was totally under selling my commissions at the beginning. My head shots used
to sell for $45.20, 17, and they sold out so fast. So I realized that
I was super under selling them like there
was demand for them, but also people didn't
even wait to consider. Is this something I can afford is something I really want. Like they just went like
that and I was like, I probably shouldn't be
selling these for more. And so I ended up
charging $70 in 2,018.20, 19, which was a
huge jump from $45. But they also sold
out just like that. Then I sold them
for $100.20, 20.20, 21, and now I sell my head
shots for $125 in 2022. So I think it's fine just to play around
with your prices. I mean, I think
there's definitely a balance of changing
your prices often. That can be a little bit of
whiplash for your clients. But I also think that if
they're good clients, they will already have valued you and they will be
willing to pay that money. The clients that I
had in 2017 who paid $45 for their head shots
are recurring clients. They've come back, they
want headshots again and they're now paying $125.20, 22. My advice would be, start by pricing
your commissions higher than you think
they'll sell for. Because it's easier to lower the prices than it
is to raise them. Again, I felt really
uncomfortable raising my prices by 30 extra
dollars and just a year. But then I gain some confidence when
people were buying them, but it did make me feel like
I was jumping around a lot. So just price them higher. If it helps, just think
about it this way. You could sell your
commissions for super cheap, which is undervaluing yourself and also the creative community. Or you could do,
We're commissions for more money and still
make the same amount. And also spare yourself some grief and protect
your time and your energy. So I would rather do the latter because I can really
devote for me, it's all about time and energy. I really want to
make sure that I can protect my little artist's heart so that I'm not overworked. And I also really just want
to make sure that I am giving my clients the best art
that I can give them. I want their portraits
to be elevated. I want them to all feel special and unique and I
don't want to feel resentful of my clients because you'll see that
reflected in the art. You'll see it if I'm tired, you'll see it if I'm annoyed. So having fewer commissions for a higher price has really helped protect me and hopefully
will help you to. Your homework is going to be to decide if
you want to charge a flat rate for your commissions or if you want to charge hourly, but keep in mind, if
you're charging hourly, you do need to be doing
some time tracking. So that's a little
bit extra work. I really would
recommend flat rate, but you do you then
either way you have to define your hourly rate so that you can know
what you're worth.
9. Marketing and Selling: Okay, so now a part
that I think is super fun is actually
selling the Commission's, the biggest, most obvious
thing is to make sure that your portfolio of
commissions is awesome. People need to see
examples of what you make so that they know whether they want
to buy it or not. So for me, I treat all
of my commissions that I get as opportunities to
sell more commissions. If you haven't gotten
any commissions Yet, I would say make up some of the type of work that
you want to be doing, that you want to be selling so that people can reference that. I know that I'm going to be
selling commissions Soon. I know that I need to create a marketing campaign
just to raise some hype and bring
some awareness so that other people know that my
commissions are coming soon. They have time to adequately
prepare and budget. And it's really just
going to, again, get that hype and get people
excited about commissions. My commissions are first-come, first-serve, and they
go really quickly. So I like to give my
clients and my followers a proper heads up
so that they have time to prepare and budget. I like to make a static feed
post on Instagram sharing the date and the time that my commissions will be
available on Instagram. There are calendar reminders on those static feed posts too, so that people can set their alarms and be
ready on the actual day. I also like to share
a count down in my Instagram stories
so that people can also receive a
notification that way. But it's basically important
for me to communicate, Hey, you need to set your alarms because commissions
are going live at 12:00 P.M. Eastern Standard
Time on September 22, just so that they know when they're coming in
that static feed post. And in my stories, again, I really like to show all of
my previous commissions as examples because that really helps people shop
and understand, oh my gosh, I would love
a portrait with my cat. I want like little
flower details there. I love how Shae turned
this couple into this vintage Christmas theme
for the Christmas cards, I love this Halloween vibe. It's just really helps
them to see sort of the broader scope
of work that I can offer and helps them to picture themselves into what a commission could
be like for them. The last thing for
social is to post on the actual day that
Commission's open. So this could be a feed post, it could be a real, it could be a story,
it could be all three. But the whole reason we're
using social media is to inform people really clearly when commissions
will be opening. Also get them really
hyped up about them. We can't always assume that
everybody is on social and following and getting all
the post notifications for every new thing
that you share. So having a newsletter is also a really great way to
reach your audience. So similar to social, I will send out an e blast for all of the subscribers
to my newsletter about two weeks
in advance saying the date and the time
that commissions will be open again. And then I also
share in a blast on the day of that
commissions are open. I really loved my
newsletter subscribers. They feel like they are my
ride or die people because they actually subscribe
to my newsletter. They signed up to get notifications on when I'm
releasing commissions, when I've got really
cool projects going on, when I've got things in my shop that are new or live updates, so they really want to be
informed of what's going on. So I will say using my
commissions has been a really great way
to get new people to sign up for my newsletter. Because if they send me a DM on Instagram saying I would
love a commission of you. I can just say really
quickly like, Hey, I'm so sorry, commissions
are currently closed, but I really hope to reopen
them the next couple of weeks or months or whenever
you're going to open them. I'll make sure to announce on social two weeks in advance
when they're available again. Or you can also sign up
for my newsletter to receive notifications when
there'll be available again. And then a lot of times people do sign up for that
newsletter because we don't all want
to be beholden to social media all the time. But when they sign up
for your newsletter for that Commission's
announcement, they're also going to
get all the newsletters that you send out based off of the things you're
doing as an artist. So it's a cool way to
bring them into the fold. And don't forget to include your newsletter sign-up
link in your bio. I use Link tree,
which means I can have multiple links in my bio, so I can have a link
to my Etsy shop, my newsletter, sign up all
of that kind of good stuff. But they have an
actual place and a link that they can click
on to join your newsletter. One key thing about the
marketing campaign is that I don't share my
prices at that time. The reason I don't share
them is so that people can't go back and reference them later because I'm honestly, I'm always changing
my prices based off of what my audiences, where if the market
in general is, I would rather just
have the prices become known the actual day of but if somebody
does reach out asking for a ballpark figure of what the commissions will be. I will say my headshot
start at 01:25 and the pricing increases based
on the number of figures, but my prices are
subject to change. And then that kinda covers me. Your homework is to create a Commission's
marketing campaigns. So make a social
media posting plan, get your newsletters drafted up and just start
creating some hype. And in the next section,
I'm going to share my best kept secret about
commissions with you.
10. My Best-Kept Secret: Okay, So I've saved
my best to prolapse, which I just kind
of stumbled upon. But it's to not always have your commissions
open all the time. So I used to always have
my commissions open, but I started getting
really booked up and just really overwhelmed
and stressed out. So I had to close
commissions and only offer them in batches just to
protect my time and energy. But I also realized
by doing that, it led to this
sense of scarcity. So if my commissions only open up three or
four times a year, people pounce on them. When they open, they sell and a single day they sell
within an hour, which is super exciting. And I do mind
first-come, first-serve. So I don't have any
kind of a waitlist. So they've got their
two-week heads-up of when I'm going to
be offering them. But once those
commissions go live, like people need to
get in there and grab them if they want
to commission by me. So it's really
helped me sell them. So yeah, I really only opened my commissions three
or four times a year. I have maybe somewhere 10-20 commission slots
around that time. And originally I did this
just to help protect myself, but it did turn out to be this really smart
strategic thing that made people feel
like commissions are really exclusive,
which they are. I mean, at this point I really, I can only take on so many
because at the end of the day, it's so important
to me to be able to give my clients the best portrait
that I can give them. Like, I want to pour
my heart into it. That's just the type
of person that I am. And I also really want
to enjoy doing it too. I don't want to be stressed or low-energy that will
reflect in the artwork. So I really would recommend not having your commissions
open all year around. And you can also add that in your bio saying
commissions closed. It might also add to that sort of elusive, exclusive idea. But it's really worked for me and I hope that it
works for you too.
11. A Final Recap: Okay. That was so much talking, but we finally made thank
you for being a trooper and for listening to my tips on how to sell art
commissions online, they have really been a great
source of income for me. I hope that they
will be for you. I again want you to just
totally thrive as an artist. But before we close, I am just going to do,
I love Greek camp. The recaps really helped me just to like log in information. So I'm gonna do another
recap for you because I really did just word
vomit so much to you. The first one is to sell digital commissions
because you'll be able to reach more people in the world and it's easy delivery system. The next one is to be super-duper clear
and you're listing description about your
pricing and your process, and show examples of your
previous work so that clients understand what they're about
to buy, make a commission. Guys. Did that clients know what
information you need from them in order to get the
commission's process started. Keep communication in one place, whether it's Etsy
messages or email. Don't let people cite into
your DMs or your texts. Be professional and
courteous and your clients, and speak with them the way that you want
to be spoken to. Create a Commission's
marketing campaign on both social media and in a newsletter, offer
limited commissions. So make it a fun and rare
occasion when commissions open. And last but not least,
create beautiful, meaningful work
that your clients will cherish and that
you are proud of. Thank you for
learning with me and I really do hope that this class has helped
you feel better equipped and prepared to open
commissions and a way that protects your time and
energy and that you are fairly compensated for them. So you can follow
my art journey on Instagram and also on TikTok and YouTube at
designed by shame. And you can also shop
my art and surprise, my commissions on
Etsy stay sparkly.
Shea O'Connor, Illustrator & Designer
