Jellyaris's posts

@superbearwars: Haha thank you! The first one is really cute, I love it :)

@superbearwars: I don't mind paying upfront n__n I sent the trade over. Accept whenever you're ready, no rush~

I'd like to commission you for my current avi! Is that okay?

@Addy: You're right. Just make stuff. Even if it's small, just start.


@superbearwars: Thank you. I knew I wasn't alone in feeling like this, but it's really helpful to hear that others are experiencing it, too. I hope you're able to fulfill your dreams, too.


@Lithinel: You sound exactly like me- anxiety, depression, difficulty with interviews... I hope you do finally land a job so you can get some money in your pocket.


@SirLionelNigelConrad: @Totalanimefan: My job isn't terrible and there's room to climb, it's just not what I want to do with my life. It, nor any other position in the industry, is what fulfills me. It pays more than minimum wage and offers health benefits, so I'm not going to jump ship straight away. I just want to ease into creating more in my free time. Weekends. Holidays. A few commissions at a time. Writing that no one will see until I'm ready for someone to see it.

Maybe one day I'll have enough business where I won't need that full time job that I hate. I could find something more bearable part time and take commissions part time.

My dream is to live off my creations. I know that isn't going to be immediate- or hell, even in a year or two. It could easily be 10 years down the line. I just want to start on it.

Thank you guys so much for your support :vanora_cry: This community is so sweet and so encouraging. And I feel so much better. I've been in such a dark place for such a long time, and I'd kept everything inside for so long... I'm glad you listened.

Jeez, that's horrible. At least the sun looks cool! Take that, solar eclipse!

The west has fires, the southeast has hurricanes, the midwest has tornadoes, the far north has blizzards... What natural disaster does the northeast have? Bears?

@Shadowman: Thank you for all the information. It's extremely helpful. I'm going to research sites like Red Bubble. Guessing it's great for pre-made designs and can take a lot of stress out of bulk production and delivery.

I'm going to have to look into the tax thing more.

The half payment up front and half after completion seems like the best route to go. That way if a buyer gets shady or takes off, I will have gotten at least some payment.

I'm Sasha. I make art, stories, and bad decisions.

I graduated with a 2.7 GPA in a field of study that I don't like. I work a pretty cushy corporate job for a business that gives me no sense of pride or satisfaction and doesn't require the degree that I'm in debt for (or a degree period, for that matter). I feel like my life is just ticking away and that I'm selling my soul by the hour for a meager paycheck.

I want to change that.

I love writing. I love drawing. I have since the 4th grade. I need to create or else I might just scream.

But I'm scared.

I'm scared that I won't be able to finish anything. I'm scared that I won't have enough money to live. I'm scared that if I try to live my dream of being a writer and an artist and find out it's not all it's cracked up to be, that I will have lost my dream- and part of myself along the way.

I'm scared that I won't go through with it at all. That I'll keep working my dead end job that I hate and die before I can ever pay off my worthless degree that I didn't want.

I'm stuck in a spiral of self-hatred and pipe dreams and fear, watching days of my life fall away.

...And I really need a fucking therapist.

So I've been curious about how exactly artists who take commissions for real-life currency handle the process. I have never sold my art for real money, so I'm very naiive on how the whole thing works. I'm interested in doing commissions for fun money on the side, but I have no idea where to get started.

I have a lot of questions, but I'll try to keep it organized:

1. How do you know how much to charge for your art?

2. I imagine for online commissions you'd use Paypal or something?

3. Does the customer pay you up front, after the art is received, or a half now half after sort of deal?

4. How long is too long for the customer to wait for the product?

5. If you provide prints, where do you print the art? FedEx? At home?

6. If you sell your art in the form of buttons, stickers, posters, con material, etc, do you use some kind of service that makes those for you in bulk and then you mail them out to buyers?

7. Where do you get most of your business? deviantART? Tumblr? Twitter? Instagram? All of the above and more?

8. Full time, American artists: how do you report your earnings on your tax returns? Do you keep invoices for tax season and pay it all at once? Is there sales tax on your art? I have no idea how any of that works.

9. Convention/Artist Alley artists: How do you know how many prints to make beforehand?
-What do you do if you run out too soon?
-Do you do commissions at the convention?
-Do you have a slot list that can be maxed out?
-Do you finish them all at your table at the con before it ends, or take them all home and do them at once, or do you draw them at your hotel room at night between events?

I hope this is the right subforum.

@Luffer Nutter: then the item is probably already in your inventory! Take a look!

@Luffer Nutter: the hoodie is available in the ohm shop

I love the curls :vanora_heart: they're similar to my OC's and that makes me super happy~

I know that freckles are already on the list, but I'd love to see them specifically for the shoulders and bust! Blush on those areas, too!

@Winter: Welcome to Voltra! Plenty of cute items to get carried away with :vanora_icon:

So I get this problem when I love a game. I play it to death. For HOURS a day. I'll skip meals, I will only go outside if I absolutely have to (ie work), I'll DREAM about the game...

I've done this with many different ones, but these are the first few that come to mind:

Pokemon. I played over and over and over, beating it every time (particularly X&Y), storing my best beasts in the pokebank so I could restart. Did this about 5-6 times.

Fallout 4. Ouch, this game got me good. I still play it every now and then. Over 1000 hours logged in Steam and about 8 different playthroughs. Railroad ending is probably the funniest, but the Institute ending is by far my favorite.

Animal Crossing. I hacked the shit out of this game (until it updated and blocked my homebrew entrypoint). Countless villages, countless hours of my life. At one point I just had it hooked up to a charger on my nightstand and would leave it on.

The Sims. On the Sims 3, I've been through so many generations of Sims, my game bloats and it takes 10 minutes just to load up. Sims 4 is easier on me, letting me get through roughly 4 generations before it even hinted at a long load time.

Are there any that you just *can't* put down? If not, how do you manage to walk away from it?

This hoodie is so adorable :vanora_heart: I love the default colors!