Just a quick update: I've got some paying animation work to do, so I have to prioritize that over this.
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At the same time I've got SA's order completely finished, and all the line work for Arch-Angel's order is done.
After Arch-Angel's order I'm thinking it will be too difficult to take on or finish any other orders from there on.
Everything just gets really hectic once the Winter Holidays roll around, so I think this is for the best.

I have all the roughs done for OhBestlyCX's order, but I don't know if I can fit it in.
If I have the time to squeeze OhBestlyCX's order in there before this job starts, I will.
If it doesn't happen, my apologies.

Yeah man make that money. Any way some of your pals can get some screeners on the super cool stuff you get paid to make?

Quote from Arch-Angel

Yeah man make that money. Any way some of your pals can get some screeners on the super cool stuff you get paid to make?

Only stuff I've done for other's that was already released to the general public.
Anything more than that would both get me into some real trouble and close doors for my future career in animation.
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I mostly do paid work for these guys: https://www.youtube.com/user/SillyFillyStudios
I've helped with a quite a few different things... and they usually misspell my name in the credits...

Otherwise I do quite a bit of NSFW work.
Some of which I've had my name excluded from credits on the more risque stuff.
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But hey it still puts bread on the table.

Well yeah I would never ask you to compromise yourself with your clients. I just remember a lot of stuff you did back in the day and how neato it was. I could imagine you get a lot of NSFW stuff lol. I always joke around and tell art buddies that if they want to make it as a freelancer, do porn. Everyone wants to see their favorite anime getting plowed.

Do you have a portfolio or demo reel made that you could/would be willing to share?

Quote from Arch-Angel

Do you have a portfolio or demo reel made that you could/would be willing to share?

Unfortunately I don't have a portfolio put together. I feel the material I have so far is underwhelming so I haven't compiled any of it.
Most of the paying work I get now days is usually by word of mouth, returning clients, or when SFSanimation needs help.

Quote from Arch-Angel

I always joke around and tell art buddies that if they want to make it as a freelancer, do porn.

It's a market that's always in demand after all. However there's some clients you find solely in this category that are... disturbing to say the least.

My best advice is to be active(or at least give the illusion that you are)
Artists that are more active and post artwork online on a regular basis show that they're reliable to hire and can get work done.
Artists that release work that's relatively consistent in quality show potential clients what they can expect if they hire you.
Artists that act professional(respond to comments, friendly, patient, don't start/cause/respond to drama) will make contacts more quickly.

Finding Clients is one thing, handling them is another.
There's something I like to call the "Triple A rules to holding a Triple A job"
In order to keep any job you need to be;
Awake - Alive - Alert
You can't work efficiently if you're Sleeping.
You can't work efficiently if you're Dead(zombie employee :v)
You can't work efficiently if you don't know what's going on.
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Make sure you're well rested, make sure you're healthy, and make sure you're alert and ready.

Because if your client finds out you're a giant paperweight on the other side of the monitor just looking to make a quick buck(even if it's true :v),
minds will change quicker than it takes to get dressed in the morning.

Yeah I've dealt with people in business relations for most of my adult life on top of several college courses on the subject of being a people person in terms of business and what it can offer. How do you usually handle the payment on commissions if you don't mind me asking? I hope you at least ask for a deposit up front in case they either back down later after you've invested time or try to stiff you out of paying you at all.

and I can imagine about the crazy folks out there, just look at 4channel

Quote from Arch-Angel

How do you usually handle the payment on commissions if you don't mind me asking?

Depends on the client and what they're comfortable with, I usually work things out with them to see how they want to go about it where it still involves me getting paid.
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With larger projects I usually ask for a non-refundable downpayment around 20% to 50% of the total cost.
If it's a smaller project it's just saves money on transactions to get paid full up front before starting.
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After agreeing on how much should be paid for the downpayment or what have you, I get a hold of the person's PayPal address and send them an invoice with no deadline, and no shipping address required from them.

Usually with downpayments I'll do a rough animatic, try to get it revised the way they want. Get another downpayment(try to get 80% of the total combined between both the first and second downpayment), proceed with a watermark over everything and a lower resolution so it's not really usable. And don't do finish animation until you get that last chunk of money.
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Or after the rough animatic I get the rest of the payment and continue without the watermark and low-res stuff.... Just be sure when you send them a WIP that they know in bold somewhere that it's a Work In Progress and it's not finished.

If it's not animation. It's a sketch, try to get the sketch revised the way they want. Get the rest of the money to finish the picture.
Else don't start until you get the full sum.

Yeah, that's pretty much it really. You get the idea.

Hey thanks for sharing your tips on art business, it's really interesting to hear it from the artist himself.
Also, it's rude of that channel to misspell your name. It's ungrateful, if not unfunny.

hows my order going?

I feel like it's safe to assume that he got very busy with some freelance stuff, so it would be best to not get your hopes up about getting it anytime soon. I'm not saying I know how Rawgreen is working or anything, but he's more than likely going to do whatever gets him paid before anything else. Especially considering that was the disclaimer for the thread.

Quote from RawGreen

I've got SA's order completely finished.

I finally got the time to upload this, I figure it would be rude to make him wait until Arch-Angel's is done with the way things are going:

S.A. - KatanaFlames: http://sta.sh/01hcvw5sl2tf

The FLA files will be sent to the requesting individuals through the private message system shortly after this post is submitted.

Quote from Arch-Angel

I feel like it's safe to assume that he got very busy with some freelance stuff, so it would be best to not get your hopes up about getting it anytime soon. I'm not saying I know how Rawgreen is working or anything, but he's more than likely going to do whatever gets him paid before anything else. Especially considering that was the disclaimer for the thread.

Yeah I was hoping to squeeze this all in by around Thanksgiving, and it's been so busy on my end that it honestly feels like that was more than half a month ago already.

Thanks again man.
What have you planned after this thread?

Quote from S.A.

Thanks again man.
What have you planned after this thread?

I'll be working on other projects until I have some free time again.

While not really a plan, as much work as they can be, I've been wanting to make a mania.
There's a way I could make one without really much effort required and still get decent results.
So that might happen, but it would have to happen before next March.

I don't think I know what a mania is, what's it?