A Latte Advice From Env!

I don't know how this will evolve and can't guarantee your sanity. Take what resonates and I hope you're able to leave this corner a bit more informed!
It's completely understandable that not everyone will get along as everyone has their own opinions and way of being. We only ask that you respect each other no matter the situation. Stay courteous, and supportive, and remember this Forum exists to push one another forward to achieving our goals as a community.

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INDEX

- To Be updated

COMMISSIONS:
Passion is perfect, it's what we thrive for, and while we wait for it to thrive we have to do other things in the meantime to still survive. It's a game of back and forth, what works, what doesn't, and it can get exhausting if you're getting stressed/pressured/unmotivated/and carrying expectations of reaching them within a certain time frame.

I think it's perfect to go for different income sources, cause relying on one very inflexible income is honestly the worst and the most common in art.

Commissions... Oof it's been a while and sometimes I find myself missing them. Start with setting boundaries. Essentially for any commission I do, I submit Wips only 2 times for changes.
- 1st for draft and base color approval
- 2nd after the final draft for minor changes


The fact is, picky commissioners are a rare case, and I've only ever had one who always knew exactly what he wanted. And I bend my WIP adjustment rules for him and will do so continuously because he always comes back wanting another commission. (And tips generously) At the end of the day, it's a business, and if you want clients to come back, you have to give them the best experience, under your rules of course. (Also, some of his pieces are my absolute favorite. Sometimes commissioners will push you out of your comfort zone with art skills, and that's not always a bad thing.)

If people spend on my art I like to give them what they want, it's why I love commissions cause you're bringing their ideas to life. And if that's not something you like to do, and you want to focus on only your characters/ocs/personal art then commissions are only going to be additional stress and cause you to burn out, and quickly.


However, if you feel you want to do commissions, I used to do them on GASR, now Art Haven. The best place to open a shop in my opinion because there's a set audience that knows what they want, and will gladly pay for it. So instead of waiting for your right audience to go to you, go to them.

https://arthaven.co/

I highly recommend for any commissioners out there.

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YOUTUBE:
YouTube is another slow passion project. If you want to boom you have to make content that people search for on a regular basis. There are millions of speed paints on YT, and that's not going to get you an audience at the pace you want.
I'm not saying don't go for it, I'm saying if it's something you want to really go for, take time to think about what content other than speed paints are you prepared to put out on a regular basis to build an audience. What's your niche? Why will people subscribe, and stay?

Of course, it's possible to make it on speed paints, personally I love watching them and know why others do as well. But it's not going to bring in the audience necessary to earn a decent income as soon as summer in my opinion. Unless you already have a large audience that follows you, that you can promote it to. Even then it's usually less than half who make the effort to check it out unless it's incredibly interesting, or they're incredibly dedicated supporters.

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PATREON:
Patreon is another topic. Making money off of Patreon is completely possible. Making a sustainable income from Patreon by summer is a bit trickier.
If you do the Patreon, which I do encourage, from what I read you also do not want it to interfere with the time you put into your webtoon, which is your main goal;

There are 2 main ways to go about doing Patreon and reaching your goal.

-High priced tiers with great rewards that take time to create and deliver. Thus you worry about quality more than quantity. This means fewer partons with higher pay, or
- Low priced tiers, with simple yet compelling rewards that are quick and simple to deliver. Thus you worry about quantity more than quality. This means a large number of patrons with low pay.
With low priced tiers you'll also have to branch out and get your Patreon account to a larger audience to be able to get to a sustainable quantity of patrons.

- Of course, you can do both, but the more tiers, the more work, the less time you spend on your webtoon/main passion, the more stressed you get because you placed a lot on your plate.

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I've been in shitty situations. Financial wise, parental wise, household wise, passion wise. And if I can get through it and find a solution, so can you. None the less, take what resonates and I hope everything works out, we're here if you need anything!

Keep in mind when you're pursuing your dreams, you never see the goal until you reach it, and giving up early guarantees you'll never will. So keep fighting for what you love and what you do, because the hard work you put into something will pay off.

I time manage on a whiteboard and it's been my lifesaver.
Heres a template of what I have on my whiteboard. I'm a very visual person and need to write down what I have to do and when so that I get a better understanding of it in my head. I highly recommend investing in a whiteboard if possible, if you don't already have one. I put mines up the beginning of January and honestly feel more productive than I've ever been. This is the one I have, but they're even cheaper in places like Walmart I think, or your neighborhood store.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Magnetic-Dry-Erase-Board/dp/B07K6B8Q5V/ref=lp_1069312_1_4?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1580439332&sr=1-4

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On the board, I have 4 main subjects.
Month / Month Priority/ Weekly To-Do list/ Today
I set goals for myself as to what I want to finish that month, and break it down.

MONTH: It helps me get a better visual of when everything is due, important days, etc. Basically a calendar, and serves the same purpose.

MONTH PRIORITY: The things that are the most important and have to get finished by a certain time frame in that month. Having a to-do list is fine, but a priority list hits different lmao. Seeing what I HAVE to have done and by when really helps me stay on track.
(Remember, if you think the due date is flexible, then it's not a priority!)

WEEKLY TO-DO LIST: Very self-explanatory. And really you could use it as a weekly to-do list or just notes/details about what you have to get done. Like I said about breaking everything down to really help you visualize, by having a weekly to-do list section it's going to give you a general idea of what your week is going to look like. Then you can plan other things around it, be free time, a day off, etc.

TODAY: I place all the things I need to do that day there. A lot of times I'll procrastinate and lose track of what I need to do. Even today I was walking around feeling lost. But going to the board and seeing what I had under today really helped put me back on track.


Also, color coding helps me a lot as well. I have different colored dry erase markers that I use for different purposes
Everything is really flexible on the board and you can add and take away what suits you. I even surprised myself this month by being able to get everything I wanted done. I don't think that's ever happened to me before. XD

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But I hope it helps anyone really. And if anyone tries it, please tell me if it works for you, if it doesn't, why, etc., I think everyone has a way to time manage that suits them, they just have to find it. If this isn't for you I hope it at least helps guide you to what works.