Hello there and welcome to the second part of our glimpse into the world of furry fandom artists. Today we’re going to take a small trip backstage and look at some other aspects of the furry artists.
Where to Find?
A good question to ask for anyone seeking out furry art is: where do I go to find it?
An excellent starting point is the website Fur Affinity, and there are other furry-specific sites as well such as Inkbunny. Deviant Art also has a healthy amount of furry art.
There’s also Twitter. LOTS of artists use Twitter.
Tumblr is host to furry friends sharing their artwork as well. There’s plenty of blogs that centered on specific things in the furry community, which makes finding art even easier. And sometimes they’re under not-too-subtle names, like Clean Furry Fuzzbutts.
Look at all those fuzzbutts.
Commissioner Artist
Artists who take commissions are common in the fandom, as I’ve no doubt mentioned before.
Commissioning can be quite an interesting and intricate process. Let’s take a look at the how-to’s of commissioning a furry artist.
First, you need to know where an artist has their commission information stashed.
If they have a Fur Affinity, they’ll most likely either have their status right there on their front page. Plenty also do commision announcements and updats on their journals, too.
On Twitter they’ll either have a pinned tweet or include their commission status in the bio.
Prices and quotes are found in various ways.
It might be in a journal, they might have drawn a picture or graphic with commission info, or they may have used FA’s Commission tab.
If all else fails, feel free to shoot them a message. Just remember to be nice and professional!
Always check things out first before acting on impulse! Some artists might have additional steps to take. For example, Clockwork Raccoon has a Commission Request Form you need to fill out.
Clockwork Raccoon’s commissions tab on her Fur Affinity page.
If you’re like me and don’t have ref sheets handy…get good at descriptions.
Getting good at providing descriptions is something that you’ll have to become adept at. And if you’re going to rely on descriptions you should be more flexible with the final product.
After all, someone might perceive “Bulky” different than you do. I tend to give only the needed details, so the artist can get all the information they need first.
Don’t get me wrong, backstories are cool…but artists are more interested in how the tattoo looks and less on the why.
And again, you’re dealing with words. And words can be interpreted very different from one person to the next. So be flexible if it turns out different than you imagined.
Let’s call it “The Description Tax.”
And now, some general do’s and don’ts of commissioning artists
-
DO be patient. Sometimes real life gets in the way and causes delays. The unexpected happens to us all. Keep watch on them, but don’t badger them every week for progress or to see a WIP (Work in Progress).
-
However, if it feels like it’s taking longer than it should, DO NOT be afraid to ask for updates. But always remember the following point…
-
DO be polite. Artists have to deal with a lot of trouble customers like any other service industry. A little courtesy goes a long way, and trust me artists will appreciate it a lot.
-
DO pay attention to an artist’s Terms of Service (TOS). It might restrict certain things such as how you can use the art you’ve commissioned. If something’s unclear then DO ask and clear things up.
-
DO respect what an artist’s limits are. If they don’t draw NSFW art don’t try to convince them to, and if they won’t draw certain things, they won’t.
-
DO be detailed and specific. If an artist draw a goat with hooves but you wanted fingers and you didn’t specify it, then that’s on you. If you have reference images, don’t hesitate to send ‘em, or any images you feel that can help them see how you want your character done.
-
DO NOT assume an artist is ignoring you. Some artists are busy or can only check their messages every so often. Sending them ten messages asking if they’re open because they don’t respond is a good way to irritate someone.
-
DO NOT complain about pricing. Time and talent is valuable and each artist has their own price. But trying to guilt them into lowering prices is a terrible thing to do.
-
DO NOT try to scam artists. They talk to each other and there’s resources out there. You’ll be on a blacklist fast.
-
DO NOT be passive. If you feel like an artist is trying to scam you (it has happened before) do not hesitate to take action. There are various sites like the Artists Beware blog on LiveJournal that’s dedicated to helping folks and to chronicling and spread awareness about problem artists.
-
DO also keep record of communication between yourself and an artist. Sites like Artist Beware need you to have evidence, such as logged conversations and screencaps.
-
DO NOT tell them to “Get A Real Job.” They’ve more than likely heard that from other folks. One more person isn’t going to make them change their mind.
-
DO NOT pay in “Exposure”. Don’t be cheap. Pay your artists.
Follow the above and trust me, a lot of your time with artists will be a smooth one.
Of course, there still might be problems and conflicts. But a little courtesy can go a long way, even during conflicts and fights.
Even if you aren’t interested in furry art, these principles are handy for any commissioning.
Super Support
So, you’ve found yourself some groovy artists that you like following. Now you want to help spread the word about them and get them some deserved attention or help. Awesome!
Here are some ways to do that.
Atlas*White’s Patreon Page
Patreon is one such platform that you can support artists on.
It’s a super cool site that launched a few years ago to help content creators finance themselves. You pledge money to the creator, and either every month or every time they release something they get paid.
You can pledge as much as your budget allows, so if you can’t afford to commission someone you can still support them on Patreon with as low as $1.
Though keep in mind, Patreon does take a cut.
Most artists will also often have reward tiers for patrons that goes all over the place. High-resolution art seems to be the standard, and I’ve seen one or two artists even do a “Ask My Characters Anything” tier.
Members get to ask the artists’ characters questions, and then the artist draws their response to the question.
If monetary support is out of the question fear not, there’s still other ways.
For example, why not get their permission and post it up on other sites such as Reddit? There’s a large furry subreddit, /r/furry, and they love themselves some good furry art.
Remember to link back and give credit!
And of course there’s always the ever classic liking, sharing, retweeting, favoriting, watching, and so on.
It might not seem like much, but you never know if you’ll end up giving an artist a new customer because you had to retweet the picture of that adorable squirrel nerd reading a book.
Well, that about wraps it up for the second part of our look at furry artists.
I hope you enjoyed this small glance into what’s a huge part of the furry fandom. Seriously, try to get involved in the furry community and not hear about commissions.
But what do you think of furry artists? Have any questions about them? Don’t be afraid to comment! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you all you next time.
most of the sites you listed require one to make an account with said sites. Something (I and probably others) wouldn’t want to do just to send one message to an “artist”. Even then, you have to watch them for when they are “open for comm” is something most don’t want to do. Pretty fail….