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Description
I wrote a new Journal on Tips on How to Get Commissions with waaay more info! Check it out!
When offering commissions, it can be very hard to get yourself noticed, what with the hundreds of thousands of other artists out there. People gripe about how pageviews aren’t important, but they are a helpful tool for you to see what kind of traffic flow you’re attracting. The more views you get, the more of a chance there is that one of those viewers is interested in commissioning you.

Gigonomics is a term I heard about a few months ago at an FLBA conference. After Googling it, many people seem to be using it in a slightly different way, but I was particularly intrigued by the way it was used by the keynote speaker, who was also a comedian. I can’t remember his name, but I probably will after I post this…

Basically he said that he takes any gig he can get, because you never know who could be in the audience. That was how he was asked to come to our conference. I realized that this can apply here on DeviantArt as well.
The way to get yourself noticed is to do as much as you can to get out there. Here are some of the ways you can do that:

    Do as many pictures for other people as you can stand. Doing this will lessen the number of commissions you get while you offer them, but it's still a good way to attract people. Lots of people have a special collection for art drawn for them. This usually has way less stuff than favorites do, and is slapped proudly on their profile, so your work is more likely to be seen. The big things for this are: requests, trades, collabs, commissions and gifts. Upload all of these things individually. It may piss off your watchers, so be careful about how often you do it, but the more surface area you have, the better.

   Get others to draw your characters. Request requests, trades, collabs and commissions and join contests as often as you can. If any their followers like your character, you may have yourself a new watcher.

   Hold little sales. This can create a little hype, especially if there's a time frame and limited availability. Don't do them too often, or people won't buy at your regular prices, but one every few months can attract a few sales.

   Comment like crazy. The more often your name comes up, the more likely people will click on it. Especially if you have a nice icon so make sure it’s interesting, that it can drag people in. I’ve found new watch-ees this way so many times, I can’t even express how important this can be.

   Hold contests, and offer to do contest prizes. Contests mean more people drawing stuff for you, and hopefully sending more people your way. Contests can become very popular, so having your name up there as a prize donator means more face time.

   Do fan art. I hate to even put this in here, but I became kind of well known by all of the Warriors fans because I did a crap load of fan art. It’s a great way to drag people in, and sometimes they stay because they like your other art too.

   Donate points when you can. That donation pool is important to whoever put it up, so it’s usually at the top of the page, and right where you want your face to be. A few points here and there, and you’ve done a kind thing, and gotten a free advertisement.

   Featuring others can help really help people if you have a decent traffic flow. I've found many of my watch-ees this way, so if you feel like giving back, try it. C:

   Submit your art to groups. This should be obvious. Groups are intended to collect art with a certain topic, so if you draw a lot of something, you may gain new watchers through posting your art.

Haha, doing a lot of this for your own personal gain can sound kind of shallow, but most of you do these things anyway, and gain without even knowing it. Business these days can be very hard to come by. If you want to sell art, you need to be active in pursuing your audience, and these are the best ways to do that without having to pay for advertising that most people ignore.

Bullet; Red — Description
I wrote a new Journal on Tips on How to Get Commissions with waaay more info! Check it out!
When offering commissions, it can be very hard to get yourself noticed, what with the hundreds of thousands of other artists out there. People gripe about how pageviews aren’t important, but they are a helpful tool for you to see what kind of traffic flow you’re attracting. The more views you get, the more of a chance there is that one of those viewers is interested in commissioning you.

Gigonomics is a term I heard about a few months ago at an FLBA conference. After Googling it, many people seem to be using it in a slightly different way, but I was particularly intrigued by the way it was used by the keynote speaker, who was also a comedian. I can’t remember his name, but I probably will after I post this…

Basically he said that he takes any gig he can get, because you never know who could be in the audience. That was how he was asked to come to our conference. I realized that this can apply here on DeviantArt as well.
The way to get yourself noticed is to do as much as you can to get out there. Here are some of the ways you can do that:

    Do as many pictures for other people as you can stand. Doing this will lessen the number of commissions you get while you offer them, but it's still a good way to attract people. Lots of people have a special collection for art drawn for them. This usually has way less stuff than favorites do, and is slapped proudly on their profile, so your work is more likely to be seen. The big things for this are: requests, trades, collabs, commissions and gifts. Upload all of these things individually. It may piss off your watchers, so be careful about how often you do it, but the more surface area you have, the better.

   Get others to draw your characters. Request requests, trades, collabs and commissions and join contests as often as you can. If any their followers like your character, you may have yourself a new watcher.

   Hold little sales. This can create a little hype, especially if there's a time frame and limited availability. Don't do them too often, or people won't buy at your regular prices, but one every few months can attract a few sales.

   Comment like crazy. The more often your name comes up, the more likely people will click on it. Especially if you have a nice icon so make sure it’s interesting, that it can drag people in. I’ve found new watch-ees this way so many times, I can’t even express how important this can be.

   Hold contests, and offer to do contest prizes. Contests mean more people drawing stuff for you, and hopefully sending more people your way. Contests can become very popular, so having your name up there as a prize donator means more face time.

   Do fan art. I hate to even put this in here, but I became kind of well known by all of the Warriors fans because I did a crap load of fan art. It’s a great way to drag people in, and sometimes they stay because they like your other art too.

   Donate points when you can. That donation pool is important to whoever put it up, so it’s usually at the top of the page, and right where you want your face to be. A few points here and there, and you’ve done a kind thing, and gotten a free advertisement.

   Featuring others can help really help people if you have a decent traffic flow. I've found many of my watch-ees this way, so if you feel like giving back, try it. C:

   Submit your art to groups. This should be obvious. Groups are intended to collect art with a certain topic, so if you draw a lot of something, you may gain new watchers through posting your art.

Haha, doing a lot of this for your own personal gain can sound kind of shallow, but most of you do these things anyway, and gain without even knowing it. Business these days can be very hard to come by. If you want to sell art, you need to be active in pursuing your audience, and these are the best ways to do that without having to pay for advertising that most people ignore.