Furry Artist Wants to Take on Non-X Commissions

Dear Papabear,

I've been drawing since I was ten, and I keep improving more and more. I do trades and art raffles online, and people are generally pleased with what I draw for them. 

Lately, I've begun to develop a "if I'm good at something, I shouldn't do it for free" mentality. I'd like to open commissions, because I would like to gain experience in selling art. I'm not the best artist, but I'm better than many. I've seen with less skill than me (and I don't mean than in a condescending way) do commissions for people, so why can't I? 

Anyway, I would like to get my foot through the door of commissions but the problem is that it seems like the yiff and fetish artists are the ones that seem to get the most customers and I don't want to draw yiff. I don't want to draw it because I just don't feel comfortable doing it. 

I'm able to draw tame(ish) fetish related art and pinups, however, if people really want me to. I'm just afraid that people will get turned off to me as an artist because I don't want to draw yiff. 

Is there a way for me to get my paw in the door of commissions without drawing yiff? 

Sincerely, 

Caleb (age 18) 

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Dear Caleb,

I agree that if you have a skill you should be able to make an income using those skills. Knowing other artists, I also have to regrettably agree that there is a higher demand for furporn than pretty much anything else out there, and I do know of artists who draw it only because they can’t make money drawing G or PG stuff.

There are a couple other ways you can still go that are still very popular with many furries, however. One is to specialize as a badge designer. It is rare to see a furcon attendee without one of these badges, and sometimes more. I have about 10 of them myself :-) You don't make a lot per badge, but they are quick to draw so you can make up with quantity what you lack in price per badge.

Second, and kind of related to the above, is character reference sheets. These are in demand by people who want to have fursuits made for them (below is a copy of the one I had done for my Grubbs Grizzly fursuit).

Another medium that is very popular is furry comics. And many of these are clean. Some furry artists who are popular with their porn have also managed to be popular with clean furry comics and graphic novels. One that comes to mind is Blotch (actually a female team of artists). If you are unsure of your writing skills, or simply have no interest in writing, there are lots of furry writers out there who are seeking a good illustrator to collaborate with (I know of one very close to me who is still looking for one).

So, there are three ideas where you can be paid as an artist to do non-furporn art that is still very popular with furries. Hope that helps!!!

Hugs,

Papabear

Example of a character reference sheet used to help design a fursuit.