TLDR, Here's the short answer
These platforms are where you can commission an artist, message them and they are highly responsive via direct messages in the current year.
- Fiverr
- Reddit
/r/hungryartists
/r/artcommissions
/r/gameDevClassifieds
- Discord
- Artstation???
- Behance - I found an excellent manga artist here one time in 2022!
The platforms that used to be "hip" seem to have either died off or are heading that way. If you have exhausted your options then you can try them as a last dig. This is everything from DeviantArt, Tumblr (lol), Dribbble, Artfol and CGSociety
Artstation is particularly a funny one as they killed themselves with the "AI incident", trust in this business is vital. You want to keep that in mind when you are doing business with an artist.
In the current year, that's where you'll find artists flocking together like geese. If you ask them nicely and throw some coins in their pockets, rumour has it they
But, Where do I find the good artists?
This is a somewhat annoying question, its far too subjective but I'll be more than happy to give you a long winded answer.
It took me 3+ years of getting artists to create art for various projects to acquire this information. Fiver alone has by far has been the repeated go to place for art.
At this point, I've racked up over 140 purchased on Fiverr as I have needed to commission an artist quite a lot over the years. Most of these are 2D/3D related and some translation work here and there.
I have at least that same number of commissions split between other platforms. At present in the current year, these are your best bet in finding an artist to do work for hire that is 2D, 3D and happy to do NSFW content also.
I can honestly say there is no such thing as a "Good Artist", but oh boy are there a lot of horrid artists. Fortunately they are very easy to spot.
First impressions are the only impressions, make sure to communicate when you commission an artist you want to hire while wearing a tuxedo and saying things your grandma would approve of.
The type of artists that are likely to always be late with their commissions, use stolen work or flat out deliver the wrong work let you know early through their communications.
Here are some tips when hiring an artist.
- Portfolio: Ask them for a portfolio, or samples of their work. If you don't like their art, find someone else unless you are prepared for varying results. Scammers will share suspicious art.
- Communicate Clearly: Keep your requests short, concise and to the point. Artists can't read your mind so be sure to explain efficiently what you want and expect.
- No Essays! Continuing from the above point, Don't send artists an essay on your character, the only person who will read that is a scammer.
- Find The Work: Then ask that specific artist to make the style they know how to do with your changes in mind. Asking an artist to emulate someone else's style is destined to end poorly for you both
- Don't Haggle: Unless you are spending $1000+ on a single commission or its been repeated purchases, why are you penny pinching this poor art monkey. Don't do it.
- Pay Half If it's a large sum of money, ball park $150+, don't be afraid to ask the artist if it's possible to pay half up front. This will reduce your risk and match your artists expectations
- Use References: Don't be afraid to open up MSPain or Slides and create 1 simple 1024x1024 image showing what you're after. Its part of an artists job to take an idea and envision it
How good your references should be is very subjective. I have ranged from giving a simple MSPain drawing; to detailed instructions on how to do a task that an artist didnt have too much experience with.
As with anything, always ask first. A sure fire way to get another human being to want to take your head off is to offer unsolicited advice.
An artist offered to slice up a character I had for a visual novel but didnt have any experience doing it. I produced the following 1 page sheet giving a quick run down of the parts we needed to get this bad girl animated.
Good luck with your project! I hope it turns out how you expect it to.
