Mistakes I made as a pet portrait commissions artist

Hey guys,
Here are some mistakes I made whilst running my full time pet portrait commissions business to help you avoid them! Sorry for all the jump cuts, still getting used to talking to the camera so the 'ums' are relentless lol
Join our Patreon community of thriving pet portrait artists, where I have lots of tutorials and full guide on starting your pet portrait business from scratch: www.patreon.com/gracemurrayart
Filming equipment:
Samsung Note 22 Ultra

[@Igor-ug1uo]

Thanks for the advice. I noticed that the hardest part for me is to come up with the price and especially to announce it to the potential cuatomer.

[@amyspetpawtraits4184]

Great video! This was something I really needed to hear 👍❤

[@gracemurrayart]

Thank you Amy, I'm glad!❤️

[@fuzzydragons]

people complain when i tell them the price when i do rarely offer commissions, well my time and skill are worth it so ...its either pay me or i go to someone else that will

[@gracemurrayart]

Love the attitude!

[@melh1030]

Thank you for sharing your experience and especially thank you for reminding us not to compare ourselves to others. ❤

[@christinehowell]

This is really helpful. Thank you!

[@gracemurrayart]

I'm glad you found it helpful, Christine! Thank you ❤️

[@soarpurpose]

Good tips

[@nellyfarmer3053]

Some valuable words of advice….I shall take note. Thanks for a great video x

[@gracemurrayart]

Thank you Nelly, I'm glad it was of value to you x

[@T15-v3d]

Amazong art, you have really helped me recently and brought my love for drawing back, im only 16 but with amazing instructors like you out there im sure ill progress fast

[@gracemurrayart]

Aww this is so great to hear, I appreciate it and I'm really glad you've regained your love for drawing!

[@TmHudsonArt]

I don't have a separate bank account either however I do have freshbooks so all my ins and outs are logged into there and I don't have to keep receipts as I just photograph and upload them. It does make things a lot easier in that sense so doing taxes is much easier as you can isolate the tax year you want and it gives you your profit and expenses over the whole year and no calculator needed.

[@gracemurrayart]

I'm inspired by your organisation!

[@TmHudsonArt]

@@gracemurrayart I'm not very organised overall so don't be haha...

[@witchmedusa7995]

I feel this formy own work right now... I am actually under charging if we are going by minimum wage - £10 x by 13 hours it took me to do a drawing should be charging £130 for it, but people won't even buy it at the £100 I have them up (new price to what I had them at) which was £50 and even then I wasn't getting many sells, and someone told me recently that I was over charging for them now, and should put them down to £60 which I did that my drawing per hour would only be £4

[@JuanJoGil]

nice tips grace thanks for the info , a question are you in skillshare ?

[@gracemurrayart]

Thanks Juan, appreciate it! I'm not but I have been thinking about it, just Patreon and KZbin for now to stop my brain exploding, but maybe in the future 😂

[@TmHudsonArt]

@@gracemurrayart I've heard Skillshare is no longer a good option after they restructured their payments to creators making it no longer worthwhile..

[@denisestone4407]

All very true! I can relate to aloe that and I can attest to the fact that there are other groups that feel they have to justify their prices lol. I have a cake business, although I don't have to justify it as much as I've been doing it for nearly 8 years. But do feel I overcharge some of the time, people think its flour, sugar and eggs 🤦‍♀️ I am at the beginning of pastel journey, although not a beginning artist. I have been asked already if I take commissions. There is that dilemma about how to charge, as I might take longer the complete the drawing, than if I had been doing for a couple of years.

[@halfengineer33]

👌🏻💐

[@anthonypage3428]

Could you do a drawing of a chameleon in colored pencil, please? There's like one tutorial on KZbin and I feel like you would be able to break it down really well. Or even tips on how to color the scales? Your artwork and videos are great! Thank you!

[@RobMillwardPodgekins88]

Great video. Especially the comparison part. I end up seeing hyper realism stuff over insta and just get depressed lol. Also at what point did you transition from a bit of cash on the side to a legit business paying taxes etc?

[@gracemurrayart]

Thank you Rob, I'm glad it was helpful! Yeah I know how you feel, comparison destroys the joy of art sometimes. I think 'legally' it's when you start earning over 1k a year from the business.

[@RobMillwardPodgekins88]

@@gracemurrayart ahhh ok. Mike’s away from that then atm 😅 I’m still drawing on the kitchen dining table doing 6 hour drawings for like £60 once a month and the other drawings for myself 😂

[@gracemurrayart]

@@RobMillwardPodgekins88 We all start that way Rob, no shame in it! It's amazing that you're doing something you love and making money regardless. Time to get yourself a desk and a corner of a room, though 😜

[@RobMillwardPodgekins88]

@@gracemurrayart need to get the courage to up prices a little too I think now! Some people think you’ll be happy with a tenner for hours and hours of work. Also whilst on subject of beginners, at what stage did you decide to ‘quit your job’ and do art full time?

[@artistkevinscottjacobs3489]

Thank you great advise!

[@yavannapeet3952]

Thanks for the helpful tips!

[@gracemurrayart]

Happy to help!

[@michaelp245]

Do you trace outline

[@tomfielder8973]

👍