Go for the low hanging fruit first.

First thing I would do is email all of your past clients. And let them know if they are wanting a commission as a xmas present they need to get back to you before November 30th (or whatever date you choose). If you want, you could do an ‘Xmas special’ have a discount for the first X people. Offer this to existing clients first (saying something like, ‘as a past customer I wanted to offer this to you first’)

I would then also post the same thing a day or two after all over you social media.

If you don’t have a budget, find instagram hashtags that let people know you are an artist for hire: eg #artistforhire #portraitcommission – I made those up, so make sure you do your research.

There are also a couple of reddit forums that you can post on, eg r/artstore
You could also participate on r/redditgetsdrawn - When you post up your submission you can state you also do commissions. I've seen people get work that way.

Here's the thing, if you have already been posting up stuff on your social media etc, they are already through the first three steps of AIDA. This will get them to take action.

That’s just a quick brainstorm. I’ll post up any more ideas if they come up. Let me know how you go.

@marsha-kay-ottum-owen Proko's stuff is great. I'm currently doing his anatomy course...10/10

The main thing I can see is to focus on the proportions of the body. The arms are a little too short and the head a little too large.

Elves are also 'idealistic' in their body proportions. If you need a guide, I would use the "Fashion" proportions that Andrew Loomis used. Pictured Here

Here is a video that could be useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_GhKAgfAQ0

I hope that helps

While this isn't exactly answering your question, you might find this helpful. While I don't know of any illustrator specific podcasts, two good art marketing podcast, are:

One Fantastic Week
Art Marketing Podcast by Art Storefronts.

Both are more targeted towards the independent artist but are full of amazing content. I would say One Fantastic Week will have something more to your liking. The Art Marketing Podcast is more business orientated. One Fantastic Week has great content for any artist looking to go pro.

"Roasted"

Oh man, Ink is not as easy as it seems. I had some issues mixing the ink wash over some ink pen lines I did. Seems like the ink from the pen is water soluble...hence when there is a slightly different colouring on the floor of the "cave".

Bummer. Oh well, that's the whole point of inktober - to learn something new. Seems like I'm feeling the learning part of it. haha.

Oh and a special shoutout to everyone that followed me on Instagram. Loving the support.

Day 2: Tranquil

I originally struggled with this drawing. I didn't want to do a typical 'tranquil' landscape of mountains and water, or someone meditating which (according to Google image search) everyone relates to tranquility.

For me, tranquility is finding peace and enjoying the little things. I wanted to capture that in this artwork. It was a lot of fun.

Hmm. I did some preliminary sketches a couple of weeks ago to figure out what I wanted to do. But this piece took about 2-3 hours, mainly because I had to wait for the ink to dry.

I don't think I could sustain that amount of time each day. I'm tweaking some of my other ideas for future days so I can get them completed quicker.

Inktober has hit in Australia. Here is my first one. "Poisoned"

This is my first ever ink drawing for Inktober. It was definitely a challenge, but I really enjoyed exploring what I can do in a limited timeframe and with little to no experience using ink.

Like Jake says "better finished than perfect". While I can see there is definitely room for improvement, I am happy to have finished it.

It's looking slick. Well done.

What is the #1 purpose of your website? eg:

• Sell art through your store?
• Act as a portfolio for galleries?
• Act as a portfolio for publishers looking for a book illustrator?

Depending on the purpose of your website, will mean the way you set it up will be slightly different to cater for your target market. Let us know and we can give you some specific feedback to help you achieve the website's main goal

I think @TessaW nailed it regarding the importance & non-importance of the follower/following ratio.

I wouldn’t worry too much about followers per-say. You need to ask yourself what your ultimate goal is… ultimately get paid for you art. I’d prefer to have 100 followers who regularly buy my art than 10K followers where they just ‘like’ my art.

That being said, just putting out good content isn’t enough. Just like @smceccarelli stated marketing your work is important. Leveraging off influencers and curators is always a good strategy for any marketing platform.

There are plenty of paid and free curators on Instagram that you can leverage off. I would hesitate paying, but with many of them if you tag them you go into a ‘draw’ to be featured. I’ve had one of my portraits featured and I got around 50 new followers.

Also, spend time to consider who you are targeting. @smceccarelli mentions they try to get their work infront of childrens writers, editors and art directors – people that will directly contribute to the bottom line. Consider the audience different curators and influencers have. Are their followers your target audience?

The same goes for hashtags. Consider what type of hashtags your target audience will follow.

Regarding @Alexis-Janis question regarding buying instagram followers. I would avoid this. Why? Firstly, many of these services can use bots, and if they don't many of the followers are usually low low quality. I wouldn’t bother. I’ve never had any long term succeed using these shortcuts with client accounts.

Also consider how you can direct traffic outside of Instagram to your Instagram.

• Do you have an email list? Encourage them to follow you on Instagram.
• Do you show your art at markets or conventions? Get them to sign up to your email list or Instagram.
• Are you successful on other social media? Promote your Instagram on other social platforms.
• Have you considered guest posting on a children’s writers website? You can link to your website or Instagram from there.
• Maybe you know of a podcast that art directors listen to? Come up with something of value you can share with their audience, and reach out to the podcast host.

Hope that gives you some ideas.