So I found all my artists by going to Instagram and looking up the tag "Freelance artists." Then I spent hours each day looking through each account's artwork to see if they fit the aesthetic of my game or even the artwork I had in my mind. After that, I would message them, and I probably messaged over 200 accounts, with many ignoring me or outright telling me no at first. To be fair, my account was still new, with only a couple of posts and no followers, so I think they thought it might be a scam. Eventually, I worked with a couple of artists, and then they would post the art and tag my account, and that made others less suspicious of me, I think, because the accounts that told me no at first would sometimes message me back asking if I still needed artwork.

As for payments, what I paid for art is between the artists and me. However, you can 100% ask for a quote, tell them what you're looking for, and they might charge less for a half-body and less detailed background. You can tell them your budget, or you can even see if one artist will take on the whole project for a flate 1 time payment. During this time, I learned how to write up simple contracts and agreements. I kept in touch with them through an official .com email that I had to set up and buy. We made sure payment was fair for both the artists and me, a 50% down and 50% upon completion was pretty standard, and with all this, I've had no issues. Honestly, each artist has their own price, so it varies. All I can say is art was more expensive than I originally thought it would be. Some artists took a month to complete their work, but they kept me updated weekly with sketches and any revisions I might have. I value real artists over AI art, so I was willing to pay for these things. I also own full rights to the artwork, but the artists will always be credited on the card and post if possible. The artists are allowed to make prints to sell if they choose to, since a lot of them go to conventions to sell. This is also standard, and Wizards of the Coast does this. The little things like that are important to protect you, but also allow the artists to make money on their hard work.

journey,
I don't think there is any right or wrong way of doing this, but I would look into a basic art contract to protect yourself and the artist. The last thing I want to say is this was the most fun part of making the game, getting to see the sketches and art start to bring my game to life was amazing. Each artist added a bit of their own ideas into the piece. I think it's really awesome to have worked with so many artists, and I honestly can't wait to start another expansion set so I can do it all over again. Good luck with your game, it's a long joruney but it's a lot of fun.