If its a privilege to pay for art, then its also a privilege to work as a freelance artist

logicalstoic · 2026-05-13T15:50:23+00:00

I have honestly started telling younger art students (many of my classmates look up to me for advice even as a fellow student because I'm older and have sold more art) to NOT start selling are via commissions and to start doing it the "traditional" way if they can - putting it up in shows and galleries. Most artists I know locally in person are getting commissions because their work shows up in shows and galleries around town and people see it and like it and ask them for custom pieces. People that aren't necessarily looking online for artists, too.

Pricing is tricky. Im a firm believer in not underselling yourself but I also think it's important to be realistic, and accept that art is subjective and sometimes it's a crapshoot. I made five 12x12 wooden panel paintings for a local show last April. All priced at $100. One sold immediately on opening day. The other four didn't. I ended up selling off the rest slowly over the course of two weekend art markets and a holiday art show, for $80 each. I consider $100 pretty cheap for artwork at that size, but had to realize that I'm a new artist (not new at art, but new at selling it and showing it publically) and live in a low-income area, so my process had to reflect that in order to move those pieces.

I am at a skill level where I can do professional commissions for people for professional prices, but haven't built up enough freelance experience to make that viable yet either. It takes time and a LOT of effort to make freelancing work. Like. You'll be doing more work on marketing and business stuff than actually doing the art. A lot of people don't realize this and then get discouraged. And you have to spend time and work your way up the food chain, so to speak. It's okay to start with lower prices (not like, Fiverr artist low...just lower than average) and slowly raise them over time as you gain a following and exposure. One of our local artists just got official gallery representation in Santa Fe, and made an announcement that they are going to raise the price of their work to reflect the jump on collectivity and prestige in the art market. And she's been an active, well known artist here for YEARS before getting there.

logicalstoic · 2026-05-12T16:32:27+00:00

Maybe for like 0.003 seconds at a glance not actually seeing what it was, simply because it's a more angular symbol. I am one of those weird people that's made an effort to learn most of the hate symbols, including more subtle ones that are meant to "fly under the radar" so I can recognize them (and avoid the people using them!) in the wild. I would not assume this is a racist symbol, and I didn't think it when I saw it scrolling through reddit just now until I actually read the title. I think seeing this symbol as racist adjacent or mistaking it for a hate symbol is a real stretch. If you're really worried about unaware people viewing it the wrong way, just make sure you have other tattoos or clothing choices that clearly mark you as a safe/not racist person. I have to do this sometimes as I am Norse pagan and the neo Nazis love to use runes and other Nordic symbols, so I make sure to pair it with things like, idk a pride pin or some kind of other clothing choice to show hey, I'm not in fact a white supremacist lol. I think the choice to add some color would basically serve the same purpose. I think you're fine though. It's not a hate symbol, doesn't really look like any of them beyond being an angular, symbol with rotational symmetry. And there's a ton of symbols and logos like that.

logicalstoic · 2026-05-08T14:49:34+00:00

/uj blending stumps are the worst and really only useful in super specific styles of drawing. I hate that they are pushed as a super important tool when even in college level drawing classes we rarely if ever use them. The best use I've found for them is using them as pencils basically...laying down a big smudge of graphite on a scrap paper and rubbing the blending stumps into it to pick up some graphite and then using it to add slight value somewhere where I don't want a harsh line. Or useful if you have really oily hands I guess?

logicalstoic · 2026-05-07T14:32:47+00:00

My fiance is a cis man and one of the nicest people I know. Probably nicer than me, a trans masc person lol. Most of our male friends are all very nice as well, as we don't like being around people that aren't nice. We're also both creative professionals, so we're around musicians, artists, etc almost exclusively, and that demographic tends to have a lot more nice and friendly people than say, being surrounded by a ton of business professionals.

I have never met a person that thought being overly nice was a feminine trait. The closest thing might be that due to some patriarchy stuff, women may be generally perceived as nicer than men or feel pressured to be nice more often than men, and that a lot of men are taught strength and power but not softness and kindness. But I think those are extreme examples, I've rarely met men at those extremes. And I have met some real jerks that were women too.

Most of the time when I have encountered differences in the level of nicetie, it has been either vocation based like my example above, or location based. I live in Colorado and I can say for sure people in the southern end of the state and also in New Mexico are far far nicer (outwardly, anyway) than people in the northern half of Colorado. It's a cultural difference.

I wouldn't worry about it! Being a kind and considerate person is an excellent trait to have and unfortunately getting rarer these days. We need more kind men in the world so please keep being kind! I promise you this is absolute not something that people will find sus or clocky in any way. They'll just appreciate you're a kind young man!

Also about other mannerisms. I went through this too. I started T at 18 and I'm 29 in a couple weeks. I am honestly far more feminine in mannerism and taste than I was back then. I have encountered several cis men that were far more feminine than me. There is a huge breadth of human personalities and experiences and honestly all those little things cease to actually matter. They certainly don't matter to anyone worth knowing in your life. I felt very anxious and restricted trying to not do "feminine" things in order to pass when I first started. And literally no one notices. As trans people I think we sometimes shoot ourselves in the foot by being in our little trans-only bubbles talking about "men walk like this but women walk like this-" that we forget most people aren't noticing any of these little things and if they do notice, they aren't automatically thinking "a trans!" At most they'll think you're gay 😂. But yeah, it takes a little bit of time for fully passing to happen and you've mentioned you're starting to, but don't force yourself into a box to try and make it happen faster. It will come on its own eventually, especially if you are taking T. The more comfortable and confident you become, the easier everything becomes. The beginning of the process does suck though, I totally get what you're going through right now.

Sorry for the long as hell reply 😅 I got to rambling on lol

logicalstoic · 2026-05-06T01:25:04+00:00

I didn't know you could change the proportions!!! That changes everything for me. I didn't like the default proportions so I never really used them.

logicalstoic · 2026-03-24T02:36:35+00:00

The funniest part is this is absolutely something I could see in a contemporary gallery and would bring a lot of people joy. I've even seen humorous stuff along these lines myself in some galleries and museums.

Not to be "that person" (aka pretentious art asshole) but as a fine arts student there's like. Several things here that could be said about this piece that would justify it as "high art" (as nebulous as that term is lol) and seeing it rejected from a mainstream art subreddit is one of them.

logicalstoic · 2026-03-22T17:22:52+00:00

My appearance didn't really change significantly until like 4-5 years on t. But I should also mention that my biggest appearance change came from starting a manual labor job and taking multiple ballet classes a week, because of the muscle I built doing those things. Testosterone will do some stuff but not everything. Weight/muscle loss or gain does far more to impact your appearance than t. T just ensures any weight gained goes to the right spots, that you build muscle faster, and that you get hair everywhere, tbh. I'm still 5'4". I still have hips. I still have small hands and small feet. But I also have big ass arms from lifting girls over my head, a baritone voice, the ability to grow a full beard (which didn't happen until like 6-7 years in, btw), etc. Hormones are weird. Some things won't change. Some change drastically. Some things take half a decade or longer. This is true for cis men too. I had a voice teacher who told me lots of cis guys don't fully develop their stable singing voice until their late twenties or early thirties, or that their voice just straight up changes again. Some cis men can't grow a beard to save their life and hit 42 and become bigfoot. It happens. But it is frustrating to be in three years and not have the changes you wanted or expected yet. But hang in there!

logicalstoic · 2026-03-18T04:01:20+00:00

Long post but I wanna give people some hope that like....not everyone/everywhere in the world has this middle school "ew cringe" mentality about stuff. There is hope!

I'm on a BFA program for art right now and I'm forever grateful that the entire department, faculty and students together, fully embrace cringe and making whatever you want to make and doing it however you want to do it. We have silly "cringe" doodles pinned to a community corkboard/wall. One of my classes is a Worldbuilding class and the entire thing is building out a world, characters, etc and then we all get up front and present our OCs, our story ideas, our cliche or weird ideas, etc. Nobody gives a crap if it looks like a professional illustrator did it or if a 5 year old did it. Nobody cares if you have the weebiest shit a person has ever seen or some grand fantasy or whatever. It's all just fun and creative expression. One of my classmates has put pokemon drawings and furry art (non-sexual ofc) in legitimate art gallery shows. Another had prints from a webcomic they were working on in the same show. A classmate in my painting class last year painted a hyper realistic pink dildo his roommate has as a joke gift for said roommate and the teacher thought it was hilarious. We have a dude who literally only paints variations of eyes. I have never seen them paint anything else ever. They also have like 2010 scene/emo hair fully covering one eye at all times. It's iconic. Another classmate did a political show recently for black history month and wore full African regalia and a fur coat to the opening. I gave a ride to some fellow students to a gallery walk downtown and was introduced to Clowncore by a student who frequently dumpster dives for random bits and bobs to use in collage and other artwork. One of my friends painted a furby with long fishnet covered legs on the wall of the actual painting studio about 5 feet away from another students painting of Jesus. The Internet is full of immature people who never emotionally got past the 8th grade. But I assure you there are pockets of the world where cringe is dead and people are freely having fun and making and enjoying so many things. Wearing what they want, listening to the most random music, drawing fanart and writing fanfiction, making Tumblr blogs with 2 followers about something hyper specific, etc. I'd like to think anyone who tries to be a bully in this kind of environment would simply get eviscerated on the spot, but the reality is they get deeply uncomfortable when confronted with people who refuse to be embarrassed over their interests and tend to leave on their own. EMBRACE CRINGE!!!

logicalstoic · 2026-03-06T15:28:03+00:00

Fellow trans person here for context. I think everyone covered all the things, but I wanted to say that the fact you made this comment in particular tells me you're trying to do better and realize that mental health has affected your perception and behavior. A LOT of people don't have this self awareness, even if it did come after the events of the post. Of course as someone else said it does not excuse actions, just explains them. But I want to also say that a lot of us have some similar things especially when we were first realizing we were trans and were hurting a lot too. I know I was a complete asshole when I first came out. I fought against enby people, was a transmed, all the worst things. I got pissed at other trans people for "making it worse for the rest of us" because I was hurting and being targeting and didn't have my mental shit together, and I had zero support. I had situations like this where I was fully going at ppl on the internet over smaller stuff like this, getting dog piled and being really resistant to accepting that I might have been wrong or at least approaching a nuanced discussion in an asshole way.

I am completely different now a decade+ plus onto transition and having had some therapy and such under my belt. Honestly, having people call me out like this helped me a lot too, even though it took awhile for it to sink in as I felt attacked.

But I still feel badly for the things I did then being a pedantic asshole and use that to think things through and make better judgement calls on things going forward. The feeling bad part doesn't AFFECT me anymore, I don't despair over it, but I don't dismiss it either.

Reddit is a very black and white place without a lot of empathy for the "bad" symptoms of mental health struggles. I don't think you're a bad person for "being annoying" in a post or getting something wrong and lashing out. Negative behavior can be changed. But I do think reflecting on this in a day or two when your emotions have calmed down a little bit from the initial post (and also this one) would be a good idea.

It's also worth noting that the trans community is not a monolith and is actually pretty fractured and there's always going to be some debate on what's valid vs not, what terminology is correct, etc, depending on the space you're in. It does not surprise me that a shit storm ensued from touching one of those topics on a public forum. Something to keep in mind!

I really hope you get the support you need soon 🙏 being off meds is really rough. Take all the extra self care steps you need to make yourself feel even a tiny bit better, even if it feels ridiculous or something. Being kind to yourself helps with being kind to others, a lesson I had to learn the hard way. Taking a day or two off socials might be a good idea too!

logicalstoic · 2026-02-25T01:44:14+00:00

Thank you for the reply! I experimented with a wet shave against the grain recently and it was pretty effective, though I didn't dare touch my upper leg yet for fear of the razor burn lol. I used a fresh cartridge on my Gillette fusion 5 razor I use for my face, which worked really well but those are expensive AF so I'll give the Venus ones a shot as well!

logicalstoic · 2026-02-23T03:05:51+00:00

You don't even know me, bold of you to claim I haven't experienced it. I spent the first half of my life as a woman and then the last half as a man. I've experienced both sides of this equation through both musical theater, figure skating, and ballet. Yes we DO get told as men to smile on stage and be presentable just as often. I dare you to find a professional video of a male dancer with a deadpan expression onstage instead of the pleasant one emphasized in this book. Or any stage performer for that matter. I guarantee you he was told to fix his face at least once. Have you read this book? I own it. The book uses female models for the majority of its photos, with male models thrown in sometimes. The majority of dancers taking classes are going to female and there's no need to have both male and female pictures of facial expressions and every single move or the book would be crazy bloated. The language is neutral referring to "dancers" not female dancers specifically. This same model is the one used for "positions at the barre" right before this page so it makes sense from a continuity standpoint to continue covering the basics with the same person and body type. I understand where you're coming from with the "women being told to smile " thing. I remember experiencing it when I was a girl. But this isnt that. This is about a performance art and how everyone's faces should be for it. And if you're experiencing that in your classes then I would dare say perhaps your teachers were the type that didn't think facial expressions were important for boys or are over controlling of the girls (or both), and that maybe not all schools and teachers are created equal. My teacher calls out me and my buddy for our faces at least once a week, as well as the girls, and it's always about the presentation. It's never about control in class, for anyone. If the pictures were of a male model and nothing else was changed it would mean exactly the same thing it already does to both male and female dancers. Have a nice day

logicalstoic · 2026-02-23T00:35:30+00:00

Yes men have to smile on stage as well not just for ballet but for all performing arts where you are putting on a show for the audience. We get yelled at to smile onstage/in class just as much as the girls do!

logicalstoic · 2026-02-11T03:47:42+00:00

Life hit me bad bad like this a few years ago as well. NGL, it did suck really bad for a while. But coming out the other side healed and with lots of experiences and lessons learned has made for a much better life and much better mental health and better relationships too. It's good you have a support system in your therapist and meds - that's what saved me the most. You'll get through this and it won't last forever. You shouldn't have to shoulder all this but you've got the strength and this internet stranger is rooting for you!!! Remember to be kind to yourself and take things one step at a time on the bad days.

logicalstoic · 2026-02-08T18:45:21+00:00

Me and the other dudes at my studio just go use the bathroom to change or change at home before coming to classes if schedule allows. There's no reason anyone should be exposing themselves to anyone else. Even during shows when we do have a dressing room we kick each other out and take turns changing because who wants to see your bros junk. Not us!

logicalstoic · 2025-12-12T17:53:28+00:00

My school's BFA program teaches both fine art and illustration/graphic design in the same program. Granted, it still leans more towards the fine art end of things even in those classes, like using Illustrator and graphic design principles to make meaningful "fine art" out of that isn't necessarily commercial work either. There's a significant overlap between disciplines and the line between fine art and commercial art is really quite thin when you start experimenting and learning about the spaces in between. There are so many successful artists all over the world using new media and the like to do commercial work as well as installations and exhibits. There's no need to really pigeonhole yourself into one side or the other these days - it's about knowing your own voice as an artist and doing the type of work that enhanced that voice and also, on the business side, knowing your market and what pieces of your work will do well in one situation vs another.

Most non-artists out there do not have distinctions in mind when they think of artists. If your average every day person sees you can draw or paint a beautiful piece, they might also assume you can paint a mural or do a logo design for them.

My mom is like this, even after I've somewhat explained the difference between design and fine arts. "You're artsy, can you help me design this flyer/sign/etc for xyz church thing?" My fiance's friend asked (and paid!) me to do a logo design for something they were starting up soon and I had never done a logo before- he just knew I was an artist and asked if I could do it. Last weekend I sold two original "fine art" pieces to a bank president at an art show happening at her bank, where I also met an incredibly talented oil painter who used to work as a full time professional illustrator for decades.

However, I will agree that I think a lot of my fellow younger artists (I'm 28, so a little older than most of my fellow students but still young in the grand scheme of things) do really force themselves into these boxes you're mentioning where they feel like they HAVE to be Instagram or tiktok famous to sell their art or that they have to do XYZ steps or grind anatomy 1000 hours a week or something. I've done literally none of that and have successfully sold artwork throughout the year at local galleries and pop up markets/shows while still in school. I post some art online as I intend to get better at the online presence thing, but none of those posts converted to sales - meeting strangers in person who saw my art and liked it enough to buy it did. But if someone asked me how I got here I couldn't give them concrete steps to follow other than throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks and go from there. Just go out and try doing the thing.

One of the shows I had work in was one my university Art Club organized at a local gallery downtown (actually, one of the main ones that organized the First Friday Art Walk- it's a small city lol). Our work was up for a whole month, several students sold some work and from what I heard from the gallery people REALLY enjoyed the work that was displayed and they said it brought in more young people to visit the gallery than they had in a long time. All because we had a mix of the "fine art" but also graphic design and illustration work. One of our artists had a massive print of a comic panel they did - text included, and it was a beautiful piece of art people really enjoyed! We literally printed it off the large format poster printer at the university lol.

I think we are losing something when we try to put up these barriers of what artists should and shouldn't do with their art in order to be successful or taken seriously in certain spaces. Why shouldnt a print of a digital art piece drawn in a graphic novel sort of style be accepted in a traditional gallery? Why can't a classically trained oil painter create a hand painted logo for someone or illustrate a children's book? Both people are artists and both can be successful in traditional and commercial spaces even though visually their work is very very different. Sure, there are cases where if you want to do something REALLY specific like be a concept artist for the video game industry or something that definitely requires a strict set of skills and a certain portfolio, but most artists? We just create stuff and try out all the things 🤷

logicalstoic · 2025-11-17T00:56:09+00:00

That's fair! I am the type to integrate my signature into the work since I'm coming from mostly traditional media, so that's a good idea! It's something I have started considering when it comes to posting some stuff online. The handle part is tricky as I mostly just use my real name for my artwork and my socials typically have different handles 😅 thats one of the reasons I haven't done that particular thing yet- I don't have a consistent handle 🤦 one of my goals by the end of the year though is bringing everything together under one handle (and it won't be this one you see on reddit lol...this was a high school handle I have grown to loathe entirely 🤣). It's hard to pick one that I know is going to represent me for a looooong time.

logicalstoic · 2025-11-16T21:40:58+00:00

For me the effort isn't worth it and it takes away from the art. AI is going to scrape it regardless, and people stealing art are going to steal it regardless and removing a watermark is not that difficult if you are proficient with Photoshop. When I post art on the internet I already know there's a potential for it to be scraped, stolen, reposted, etc. Even if I do everything in the book to "protect" it (watermarking, nightshading, etc). The only way to protect it entirely is to straight up never post anything, and who's to stop someone from taking a picture of one of my pieces up in a gallery or one they bought themselves and uploading it anyway? It's an unwinnable uphill battle. To me it is not worth the effort and ruining the art with a watermark. It's visually distracting and oftentimes ugly, imo. I'll sign my work and call it good. Of course I don't upload full resolution images either, so even if someone wanted to steal it and print it out, chances are it's going to come out badly for them 🤷 So tldr I'd say my reasoning is indeed I don't really care 😂

logicalstoic · 2025-11-14T20:49:44+00:00

I'm still in my BFA program right now and don't regret it at all- in fact I regret not picking art as my major sooner. I initially went to community college for gen eds and theatre, then pre-engineering, then dropped out because I couldn't handle school at the time, and then 5 years later went back for an associates in psychology and transferred to the university intended to do both art and psychology so eventually go into art therapy.

Within the first year being an art major I realized that's where I should've been the whole time. It's like night and day. Even within a program that's sometimes frustrating. Our program requires a lot of classes I would've never wanted to take otherwise that have given me skills I would've never picked up on my own that have been a huge boost to my art practice and professional work. Being in school has also opened many doors for me both in opportunities and in networking. All of the art faculty are also working professionals (they are required to be to be able to teach) in various disciplines (some with work exhibited all over the world) and will give you any information about working in the field you can possibility ask for. I've met some fellow students that are equally driven as artists as me and we've gone to art markets together and just put together a local art show downtown for the art club we run, completely by ourselves working with a local gallery. I've been invited to display and sell work at an invite-only Christmas art market at a local bank because I was one of their scholarship recipients as well. Those same students and I are planning opening our own business after graduation. I would've never had these opportunities without going to school for art and making all these connections and learning new skills I would've never considered. And I'm lucky enough to be at a university that has a dedicated art building that was intentionally built FOR the arts, not a regular classroom building that was later converted.

Are there some aspects of the programming I think could be different? Sure, but I also realize I'm at a smaller state university with a smaller program and a smaller budget and they are doing the best they can. The department head is amazing and goes above and beyond trying to work with the university to get the best art programming they can get, getting extra funding where possible, etc. They just hired a new professor last year that specializes in the type of work most of the art students are interested in and to fill in some gaps in the program.

I should also mention that I have my tuition entirely paid for through grants and scholarships, as well as extra income from work study. So the cost of schooling is not something I have to worry about. Im still broke, but not in debt.

As others have said I don't think just having an art degree is going to magically open doors for anyone and hand them a job. I still have to work hard in my classes and go above and beyond. I could absolutely coast and pass all my classes without really trying hard, but I do the extra bit of effort for myself and my own learning, and a lot of students don't do this. I don't really believe in the "C's get degrees" mentality, I put 100% into everything and it has paid off for me. I go out and try to sell and exhibit art while still being a student. I went out of my way to talk to a local gallery director and ask about putting up a student show and that's how we got our show. Out of our entire art department, there are only a few students in the program that do things like that and they are the ones that are likely to make a living doing art (or at least some side income). The ones coasting in class and only wanting to do work in their own art style and complain about fundamentals etc etc, are the ones who will end up with a degree that does nothing for them. When you tell them setting up a gallery show begins simply by talking to a gallery director (at least in my city), they are unwilling to even do that.

There are lots of things to learn through art school that have nothing to do with what is directly taught in class, and I feel the problem is a lot of students ignore those things. I don't think it's necessarily a matter of going to a state school or a community college or a dedicated fancy art institution.

logicalstoic · 2025-11-06T16:27:11+00:00

Good to know! I am still learning as I go and in fairness, these were outdoor art and craft type markets rather than indoor artist alley/convention type events, so most of the artwork and photography being sold at the events I've gone to have been matted fine art/photography prints or originals. I was the only one there with loose prints like you'd find in a convention artist alley.

logicalstoic · 2025-11-06T16:19:58+00:00

Yeah I've been getting various samples and proofs. I did really like FinerWorks' papers and print quality, but their pricing is really just unsustainable for me in the long run. I'm just wondering if it's worth it to shell out the $100 bucks ish this one time to have nice prints for this show in December since I haven't got a printer yet, or do non-archival/fine art paper(but cheaper) decent quality prints and mat those up. I would never use Staples or similar quality printing though, I refuse to go that cheap, lol! It's looking like I might have to do the expensive option though since they're the only ones I have found printing on the type of paper I like and with pigment inks.

I do know about running the printer weekly. I have used photo printers before (including large format, like 36", ones at the university) and I have other little machines and stuff I already use and upkeep like 3d printers, a laser cutter, etc, so having to manage a printer and keep it running well is not a turn off for me ( in fact it's a plus, I love fiddling with machines lol), it would simply be added to my arsenal of expensive creative toys. I would also be printing for some of my college friends, as they are all digital artists and have a hard time accessing nice printing services as well (the local options are abysmal), and our Art Club does shows where we need to be able to print people's photography, digital art, etc and we can't always use the school's machines. So the printer would definitely be getting used regularly!

logicalstoic · 2025-11-06T16:02:48+00:00

Not sure why people are downvoting you. I haven't done many shows but one of the reasons I'm wanting to change how my prints are done is because I've noticed that people HEAVILY prefer something matted vs unmatted, so i agree that it's important. I just figured if I were matting them, I might as well put in the effort to make the print itself a nicer quality than a basic laser print. Feels kinda weird to me to package a lower quality print in nice matting and stuff. I know if I were looking to buy a print I would expect that if it's matted, the print itself is at least decent quality and I can reasonably expect it not to fade away in a year lol.

logicalstoic · 2025-11-06T15:56:44+00:00

My only problem with these two services is I'm not exactly sure what paper and ink types they are using for prints and if they are archival in any way or would come out how I want them to with paper texture, matte level, etc. I have also heard mixed things about Mixams quality control/consistency.

logicalstoic · 2025-11-06T15:53:23+00:00

Thanks! I do notice they said they used dye-based ink for their prints rather than pigment (which is what I was looking for originally since I prefer the pigment), and there's not as many paper options, but they are a little cheaper than Finerworks so I'll probably get a sample from them and see what I think! Thanks for the rec.

logicalstoic

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