egirin

What exactly do you want to show with this post? Taken photos from the internet or AI generation? It looks like unattractive spam.

I used to do a lot of free sketches for new clients, but the desire to do so is increasingly disappearing. And the reason for that is negative experience. Too often, unfortunately, it leads to 80% of "customers" taking free sketch and going to a cheaper artist. So you should think very carefully before drawing a sketch for free. If it's something quick and there's nothing roughly similar in the portfolio, then yes you can. But it's a roll of the dice to test your luck every time. But also then it is unpleasant to hear that "yes, cool, but you have too high a price", and quietly go with a sketch to another who can not in anatomy, can only circle on the photo or someone else's illustration, but with a ready sketch gives average or below average result, but cheaper. After all, there is a portfolio. By portfolio you can understand the skill level of the artist/illustrator. Can draw in different styles, does he understand anatomy and proportions, how does he work with colour-light and environment.

@vickiespencer Absolutely right... Midjourney gives quick results, almost instantaneous, and a pretty high level of execution, if you don't count various funny distortions of anatomy and details... But it also kills individuality and erases boundaries. Сreators of Midjourney admitted that their AI database is based on billions of illustrations and artwork borrowed without asking. So the question of how ethical its use is will remain open for the foreseeable future.

Yeah, I see examples like that a lot too. I can't say they are illustrators or artists. Often there are no drawing skills there. But it is often a very fast and cheap service. Apparently, this is a popular and in-demand service on a par with AI, since it is so widely presented. + It does not require a lot of knowledge and skills, which means that many people can do it.

Totally agree. Anyone with a "trained eye" will immediately see from a portfolio whether an illustrator/artist can draw, knows anatomy, understands the laws of colour, tone and composition. But algorithms don't care about that. And often it is not the high skill of drawing that comes first, but the popularity of a cheap and fast service, as well as the collected likes. That is why skilful services often sink. Well, you can't draw a detailed illustration in colour with a background in a couple of hours. Artist from Blizzard draws art not 1 week, but 2-4 depending on the complexity. And receives for such an art is certainly not 5-100$🥲.

Hello. There are so many talented and cool artists on the platform. I would advise to look at the skills and pay attention to the following points: 1. Whether the hand is well trained, whether the illustrator can maintain a single style or multiple styles if it is a generalist illustrator. If the illustration style is as close as possible to what you're looking for, it's worth taking a closer look at the artist. Maybe even order a test sketch or illustration to see if the skills you're looking for are really there and if you'll be comfortable working together. 2. Testimonials and attractive examples in the portfolio. 3. whether AI or ready-made cliparts are used in the examples. Too many people today shout that they are drawing, but are really just using AI or ready-made freepic images. Without a trained eye, it's sometimes hard to realise this. But then they can't fix the artefacts and mistakes made when generating the AI. Or they just use "wooden" characters and can't draw them in other angles, etc. Then it becomes obvious that the performer doesn't have the right skills. I don't know about book titles. I don't ask clients about it, and sometimes I can't even tell you what the client's name is - many use nicknames unrelated to their real name. I think many illustrators have the same situation. On the subject of English proficiency, I can't tell you anything. In the age of advanced online translators, it is possible to work with people from different countries. I hope this will help you at least a little. Good luck with any projects.

It's sad, but it's true. Buyers often don't care about copyright because they go for a cheap service. And what could be cheaper than an enquiry into AI? So yeah. Illustrators are going to lose a lot financially in the coming years. And we're already feeling it. So the profession is more likely to remain at the level of a hobby, because it's getting harder and harder to find real orders not for pennies. And also now there are too many non-professionals who don't know how to draw, but using AI think that they are great creators of pictures. After all, you don't have to study and train for years.

Hello. Unfortunately, I too have seen a decrease in interest in my own services for over a year now. I don't know, I think it may be due to the fact that potential clients are now more attracted to use AI with almost instant results + services with a low price tag always attract attention, even if then you have to overpay because of low quality. And also there are all sorts of crises in many countries, this will also affect the number of incoming enquiries one way or another. I hope everything will get better.

It's hard to say. We are not told all the nuances of how the algorithms work. How exactly do you search for your services? I usually select the incognito tab. And then I search by keywords, word combinations from the gig name..... And I almost always find... But you have to remember that clients may search by other words or may not know what the service they need is called at all and search through a general category. And there only 20 pages can be shown, it's about 1040 services, and in the declared topic gigs for example 40 thousand. You simply may not be included in this selection for one reason or another.

As I said, you can't be on the first page all the time, eventually, if you don't get an order, or for other reasons, the algorithm will move you further away. Last month a rating of 4.7 on one of your orders. - This means your personal rating will be slightly lower than those who had a 5 star rating in the last 3-6 months. If the customer didn't leave a hidden review or it wasn't positive, it's the same thing - you'll be moved and your Impressions will be lowered. Nothing personal, just statistics, harsh and ruthless maths.🥲 And don't forget the seasonality of many services. I've found that with the advent of AI, I'm being commissioned less illustrations in general. Now it's fashionable to use neurogeneration, even if they are crooked, not logical, and whoever writes promt can't draw at all. And my service loses to the one with more hearts. Or a cheaper and faster service. It all makes me sad. 😅 But this means that not all artists will be able to remain freelancers. Some will have to find other work. And I'm very close to that.

No. Asking for "positive feedback" is prohibited by the rules. Read the rules of the platform you want to work on, it's really important. And if you are confident in the quality of work done, you can ask for an honest review. But what it will be, depends on the client's real opinion of your service.

In my opinion, our ranking on a client's search query is influenced by a myriad of factors. I.e. it is not only the timely delivery of the ordered service, the received feedback and the received hidden feedback, the number of likes on Gig also plays a big role. And the number of new orders during some period, perhaps the system even takes into account whether customers are new to the platform, then their reviews should be evaluated even higher than permanent. I don't know if that's the case, but it's possible. And with a new customer, there's a higher chance of either not getting a review at all, or getting a bad hidden review by mistake. Especially if the client doesn't understand the importance and generally orders for the first and only time, simply because he doesn't need it at all on a regular basis. And if during 3 months you get only excellent marks, but someone does not leave you the same hidden feedback, it will already lower you in the rendition. And there are also young accounts, which the platform also tries to raise higher, for greater visibility. So, the algorithms can just forcibly move you to the "far shelf" to simply give more opportunities to young services.