Hello.

[TheJuggernaut398]

Good day all,

It is I, The Juggernaut. I am a amateur fiction writer who also loves to create maps. My goal is to be good enough to have a steady source of income from both, but its going slow on both ends. Hopefully, I can be self-sufficient with map commissions and my stories.
If you are interested in my work, Pm me and I send you an example of my work.

Sincerely,
TheJuggernaut

[Kellerica]

Good luck with your goal I know it isn't always the easiest route to take, freelancing and writing for living and whanot, but I know there are plenty of artist out there who manage it.
We'd certainly be interested in seeing your maps, so don't be shy to post something on the forum both for admiration and feedback, should you want some. We have sections both for finished maps and works in progress, all good places to post your works and admire those of other members.

Welcome to the Guild!

[Tiana]

I successfully freelance. I've been doing it for 7 years, though not with 100% of my focus on "just freelancing" for that time period. Last year I was making a "part time" sized income from maps. This year it looks to be a lot closer to "full time".

If I can give you 1 piece of advice it is this: make sure you put 30% or more away for taxes and emergencies. And just don't touch that money. You don't have that money. It doesn't count as part of your usable money, unless it's a huge emergency with no other options. Put this in a high interest savings account or TFSA. That way whatever you don't use for taxes counts on reducing your taxes paid. Keep an expenses sheet. You buy stock photos, Adobe subscription, more computer juice to handle bigger maps, and even pay your electricity bill, and all of those sorts of things can be reported to lower your taxes.

Advice #2. Charge what you're worth from the getgo, don't listen to any whiny people who think that new artists should go into poverty and accept slave like rates for practice. You can practice for free by making stock art, doing map challenges here, making map packs, Patreon items, art for your campaign and characters, art for your friends and family... it is easier to get 1 person to pay you $150 than it is to get 10 people to pay you $10. Of course this is assuming your art is competent. Base your rates on how long it takes you + how many resources you have in use to make the art + how long it takes for you to get a new customer. Raise them a bit as you go along. You deserve a fair wage, not $5 for several hours of work for a picky client. There will be people who will try to convince you you're not worth a living wage because you're a newer artist. They are wrong. They just don't deserve to be your client. Either charge hourly or a per piece rate. I do per piece. Decide the price up front and how you will be transferring the money up front (to avoid what recently happened to me: a client said, after all the art was done, "oh, I don't USE online payment services EVER... what's your address so I can MAIL YOU A MAIL ORDER OR CASH"... do yourself a favor and talk a bit of business before you start.

You can totally be self sufficient if you work hard at it long enough. It's not easier than any other job. It will take a lot of time. It's only up to you to decide if the struggle to make it is worth it. It's more freeing... but also not... it requires intense self control and dedication to get your work done instead of just playing video games and faffing around.

I recommend to any serious freelancer to get a passive stream of income. For a fantasy map artist and writer, there are several avenues towards passive income. A blog with ads and affiliate links is a classic move for the combined writing + something. I went in a more art slant, so I also do RPG token sets and battlemaps for Roll20's marketplace now. Some do stock on the DM's guild (I'm looking into that in the future, it fits my model). Others do Patron, or youtube or sell assets for building your own map. I'm looking into texture making for video games as a potential future passive stream. You have to try more than one to get something that works, but even getting an extra hundred or two a month is nice... that's a commission you don't have to win.

My long term goal is to only have passive income and if I have a commissions business, hire other artists to work for me and have a studio of other great talented people who I've assembled to work together on a project I've landed. Have literally a small world building studio. And also a park with my cowriter's name on it too. It helps to have some kind of dream to propel it forward. I do this because I want thousands of people to play in worlds I've built, if not far more. I love participating in co-creative storytelling in a small way throughout many hundreds of sessions I will never sit in on, inspiring a little bit of someone else's lore. You need to have something to keep you doing it other than "I like maps" or you'll find eventually, you are just sick of maps. If there's something that compels you to keep mapping, so much easier to stick through the awkward and hard parts of freelancing cartography.

There are dozens of ways to make money with art, but all of them require intense persistence. You CAN get there. It's more possible than ever.

Your first step should be to make a portfolio. People don't usually ask to see your art, you have to put it out there. Anywhere will do, but Artstation is free and a useful starting hub. I wish I knew about it earlier. It's a really good free starting portfolio option, blows DeviantArt out of the water IMO.

Good luck, take care, have fun on the guild.

[KaiAeon]

I successfully freelance. I've been doing it for 7 years, though not with 100% of my focus on "just freelancing" for that time period. Last year I was making a "part time" sized income from maps. This year it looks to be a lot closer to "full time".

If I can give you 1 piece of advice it is this: make sure you put 30% or more away for taxes and emergencies. And just don't touch that money. You don't have that money. It doesn't count as part of your usable money, unless it's a huge emergency with no other options. Put this in a high interest savings account or TFSA. That way whatever you don't use for taxes counts on reducing your taxes paid. Keep an expenses sheet. You buy stock photos, Adobe subscription, more computer juice to handle bigger maps, and even pay your electricity bill, and all of those sorts of things can be reported to lower your taxes.

Advice #2. Charge what you're worth from the getgo, don't listen to any whiny people who think that new artists should go into poverty and accept slave like rates for practice. You can practice for free by making stock art, doing map challenges here, making map packs, Patreon items, art for your campaign and characters, art for your friends and family... it is easier to get 1 person to pay you $150 than it is to get 10 people to pay you $10. Of course this is assuming your art is competent. Base your rates on how long it takes you + how many resources you have in use to make the art + how long it takes for you to get a new customer. Raise them a bit as you go along. You deserve a fair wage, not $5 for several hours of work for a picky client. There will be people who will try to convince you you're not worth a living wage because you're a newer artist. They are wrong. They just don't deserve to be your client. Either charge hourly or a per piece rate. I do per piece. Decide the price up front and how you will be transferring the money up front (to avoid what recently happened to me: a client said, after all the art was done, "oh, I don't USE online payment services EVER... what's your address so I can MAIL YOU A MAIL ORDER OR CASH"... do yourself a favor and talk a bit of business before you start.

You can totally be self sufficient if you work hard at it long enough. It's not easier than any other job. It will take a lot of time. It's only up to you to decide if the struggle to make it is worth it. It's more freeing... but also not... it requires intense self control and dedication to get your work done instead of just playing video games and faffing around.

I recommend to any serious freelancer to get a passive stream of income. For a fantasy map artist and writer, there are several avenues towards passive income. A blog with ads and affiliate links is a classic move for the combined writing + something. I went in a more art slant, so I also do RPG token sets and battlemaps for Roll20's marketplace now. Some do stock on the DM's guild (I'm looking into that in the future, it fits my model). Others do Patron, or youtube or sell assets for building your own map. I'm looking into texture making for video games as a potential future passive stream. You have to try more than one to get something that works, but even getting an extra hundred or two a month is nice... that's a commission you don't have to win.

My long term goal is to only have passive income and if I have a commissions business, hire other artists to work for me and have a studio of other great talented people who I've assembled to work together on a project I've landed. Have literally a small world building studio. And also a park with my cowriter's name on it too. It helps to have some kind of dream to propel it forward. I do this because I want thousands of people to play in worlds I've built, if not far more. I love participating in co-creative storytelling in a small way throughout many hundreds of sessions I will never sit in on, inspiring a little bit of someone else's lore. You need to have something to keep you doing it other than "I like maps" or you'll find eventually, you are just sick of maps. If there's something that compels you to keep mapping, so much easier to stick through the awkward and hard parts of freelancing cartography.

There are dozens of ways to make money with art, but all of them require intense persistence. You CAN get there. It's more possible than ever.

Your first step should be to make a portfolio. People don't usually ask to see your art, you have to put it out there. Anywhere will do, but Artstation is free and a useful starting hub. I wish I knew about it earlier. It's a really good free starting portfolio option, blows DeviantArt out of the water IMO.

Good luck, take care, have fun on the guild.

Good freelancing advice even for copy-editors like me.