Comment by Nition | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Nition | Hacker News Reader

Tangentially related: Recently I was thinking of commissioning an artist to do some album art for me. I had a specific concept in mind and it needed to have a certain look to it but I didn't mind if the actual art was physically painted or digital.

What struck me is there's no website for hiring an artist. ArtStation has a Shop section (pre-made art for sale) but no Commissions section. Fiverr has some artists taking commissions but none I could find of really good quality, and there's AI art spam now as well (takes commissions but just sends you an AI prompt result). Reddit has two art commission subreddits but there aren't really many artists there. And both Fiverr and Reddit's main selling point is cheap art commissions, but I was happy to pay more for something good.

Unless you know an artist already that suits the style you're after, and they're currently taking commissions, it seems quite hard to find anyone. I kinda thought I'd be able to go to, like, CommissionArt.com and filter by Traditional -> Oils -> Landscapes or whatever to find someone perfect.

To everyone who says hire a real artist instead of using AI - where do you go to find them?

Most of us are reticent to find some centralized place because usually those places get invaded by people trying to shill AI stuff, people spamming requests, scams, and a few toxic egos that try to push down anyone they see as competition. Look at what happened to DeviantArt as an example.

To keep workloads manageable and make sure people don't harass us we usually just put up posts on our social media or forums in known artist hangouts, and then once we have enough work we take the posts down. Things like Bluesky make it easier because people share the post for us, giving us a wider reach, but it still relies on the network effect rather than centralized advertising. Those younger than me have transitioned to doing this kind of stuff with Discord servers, though I have no clue how anyone keeps track of what's going on since it's just a chat client.

That makes a lot of sense; thanks for the perspective from the artist's side.

You could go to a spec work treadmill like 99designs and look for one. Browse the design categories and from there the portfolios of those artists whose work appeals to you and fit the style you are looking for and then go to their website because real artists have a website.

deviant art, behance, dribble, art station …

Go to a local art college and put up a flyer: Paid gig. Ask applicants for a sample of past work. Meet the best for coffee.

That's a good answer. For art rather than design work: First, the main art buyers have massive pools of artists who want to work for them and apply - just like programmers. In some of these fields, one of the jobs of the art director is to keep an eye on who is around and how they are coming along in their skills. (Smaller buyers of art, like marketing agencies have built a network of freelancers). Second, many artists are terrible at business. Third you were looking for one-off work, not to hire an artist. So there is the issue of style. Some artists will work in any style but not many. So you look for images you like, and you talk to the artist.

And then because "terrible at business" you try to manage deliverables, ownership, timeframes, style again, unexpected insertion of political messages, etc, etc. Not impossible but likely none of this what you expected - until you put it on paper. There are art contract models out there.

There are forums where artists in specific narrow niches will post commission sheets and such - but they are niche forums for these niche interests. Just finding the forums (perhaps on discord) can be VERY difficult. See again "terrible at business".

I’ve messaged people directly, after seeing their work on social media. I’m always ready to hear “no” but so far they’ve been willing. I’m also an artist, and I go out of my way to make art for acquaintances who ask.

A lot of artists on Twitter take commissions, but it's an informal process done via private messages and of course there's no way to search by art style (other than regularly following artists you like and getting similar creators who may or may not take commissions recommended to you). Essentially you find them by being part of an existing community.

A lot of the smaller and more amateur ones seem to struggle and end up begging, but I guess the pros have enough of a regular following that they get sufficient work through this system.

One way to find illustrators is through Bluesky. Many illustrators showcase their work there and often have portfolio websites, which sometimes features additional artists. They also usually indicate their upcoming availability.

https://blueskystarterpack.com/illustrators

Go to a local art festival, see all the artists showcasing their work in person, find one that you like!

in japan lots of artists use this https://skeb.jp/ (click at your own peril)

click on an image(artist) you like then click on "New Request"

Unfortunately, social media is the way to get a hold of most artists. Or at least discover them and then find their website.

The Ai con artistery on fiverr is outrageous . I pay for a human and get canned soulless spam. What ai does with wordplay and neologisms is just atrocious. It sucks at everything new or bleeding edge.

I have a pool of designers on Upwork that I work with regularly.

Cara.app?

Etsy

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