i have to admit i do not do commissions myself currently (due to past issues with unreliability) and i have no idea what to suggest in terms of practical 'how to get commission work', but i did want to say- oh wow, those are gorgeous! i especially like your animal style, and i definitely think that's something worth paying money for. the painterly style too of course, but it is important to consider if you'd be able to maintain consistency- i had to stop doing painterly commissions cos it was just so much work for what i was getting paid for it. but stuff like the colouring of the yellow dragon, and the texture and atmosphere of your hypothetical oarfish-Dunkleosteus are very appealing.
being able to pull off animals consistently is a key skill and also very marketable to furries. i should know. that's where like 80% of my business comes from. i draw a lot of animals. really the key to marketing and stuff is. getting out there. faving people's stuff on sites. starting conversations. and making lots, and lots of content. having a specific style can be really good, and if you're worried about consistently doing one type of thing? limit the amount of commissions you'll take for it. be picky with it. that IS a thing you can do. be like "i'll do one paint slot at x bucks, but i'm choosy with characters so don't be offended if i turn it down" you get to set the rules there, because it's YOUR business. /has been doing commissions for a few years now and are in a lull because bad brain health
no problem! it's really weird jumping into the commission world. you def gotta make yourself stand out and be like. very proactive
oh god yeah if you can draw furry stuff and/or are okay with drawing nsfw stuff that's where the money is at being open to popular fandom stuff is good too- i know a lot of my old commissions ended up being fankid and fantroll stuff. maybe gemsona commissions might be a possible avenue to pursue, if you were interested in drawing that?
something to keep in mind, also- a lot of commissions, you're not gonna be super enthusiastic about. sure, best case scenario, you like their character concept, they're cooperative and easy to draw for. worst case, they have a boring character and uninspired design, they have lame ideas for posing and such, it's boring het. but you're still gonna have to draw it, unless you want to make a policy of 'too boring and i will turn down the job'. also, if you're drawing anything which requires you to stop and check details with them (okaying sketch before progressing to painting, etc) then that means stopping and starting on a picture (which for me is a bit of a problem, as i tend to binge-draw and struggle to return to WIPs)
see i'm similar to Ink. what i did to prevent that stop and start thing? I made a Terms Of Service. People get to pick a general idea for posing and stuff, but I handle doing the work. Sometimes I take a screenshot WHILE drawing, if requested, but i do not do the sketch approval thing just for the reason of struggling to finish WIPs
I've seen people live stream the sketching process, IMing the commissioner at the same time, as a way to have realtime feedback on a piece. They scheduled a time during the commission buying process and everything - maybe you could do something of the sort if the client is interested in approving a sketch. And if it's something for fandom and the person that hired you is ok with it, you can announce the livestream on fandom tags as a bit of marketing
