just putting this link here so I don't forget it. It is also a good treatise on women's armour design if you're interested
[link]

I've come across a couple of opportunites to actually put my artwork in higher status than just hobby interest - you may have noticed from my latests stuff that a friend has commissioned me for some concept/character art for his Pathfinder campaign characters (not for money, he is paying in LOVE and FRIENDSHIP and the huge boost I've gotten from someone other than my little son wanting me to draw for them), although commission is probably a loose term. But if his fellow players like what I've produced it is an excellent opportubity to charge for character artwork commissions. Some regular community markets have recently started not far from my house, and they're based around art and craft - I am investigating the possibility of having a regular stall there to sell drawings. This would require a stock of artwork to sell plus regular new stuff. It would be a good opportunity to practice quick simple bust portraits as well; but first I'd have to practice a lot to even think of charging for it. And lastly (but not leastly) the Australian Zombie Awareness Association is looking for volunteer artists to regularly contribute - while not paid work, it is definitely a cool opportunity to point out my artwork being published on a website that's not Facebook or Deviantart. Which could also lead to commissions from people who see it there!
The only problem with these opportunities - I don't have time for them. I have maybe 2 - 3 hours maximum each evening to work on things, and at the moment this has been my friend's commissions and comic pages. I don't want to ditch the comic because it's good practice for further more important (to me) stories that I really want to do. I don't think it would be a good idea to take paid commissions or volunteer work if it takes me forever to get them done. I think the markets idea is my best bet, because I can use drawings I've already done and work on more while I'm at the table; they don't have to be very big (A5 size for example) and it doesn't matter too much if I don't have anything new to sell sometimes, just the same stock as last time sort of thing. I would mostly go with inexpensive lineart pictures as these are cheaper for me to print out in quantity. Since I don't have much ependiture on art, basically any money I make over the $5 table fee is profit   It will be very sad if I don't make more than $5   Also my tablet stylus has decided it doesn't want to live just because my son dropped it on the floor a few times. Sheesh.
Luckily the other opportunities will probably still be there once my son starts kindergarten and I do have some more time (as long as I don't spend it on housecleaning, but who needs that, right?), although it will only be 3 - 4 hours extra a week and might not be for another six months or more. We'll see, we'll see . . .

So, what do you guys think of me doing commissions? Do you think I'm accomplished enough for it? What quality would you expect (full colour, linart, etc.)? What kind of artwork do you think would be good enough for a country town market stall? Opinions please, I'm not experienced enough to be completely confident in my own judgements on this.