If you are an independent artist, getting commissions is likely a big part of doing business, and you can always use another good idea on how to sell art commissions.

Twitch is a valuable tool for getting commissions because of the large and diverse numbers of people there who may be interested in purchasing custom artwork. Streamers need custom emotes and other designs while their audiences will be interested in fan art, portraits, and many other subjects.

Twitch is often overlooked as a resource for finding people who would like to hire you to make custom artwork. Twitch is primarily known as a platform for live-streaming computer and video games. It is less well known that there is a large and growing community of artists there. These artists are using the website to stream their artistic creations, network, and find new audiences for their work.

Art Commissions That Are Unique to Twitch

There is an immense number of possibilities for types of art you might be able to do for commissions. Depending on what you are most interested in, you could offer any number of styles and subjects for commission work, but there are a few opportunities unique to Twitch that will be great ways to sell commissions.

Twitch custom emotes. Custome emotes are a very important part of Twitch Streaming. The gaming community is vast, and they all want to have unique and creative emotes. This is a great market to explore! There is room for a wide variety of styles, themes, and infinite ideas for new types of emotes. With new streamers joining Twitch every day, each person brings new ideas. The possibilities are truly endless.

Twitch overlay commissions. Most streamers will have a variety of elements as part of their stream. These may include a view of their camera, various stream events, donation goals, and much more. Over-lays are graphic designs that streamers use to integrate these elements into a cohesive theme. Overlays can become part of a streamer's brand and give a unique look to their stream. Like emotes, there is an ever-expanding number of options here. Once you start exploring Twitch channels, you will see how many possibilities there are.

Twitch banner commissions. There is a whole market just for the banners that occupy a streamers channel page's header. Streamers want these banners to be eye-catching and unique, and they are often looking for artists to create beautiful images for their banners.

Stream Alerts. This one may require a tiny bit of animation know-how. If that is a skill you possess then this could be a great option for you. During a stream, there are various events that will cause an on-screen announcement to go off. These include a new follower, a subscriber, and more. These announcements are accompanied by a little animation and streamers are often looking to commission custom art for these animations.

Personal branding. If you have a strong sense of design and branding aesthetics, there are many more opportunities to get hired. Streamers who develop large audiences will have other locations online for their communities to interact. These streamers may not be artistic themselves or may not be as good with graphic design or logo creation, and they will want to hire that work out to other creatives. If you can also bring some marketing and business know-how to the table, you'll be in a strong position to offer a lot of value!

Click here to listen to our interview with YungKhan who operates a full-time business doing custom branding while streaming on Twitch

Other Art Commission Ideas

Even if making custom emotes, overlays, and other stream-related content, there is still great potential to get hired to do all the other work you enjoy doing, and there are some topics that may get noticed faster.

Fant art. The market for fan art is ENORMOUS. It can't be understated how large this area is. There seems to be a fandom for almost every corner of pop culture. So, no matter what your interest is, chances are that someone is going to enjoy watching you make art for it…and probably buy some! If you enjoy doing some of these more popular categories, you'll find audiences even faster:

Computer and console gaming. Because Twitch has such a massive audience for their gaming channels, this is an excellent opportunity to showcase your work and find people who will purchase custom designs. If you enjoy gaming and love doing fan art based on the themes and characters in your favorite games, Twitch is the perfect place for you to be selling commissions.
Comics. There is an extensive fan base on Twitch of comic readers and they love seeing the artwork of their favorite titles and characters. Even if you are creating less popular titles or making webtoons, there will be many people who will be very happy to support your work.
Anime. You probably already know how popular anime is, and if you enjoy drawing the characters and scenes from these fandoms, you will have a lot of fun meeting other fans and showcasing your work on a Twitch stream. If you enjoy this niche, you can do very well streaming your art creation.

DnD and other TTRPG character art. The popularity of Dungeons and Dragons and other TTRPGs has increased astronomically over the last few years. If you are a fan of these tabletop games, then you already know how attached players can get to the characters they create for these games. More and more people are interested in having their characters commemorated with unique and beautiful art.

If you enjoy doing this art, there is a great community of people on Twitch who will share your enthusiasm for the subject and be thrilled to find another artist creating designs for characters and environments.

Click here to visit the Twitch channel of SteveSketches who does DnD and TTRPG character art full time.

Pet and animal portraits. No one has to be told how passionate people can get about their animals. Obviously, pet owners have strong feelings for their fur babies but don't underestimate how passionate people can get about pandas. Or elephants, big cats, wolves, owls, and any number of other wild or domesticated animals.

If you enjoy drawing and painting our fuzzy buddies and want to find new places to share your work and build a community, then Twitch is the place for you!

Click here to visit the Twitch channel of Freakmeister1 who does TONS of dog portrait commissions.

There’s a lot of others I’m leaving out and probably some ideas no one has thought of yet. Get creative!

How To Get Commissions

Get involved in the community. Find gaming streams you enjoy and start chatting. Even if gaming isn't your thing, there is a wide variety of content on Twitch, and chances are good that you will find communities relevant to your interests. It is important to approach this like any other relationship with human beings. You don't want to jump into the middle of a group and immediately start talking about yourself and the work you do. Let the relationships evolve organically, and the interest in your work will naturally follow.

Start streaming! After getting involved in the communities you enjoy, start a stream of your own. Click here to read an in-depth article about how to start streaming and the best practices to build an audience. The main ingredients are keeping a regular schedule and being personable and engaged with your audience. You don't have to be a high energy entertainer; Most of the time its enough to just say hi and chit chat. It might sound cliche, but the best thing you can do is just be yourself! People will respond to you as a person, whether that means you enjoy putting on a show or just having a chill, relaxing environment.

Let people know you are open for commissions. Once you are streaming regularly, don't be afraid to let the people who are watching know that you are available for commissions. Don't be pushy! As you get used to streaming, you will get a feel for the natural ways to let people know you do commissions. Here are some ideas for ways to make casual announcements:

Create chat commands. With the use of a moderation bot, you will be able to set up regularly timed announcements in your chat. These can include various things, but one of the notifications should let people know that you are available for commissions.
Include commission info in your panels. Panels are modular elements below your stream window on your channel. They can consist of text, images, and clickable links. There is also an "about me" section as a banner above the other boards. These are good places to put info about your work and commissions.
Mention it while you are talking! While you are streaming, there will be plenty of opportunities to casually mention that you are available for commissions and how people can find more info. While you are working, talk about your process and what you are thinking about. If you are really uncomfortable being the only one whose voice you can hear, bring in a friend. If you use Discord, you can have friends join you in a voice chat, so there is always a little bit of banter happening on stream. This will spark conversations with viewers, ultimately leading to discussions about your work.

Do the kind of work you would like to get commissions for. Portraits of pets or people, watercolor landscapes, or custom character designs. Whatever your passion is, let it show, and the people who want to support you will find you!

Positive Side-effects of Using Twitch Streaming to Find Commissions

There are several reasons why streaming on Twitch will significantly benefit artists hoping to find more commissions. Some of them are directly related to marketing, but many are not just about finding buyers. There are valuable personal growth and community-building factors to consider as well.

Improving skills. When you are streaming regularly, even if you arent finding commissions right away, you are making a crucial investment in your career. Regular practice means consistent growth, and a stream schedule is a perfect way to build momentum into your development as an artist. This is also something audiences will pick up on, get excited about, and want to support.

Accountability. Artists are often confronting the resistance of procrastination and distraction. As you stream and build an audience, you feel some responsibility for your work and the motivation to get work done will increase. However, unlike the oppressive sense of obligation associated with traditional deadlines, streaming has more to do with pride in your work and affinity for the community you are getting connected to.

Testimonials. People love talking about the art they love! No matter how great your marketing skills, nothing beats good word of mouth!

Networking and socializing with peers. Artists can feel isolated sometimes, and the mental health benefits of finding supportive peers can not be understated. People who understand the work you do and what's involved can be a priceless treasure. This is also a good place to exchange ideas about pricing, dealing with clients, and the business ins and outs.

Ways to Cross-Promote and Increase Your Reach

The massive number of ways you can promote your artwork and find new commissions is beyond this blog article's scope, but there are a few things worth touching on briefly because they play very well with Twitch streaming.

Twitter. Twitter is an excellent platform for networking and marketing, and it also connects with streaming in a powerful way. Many streamers have Twitter accounts themselves. You can follow these Twitter accounts to deepen your connections and build a wider community. As your following grows on Twitter, you will also be able to sell commissions there. These clients will follow you on Twitch, and the connection makes your business more diverse and resilient.

Facebook. Like Twitter, Facebook can be a great social media platform for networking. Facebook groups are a great place to find new people involved in your interests who may also be interested in buying art from you in the future. As you become more connected to these groups, awareness of your Twitch stream will also spread, and this relationship becomes reciprocal.

Reddit. Reddit has so many subgroups there is probably an r/ for everything, and in them, people who will love to see artwork associated with their interest. Find the subgroups that relate to your passions and post your art there. Many subgroups will allow a small amount of self-promotion along with an art post. You can add info in a comment about your commissions, streaming, and other relevant info. Make sure you read the rules of the sub before posting self-promotion.