Where to get started as hentai artist?

Carrera

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Jun 25, 2017
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Don't pigeon-hole yourself into one thing. If I had any talent as an artist I'd be going to more main stream places like Deviant ARt..... WEll tha'ts not exactly a "main stream" site but they're big enough and I've hired plenty of artists from there for projects in the past, both adult content and regular stuff.

Also, there are plenty of people wanting to make games on here that have no talent, they probably couldn't pay but tell them to put your name in big ass letters in the credits as the artist and people will learn your name fast enough.
 

Ifartedtoolong

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There are also sites like newgrounds that as a art section where you can post teen mature or adult content.
 

Winterfire

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Also, there are plenty of people wanting to make games on here that have no talent, they probably couldn't pay but tell them to put your name in big ass letters in the credits as the artist and people will learn your name fast enough.
I highly suggest against that. Do not let people use you for "exposure", it's stupid.
People who are not willing to pay for your work do not deserve your talent, besides... Those kind of projects never go anywhere, it'd be a waste of time on multiple fronts.

If you want to work on a game, either get paid for your time or go solo which will earn you exposure and actual money if you sell your own game or go for a platform like patreon.
If you think you can't make a game on your own, think again: Hardly any dev is a writer here, yet they can still write an acceptable plot in most cases... You can do the same.
As for "programming", it's almost shameful to call Ren'Py that if you are going for a simple Visual Novel.
Watch a few tutorials on youtube, and you'll be able to use it effortlessly.
 

OsamiWorks

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May 24, 2020
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If you think you can't make a game on your own, think again: Hardly any dev is a writer here, yet they can still write an acceptable plot in most cases... You can do the same.
I wish this were true, I want to see real plots and interesing themes in more games here. Its more like very few people are readers and poor writing is just the accepted norm.
 
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Winterfire

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I wish this were true, I want to see real plots and interesing themes in more games here. Its more like very few people are readers and poor writing is just the accepted norm.
It is accepted, that's the thing. People actually enjoy it, if the art is good.
Considering that he's an artist and wants to promote his name, if he wants to go down the game making route, he can do it with modest success.

Anything is better than "work for exposure" thing, really.
 
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OsamiWorks

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Its good advice, no one should work for free. Being paid for exposure or for promise of pay in the future is unethical practice and its definitely burned me irl (every "contract to hire job", they use "potential" as a reason to pay you less). The only time its acceptable to work for free is if you are profit sharing but strangers will make poor business partners, so dont expect anything from anyone other than yourself
 
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Winterfire

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The only time its acceptable to work for free is if you are profit sharing but strangers will make poor business partners, so dont expect anything from anyone other than yourself
That's also true.
In this forum alone you can see many "Future Sharing" recruitment posts, and those projects never go anywhere.
They're a huge waste of time.
 
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Carrera

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I highly suggest you think a bit further ahead and think about an investment and about what the OP is asking.

If you have NO exposure, no followers, demanding payment for an unproven product is,,, dumb. If he can get paid, awesome, but nobody with any brains is gonna pay for unproven talent.

However, advertising in a hopefully well crafted game, letting people know that HEY SO AND SO DID THE ART, it's an investment and well, advertising. Unless the game sucks but hell that doesn't mean the art does hopefully.

Fuck it would be sweet if people would put some thought into the big picture occasionally instead of just the end of their own noses.
 

Winterfire

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I highly suggest you think a bit further ahead and think about an investment and about what the OP is asking.

If you have NO exposure, no followers, demanding payment for an unproven product is,,, dumb. If he can get paid, awesome, but nobody with any brains is gonna pay for unproven talent.

However, advertising in a hopefully well crafted game, letting people know that HEY SO AND SO DID THE ART, it's an investment and well, advertising. Unless the game sucks but hell that doesn't mean the art does hopefully.

Fuck it would be sweet if people would put some thought into the big picture occasionally instead of just the end of their own noses.
If he is an artist consistently posting (I assume his work) on pixiv and twitter, he has enough to show his talent.
No one is saying that he doesn't have to prove himself... He can show what he has already done, or even accept to do an example character for your project, which is an acceptable request to see whether his style fits your vision.
 
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Meaning Less

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However, advertising in a hopefully well crafted game, letting people know that HEY SO AND SO DID THE ART, it's an investment and well, advertising. Unless the game sucks but hell that doesn't mean the art does hopefully.
Thing is that you barely need anything to create a simple kinetic/visual novel with renpy, so if OP already is doing the art by himself he can just as easily go the rest of the way and just put it together with renpy into a simple game.

In fact, if he couldn't bother to do it himself it would probably be easier for him to hire a programmer to put everything together than the other way around because in VNs art is the major bottleneck, followed by writing. You barely need to know programming unless you are going for a more complex game.
 
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Ambir

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Aug 7, 2020
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Is consistently posting to Twitter & Pixiv enough? Any recommendation?
It really depends what you want to do with your hentai art. What is your ambition? People around here are fighting to get you to make games, but if your goal is to make doujins, I might not have the same advice for you. Same if you're looking to get started into the world of 3d animations Nagoonimation style.
 

Gagsly

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Jan 8, 2018
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Whoa, I think I lean towards ekz_robotekz or unbalance_dou for now (I don't remember much on 3d artist name). Just want to create some h-stuff while improving the juiciness. Currently starting to learn with creating small scenes using NeoStudio.

Don't have a plan for going into the game yet, we'll see later on, lol
 

Ambir

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Whoa, I think I lean towards ekz_robotekz or unbalance_dou for now (I don't remember much on 3d artist name). Just want to create some h-stuff while improving the juiciness. Currently starting to learn with creating small scenes using NeoStudio.

Don't have a plan for going into the game yet, we'll see later on, lol
Ah, so you are using honey select, hmm? Okay, well first I'd say what you want to do is have as many places as you can to post your art. That is, twitter, pixiv, artstation, deviantart, f95, instagram, etc.

I think that should be the first step. Next up, I do think that if you are going to make HS content, you might be able to find yourself partners to make games with. Artists are in high demand, so if you already have a baseline skill, I'd say you could start looking for a partner to revenu share with. Carrera's solution also works, especially if you are not looking to get tied up to a project. And, well people are often much more excited to get free stuff, so it might be easier to find game developers willing to get you to make art for them.

The benefit of getting your art in games is that you can always point out to those, and it really helps giving you credibility.


Now, I will be perfectly honest. If you do not plan on making games, I would highly advise you to drop honey select right now.
It's a useful crutch for people who lack skills in drawing or 3d modelling, however in the end it's just a poser, and you're not really learning the fundamentals of art when you use a software like it. I would highly highly recommend that you start learning pixel art, 2d art and 3d modelling instead. It doesn't matter which one you pick. The important part is that these skills will allow you to make art that is your own rather than using a software in a way that it is not intended.

If you really want to use a poser-like software, daz3d is really good for that, and you can own the intellectual propriety of your renders provided that you buy the assets you use for said renders.

PS: I know that getting told to learn drawing or 3d modelling sounds harsh. Those are skills that take time and can be rough to acquire. However. Please take it from me. I spent years avoiding learning skills because I always thought I could pay other people to do those tasks for me, and that sounded much easier than having to learn them myself. Had I put the efforts into learning, I would probably be at a high level, but since I didn't, right now I am forced into choices that I am not super happy with. You are just starting. It is the right time to start with the fundamentals. It's not going to take you so long before you get nice results, and once you do, you will be very happy that you've chosen to master fundamental skills, rather than taking a shortcut. It's not easy, nothing ever is in life, however, I can guarantee you that if you decide to learn art properly rather than to take shortcut, you will reap the rewards for the years to come.
 

Crimson Delight Games

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Nov 20, 2020
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People who are not willing to pay for your work do not deserve your talent, besides... Those kind of projects never go anywhere, it'd be a waste of time on multiple fronts.
This. So much this. The secondary artist on our team is a girl we've known for years as well as being a good friend of our primary artist, and we still pay her a full commission fee for the work she does on our game. Fuck people who want to rope others into doing free work for them, they're scum (unless there's revenue share going on, or some other form of fair compensation).

If you want to work on a game, either get paid for your time or go solo which will earn you exposure and actual money if you sell your own game or go for a platform like patreon.
Listen to Winterfire, OP.


If you have NO exposure, no followers, demanding payment for an unproven product is,,, dumb. If he can get paid, awesome, but nobody with any brains is gonna pay for unproven talent.
Then he's better off honing his craft and doing his own project, than wasting time on someone else's. Money is a measure of time and effort - being asked to work for free is tantamount to serfdom. There are exceptions (like revenue-share models, or startups, or friends doing favors for each other), but most people who ask you to do work for them without paying are usually predators in one way or another. I feel strongly about this because I've seen all too many artists IRL get shafted by 'work opportunities' and 'entrepreneurs'.