I've been commission-based for three years and I want to be honest about the financial reality, because the glamorous version gets shared on social media and the difficult version mostly doesn't.

Year one: I made about $8,000 total. After software, hardware depreciation, and the hours I worked, this was roughly $6/hour. I kept my day job.

Year two: $22,000. I raised my rates twice. I developed a proper contract. I started tracking every hour. The per-hour number improved to something approaching liveable.

Year three: $45,000. I raised rates again. I started charging rush fees and they stuck. I stopped doing flat color pieces because the margin was too thin. I developed a small client base that returns for new projects regularly.

The curve is real but it requires deliberate business decisions, not just better art. The artists I see struggling at year three are usually still pricing like year one.