Alyssa, Alyssaerin on Fiverr, lives in Silicon Valley, having moved there from Michigan. She’s loved drawing since she was a little kid creating storybooks using colored pencil illustrations. Today, she draws all day for her work on Fiverr, then sketches at night for fun. Here is Alyssa’s Fiverr story.
I heard about Fiverr during my third year of college while searching desperately for “how to earn extra money online.” The cost of textbooks and course materials, including art and animation software, put a huge dent in my budget, and the stress of not knowing how I was going to buy anything, from Christmas gifts to new clothes for myself, led me to search for a way to earn some cash without interfering with my coursework. I’ve always loved drawing cute cartoons, but the idea that I could make money drawing them seemed far-fetched. Still, since creating a Gig® cost nothing, I had nothing to lose. Also, I never much liked the idea of working under someone or working 9 to 5, so it was definitely inspiring to start selling Gigs and try to become my own boss.My first Gig was I will draw your favorite food as a cartoon because at the time I had a minor obsession with cute cartoon food artwork, and it was simple enough for me to create in a relatively short amount of time. I soon expanded to drawing pets, which evolved into my general animal cartoon Gig.
The first order came only a few days after setting up the Gig – drawing “bunny chow,” which I had never heard of – but the buyer was thrilled with the result It took a few more days to get a few more bites, so I expanded my Gigs to include what is now my most popular Gig, I will draw any object as a cartoony character, which after several positive reviews got featured on the front page of Fiverr. I was thrilled, and the orders haven’t stopped since.Today, I get lots of orders for school and team mascots, mascots for websites and companies, and YouTube avatars.
In general, sell things that you are good at, that you can do in a short amount of time, and that you can constantly improve upon. For artists, I have more specific advice. Making art that is scalable to any size has been a huge reason I get so many return buyers. While low resolution raster artwork can be beautiful, it can’t serve as a valuable resource that can be utilized for print, social media, website graphics, new storefronts and more.Giving your artwork versatility in terms of size and file format not only makes your artwork a more valuable purchase, but also helps to get your buyer’s imagination going about other ways to use your art, which can lead to more orders for you.Get more tips from Alyssa in this episode of Fiverrcast:
Somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of my income now comes from Fiverr. I always thought I’d have to suck it up and learn some other more practical skills and put drawing cartoons in the “hobby” category forever. I had no idea that something I was doing for some money on the side in college to pay for books would become a viable source of income, or that it would lead to all the connections I’ve made with customers around the world. One of my best friends once told me, “I don’t really picture you doing anything for a living but drawing cartoons all day.” And now, thanks to Fiverr, neither can I.I love when I can see my art impact someone in a real world way. I’ve done lots of work for teachers, and they often send back photos of children reading books with my artwork in them, or wearing shirts for their sports programs with the mascot I created. My favorite was a giant cardboard cutout of a cardinal bird wearing a baseball outfit for a little league team standing next to smiling kids.Now I look forward to seeing how I can continue to improve my craft, get better at making great cartoons more efficiently and expanding my business. It’s been a continuous trend of growth since I started on Fiverr, and the more I do this, the more I see that the only limit on my potential is what I’m willing to put into it. That applies to nearly everything in life, but it’s really evident in a self-driven job like this. It’s very rewarding to see how effort and income go together in a way that you don’t necessarily see with a standard job.Valentine's Day Comic Strip Illustrated by alyssaerin
If you’d like to share your story about how Fiverr has impacted your life, please send it to us by email at community@fiverr.com.
