Roll20 uses cookies to improve your experience on our site. Cookies enable you to enjoy certain features, social sharing functionality, and tailor message and display ads to your interests on our site and others. They also help us understand how our site is being used. By continuing to use our site, you consent to our use of cookies. Update your cookie preferences .
×
Create a free account

Marketplace creators, what has your experience been?

1473003664
Eric D. Leon
Marketplace Creator
In terms of anything, really. Do you like it? Does it bring in stead cash? How often do you publish new content? Etc. Any thoughts are welcome. 
1473011296
B Simon Smith
Marketplace Creator
It's a nice little bonus at the end of every month. I haven't put out anything new in quite some time though.
1473013784
Eric D. Leon
Marketplace Creator
Nice, is the whole process pretty straight forward?
1473024346
Gabriel P.
Pro
Marketplace Creator
My experience has been extremely positive.  If you have specific questions that might not be well suited to public discussion feel free to message me and I'll be more than happy to answer them.
1473028722
Dylan G.
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Sheet Author
I'm still new to the process, but I'm loving it so far. I haven't hit a level of popularity that lets it replace my day job, but it's a chance to make the art I love and sell it to people that want to use it for their games. Everyone wins!
1473033663
Eric D. Leon
Marketplace Creator
Dylan G. said: I haven't hit a level of popularity that lets it replace my day job Have people actually done this?
Id imagine the subscriber base is at a point where very successful creators could enjoy a nice cushion, but I don't think it's quite at a point where they make enough for long term sustainability.  Though I'd imagine Gabriel P. has a new ferrari by now with the amount of stuff I buy from him.
1473075768
Ziechael
Forum Champion
Sheet Author
API Scripter
Jake M. said: Though I'd imagine Gabriel P. has a new ferrari by now with the amount of stuff I buy from him. One for every day of the week by my count...
1473076484
Eric D. Leon
Marketplace Creator
Ziechael said: Jake M. said: Though I'd imagine Gabriel P. has a new ferrari by now with the amount of stuff I buy from him. One for every day of the week by my count... Yeah, I can see that. I looked through his stuff and its really good.
1473195321
David Hemenway
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Eric D. said: Ziechael said: Jake M. said: Though I'd imagine Gabriel P. has a new ferrari by now with the amount of stuff I buy from him. One for every day of the week by my count... Yeah, I can see that. I looked through his stuff and its really good. I've just quit my day job (on August 31) and I'm making Roll20 map sets full time. I think I'm at the bare minimum of "making it" but hopeful for the future now that I have the time to create. :) 
1473195649
Ziechael
Forum Champion
Sheet Author
API Scripter
Congratulations David, can't wait to see what you produce now that you are a full time supplier of maps for my game, so generous of you :)
1473196384
Eric D. Leon
Marketplace Creator
Congrats, David. That sounds incredible. 
1473220793
cecil h.
Marketplace Creator
I recently put a product on the marketplace, and sales have been super steady. I already make RPG maps for a living so like...not quitting that I guess...
1473224037
David Hemenway
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Ziechael said: Congratulations David, can't wait to see what you produce now that you are a full time supplier of maps for my game, so generous of you :) I'm very happy to be doing what I love for a living, and I'll endeavor to provide some quality maps and adventure ideas in the months to come. Thanks very much Ziechael.
1473224063
David Hemenway
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Eric D. said: Congrats, David. That sounds incredible.  Thanks very much Eric.
1473248248
Lithl
Pro
Sheet Author
API Scripter
David Hemenway said: Eric D. said: Ziechael said: Jake M. said: Though I'd imagine Gabriel P. has a new ferrari by now with the amount of stuff I buy from him. One for every day of the week by my count... Yeah, I can see that. I looked through his stuff and its really good. I've just quit my day job (on August 31) and I'm making Roll20 map sets full time. I think I'm at the bare minimum of "making it" but hopeful for the future now that I have the time to create. :)  Good luck, David! Not having traditional employment can be rough sometimes. =)
1473274262
Badger
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Overwhelmingly positive. It takes time and work to get established, but I love it. It's a fairly steady stream that is a nice safety net in addition to more traditional freelance. Great community, great opportunity to be creative. Myself and a bunch of other contributors did a talk on our experiences during Roll20Con. It's up on the Roll20 YouTube page.  Other than that, as Gabe said, feel free to PM me.
1473276896
The Aaron
Pro
API Scripter
Badger said: Myself and a bunch of other contributors did a talk on our experiences during Roll20Con. It's up on the Roll20 YouTube page.&nbsp; See:&nbsp; <a href="https://www.periscope.tv/roll20app/1OwGWvONEdZKQ" rel="nofollow">https://www.periscope.tv/roll20app/1OwGWvONEdZKQ</a>?
1473284351
Badger
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Thanks, Aaron. Linking is hard on mah phone. :)
1473288373
Eric D. Leon
Marketplace Creator
Badger and The Aaron, thanks! Investigating now.
1473292646
The Aaron
Pro
API Scripter
Badger said: Thanks, Aaron. Linking is hard on mah phone. :) No worries! &nbsp;=D
1473322090
Richard T.
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Sheet Author
Compendium Curator
Thanks for the link! Does anyone know who all was on the panel? They didn't have the introduction included in the video.&nbsp;
1473336852
The Aaron
Pro
API Scripter
From left to right on the panel: Rog Ol -- Author of Heroes of Belfum and Lands of Belfum, Artist of the various Lands of Belfum packs Joshua Kurz -- Artist of many terrain packs Sophie Hort -- Artist of the Pixel Panic and Pixel Perfect token packs (I'm pretty sure... &nbsp;Brass Badger will correct me!) Brass Badger -- Artist of a huge variety of things!!! Russ Hapke -- Fabled Old World Style Artist, among other things. =D&nbsp; Devin Night -- Prolific Token Artist, very&nbsp;influential&nbsp;in the top down / three-quarter down style.
1473338957
Doc
Marketplace Creator
I'm SUPER new to the artist community, but a long time freelancer and artist in general. Established artists here a very welcoming, especially Badger and Gabriel, both of which have been happy to answer questions for me. I can also say the same of the staff, more directly Suzanne, who have an endless supply of patience in getting you up and running.&nbsp; I've done two token packs with a third on the way. I've gotten paid with no problem, and feel very confident about the whole more packs=more money statement everyone makes when you start out. I can't comment on the top end of earnings, but I think if you're good/popular and consistent, you can probably make this at least a main recurring gig, based on what I've seen so far. Hope that helps :) &nbsp; &nbsp;
1473339408
The Aaron
Pro
API Scripter
Another video you might enjoy is the Roll20CON Marketplace Creator Panel:&nbsp; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9SCzeCVctw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9SCzeCVctw</a>
1477116030
PrincessFairy
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Sorry to enter so late, apparently I missed an awesome thread. First off I would like to thank everyone for your amazing comments and awesome artwork on the marketplace. I was able to make it up to GenCon and that was an amazing event, I was super glad to be a part of that special moment in time, I would love the chance to join once again when next year rolls around. It was great to finally meet some of my fellow artist, aside from Gabe which we will have to drag kicking and screaming to the next GenCon. Even got to hang out with "The Aaron, Russ H. and Brass Badger for some afternoon drinks" Awesome BTW. As for income, I earn enough income right now to be a part time almost full time artist, and I still have a part time job that I do in between, but I love art and have a deep passion for it always trying to improve. Personally I would have to say that I am more of a City Set style artist rather than a terrain set artist, but I have around 53 items on the marketplace right now to choose from so its a bit of everything. I just like making artwork, and trying to come up with something new each time like 10x10 geomorph tiles, which there 8 sets of them, sweet. But &nbsp;I don't do it necessarily for the money but to provide people a wonderful experience role playing. So go out there and game, game till your heart content, well time to head out, got 4 games I am currently in right now so I will catch up with you all later. Thanks.
1477390654
illo
Plus
Marketplace Creator
Hey everyone! First, sorry for my English, you know, Well, Joshua don't feel sorry because if it wasn't for you I would probably have miss this thread. I just want to say to all the other artists that are in the marketplace, I like your work a lot, I'm looking at it from time to time -when I have time like today for writing- I'm mostly interested in how you find solutions to the problems I have when doing my tokens, like let's say the "philosophy" that's behind the work, and the ways you reach to those solutions, most of time wondering how its possible for you to make what you do and having no answer :D. With this I use to get a better idea of what it works and its needed for the visuals in an online rpg game. And most of you, the big most of you, are so clever, and have the patience and attention to detail, that is really needed to bring the images to a VTT and run a game that's just as immersive as a traditional one in front of people, what is a hard work and for that I'm trying to bring you here the acknowledgment you deserve. About my experience in the roll20 Marketplace it has been fantastic all the way, I had a lot of fun, I learned a lot making my tokens, I've been part for the first time of an amazing community of creators, I've run hundreds (almost thousands) of hours playing rpgs in here, and there I had the motivation to keep making tokens for my own players, and I hope to be doing this at last for the next hundred years :) I got some money also, not much, but I imagine that this goes with the effort you put in your work, you work harder&gt;you get better reward. Finally I want to say that I'm sorry I don't participate more in the forums, I would like it but its very hard to find the proper words in English for me, and lately I have less and less time, I would like to be there to support all of you with your new packs and works every time, but you see, I've been like one hour to write this post right now :D, here a brief note, I was like super fan of Gabriel, and the day he appeared in my thread to support my work was like IDK, you know those Justin Bieber fans, right? So yeah, I feel like supporting between artists is very important, for that I say sorry for not being there.&nbsp; Also, congratulations to all the people that has made a way for living from their art, you have it more than deserved, I hope that you keep improving and working on what you love. Sorry for the long post, I just had to say all this together.
1477427148
PrincessFairy
Pro
Marketplace Creator
illo said: Hey everyone! First, sorry for my English, you know, Well, Joshua don't feel sorry because if it wasn't for you I would probably have miss this thread. I just want to say to all the other artists that are in the marketplace, I like your work a lot, I'm looking at it from time to time -when I have time like today for writing- I'm mostly interested in how you find solutions to the problems I have when doing my tokens, like let's say the "philosophy" that's behind the work, and the ways you reach to those solutions, most of time wondering how its possible for you to make what you do and having no answer :D. With this I use to get a better idea of what it works and its needed for the visuals in an online rpg game. And most of you, the big most of you, are so clever, and have the patience and attention to detail, that is really needed to bring the images to a VTT and run a game that's just as immersive as a traditional one in front of people, what is a hard work and for that I'm trying to bring you here the acknowledgment you deserve. About my experience in the roll20 Marketplace it has been fantastic all the way, I had a lot of fun, I learned a lot making my tokens, I've been part for the first time of an amazing community of creators, I've run hundreds (almost thousands) of hours playing rpgs in here, and there I had the motivation to keep making tokens for my own players, and I hope to be doing this at last for the next hundred years :) I got some money also, not much, but I imagine that this goes with the effort you put in your work, you work harder&gt;you get better reward. Finally I want to say that I'm sorry I don't participate more in the forums, I would like it but its very hard to find the proper words in English for me, and lately I have less and less time, I would like to be there to support all of you with your new packs and works every time, but you see, I've been like one hour to write this post right now :D, here a brief note, I was like super fan of Gabriel, and the day he appeared in my thread to support my work was like IDK, you know those Justin Bieber fans, right? So yeah, I feel like supporting between artists is very important, for that I say sorry for not being there.&nbsp; Also, congratulations to all the people that has made a way for living from their art, you have it more than deserved, I hope that you keep improving and working on what you love. Sorry for the long post, I just had to say all this together. Great post and your english seems great, might even be better than mine and it is my first language. One suggestion I would have would to use a translator from your primary language to english if you want faster conversion. However, Outstanding that you are among the artist, it is a great thing. I love it, and I agree, I wish to keep doing it for the rest of time.&nbsp;
Ive spent $350 in the marketplace over 3 years. And I buy impulsively. The most Ive purchased from a single person was 18 sets. So lets round to 20 and say one person has gotten $100 from me over the course of 3 years. That was Russ Hapke. He would need 573 other people with my buying habits buying his stuff to make a living wage. At stated price. I assume Roll20 gets like half of that so he or any other artist would need 1,200 fans buying about 20 sets a piece to make a living wage at it. For one person.
1477456444
PrincessFairy
Pro
Marketplace Creator
@ Devlin M: I don't know about all the artist out there but each person living situation is different and that also means there living wage is different. For instance someone living in the NY area might have to earn twice that or more to make a living wage while someone in the south would need to earn less for living wage, So thats all a matter of interpretation and location. However, I would like to say thank you for your devotion to buying our artwork. Have you check out my work&nbsp; Joshua Kurz or how about some of the other artist like&nbsp; Gabriel Pickard ,&nbsp; Devin Night ,&nbsp; Brassbadger , or perhaps&nbsp; Phillip Wright and you already know&nbsp; Russ Hapke . Just between us 6 artist there around or over 400 sets of art to choose from, thats a lot of sets. We try to keep a steady amount of artwork coming into the market.&nbsp; But really there are so many artist on roll20, and so many new ones coming to the market, I hope everyone who does artwork continues to stay around and put multiple sets up. And for all those who enjoy our work thank you for your support.
1481983042
Munky
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Compendium Curator
I'm extremely new to the Marketplace, and I will echo what everyone is saying. THE OTHER ARTISTS ARE AMAZING AND VERY WELCOMING! Seriously, it's like working with partners and not competitors. Guys like Gabriel Pickard, David Hemenway, Devin Night, Brass Badger, Joshua Kurz, Cecil H, Richard T, and Russ Hapke have welcomed me to the community, and even help promote my art! I am a bit of a Jack of all Trades myself, and will be contributing a little bit of everything for a long long time. From World Maps to Dungeon Maps, Dungeon Tiles, Tokens, Items and Objects, Special Effects, I plan to eventually conquer it all. And in every genre! Fantasy, Steam Punk, Modern, Apoc, Scyfi , there are no limits to where I will go! I've been around Roll20 for a little over 3 years now... gosh... almost closer to 4 years now... and well, I have bought at least $300 worth of art myself, and even as a contributor, I still buy other peoples art! I've had an ongoing campaign that I started in 3.5 and merged into 5e shortly after it's launch, and I even still have 3 of my original players from my VERY FIRST LFG! In addition to that I have started a Community Hub for players to meet and hangout over on Skype and Discord to organize games. From One Shots to Co-op AND PVP Arenas, all the way to Sandbox Campaigns, the Hub has been around for almost 2 years. It has it's ups and downs, and periods of inactivity, but we have a core group of DMs and Players that will be around for a while! Every now and then we will post up our LFG, when we are looking to bring new players to the group, so be on the look out for "The NPC Sagas" in the LFG if anyone is ever interested in that sort of thing. As far as "making it" I think the more you contribute and the better quality, the better people will notice and come back for more! I still work a full time job myself, and I don't plan on leaving it ever, even if I ever see comparable pay checks from what I bring in from the Marketplace, but honestly It's more about the art for me. I like learning new techniques, and putting it all to good use in the community. Either way I will be making art for myself still, and if other people are interested in what I create, then awesome! At the end of the day, whether I get 1 sale on a pack, or numbers like we are all assuming Gabe pulls in (seriously, looking at my library and the comments from others, I'd predict at least a different color&nbsp;ferrari for every day of the week, lol) but either way, I think the majority of us enjoy what we do, and if there's a little cash on the side or a full blown career, it is fun and we all enjoy doing it!&nbsp; Now if you'll excuse me, I see a new "Save Vs Cave" addition I need to go add to my library!!!
1484163651
Eric D. Leon
Marketplace Creator
Thanks to everyone's kind replies and reccomendation, I went ahead and released a pack:&nbsp; <a href="https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/set/1368/sta" rel="nofollow">https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/set/1368/sta</a>... Thanks everyone. You're great.
1485101512

Edited 1485101878
PrincessFairy
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Its been a while since I have replied here, but you are welcome. I am glad that so many people responded to your forum post. Update on Income, response: As of right now roll20 is my sole job, is supporting me full time now, though I can't give any official numbers. I will mention that my cost of living is very low as I own my own home and only have monthly bills to pay for. Thank you roll20 for your long time support of 2 years as of January 18th when they first accepted me as a contributor and my first release was Jan 29th 2015. It took me a long time to be working as a contributor to make a full living but trust me when I tell you it is so worth it. When you make a living on something you love to do, it is a great feeling. I believe that artist will eventually get there if they are not already there. Again thank you roll20, and the community for all your support.
1485167608
Andrew C
Marketplace Creator
Joshua Kurz said: Its been a while since I have replied here, but you are welcome. I am glad that so many people responded to your forum post. Update on Income, response: As of right now roll20 is my sole job, is supporting me full time now, though I can't give any official numbers. ... Again thank you roll20, and the community for all your support. It's great to hear there are people who are being supported by the community.
1485167780
Andrew C
Marketplace Creator
On the same score, I've had my stuff up for two months so far. The process to get it up was relatively painless (other than 'growing pains'/'learning curve') and while I'm nowhere near Joshua Kurz point... I've certainly got 'beer and pretzels' money so far off just the one product. The feedback I've got off end-users has been solid, and working with Vanderforge has been really good for filling in the yawning-abyss-like chasm in my skill set.
1485227266
Vanderforge
Marketplace Creator
Thanks again Josh for reviving this thread because I too missed it the first go around! I've been doing it for about 3 years now, unfortunately I can't do it full time because I happen to live somewhere with a high cost of living and my wife doesn't make much money, we now have a baby and I can't afford to leave my full time job (Although in all fairness, I do enjoy my 9-5). &nbsp; For about 4 months now I have been far more disciplined about working on tokens and I've been able to release stuff much more often by treating it like a Sunday through Thursday part-time night job; the first couple of years I took a lot of side gigs doing concept art for videogames that never came to fruition instead of dedicating myself more to this so my releases were many months apart; in retrospect I enjoyed working on those failures and made money anyway, but I wish I had just stuck to Roll20 instead. &nbsp;I'm hoping this year to release something every 1-2 months, whether it's token packs or Chapters for Andrew's module. As a supplemental income it's fantastic and in my case it's steady, if I was a better business man I would probably make more money, but I'm rubbish at that! My approach has always been to have fun and draw things I like to draw rather than things that might sell better, my wallet might disagree, but I have zero regrets; I love doing these tokens and portraits so much that I pour tons of love into each and every one of them and I hope it shows in the final product. &nbsp;Knowing that my art work aids other people to have fun is a reward itself! The most "lucrative" part has been the friendships and relationships I've developed in the course of it; from the people on the Roll20 staff (every single one of them as awesome, grounded, and nice as the rest) some of whom I've come to consider friends, to a lot of my fellow creators I chat with multiple times a week and also genuinely consider friends, to Andrew who has been a lot of fun and easy to work with on his module (check it out!), to the people that have PMed me with requests, questions, feedback, or just to chat; every single member of this community I have interacted with has been nothing but awesome. I hope that rant sheds some light into it...I'm wordy and passionate about this stuff...
1485255218
PrincessFairy
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Fernando D. said: Thanks again Josh for reviving this thread because I too missed it the first go around! I've been doing it for about 3 years now, unfortunately I can't do it full time because I happen to live somewhere with a high cost of living and my wife doesn't make much money, we now have a baby and I can't afford to leave my full time job (Although in all fairness, I do enjoy my 9-5). &nbsp; For about 4 months now I have been far more disciplined about working on tokens and I've been able to release stuff much more often by treating it like a Sunday through Thursday part-time night job; the first couple of years I took a lot of side gigs doing concept art for videogames that never came to fruition instead of dedicating myself more to this so my releases were many months apart; in retrospect I enjoyed working on those failures and made money anyway, but I wish I had just stuck to Roll20 instead. &nbsp;I'm hoping this year to release something every 1-2 months, whether it's token packs or Chapters for Andrew's module. As a supplemental income it's fantastic and in my case it's steady, if I was a better business man I would probably make more money, but I'm rubbish at that! My approach has always been to have fun and draw things I like to draw rather than things that might sell better, my wallet might disagree, but I have zero regrets; I love doing these tokens and portraits so much that I pour tons of love into each and every one of them and I hope it shows in the final product. &nbsp;Knowing that my art work aids other people to have fun is a reward itself! The most "lucrative" part has been the friendships and relationships I've developed in the course of it; from the people on the Roll20 staff (every single one of them as awesome, grounded, and nice as the rest) some of whom I've come to consider friends, to a lot of my fellow creators I chat with multiple times a week and also genuinely consider friends, to Andrew who has been a lot of fun and easy to work with on his module (check it out!), to the people that have PMed me with requests, questions, feedback, or just to chat; every single member of this community I have interacted with has been nothing but awesome. I hope that rant sheds some light into it...I'm wordy and passionate about this stuff... Fernando, That is awesome to here that you have a beautiful baby on the way. Do you know if its a boy or girl yet? I have all the respect in the world for you and your passion for artwork. It was the reason I started doing it to. Now I put all my effort into it and nearly draw non stop everyday, and its the love of my life aside from wife and kids :). Its great that you have another job to support your income, because a lot of other artist do, heck I did for a long time. Many live upstate where expenses are much higher. Down in the southern states its much cheaper living but we are sometimes behind the times when it comes to new tech or what not. But speaking about another job, originally I didn't make much at Roll20 and had issues with being behind, not doing well and loss a lot of confidence in my own artwork believing that I wasn't a good artist. I have major depression and Bi-polar 2 and ADHD which didn't make things any easier, though I am not ashamed to tell people. I just learned about it this year. So I ended up taking a long break from really pushing stuff out and only put like one out every couple of months. Well when I lost my job a year or so ago, I had to go through some financial changes. Anyways long story short, I started focusing more into my art and started putting out art monthly, then sometimes weekly. Now if I am lucky I get 2 or more packs out a month and sometimes like this month 6+ packs, but I have been working on many packs at the same time. It wasn't till I started putting 100's of hours into working on artwork every month that I finally started seeing a return on my investment. In addition, I love the community of artist, and we have our falling out sometimes but we always seem to come back around. Artist clash heads all the time, specially when it comes to there own artwork. Well furthermore, I would still like to say thank you to Russ H, Gabe P, Meditating Munky, David H, and Brassbadger and a few others for your constant support and pushing me forward and just being there to talk when someone needs to. Thank you guys/gals.
1485271373
Vanderforge
Marketplace Creator
Joshua Kurz said: Fernando, That is awesome to here that you have a beautiful baby on the way.&nbsp;Do you know if its a boy or girl yet? She's a 2 year old "baby" girl this coming Friday! I should stop referring to her as a baby since she's a little girl now, but I don't think she'll ever stop being my little baby! haha! It's awesome that you are putting so much more of your work out!
1485289353
Munky
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Compendium Curator
Joshua Kurz said: Well furthermore, I would still like to say thank you to Russ H, Gabe P, Meditating Munky, David H, and Brassbadger and a few others for your constant support and pushing me forward and just being there to talk when someone needs to. Thank you guys/gals. From the bottom of my heart, thank YOU for all of your support to me, and for the many conversations we have had, and will continue to have! I think the biggest thing I love about this gig is the community itself, and you're a big part of that to me!
1485289471
Munky
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Compendium Curator
Fernando D. said: She's a 2 year old "baby" girl this coming Friday! I should stop referring to her as a baby since she's a little girl now, but I don't think she'll ever stop being my little baby! haha! My "baby" boy will be two this summer! I still call him a baby as well, probably always will too!
1485299276
Eric D. Leon
Marketplace Creator
These last two days looks like all that community and support people keep talking about. Im glad to be a part of it now. My baby is 3. He corrects me when I call him a baby.&nbsp;