separating work from personal stuff if you're an artist

[boreal_cryptid]

hello fellow artists. i want to ask artists who make a living from art and commissions, but others are welcome to respond as well! "art" in this case actually means anything creative: composing, gamedev, etc.

i'm interested in whether you separate your portfolio and your personal art (or not!).

if you separate, how? do you leave any links for people to find your personal place? or do you cut it out completely? what are your boundaries?

if not, is it comfortable for you?

and the most important question... how do you avoid self-commodification?

i just realized once that i was struggling between making a "professional" art portfolio (ugh) and trying to express myself fully. luckily i understood how to make the separation better and kinda... free myself from the pressure that i created myself lol. spoiler: use Cara and Furaffinity for commissions, and keep a website as a place to express myself.

[tertiaryapocalypse]

hrm, well i don't make a living off of art but i've been doing commissions for maybe 3-4 years now & tend to keep my art separated based on how proud i am of it! i use toyhou.se a lot, where i upload the majority of things i draw, though it's a very specifically directed site towards people with consistent characters. most of my art that i'd hypothetically show in applications is directly on my website, though. i used to use instagram but i haven't been much lately!

at some point, i might make a separate commissions section on my art page just to have examples of work. if you're specifically looking at doing commission work, i'd recommend using VGen, though -- you can upload portfolio pieces and set up specific products. i think you may need a code to join though... 

short answer, though- my portfolio (used loosely) is on my site, while more of my work stays on sites like toyhouse or even just lives in my gallery or my notebook. i believe that's generally how a lot of employed/comms artists do it too-- a web portfolio, and some kind of social profile where they upload more loose pieces. i suppose that's nearly the opposite of your approach!