The problem: critique is a service, but it's priced like a favor
Artists who teach online — process videos, tutorials, studies — get a constant stream of work in their DMs: "What's wrong with this portrait?" "Why do my values look muddy?" A useful critique takes 15 to 40 minutes of real looking and explaining. It is the single most requested thing you offer, and the one with no price on it.
The structured alternatives have their own costs. Course platforms monetize your recorded lessons but not your live eye. Class marketplaces take large cuts and slot you into their format. And self-managed lessons mean the familiar grind: scheduling links, payment requests, time-zone math, and students who book free consults and disappear. Every step between "can you look at this?" and "paid" loses the student.
What to sell on Cheddify
Cheddify is one link in your Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube bio. Students pay as guests in the browser and connect over video; you take the call on your phone. Formats that fit art teaching:
- 20-minute critique session. They send images ahead via paid DM or hold work up to the camera; you walk through composition, values, edges, and the one fix that matters most. The meter runs per minute, so a short sharp critique still pays.
- Booked technique lessons — 45 minutes, prepaid: a focused session on skin tones, perspective, inking, whatever your specialty is. You demo on camera; they follow along.
- Portfolio prep sessions for students applying to schools or building a commission sheet — sequencing, what to cut, what to redo.
- Paid DMs for async critique. They send the piece and one question; you reply with markup notes or a voice reply on your own schedule. See how paid DMs work.
What to charge
Art instruction prices like teaching, which on Cheddify commonly runs $1 to $4 per minute. Teachers early in their audience-building usually start at $1 to $1.50 per minute; established teachers with strong tutorials and an engaged following typically hold $2; professionals with industry credits — published illustrators, concept artists, gallery painters — can charge $3 to $4, especially for short critique formats where students pay for the trained eye rather than the clock. Treat the numbers as reference points: your audience's budget, not the benchmark, sets your real ceiling, and rates are editable any time. More in how to price your 1:1 calls.
The math on a real session
Say you run a 40-minute technique lesson at $2 per minute. The student pays $80, plus roughly 3 percent processing (about $2.40) on top. Cheddify takes 20 percent plus $2 per call: $16 + $2 = $18. You keep $62, paid out through Stripe. Three sessions a week is $186 for teaching you were partly doing free in comments. Full details on the pricing page.
The honest part
Cheddify does not bring you students. There is no marketplace or discovery layer — it converts the audience you already have. If your work is not reaching people online yet, a class marketplace or in-person teaching will build income faster while you grow a following. If your DMs already fill with "can you critique this?", Cheddify is free to claim, and the price becomes the filter that finds your serious students. Here is how it works.