I'm a noob, and I don't make much from commissions. I've gotten some commissions from people seeing my work online. But generally from word of mouth. Someone that knows you recommends you to someone else or their friend sees something you did. This is for physical paintings mind you, I dunno if it applies to digital so much.
Seems like the biggest mistake I have made, and I've seen friends make, is to take commissions that are too difficult for your skill level, or that you don't have a lot of experience in. The commission should not be your first attempt doing a certain kind of work.
I remember something Jeff Watts say in one of his videos on youtube. Along the lines of: people are always talking about how hard it is to find work as an artist, but most people's portfolios don't really show good work! If you're not doing good work, of course it's gonna be hard. If you do great work, not as much. I'd like to find that video again.
So I guess I think about a lot focusing on my skills and my portfolio, and not as much on marketing. Cause it's like, why worry about how you're gonna sell something, when you don't have anything to sell? Obviously you don't have to be a master to make money off your work, but I think there's a danger of getting ahead of yourself when you're a student. If you're constantly trying to sell something for more than it's actually worth, yeah that's gonna be hard.
Then again, if you market it right you can sell anything. So I might have to change my mind on that, we'll see.
