How do the commissions go? [Tutorial]

Mar 25, 201818 min read

Deviation Actions

Genuine-Commissions

FanOfTill

Published: Mar 25, 2018

1.4K Views

This translation was made by Marcinbydg. Feel free to say "thank you" to him

Original post was written by MadBlackie and can be found here:
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DISCLAIMER:
Following article is actually based on its author’s experience in commissioning mostly on local area in Poland. The outlander clients may have different point of view. About the law features the author recommends consulting proper authorities in your country for required details.The purpose of this article is to explain the features of commissioning, seen from the artist and the client’s POV.

1.HOW TO START COMMISSIONS?
First of all check your skill level. Ask yourself: are you good enough as an artist ,are you capable of clients requirements, what you can and what you cannot draw. Think then: are you able to work sometimes on things you don’t like, get you bored or you wish to be done differently, ‘coz until you become renowned artist, you won’t be able to choose only the orders you are interested in (at least if you are not in desperate need for cash and your commissions are made for your own pleasure. You can be more strict with your rules then).

Another important thing is time – when you're studying your free time is rather limited, that’s why it’s necessary to think on how long will it take to manage the order ( sometimes consider weeks or months) and notify clients at the very beginning, to help them decide if they’re ready to wait so long. If you encounter unexpected delays make sure to always be in touch with commissioners, to let them decide whether they still want the art or not especially if you haven’t started yet.

Organize your prices in simple and clear way. Make sure to leave as few price options as possible, as client mostly isn’t into digging deeply into your offer and tries to calculate how much he’s gonna pay. Try to set 3-4 options of prices, according to the overall time and efforts you put into one piece. You decide, whether it’s divided into technique of choice, how complex the drawing is or is it a portrait/fulllbody that someone is ordering.

Price list, no matter how exact is, it’ll never cover every possibilities, ‘coz commissioner will surprise you with some extraordinary order. That’s why it’s better to leave a price that is indicative and you will need to discuss the details and the price individually anyway.

Always ask for fee or deposit payment. Well, at least If you don’t know this person and you aren't sure if she/he can be trusted. Such a move will spare you the problems with people who will just flee with the art after it’s done without paying for it, or those who are not sure about the orde. They are asking for details but will never pay you . In the fact, they will just block the list while there are other people awaiting to order. Secondly, it will compensate your efforts, if during the work commissioner will just stop responding or will just tell that he’s not interested in commission anymore.

Make sure you send the commissioner the progress reports, to have an opportunity to make some corrections if needed. Best rule is that, after advanced sketch is accepted, there is no way to change anything, ‘coz in the traditional technique it’s practically impossible ,but if you work digital you avoid plenty of corrections on nearly finished art. Many clients consider, that you will fix the drawing for free , but it’s not how it goes . So keep in mind that your time is precious and it deserves to be respected.

Be well organized! Provide a list of all your commissions to be done – especially with their status – paid, awaiting for payment - you can point progress there (on sketch phase or lineart and so on.), which will tell the client how the commission is going. Get a references to avoid delays whhen awaiting for details from client. If in doubt – ask, always ask (for example, If you need additional materials before starting to draw). This way you won’t need to worry about loads of corrections.

Last and most important: be kind and forgiving to your commissioners. There might be someone who has never commissioned no one before and needs help in distinguishing Paypal from bank transfer etc. If both sides are sympathetic for each other it will help in contacts.

2. HOW TO SET PRICES?
Here we are - in the very complicated phase. You can’t compare artistic work over the drawing to working in fast-food restaurant, or any other job that doesn’t require preparation in the past. Artists mostly spend much of their time and funds to work the way up with their skill before starting gaining money from it. In reality it’s mostly about that your skills are not satisfying enough for someone who is willing to pay you huge amount of money for an art made in 10 hours. Either way, despite of your advanced abilities, you have a struggle in finding clients and there are still people complaining on your prices. That’s why you need to affiliate prices to the requirements of the local or global ground, according to where you gonna try your efforts. Or accept the fact, that you will receive up to 3 orders a year. As for the traditional you will want to set additional costs for the tools needed for the work itself (different for pencils, watercolor or work on canvas).

3. HOW TO ORDER?
Start with analyzing the artist’s offer. Don’t push someone to make furry if they're not good at drawing animals ,and so on. Secondly, respect the artists and their timelines – if they make it clear, that they are not able to accept more commissions currently, ask them if you can book a place on wishlist, but don’t make them rush for your business’ sake.

Try to put as much details in your order as possible, provide sufficient amount of polished references in high resolution. Discuss potential doubts with the person you’re commissioning, point out the mistakes on the sketch. By doing so, you have guarantee, that the work you’re about to get ,will satisfy you.

Never ask artist to copy somebody else’s style for you (at least if it’s not about doing something in particular style of known art’s epoch – it will not harm nobody), as it’s just unpolite. If you desire for an exact style, commission the exactly one particular person who has this style.

Don’t complain on the prices. You’ve got a chance to have a look at the prices, before you decide to commission an artist. In case you’re unable to pay this person, you can always look for someone else to make a drawing. Just like you don’t send your complaints about expensive goods to company that produces e.g. chocolates. By ordering something unique for you, you have to be aware, that it will cost you more, than when you purchase a poster or stuffed teddy bear from massive production.

Don’t make artists wait for payment and don’t play with them. No one will blame you if you suddenly change your mind for any reason after makin' an order (at least in case if the commission hasn't been started). Just nicely let the artist know about that - it's really not that big deal, compared to situation when artists are wondering if
they should ask for payment or even the whole order at all.

4. FINALLY – HOW DOES COMMISSIONING LOOK IN MY CASE?
If someone decides to commission me, first we discuss details. I put this client on wishlist and let him know when I can start doing the work. I’m not comfortable with it, that someone pays and after that he's forced to wait few months for promised piece. Therefore I prefer to notify him a week or two earlier that he can make the transfer.

After that , I change the order’s status on the list and I’m moving on with sketch. At the beginning it is simple overall sketch – I only need to set characters positions and plan the background. After this phase is accepted, I usually make more advanced sketch with clothes, props , face expressions etc. It’s best to ask for potentially missing details at this phase, as it’s hard to fix anything later on for me. Next phases are lineart or contours (depends on technique) and sometimes I send each stages of work to the client (if the job moves slowly I assure him that I’m not sitting back and the work goes on).

If anything, I let client know if there are any delays due to many different circumstances (school duties). However if I’m aware that somebody really wants the job done in the particular time, I’m doing my best to manage it.

Why the order that was paid later on, is being done at the first place? Usually it’s about that one person ordered traditional drawing, and the traditional is just faster and easier for me to do. Sometimes I’m just unable to spend another hour by the computer, especially when I’m forced to use it everyday for the long time, because I’m studying graphic design. To make a break , let eyes and brain relax after concentrating on the same work over the same piece, I move on to something traditional which in fact makes it submitted as the first one . Another reason may be that the second client desires the work to be ready on the very nearest time, while the first one isn’t in such a hurry. In this case I’m working on the piece with higher priority, but I’d rather avoid such situations, because I don’t wanna no one to feel like he’s being treated unfairly.

What can you expect when commissioning me? (MadBlackie)
- When you choose digital, you receive a high resolution piece (300-500dpi , mostly 30-35cm length format) and - if we talked about it - there are additional props there (for example: last order was an illustration for Iwan. It was in a form of wallpaper also prepaired as a book covers)
- When you choose a traditional I always offer to send original drawing ( not only to Poland), making sure that drawing will be safe from damages on the post office. If you’re not interested in consignment or you can’t afford to order it for any reason , you will receive a scan in high resolution.

Drawings you commissioned belongs to you. You are free to use it as a desktop wallpaper, mug’s pattern or anything else. I only ask for contacting me to speak on details if you intend to make a commercial use of it.
Additional personal advices suggested by other deviant karbor for reflection.
1. Never bite more than you can chew.
2. accept commissions, that you’re sure will be done
with pleasure ( you are struggling and not satisfied,
nor the client is pleased. There is a danger that
you will abandon drawing for some time. It’s not worth it).
3. In your price list/portfolio offer what you like,
not what you can do(why? Look at the point 2 above).
4. Value the work exactly in association to the effort and skills.
It’s not a market place and you can’t lower the price
( to manage a neat art for client , you need to feel inside
that you are respectively rewarded for it).

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This post is dedicated especially to Junior Artist, but I hope it can be useful for all of you