Commissions from a Commissioner's Point of View

[beckyh2112]

One of the things I like to drop my money on is art commissions (that gallery is a mix of my commissions and various gift pieces from people, but you get my drift

Comments

[avocado_love]

*adds this to my memories*

Thanks for doing this, hun. It makes me realize that for the piece I want, I'll probably have to uptick the amount I'm willing to pay. I've never paid for a drawing. How long does it usually take for an artist to get back to you? Do you always give them a detailed description on what you need, or have you ever kinda told someone to go wild with the background?

[beckyh2112]

Artists usually respond pretty quickly to queries, though how long it takes to get the actual picture varies. (For instance, commissioning something during the winter holiday season is not a good idea if you want the picture very quickly.)

I usually give a detailed description because I'm usually asking for pictures of fancharacters who I don't have any reference shots for. With my commission for LaviRavi, however, I'm making use of the commission sheets Foxysquid made for me. So I had a much shorter description since I mainly just described what I wanted the characters to be doing and could hand her pictures of the characters to work off of.

I almost never request a specific background. The few instances where I've done it, I tend to give fairly vague descriptions and/or flavor reference pics then let them handle what it actually looks like. The stuff I commission, the setting is rarely as important as the characters so I'm very flexible on background.

[lotusunset]

This was a great post, thanks for making it! As an artist who is thinking about opening up commissions, it really gave me some good insight on prices.

[beckyh2112]

You're welcome! I hope it was helpful - I see a number of artists just starting out with commissions who undersell themselves.

[beckyh2112]

Yeah, my one experience with Grungewerx and Ravyn's several experiences with him were horrible. He is not someone to commission from.

The problem is, a lot of the time I don't have references for OCs. I'm not an artist myself so the only thing I can do is link past commissions if there actually are any or write out text-based descriptions.

Though if you mean works in the form of fanfiction, that would be something I could do. Though it would definitely have to be something the artist requests since it's really not something that would ocur to me.

[lunatron]

I really enjoyed reading this post and seeing your logic.

[beckyh2112]

Thank you!

Chat excerpt for others' reference:

[Me]: Seeing my logic?
[Luna]: Like, what you find good about working with an artist and what you find bad.
[Luna]: How you do descriptions.

[luco_millian]

I have to thank you for this. I'm still horrible at pricing and so this was helpful, as was the insight into what is going on in the head of the person requesting the art. It gave me a lot to think about.

[beckyh2112]

You're welcome. I'm really glad this post has been helpful for people; I feel the commission process should be enjoyable or at least not painful for both sides of the party, and I figured a cross-section of prices and what they resulted in would give people some idea of what's out there.