ArofaTamahn

Is this work worth my time? Am I getting appropriately compensated for my time, skills, and abilities? Do I actually enjoy working for this person, or working for this gig?

—Kali Hawlk

If you watch me, you may—or may not—have noticed that I rarely post art here. Or at least, rarely more than once every one or two months. If you have, you might think I just don’t draw often, or that I’m so busy doing other things, or that I have the dreaded-yet-commonplace artist’s block. That last one, I thought, was the case with me for the longest time.

Some say that the key to overcoming artist’s block is to just wait for inspiration. One reputable artist, amongst many, will tell you the it’s better to develop discipline, the ability to will yourself to draw, even if don’t feel like it. Like getting yourself to get yourself in those running shoes and start jogging, even though it’s so chilly outside and you want to stay in your warm, cozy bed. Which is good advice, unless you’re the type of person who employed discipline already, and used it to drive yourself for so long that, as if it were a drug, you’ve become so resistant to its presence that the effective dose is too toxic to be worth using.

There’s a term for that. When you’ve worked for so long and so hard that the work you once felt so much love for instead fills you with twice as much hate, when you would strike anyone within arm’s distance for urging you to keep going, when you feel like quitting would mean freedom rather than loss, that feeling is called “Burnout.”

To put it another way, if artist’s block is to an artist as wanting to stay in that cozy bed is to a runner, then burnout is to an artist as getting a stress fracture is to a runner, as though they tried to lift the block off the canvas and gave themselves a metaphorical hernia.

The problem with that comparison, though, is that it’s much easier to tell when you get a stress fracture than it is to tell when you get burnout. In my case, I now realize I’ve been suffering from burnout since 2009, when I was working on the fourth of the five volumes of The Iron Wizard. So, while you may be able to immediately tell you have a stress fracture, respond by treating yourself to two to four months of rest, and be back to running as good as new, if you get burnout, you may keep going without realizing it for years and years until it’s too late, especially if you’re in an environment that mistakes deterioration for plain laziness.

That being said, I’m going to do exactly what anyone should do when they’ve pushed themselves to breaking: Stop. I’m gonna be taking a break for a very long while, and devote myself to other activities while I recover. That is to say, if I recover. Like I said, at this point, quitting feels more like a release than a loss, so I may never go back.

So, in case I don’t come back, bye everyone! It’s been a good run.

—Evan Ogawa

One day I'll escape this hell and you'll be gone.

—Kreig the Psycho

Update, June 1st 2015: Price changes, and an updated discount/markup system! Check below for the changes.

My prices (all subject to change over time):

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Sketch — Fast and loose digital drawing: $15 per character
Line Drawing — Drawn with one color, cleaner and more detailed than a sketch: $25 per character
Color Drawing — Line drawing with flat colors, cell-shading and highlights: $40 per character

+ Background — Puts the character(s) in a well-defined scene rather than an empty space: +$10 to +$200 depending on the complexity of the scene and the quality level of the picture. You will receive an estimate before work on your picture begins, so you will have plenty of chances to revise your order if you deem it necessary.

± Complexity of Character Design Adjustment — Characters with more simple or complicated designs will receive a discount or markup at my discretion. To give an idea of the scaling, an average pony OC would receive a 25% discount. While a design with a complexity akin to that of Discord would receive a 75% markup.

Will-Not-Do:

Anything that requires a mature content warning or nsfw tag.
Trademarked or Copyrighted characters you do not have the rights to.

Examples:
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How to contact me:

Via private message, and then by email as I work out the order with you.

The Process:

Send me a message by any of the means above, asking for a drawing of your choice of type, of your choice of characters, in your choice of scene (if any). For example: “A sketch of two of my characters playing checkers” or “A line drawing of one of my characters with no background.” Providing me with a visual reference for your character(s) will be a major help, but a solid description and a little bit about their personality will do in a pinch.

Once I get your request, I’ll continue to work out the details of the picture with you, and quote you a price. Once that's to your satisfaction, I’ll send you an invoice via paypal requesting half of the total payment in advance, and once I get it, I’ll start drawing! Note, as of June 1st: I will need the to know the country you're placing the order from, since I make an adjustment to my price to compensate for Paypal's sales fee. Generally it will only be + $0.30 + 3%, but you can go here for more information.

If you commissioned a Line Drawing or Cell-Shaded Color-Drawing, you may also want to ask me to send you a preview copy at each stage, so if you see anything that doesn’t look quite right, you’ll have the chance to have it corrected before I move on to the next.

Once the picture is finished, I’ll send you an invoice for the rest of my fee, and once I’ve received your payment, I’ll send you a full-size PNG of your commission, and put a lower res version up for display in my gallery.

The Queue:

For now, the maximum length of my commission queue is 3, so if you see 2 or fewer customers on the list below, my shop is open! Otherwise, wait ’til there’s a slot before messaging me. Commission requests sent to me while the queue is full will be answered in order of date received.

2 Slots Open!

Update, August 15th, 2014

The final installment, pages 135 and 136, are here. Thank you all for sticking with me to the end.

P.S. Happy Birthday, sis!