Commissions Week
Intro
Hello everyone, I’m a freelance digital illustrator and a casual commissioner. During the last decade I completed a lot of commissions and also ordered quite a few drawings and paintings myself, so I thought I’d share a few tips that could make the commissioning process a lot easier for both artists and clients.
In this article I will give some pointers about ordering a commission. I hope you will find them useful!
Contents
- Finding the right artist
- Effectively communicating
- Prices and payment methods
- WIPs and requesting changes
- Managing deadlines
- Basic etiquette of closing the business
- Short summary
Finding the right artist
Let’s say that you have an idea for an illustration and you’re looking for someone who can execute your vision. First you need to make clear what you’re picturing in your head. Is it a vertical picture (portrait format) or a horizontal (landscape format)? One character or more? What are they doing? These will be the first things artists will ask you, so you better have these answers ready!
For example you imagine 2 characters wearing historical clothes sitting at a table in a teahouse with big windows that overlook a nice garden.
Search for different teahouses, gardens, historical clothings on the internet (paintings and photos too). If the teahouse has nicely shaped high windows, you might want to choose a vertical format, if you prefer to see the interior and the garden more or have a close-up on the characters, then you might want to go with the horizontal format.
Now you have a list of different things you’ll need to check if the artists are offering or can draw these: complex illustrations, backgrounds (both architecture and nature), characters interacting and historical clothing.
You can now start to look for an artist: if you’re already watching quite a few and favourited their commission journals, you can check your collection to see whose style you’d like for this illustration.
If you’ve narrowed down the candidates, check these first:
-Commission types (Are they offering complex illustrations?)
-What they do and don’t accept (Artists usually have do-don’t lists in their commission journals.)
-Prices: both starting or base prices and add-ons (To put it bluntly: can you afford them?)
-How long the list of the current clients and the waiting list (if it’s public), or ask them how long it will take to complete your order (If you have a deadline or don’t like waiting for months or more, you will definitely need this info.)
-Are they offering wips/commercial usage/etc.?
If you find the one who’d be prefect for this illustration, you can now proceed to approach them.
Effectively communicating
When you’re ready to contact the artist, check their journal to see if they have a form you need to fill out to order a commission.
Some artists have a very short form, others have a long and detailed one – in any case, please fill out everything so they won’t have to re-ask it. If you don’t have a preference for something on the list (e.g. character’s expression or pose), then write ”it’s up to you” or ”no preference” or ”feel free to choose one”.
If there’s something you’d like to be drawn but you’re not sure the artist is okay with it, ask it first. If it’s a vital part of the illustration and they’re not comfortable drawing it, please don’t force it or try to persuade them – there might be a very personal reason behind why they don’t want to draw it. You can always find another artist who has no problem drawing that detail.
If you have a deadline, make sure to ask the artist if they can complete the illustration by that time. (Be ready for a rush fee for tight deadlines.)
Collect the references and a description for the illustration: photos and/or paintings of the interior of the teahouse, garden, clothing, poses, expressions, hairstyles, accessories, anything that’s visually needed for the scene. If you’d like the artist to add their own personal touch too, you can leave some of these up to them or give several different references for one detail so that they can choose one freely.
Prices and payment methods
At this point you know roughly how much the illustration will cost you but if you’ve ordered something with a lot of details, chances are that the price will be a bit higher than the base/starting price. Usually artists put this info in their commission journal.
If you want to use this illustration for promotion or sell it as e.g. a print, it counts as commercial use and the price will be higher. Depending on what you want to use it for or how many copies you’re planning to sell, the extra cost may vary. It can be a fixed amount or a percent (%) of the price of the illustration. If this info is not in the commission journal, ask the artist.
When you’re ready to send the payment, there are several ways to pay for an artist’s services. The most popular ones I see are Paypal and deviantArt points.
If they take points only, they have commission widgets on their profile or will set up a custom one for you only. To pay with points, you only need to click on the button of the widget to send them. If you’re unfamiliar with the point system, you can find more info about it here: about.deviantart.com/points/
If the artist takes Paypal payment only, they’ll ask for your Paypal address, so they can send you an invoice, or they’ll give their Paypal address so that you can send the payment. If you have a different currency than what the artist uses, adjust the amount (e.g. 56 USD = 50 €) to send the correct price in the requested currency. Feel free to add a tip as well!
Depending on the artist, they can ask for full payment upfront, or half before sketch, half after sketch or after completing the artwork.
WIPs and requesting changes
”WIP” means work in progress. When an artist sends a WIP, it means a sketch of the artwork. This can range from a loose sketch with a few lines, to a roughly-colored, almost-done progress shot.
Depending on the artist and the type of commission, you can get 1-3 or more WIPs while they’re working on your order. It’s quite common to not show WIPs of quick and simple sketch commissions and send several for complex ones.
When you receive the first WIP, it’s important to point out everything you’d like to change. However, if you gave a clean description of the scene and the artist did exactly as you asked, you should not ask them to redraw it from scratch just because you realized that the scene isn’t looking as good as you imagined or you simply changed your mind. If you really want to make them redo the whole drawing, you can expect an extra fee or a refusal.
Since the artist already spent a lot of time to draw exactly what you wanted, they are not at fault in this case and entitled to a fair compensation for their extra work. They might also state in their commission journal that they won’t make drastic changes after sending the sketch. That’s why it’s important to visualize and find good references before you place the order.
On the other hand, there are times when the artist makes a mistake, forgets an important detail or draws something you don’t like while you gave them artistic freedom. In the first 2 cases, ask them nicely to correct their mistakes by pointing out exactly what you want to be changed. After the edit, they will send another WIP to show the corrected version.
In case of the artistic freedom clashing with your taste…well, you should know what type of artistic choices they make by checking their gallery. If it’s something you haven’t seen from them before, ask them to take off some things or tune it down to find a middle ground. Alternatively, ask what they’re planning to draw before they accept the commission or get ready for some surprises!
Managing deadlines
After ordering and paying for the commission and agreeing on a deadline, the artist will give you the date when they’ll send you the first WIP. If they don’t, ask them when can you expect to see the sketch. After receiving it and making the changes (if necessary), you can ask them to send you another WIP when they finish the next step e.g. the lineart or coloring (unless they state in their commission info that they don’t offer them).
If days pass by and the artist didn’t send anything, no need to worry, they’re probably working on multiple orders at once, or having a part-time job while trying to balance their life as well. Try not to send too many notes or emails requesting for an update as it won’t get your commission done earlier and just stresses the artist out needlessly.
However, if you got the sketch but after several days or weeks (depends on the deadline you agreed on) there’s no info nor WIP or completed artwork, it’s time to send a message to the artist, asking for an update. There’s a chance that they ran into an unforeseen problem (unrelated to the commission) and they’re still trying to solve it – in this case, they’ll reply within a day or two, asking for a little patience.
To make sure that the artwork will be done on time, try to give them a deadline days or even a week before the actual deadline you need the artwork for. This way there’s room for delay.
My opinion is that the best way to keep the business up-to-date is to answer all messages within 24 hours (if possible).
Basic etiquette of closing the business
You’ve received the finished artwork and you’re satisfied with the result. What you should do now next is thank the artist for the artwork. It can be elaborate, or nice and short, or a simple ”thank you”, they’re all good!
Why is this important? Because other than showing that you have manners, the artist who worked hours or days on your commission deserves a thanks for their hard work. They also need to know that you got the artwork and you like it – otherwise they can’t be sure about either of these!
If you had problems with the artist (time management, quality, etc.), still stay civil and say ”thanks” for the finished artwork. You don’t have to work with them again, but it’s better to close the business with them in a well mannered way.
Some artists have a preference for a certain link-back method/crediting and most of the time this info can be found in their commission journal.
Even if it’s not stated anywhere by the artist, it’s better if you don’t upload the full size of the commission, only a small sized one. This way no one will download and make unauthorized prints or sell your commission.
Please do not edit the finished artwork without the artist’s consent. Cropping it for icons, headers etc. is fine, but drawing on top of it or edit the colors/erase parts is frowned upon by almost every artist.
Also, please refrain from writing anything negative or harshly criticizing comments under your commission you just publicly shared. Not liking the finished artwork can happen, but please still stay civil. If you’re that dissatisfied with the finished artwork, it’s better not sharing it. After all, the artist could find this out and you can imagine how bad it’d make them feel! Instead, you can always go to find someone else to work with.
Short summary
- If you want a complex illustration or a character design or a realistic portrait, simply liking an art style is not enough - approach someone who’s experienced in that specific theme, you can afford them and they’re open.
- Always give every important info about the must-have details of the illustration to the artist.
- The artist’s commission journal usually contains the starting prices, everything else (add-ons, commercial use etc.) should be asked and agreed on before placing the order.
- Visualize what you want to be drawn beforehand to avoid requesting drastic changes and know the artist’s creative style before you give artistic freedom.
- Let the artist work on the commission and only request an update if they go silent for an extended time. Check and answer the messages from them too!
- Stay polite in every case and respect the artist’s rules.
Outro
I hope this article was useful for the fellow and future commissioners! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comment section
The next article with tips and advices about commissions for artists can be read here: A comprehensive guide to accepting commissions
Credits:
Title by Astralseed
Edits by Memnalar
