This is important stuff to know if you ever plan on commissioning me! If you're not the type you need not read on.

I've been thinking about writing this up for some time. While I generally try to be as honest as possible, I feel that sometimes people come to me without fully understanding what they're getting into when they commission me. I'm going to attempt to lay things out as clearly as possible so that there's no misunderstandings- and hopefully no disappointment- when somebody comes to me for a commission.

We'll start with the physical stuff. I paint in watercolours, on fairly lightweight watercolour paper. Pictures are all sized 8.5 by 11 inches. While I work on paper I keep it flattened by stapling extra paper outside the drawing area down to a board, and cutting it off once the picture is done. This keeps the painting fairly flat while working on it, but you can expect some very slight curling or warping in the final picture. This is often very minor and would be unnoticeable once the picture is put in any kind of album or storage. However, the picture must be cut free to scan it, so if you request any major changes to the picture you can expect there to be somewhat higher levels of warping on the paper.

As you can tell by reading this far, I am a traditional artist. This has a few implications. I have to scan the image in, which very rarely shows a fully accurate scan of the painting. Even if I do get it as close as possible on my monitor, your monitor may have different settings I can't compensate for. So expect the picture you get in the mail to vary from the image you see online. I try to get fairly close, but you can expect some difference in colour and contrast that I can't really avoid.

Also, as a traditional artist, I can only really work with the colours I've got. I can mix down to most colours fairly well, but there's no way to mix bright primary colours- you either have them or you don't, so don't expect colours to be as accurate as a digital artist could make them. Blues and Purples are particularly effected, but reds and pinks may also be slightly different hues. I also can't always adjust a colour once it's on, and it's rather normal for paintings to be slightly different from references I think. Again, I usually get fairly close, but if you need exact duplication you may need to head elsewhere!

I work best when given a fair amount of freedom to play with. I'll always try to make a picture that you're happy with, but the picture almost always turns out best when I can adjust the pose or idea to help overcome spots I'm having trouble with. If you're super picky you're welcome to give me a shot, but don't be surprised if I can't pull off exactly what you're after. I'm not the greatest with heavily detailed characters either. As a general rule of thumb, I work best and make the best pictures when I can play around and adjust things a bit. If you've got an extremely specific idea in your mind and no slight variation is acceptable, you may need to head elsewhere. Also, I draw in a very stylized fashion- realism is not one of my goals. I try to make species recognizable as what they are, but don't look for realism with me, I change the shape of the head and muzzle and the position/shape of the eyes for most species to make them more appealing to my eyes.

Once a picture is finished, I can ship it out to you if you like, shipping is pretty cheap - 8 dollars to the US or Canada, 12 anywhere else. Be aware when commissioning me, however, that I can be -very- slow to get things sent out, and depending on when you commission me and what's going on it could be quite a long time before I can get your picture to you. This is especially true if you're near the top of my commission list and get your picture drawn first, or if you somehow convince me to draw for you at a time when I'm not normally taking commissions. They do always get sent out eventually, though. I ship pictures out in a plain yellow envelope, with a piece of cardboard for rigidity. The painting faces the cardboard so that nobody could possibly see what's inside without opening it. I ship using standard letter mail. If you want something safer you can request it, but it will make it cost quite a bit more to ship, and I may hate you a little. ;P However, I very, very rarely have issues with standard mail. The only downside to this is that if your picture does somehow go missing, there's nothing much I can do about it, but I can't even think of an example right now where the picture didn't show up eventually, even if it took longer than expected.

I think that's everything, more may be added as I think of it so check back before commissioning me so you always know what to expect. This journal may turn a few people away from commissioning me in the future, and if that's the case I don't mind- I always say, I'd much rather disappoint somebody before they pay me than afterword. That's not a fun experience for anybody.

If you have any questions about anything related to commissioning me, feel free to ask!