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Commission Tips and Tricks
12 years ago
Just a quick tips and tricks for commissioning me, everyone, so I can hopefully speed you up on my order form. I've been told it can take a while filling it out at times, so I'm going to let you guys know a few things so you can prepare a head of time.
1. Be ready to pay out the order from the moment you hit submit.
Whether it be a regular commission, reference sheet, or in one of my sketch streams, I take payment in advance only via Paypal through invoices.
This isn't so much something to help on the form exactly, but I've been told some people have missed out on a commission by moments while they've been asking me about how to pay, when to pay, if they can pay later, etc.
2. Be ready to supply information about yourself, like your name, e-mail and paypal addresses, what gallery site you use, and your username on the galery site.
There's a bit of personal information I need from you, right at the start of the form, and I've been told it's caught people up before.
The big one though, I don't mind if you use your real name or your furry name, I just want to know what to call you. But if you're using your real name, just use your real name and your last initial, just in case someone does the same and has the same name.
3. Know what sort of commission you want ahead of time.
What rating is the picture? Is it a sketch, ink, or color? How many characters are in it? Do you want cell, soft, or no shading? Will this picture have a background?
These are the sorts of questions you should answer to yourself before clicking the link for my order form. That way, you'll just fly through these when you're asked about them.
4. Have all of the references ready!
This one is where most people get tripped up, because they'll wait until I've posted the link, then scramble for their references at the last minute. This isn't good, for a couple different reasons.
First, you might lose out on a spot because you were having to pull all of these different references. That seems obvious, sure, but it's an important reason people should know.
Second, you'll already know which refs you feel best represent your character. You've already had time to look through them, you've seen the pros and cons between this one and that one, so you're not having to choose in the heat of the moment.
Lastly, you won't have to deal with the worry that a particular site or link just doesn't work. That's the worst thing that could happen, because it's usually not a momentary outage when it happens. This could blow things completely, and that would make me a sad Nate.
So, here's something of a "template" I've put together that might help even more. Once you've filled it, you know you're good.
Omit any fields that don't apply.
Character Name
-Reference-
-Reference-
-Clothing Reference-
-Prop Reference-
And then add a space between characters, or if you're going to add other types of references, like for a background. Don't forget to label the other sorts of references what they are, so I can quickly look through them.
5. Looking at the order form isn't the right time to come up with your idea.
Again, pretty obvious, but it's a very human thing to do. You want something, you want to make sure you get in in time, and then you feel you've got time to come up with something. You become more relaxed once you know you're "in", and you let your guard down.
Remember, others are trying to get the same spots you are.
Also, don't forget that the use of proper grammar, the proper terms for body parts and objects, and the use of paragraphs is something that can really help out. It makes things easier for me to read.
So, the best thing you can do is write things out before hand. Not only can you just copy and paste things into place, but it also gives you a chance to re-read it and make sure you haven't forgotten anything.
6. Additional comments can be ANY helpful things.
From words of encouragement, things that are of DIRE importance and can't be missed, or helpful things that might help me understand your character in a particular scene, they're incredibly useful to me.
You don't have to use it, though, as it's not required. I just like reading things I find in there.
*laughs*
If those of you that have commissioned me before can think of any helpful tips and tricks to working with me that you've thought up, please add them below.
You never know, it might end up helping someone.
1. Be ready to pay out the order from the moment you hit submit.
Whether it be a regular commission, reference sheet, or in one of my sketch streams, I take payment in advance only via Paypal through invoices.
This isn't so much something to help on the form exactly, but I've been told some people have missed out on a commission by moments while they've been asking me about how to pay, when to pay, if they can pay later, etc.
2. Be ready to supply information about yourself, like your name, e-mail and paypal addresses, what gallery site you use, and your username on the galery site.
There's a bit of personal information I need from you, right at the start of the form, and I've been told it's caught people up before.
The big one though, I don't mind if you use your real name or your furry name, I just want to know what to call you. But if you're using your real name, just use your real name and your last initial, just in case someone does the same and has the same name.
3. Know what sort of commission you want ahead of time.
What rating is the picture? Is it a sketch, ink, or color? How many characters are in it? Do you want cell, soft, or no shading? Will this picture have a background?
These are the sorts of questions you should answer to yourself before clicking the link for my order form. That way, you'll just fly through these when you're asked about them.
4. Have all of the references ready!
This one is where most people get tripped up, because they'll wait until I've posted the link, then scramble for their references at the last minute. This isn't good, for a couple different reasons.
First, you might lose out on a spot because you were having to pull all of these different references. That seems obvious, sure, but it's an important reason people should know.
Second, you'll already know which refs you feel best represent your character. You've already had time to look through them, you've seen the pros and cons between this one and that one, so you're not having to choose in the heat of the moment.
Lastly, you won't have to deal with the worry that a particular site or link just doesn't work. That's the worst thing that could happen, because it's usually not a momentary outage when it happens. This could blow things completely, and that would make me a sad Nate.
So, here's something of a "template" I've put together that might help even more. Once you've filled it, you know you're good.
Omit any fields that don't apply.
Character Name
-Reference-
-Reference-
-Clothing Reference-
-Prop Reference-
And then add a space between characters, or if you're going to add other types of references, like for a background. Don't forget to label the other sorts of references what they are, so I can quickly look through them.
5. Looking at the order form isn't the right time to come up with your idea.
Again, pretty obvious, but it's a very human thing to do. You want something, you want to make sure you get in in time, and then you feel you've got time to come up with something. You become more relaxed once you know you're "in", and you let your guard down.
Remember, others are trying to get the same spots you are.
Also, don't forget that the use of proper grammar, the proper terms for body parts and objects, and the use of paragraphs is something that can really help out. It makes things easier for me to read.
So, the best thing you can do is write things out before hand. Not only can you just copy and paste things into place, but it also gives you a chance to re-read it and make sure you haven't forgotten anything.
6. Additional comments can be ANY helpful things.
From words of encouragement, things that are of DIRE importance and can't be missed, or helpful things that might help me understand your character in a particular scene, they're incredibly useful to me.
You don't have to use it, though, as it's not required. I just like reading things I find in there.
*laughs*
If those of you that have commissioned me before can think of any helpful tips and tricks to working with me that you've thought up, please add them below.
You never know, it might end up helping someone.
dragonorca
~dragonorca
aww cant offer sex as payment?
I REAAAALLY need to work on #3. :X
wooshell
~wooshell
Could you perhaps add links to examples of the different shading types? I'm just an IT kitten, so "cell shading" means exactly nothing to me..
Raventhan
~raventhan
Those tips seem to be so basic and simple, but they are really so true ^^
