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Artistic Freedom Explaination
6 years ago
I've noticed that some people don't seem to quite understand how artistic freedom tends to work. That perhaps there is a fear when it comes to commissioning something with artistic freedom because you think you are not allowed to give any direction whatsoever. In most cases, this is not true at all.
Artistic Freedom means you're giving the artist the freedom to chose some elements of the picture. Namely the posing, the scene construction etc. You are usually allowed to give some direction, just not a great amount of it. In other words, you can choose the themes and general idea/feel of the image, but you cannot micromanage every detail of the pose/angle/lighting/background elements etc. I'll post some examples of what I mean.
GOOD EXAMPLES - "This character chained up and hurt/crying. NSFW." or "This character in a hot tub relaxing. NSFW." or "This character fishing in a river/foresty type place. SFW."
BAD EXAMPLE - "This character laying on a bed with red, blue and pink bedhseets and this pattern, in this pose with the right leg lifted up at an acute 3/4 angle to show the 12 inch penis and balls hanging down resting on the upper thigh of the other leg. Arms should be here and here, head tilted 4/5 to the left, eyes half lidded, looking at x. The bed should have x amount of pillows and a neon green canopy, this, this and this plushie and these sex toys. The background should have a window looking out on a firey sunset ocean view with waves and rocks and trees."
The first examples are both giving the commissioner enough direction to have an idea of what it is they will be getting while the artist has freedom to decide on how to construct the image, pose the character, fiddle about with lighting/colours and find something that works and looks good.
The second is a very specific vision in the commissioner's head leaving the artist to basically attempt to read the commissioner's mind to try and see what it is they are seeing. The artist has no freedom to mess around with anything and the end result could wind up with some very clashing colouring and just wind up looking quite bad. Needless to say, mind reading isn't an ability we have =P.
For me, personally, I work best with artistic freedom, I work faster and enjoy the process more whereas working form strict guidance makes me slow, stale and stressed trying to nail down what someone else is seeing in their head exactly.
I hope this little PSA helps some people! 
I know very few artists who can work effectively with that kind of micro-managing.
I specify how much freedom I get when I advertise these pieces.
Sometimes I ask for a reference sheet, if NSFW is allowed, and then a single word.
Other times I don't even ask for the one word idea, you basically provide a ref and let me know if you are okay with NSFW.
Anything more than like a 1 word idea though I no longer consider artistic freedom so it doesn't get the discount I offer on those types of commissions. That's why I love when artists post this kind of journal so I know what they consider artistic freedom when/if I commission them :)
Heck some artists even prefer being told exactly what to do and such!
This journal is definately intended so people can understand how I personally work though since I seem to get alot of questions regarding what is and is not okay and rather than answer them all and explain individually, I can link to this ^^
I'm the exact same way, working best with a little room to experiment, it ends up with the best results imo!
I also love to offer the same freedom when commissioning art, myself. Because some folks get nervous with 100% freedom, I always try to have one or two specific directions to meet or choose from and then leave the rest to the artist. It's worked out real well every time!