I personally do a mix of both! First come first served, but if the idea, subject matter or characters makes me uncomfortable, I don’t feel bad turning them down (nicely). It definitely helps that my commissioners are all super chill and understand when I say im not exactly comfortable with drawing certain things, haha

When it’s Artist’s Choice, the quality of the commission tends to be better since they have some interest in what’s being drawn. From my experience anyway :p

^^

100% true. If you don't like what you're making you're gonna put less efforts into it and just get it done, no matter if it's conscious or not.

I think your experience with the two methods hits the nail on the head: Big-name vore artists with a large following like Acidic and Gold—artists who could be reasonably expected to have themselves flooded with customers within minutes of opening commissions—they would benefit much more from an artists’ choice method (which both of the artists mentioned above do use as far as I recall) as it lets them pick the art they would find the most fun and least stressful of all the orders placed, as well as not constantly doing art from the same small handful of megafans who are always so quick to order a commission from them you’d think they were going on benders to stay awake for when the artist opens up. Smaller-time artists whose commission queue could take hours or even days to fill up, though, would better benefit from a first-come, first-serve basis, as being able to selectively pick and choose the commissions they take on is probably a luxury for them—a luxury they likely wouldn’t be able to afford.

In my own personal experience as a very small creator, I’ve opened up for requests several times in the past and only just now am starting to attempt paid commissions, and every time I open up it takes days for someone other than people I already know to place an order for me, so it makes much more sense for me to do first-come first-serve since, well, there’s usually not even an array of orders to choose from.

Well, it's a complex issue.
Starting out, most artists have to take the commissions they can get. Most the time they have little choice in the matter. So, unless an idea crossed a hard line, the artist would have to try their best to work with them.
Though, as the artist grows more popular and commissions pour in with little effort, you can afford to be pickier about the commission ideas that you choose to go with.
True, the artist hand picking slots might mean it can be harder to get selected, but if the artist is happy and comfortable with the subject, you will get a better-quality pic in the end.
From my own experience, I try to play towards an artist's strengths & find out the topics they like to draw.
That way the artist has fun working on it and thus the quality of the commission shows that. You pay for the qualities that shine the most in that artist's style. The artist enjoys the commission, and the customer gets an awesome pic. A win-win for everyone.
Yes, there will ALWAYS be some people that will complain about how commissions are selected regardless.
I think the system you have going works for you, so I say keep at it. ^,..,^

I think it would depend on how much demand there is for commissions. I think first come first served works if the queue isn't expected to fill up instantly. Once it does though I think artist's choice is far better, as it can be unfair to potential customers who would really like to commission you but get beat out by someone who is on site at the right time. It also gives people more time to consider what they want and to craft better ideas to work with (I've missed out on art opportunities a few times because I took my time to think of what I wanted, checked to see if I could afford it, then lost the slot because someone more impulsive snagged it). Additionally, if the demand for commissions is that high, you as an artist can afford the luxury of choosing which ideas you would like best to draw, something you deserve to be able to enjoy.

I don't understand the argument you made for picking and choosing?
If it was a first come situation, most people wouldn't even have a chance due to being asleep or away at the time of the post, meaning they'd miss out and slots would be full instantly.

Artists choice, given 24-48 hours to post is very reasonable. Gives everyone a chance to post their idea and really, when you get a comm, it should be based on what the artist draws.
You wouldn't get a comm from a macro/micro furry artist and then ask them to draw two normal sized humans.

I personally come up with many ideas that I write away to remember but then give to an artist I believe would be best for it. The times I've given ideas to artists who I thought could just do it has left me regretful.

Also you don't want to be stuck doing art that you won't enjoy. The quality would drop and it would show. People should be taking into account you're preference of content and giving ideas they'd also like that's similar to that.

100% go with Artist's Choice.

Personally it always feels worse not having a shot at all with first come first serve than it does with taking a shot filling out a google form and not getting picked.

I do think with both options there is a valid concern about people bothering you about not being picked or harassing you to try and get an advantage to know when commissions go live.

I live in Europe, and the amount of times I've seen artists open and close for commissions while I was asleep are too many to count, so I'm heavily biased against that model. I'd go with artist's choice for your own and other's sakes, for the reasons you mentioned. First come first serve can be very useful however if you need to do some work fast, I reckon.

My own experiences were with people who are on an "ask me anytime" basis, so I'm kind of biased. I also haven't done any commission work yet, but I plan to open up for a single story this month.

Artist Choice is probably best for the long run.

Since, being interested in the commissioner's idea will make actually drawing a better time for you compared to having to do an idea you aren't interested in. x3

Short answer: Whatever works for the artist.

I mean, there are nuances. There are people I've given up on commissioning because they've been literally impossible to catch in time. Similarly with the idea-picking, it's very useful for people to at least have some idea what you're more or less interested in drawing at any point - because otherwise the commissioner has no idea if they *just* failed to make the cut or if they're at the bottom of the pile.

But in the end, as long as you're getting the business you want/need, go with whatever works.

For me personally as a commissioner, I am always more comfortable with an "Artists's choice" kind of setup. It allows me more time to think about what I'd like to commission and what would fit the artist well and I also have the confidence that the artist hopefully will enjoy my idea, which potentially leads to a better outcome.

Sure it is disappointing to not be chosen, and it would sometimes be nice to get a bit of feedback (i.E. "Sorry, just not enough slots, but fun idea" or "Not really my thing, sorry"), but I also realize it's hard to give that kind of feedback and not like... Fear a backlash or negative reaction.

On the other hand, it's kinda fun to try and come up with an idea that you think fits the artist and has a higher chance to be chosen. :P I was very tempted to send in an idea for you last time, but at that point, money was a bit tight. ^^;

I feel that both have a bit of their problems. I prefer first come first serve I prefer that requires being notified and if a person is desperate, they would wait for a long time til it's open.
Artist's choice does allow is more helpful as no one has to put their idea down quickly. Bur there is an issue with that as well. Having artist's choice is random. Whether the artist likes the idea or not is unknown. With first come first serve you don't have to worry about that. Also this may sound bad but some people sometimes think an artist chooses a person's idea because the person is their friend and wants to be a good friend choosing them. A lot of people have had that thought, and while that's a bad thing to say, it needs to be said for this example.
I guess at this point it'a hard to choose which is more preferable. For me it's first come first serve as I feel my ideas getting picked is very low and first come first serve does provide a better chance for me.

I think a first come first serve is just fair for everyone with the stipulation that you can turn down ideas you are uncomfortable with when they note you, and reach out to another if an agreed commission idea can’t be reached.

The issue I have with pure artist’s choice is it feels like a waste to write up and get excited about an idea that would work with the artist’s style just for it to not be one of them. At least having the slot secured would alleviate that (as someone who gets incredibly passionate when making a commission).

Wouldn't it be the exact same frustration tho in FCFS? You manage to be there on time, you quickly write down your idea and get excited that you indeed managed to be fast enough to get a slot, only to have it not fit the artist's preferences?

One side is you vs goodness knows how many other people’s ideas and can lead to that thing where people assume an artist chooses friends.

The other, the commissioner just needs to say “I’ll take a slot”, and have a large amount of time to think through their idea, and if the artist denies it, it isn’t because they prefer others over it, but instead really doesn’t want to draw the idea. The artist and commissioner can work together on an idea that they both agree too or the slot can go to someone else.

FCFS is all about luck, but luck over preference/favoritism makes it more of a fair option. That is what I meant.

"preference/favoritism"

Yeah, that's a valid argument. It is lame when an artist ends up choosing the same bunch of people over and over. Though its also lame that if an artist you want to commission is in a vastly different timezone than you, to the point that you're sleeping when they're opening slots.

Both styles have pros and cons unfortunately >w<

Yea, the Timezone issue is the main fault of FCFS. Luck is luck and puts most in a balanced and fair game of chance, but being on the other side of the world or a strange sleep schedule will throw it off. There really isn’t one perfect option.

Just due to the faults of the other, I end up preferring having luck hit early so I don’t get my hopes up for disappointing later.

Personally, I think First Come, First Served is just in general a bit of an unfair way to do things, as it makes it a huge game of chance, where people who possibly want to get a commission are entirely reliant on luck to get one. Even if the artist announces clearly that "I will open slots at X time" it gives too much way to unfortunate factors that the potential client cannot have a say in, such as what time of they it is for them, if they are available at the time, and so on. Worst I think being that when the slots do open, its a contest of speed and hoping your internet is fast enough.

Also, from the artist's perspective, as you said, it gives you much less control on what ideas come to you. Since even if the first guy on the line has ideas you are not comfortable with, well... you did kinda promise him the slot via the rules and telling them no at this point would be kinda disappointing.

So I am all in for opening slots as certain time, and then giving people a time window in which to send their ideas (like 24h, which I do). Whether you then do it via RNG or Artist's Choice, it still feels much more fair in my opinion, since then everyone were at least given an equal chance to participate, and you have more control over what comes your way.

Ah yes, the age-old question.
I'm sure at this point I'll probably just be repeating what other people have said.
Neither system is perfect.
Artist's choice might make some people feel left out or might lead people to intentionally tailor commissions to your taste in hopes of being picked.
First come, first serve can also leave people feeling left out if they repeatedly miss commission openings. This one is also dependent on how often coms are open, how many slots there are, and how popular the artist is.

Like some others said, you might want to consider varying between the two.

I definitely support "artist's choice". I would just caution you that doing this can have the unintended consequence of leaving people feeling depressed or other negatives if they get passed over -- that they may feel like they have been personally told that they themselves are uninteresting.

The best way to avoid this would be by giving as much disclosure in advance; to state as many of your dos and don'ts -- species, kinks, fandoms, etc. -- as possible. And if anything doesn't really pique your interest but is not auto-eliminated by any of your stated preferences, consider it a "maybe" -- something you may return to and ask if they still want to commission once you get through your artists' first choices.

from my view, it should be your choose what commission you accept.
if you feel uncomfortable with an idea of someone, might talk it over to change it a bit that it works for both for you, or choose someone who´s idea you feel better with.

i never liked people who draw everything as long they get paid for it

I like there being a bit of a mix, personally. One artist I follow, for instance, leaves 25% of the slots as first come first served (while being clear he'd veto anything he's genuinely uncomfortable with), while the rest are artist's choice.

Depending on the size of your commission batches, you could do it as a three tiered approach. Maybe something like this...
* First come first served for 20% of your slots
* Raffle for another 20% of your slots
* Artist's choice for the remaining 60%

That way, everyone at least has a chance, but a majority of your slots are still taken up by work you know you're going to enjoy doing. And that 20% raffled off might mean you get a chance to try something new that you'll enjoy!

I don't like the idea of first-come-first-serve because when it's an artist that's high in demand, then it becomes a race to see who can send them a note the quickest, and it's not possible for some people to even try it either because of their time zones or schedules. Heck, I remember an artist that I really wanted to commission years ago, and I was eagerly waiting them to open for comms, which were first-come-first-serve. However, when they announced when they'd be opening for comms, it turned out that it'd be EXACTLY at the time that I'd be on a flight, making it completely impossible for me to really do anything.

So, yeah, artist's choice all the way.

Because Time Zones exist, I extremely dislike FCFS openings. There's no way to pick a time that works for the entire world, people frequently work during a large part of their waking hours, and this site does have users pretty much everywhere. A thing that sort of imitates it but isn't is taking entries for a period and then selecting them randomly. This is more "fair" than artist's choice, although I don't really think it's better.

That said, I think having "things I like to do" and "things I won't do" posted somewhere for people to see before they even submit a commission idea is possibly the most useful thing to do; it helps people to direct ideas to you that fit your desires/skills.

From my experience with commissioning, I can safely say...

Fuck first come, first served.

Choose what you want and maybe have people submit the idea to a page like the Google thing I keep seeing so you don't have to feel obligated to respond, and you can more comfortably keep the commissioning window open for a longer period of time. For days.

That eliminates your issue with people being asleep, having to reply to idea's you don't like and overall helps keeps comm submissions at a higher quality than just say a sentence because you can require certain things such as refs so you're not left with a short description.

Very artist dependent. In your case I feel an artists choice works best as there may be many requests that might be forcing you into unfamiliar or uncomfortable territory and may be underwhelming for both parties.

Most of the time, I avoid "I'll pick the ideas I like the best" type of commissions.

My ideas are almost always never picked, even when I try to appeal to the artist's tastes, and I never know whether it is because too many people applied, whether my ideas are not good enough or whether the artist has a poor relationship with me for whatever reason. In every case, it feels terrible, even more than when an artist tells me "no" for something that they don't want to draw.

That being said, the artist is free to choose whatever model they want and if they don't want to draw things and fill up their gallery with things that don't really represent their tastes, then that is 100% fair and no one should have any say in it.

while both methods are great choices, both have to deal with there own problems

while FCFS is great as that gives everyone the chance to get a comission, even idés the artist may not like themselfs but is generly fine with it, atleast the comissioner will be happy that there idé was made into reality who mabye spent time to come up with this idé, however what becoems the problem is time zones, that everyone lives in diffrent time zones from the artist and gets left behind not being able to get a slot from there fave artist and for the artist as you mensioned that they get idés they do not like and would have to refuse them and chouse the next person who sent a submison so the only solusion for the comissiner is to stay all night for that one time frame so they can submit a idé

for AC its the perfect method for the artist who can chouse exacly what idé they want to make that was submited to them and giving comissiners a chance to submit the idé to the artist and gets chosen, but that lies the problem for the comissioner, its all luck baised for them if thye get chosen or not, the comissoner have submited a idé that follows the TOS and the artists likes and dislikes to a T and still dosent get chosen because someone had a idé the artist liked more, the solution is to be more creative with your idé and think harder on it and make a idé you know the artist would like but mabye not the comissioner themselfs because they had one idé they like and want it in a spesithic artist style but cant have it because the artist may not like it

its a hard line to walk on for both the comissiner and tha artist on this subject but it is up to the artist to chouse which ever you more happy with and more comfty with, just be sure about the strength and weaknesses of both methods

I usually lean towards artist's choice. That doesn't mean for smaller artists it might not still lean towards FCFS (if you only have 5 slots, or have an entry cutoff time and only get 5 entries, for example) but as a self-employed professional, one of the few perks of the job is *getting* to pick what you work on. Getting stuck working on a piece you're not really into, just because it was the first entry, isn't really ideal for you *or* the commissioner, either. Artist choice, meanwhile, lets you pick topics you know you'll enjoy drawing, or venture into experimental territory when you're feeling like it.
I've also seen cases where artists do a "pool" sort of entry, where everyone tosses their form in during the window, and the artist keeps picking projects they want to do out of the pool until they've done all the ideas they're interested in/feel like doing. At that point they re-open again.

If the artist tries to give everyone a chance, artist's choice would be far better because not everyone is awake or available right when an artist opens commission slots. This gives everyone, no matter the timing, a fair choice to get something from the artist. ^^

I've had experience with artists using those methods as well as the raffle (or wheel) method as well, and each have some benefits and drawbacks.

First Come First Served allows for quick commission claims, which is both good (as it means less time waiting) and bad (as if you're not on when a FCFS post is made, you may miss it alltogether) - it also doesn't guarantee that the ideas are good for the artist. However, if an artist doesn't get a lot of commissions normally, FCFS may prove easier.

Artist's Choice allows for the artist to choose ideas which speak to them, but runs the risk of favouritism towards friends and the like. Unlike FCFS though, those who want to commission you have more time to do so, and they may be less rushed for deciding their ideas.

Raffles are similar to Artist's Choice in that the commissioners have more time to decide on their idea, but it comes down to luck to if your idea gets picked, and some people may feel they have bad luck that a raffle will never go their way. Plus there's always a chance for a raffle to be claimed to be rigged.

An alternative is a YCH - this allows the artist to set a general idea which commissioners can either order slots of if it's a simpler one, or to bid on slots for more complex works. This has the downside that some of the work should be done before, plus it may turn away people who aren't interested in the idea. Also, sometimes auctions can have problems like bid sniping or overbidding and then not paying up.

Each option has its pluses, and if they outweigh the minuses for you, then it's an option to consider. Also, sometimes blending them together can help - especially if you have a community that could benefit from one option over another.

Going by a little bit of experience here as trying to get a commission. first come, first serve is likely the most fair to the commissioner, so long you're able to get on the list in a reasonable time-frame. But, as you stated before, the artist might not quite enjoy, or know how to do some scenarios.

Artists choice, while much easier on the artist, can wind up having scenarios where some commissioners might not even get a chance to get one, in favour of commissioners they've done in the past, versus someone that hadn't yet.

So it's a toss up really, both have their pros and cons.

(I should also say, as some might say something if I don't, I don't blame anyone for using either method, this is just my observations of the pros and cons.)

Living in EU and having a lot of artists open slots at midnight or 2-3am makes me very against first-come first-serve. Artist's choice is a far better system imo. Or alternatively, just randomly pick some after a submission period.

i tend to do first come first serve, but i try to put my foot down when someone wants sumfin im not really comfortable doing

Speaking from a commissioner's point of view, getting a commission from first come first serve artist that is small isn't too hard, but if it's a bigger one then it depends entirely on my timezone vs the artist's. Even if they announce it beforehand, that also means everyone else has time to prepare, so it's still going to be a huge crapshoot. If it helps, I've also seen some artists just assign every applicant a number and roll an RNG to give everyone a chance without the time constraints.

Artist's choice I can understand, especially for bigger artists who are going to get more ideas than they know what to do with. It admittedly makes me consider something a bit outside what the artist usually does to try and make my idea stand out a bit more, but it can also end up being something they don't want to draw for the same reason, so that is also a bit of a crapshoot on my end.

I think artist choice is best. Better to draw what you feel comfortable with than to do anything uncomfortable or difficult.

So far as a growing artist I haven't had the option to really say I choose between them. Though I rather do a mix of both if they come to me asking I first take the idea and think about it with them. If the idea is something that I am not comfortable with then I will decline the idea and commission. Though that doesn't come up as I give people a copy of my ToS before proceeding to see if I am the right fit for their piece. After all I wish the clients the best option for their vision.

Artist's choice. Unless you'd like to burn out and end up hating what you do!

I've mixed feelings about the artist's choice, it feels like it should be a great thing for artists to pick between ideas they like but I've experienced issues where... Sometimes an artist would only pick ideas from friends or popular furries.
There's also the whole "betting your ideas against everyone else's and hoping you come out on top" thing which I REALLY dislike. Commissioning artists used to be such a simple thing... you were either on time to get a slot or you just didn't get the commission.

I still think the method an artist I commonly use works really well... They take commissions ofc saying no to the ones they don't like... put them on a list that could take 6-9 months then message the person when their slot is close by to see if they still want the commission! This way everyone manages to get a commission and everyone is happy xD
The way I see it, long as you know you are on that list you know you got a com, so I don't care if I have to wait.

For artist choice btw, I think one of the best methods an artist could do is pick from the list all the ideas they like... no matter how many that is. Number them 1-how ever many you pick... Then use a random number generator to select the slots!
This way, it's fairer for everyone and you still get to do the ideas you really like.