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Etiquette for Artists Taking Commissions
7 years ago
Etiquette For Artists Offering Commissions: The Sequel To The Greatest Post Never Made
EDIT: Realized last second this could prrrobably use some context. Well, here's what you're gettin': I wrote a thing about people commissioning artists and all the shit they do that annoys me, so as a workin' artist, here's all the shit I see artists taking commissions doing that fries my ass. Enjoy!
1. Have a TOS (Or Something Like That)
This is basically step one to being less frustrating. Look, whenever I wanna buy something I don't need to live, I typically know exactly what I want. But what I rarely ever know exactly is where I can get it from. If someone's commissioning you, it probably means they like your style (and if they don't, why are they here lmao) and they have a pretty clear image in their head of what they want. But what they need to know is if you're offering to make them that clear image. And, of course, you need to cover your ass during the creation of that image. Miscommunication almost always starts because people don't know what will fly and what won't, so set up SOMETHING as a reference for what you're offering and also your policies for it, like how you handle refunds or what you will or won't draw. This can be a TOS, a do's and don't's list, a tiny hunk of text saying you don't draw hyper inflation porn, whatever. Just make it clear to your customers how things will go down, because it'll be your fault if they have to ask you a bunch of questions you never provided answers for.
2. Set Fair Prices (A Sketch is Not Worth $50)
I mean, unless you're genuinely a crazy good artist with amazing chops, you don't need to price your shit that high. I understand that settling on fair prices is hard - how do I objectively know what my art is worth? This isn't a tutorial on pricing your commissions so I won't dwell on it, but something you need to understand is this: art is both a service and a product. The service part means you're being paid for your time, the product part means you're being paid for what you produce. If you create your art in MS Paint within a timeframe of 30 seconds and it's absolute dick, you don't deserve $60 for it. If you are aware that you're not as good an artist as you should be, don't lie to us and pretend a colored fullbody from you is worth $100. Selling yourself short is a sin because it sets a lower standard for other artists, but good God stop fucking pricing everything so high. Everyone will ignore you and you'll look inexperienced, greedy, and as if you have a bloated ego. And chances are that if you can't draw a circle and you're pricing your shit in the double digits, that's exactly the case.
3. Stick With What's Asked of You (Creativity is for Personal Work)
It's natural for artists to want to inject a little bit of personality or a good idea they have into something they're doing, but you really do just need to stick with what your customer wants. I know, I know, drawing a snake with 20 hats on, though hilarious, is a pretty stupid subject for art that's supposed to be serious or sexy. But them's the breaks, and you agreed to draw it, so don't go trying to change things. Your customer will know, and they'll be rightly pissed. If you don't want to draw something, turn down the commission before you get paid. Otherwise, suck it up and do what your customer says you need to do. It can be frustrating to work with an idea that feels silly or poorly fleshed out, and by all means offer your own thoughts in the planning stages, but you agreed to draw this thing for money, so shut up and draw it.
4. Communicate (For God's Sake)
This is it. The ultimate sin committed by inexperienced people who think they can instantly make $50k overnight by drawing cat ass. When you take on a commission, you are taking on someone else's business. Their money. Their trust in you to not fuck this one up. Your goal is to deliver something the customer wants, and lemme ask you this: how do you expect to give them what they want if you don't know? Contrary to popular belief, especially among the dudebro populace, asking questions doesn't make you a pansyass, it makes you a good business partner. If your client is a dickhead who's yelling at you for asking questions, frankly you should throw their money back in their face because they don't deserve your work. But otherwise? Put away that easily bruised ego of yours and pull up your big girl panties, gents, because the only way you're gonna know if the other eye looks okay is if you ASK. Bonus points for offering works in progress, because those both prove you're not spending all your time playing video games and also that you're willing to receive feedback. (Note: Additionally, you should suck it up and take critique and suggestions. But I digress.)
5. Do Your Damn Job (Don't Open Them If You Won't Do Them)
Listen, buddy, I get how it is. Life is hard. We've all dealt with the bullshit, and some of us have constant bullshit in our lives. Things like mental illnesses or disabilities, difficult marriages or romantic entanglements, medical problems that need constant surveillance, whatever. Point is, we all have roadblocks in our lives that make shit hard. Thing is, though? Art for pay is an obligation. It's a job. For some of us, it's an entire career path. And with every other responsibility tied to our livelihoods, sometimes it really is just about sucking it up and getting through it. But if it's not your career path or livlihood, you're one of the lucky ones! You had the pleasure of deciding that you wanted to do commissions for funsies or a little extra dough. More power to you, but know this: it's still an obligation whether you take art seriously or not. It doesn't matter that you have depressive episodes, you have an obligation. It doesn't matter that you're under a lot of stress right now, you're tied to this thing. It doesn't matter that you'd just rather marathon Hell's Kitchen, it's time to get to work. Nobody put a fucking gun to your head and made you take commissions, so if you can't or won't follow through or you know you won't be able to balance them with the rest of your life, don't take them on in the first place. It's really as simple as that.
6. Don't Be a Fucking Tease (False Advertising is a Crime)
Here's a tip not just from me, lowely normie baby-freelancing scum, but actual industry professionals who don't depend on furry commissions to live: if you're not willing or capable to recreate the work you put in your portfolio, take it out. Replace "portfolio" with "commission information" or whatever and it's the same deal. What you put up as examples of your work is what you should be willing and capable of recreating at the request of your customer. Which means no putting up experimental pieces you can't remember the process behind. No putting up something you got right on a fluke. No putting up something you were once willing to do but are no longer willing to attempt. Your customer knows what they want when they see it, and they're going to (rightly) feel cheated out of their money if you don't provide it for them. A good way to prevent this besides the obvious is to create multiple examples for commission types beforehand - that way you'll know if you can manage the same quality again and again. Because really, you have no right to cry about someone getting mad at you because you didn't give them what they paid for.
7. Have a Deadline (And Follow It)
This may be a bit controversial given some artists don't function under a deadline and will definitely tell me that they don't need one, and that's whatever I guess. But here's the thing in my humble little ole onion: there is no downside to having a deadline. Deadlines make you look more professional, make your customers less antsy if there's a bit of a wait, and help you better organize your schedule around your art. Also, they really get your rear into gear and make it harder for people to come after you for not completing their super intricate painting of 5 characters in a week. How long your deadline is is up to you, but keep it reasonable. 2 months makes sense for larger pieces, 1 year is batshit insane. And, of course, fucking stick with it. It's exhausting seeing how many people still to this day set a deadline themselves, all reasonable and definitely enough time to complete what they're making, and they still get back like 3 months too late. Be smart, give your clients some material reassurance, and avoid landing yourself on Artists Beware.
8. Don't Be Creepy (Customers Aren't Sex Toys)
People don't pay you to treat them like emotional-issue receptacles or obligatory cybering buddies. This is very similar to a point I made wrt people commissioning artists: this is a business transaction, and the only thing you're being paid for is to draw for someone. Them being friendly towards you while they ask for revisions doesn't mean they wanna fuck you. Reposting your work in their gallery is free advertising, not a Friendship Certificate viable through today til you both die. It's nice to become friendly with your more pleasant clients, of course, but the easiest, most straightforward way to tank any potential career in art is to be an absolute creepazoid and take someone saying thank you for your work as an excuse to hit on them or dump your depression fantasies on them or invite them to your sexy roleplay Discord server. Admittedly this happens more with customers then with artists, and nobody in any specific genre of art is inherently going to do it, but it's not hard to find an unprofessional artist who makes NSFW and ACTS NSFW. Keep it in your pants before you scare everyone away. Besides, it's hard to hit Photoshop hotkeys with only one hand available.
9. Don't Be Disrespectful (They Didn't Pay For You to Be an Asshole)
I seriously wanna punch every rude artist for hire in their ugly fucking mugs. When I'm talking about artists being disrespectful, I'm primarily refering to two things: 1) Artists who bring their baggage from their personal lives into their business, and 2) artists who badmouth their customers the instant the money is theirs. For the first thing, I don't care that you had a bad day working your Walmart shift, or that your dog died, or that you're having relationship issues. Nobody does! And they certainly revoke all sympathy when you decide to get rude or snappy about it when communicating with them. If it's not relevant to the discussion (which, in this case, is purely business), keep it to yourself and learn to contain your feelings til you have an acceptable target to spew them at.
With regard to the second thing, I get it. We've all had bad clients. I've had clients that were painfully edgy, very condescending, and even this one dude who was outright homophobic. And they sucked! But here's the thing: publicly calling people out immediately after taking their money isn't just highkey grody, it's unprofessional. People will be less inclined to work with you if they know you're going to mock them behind their backs the instant they do something "wrong" (obvs bigotry is genuinely wrong and shouldn't be tolerated, but how many people are you scaring away when you whine about a customer using broken English? Or kawaii emojis? Or anything else harmless?) If you hate working with someone, you have to be an adult and pick one of two options: suck it up, get through it, and get paid, OR, if you can afford it, just make it clear you don't wanna work with the person, give them a refund, and move on. You're not even obligated to tell them why! Just say "I don't believe I'll be able to complete this to your liking," or some shit like that and bid them farewell. Just PLEASE save how many times you can call someone a vapid cunt for the bitching sessions you have with your friends, not your Twitter page.
10. You Ain't Special (So Take Nothing For Granted)
Being an artist and getting paid for it has never been both easier and harder. The internet, especially sites like this, is grossly oversaturated with artists of all skill levels and styles competing day in and day out for both people's attention and money. That bloated base of potential illustrators to choose from only gets bigger and bigger every day. Say what you will about shitty people selling shitty artwork for way too much money - I know I have my opinions - but the facts are the facts. There's a SHITLOAD more artists to choose from then just you. So why discourage people from doing it? You can't force people to like you or your art no matter how nice or talented you are, but you can make the process pleasant, simple, and rewarding enough that they'd like to come back for more, or tell their friends, or anything else that benefits you. You are definitely not the only person on Earth drawing for money, and you're even less so the only person on Earth who can draw. Don't forget that, and be humbled by the fact that people want to financially support your craft. They coulda chosen anyone else, so prove to them that they chose correctly.
If you're one of the people who read the one for commissioners and have been waiting for this one, sorry about that. I've been writing this on and off for several months at this point, but mostly because I wanted it to be, like, actually informative. It's probably less "funny" then the other one, but what can ya do?
If you're interested in reading the one for people looking to pay artists, you can find it here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8723332/
Hope you enjoyed reading and have a nice day or face the consequences!
EDIT: Realized last second this could prrrobably use some context. Well, here's what you're gettin': I wrote a thing about people commissioning artists and all the shit they do that annoys me, so as a workin' artist, here's all the shit I see artists taking commissions doing that fries my ass. Enjoy!
1. Have a TOS (Or Something Like That)
This is basically step one to being less frustrating. Look, whenever I wanna buy something I don't need to live, I typically know exactly what I want. But what I rarely ever know exactly is where I can get it from. If someone's commissioning you, it probably means they like your style (and if they don't, why are they here lmao) and they have a pretty clear image in their head of what they want. But what they need to know is if you're offering to make them that clear image. And, of course, you need to cover your ass during the creation of that image. Miscommunication almost always starts because people don't know what will fly and what won't, so set up SOMETHING as a reference for what you're offering and also your policies for it, like how you handle refunds or what you will or won't draw. This can be a TOS, a do's and don't's list, a tiny hunk of text saying you don't draw hyper inflation porn, whatever. Just make it clear to your customers how things will go down, because it'll be your fault if they have to ask you a bunch of questions you never provided answers for.
2. Set Fair Prices (A Sketch is Not Worth $50)
I mean, unless you're genuinely a crazy good artist with amazing chops, you don't need to price your shit that high. I understand that settling on fair prices is hard - how do I objectively know what my art is worth? This isn't a tutorial on pricing your commissions so I won't dwell on it, but something you need to understand is this: art is both a service and a product. The service part means you're being paid for your time, the product part means you're being paid for what you produce. If you create your art in MS Paint within a timeframe of 30 seconds and it's absolute dick, you don't deserve $60 for it. If you are aware that you're not as good an artist as you should be, don't lie to us and pretend a colored fullbody from you is worth $100. Selling yourself short is a sin because it sets a lower standard for other artists, but good God stop fucking pricing everything so high. Everyone will ignore you and you'll look inexperienced, greedy, and as if you have a bloated ego. And chances are that if you can't draw a circle and you're pricing your shit in the double digits, that's exactly the case.
3. Stick With What's Asked of You (Creativity is for Personal Work)
It's natural for artists to want to inject a little bit of personality or a good idea they have into something they're doing, but you really do just need to stick with what your customer wants. I know, I know, drawing a snake with 20 hats on, though hilarious, is a pretty stupid subject for art that's supposed to be serious or sexy. But them's the breaks, and you agreed to draw it, so don't go trying to change things. Your customer will know, and they'll be rightly pissed. If you don't want to draw something, turn down the commission before you get paid. Otherwise, suck it up and do what your customer says you need to do. It can be frustrating to work with an idea that feels silly or poorly fleshed out, and by all means offer your own thoughts in the planning stages, but you agreed to draw this thing for money, so shut up and draw it.
4. Communicate (For God's Sake)
This is it. The ultimate sin committed by inexperienced people who think they can instantly make $50k overnight by drawing cat ass. When you take on a commission, you are taking on someone else's business. Their money. Their trust in you to not fuck this one up. Your goal is to deliver something the customer wants, and lemme ask you this: how do you expect to give them what they want if you don't know? Contrary to popular belief, especially among the dudebro populace, asking questions doesn't make you a pansyass, it makes you a good business partner. If your client is a dickhead who's yelling at you for asking questions, frankly you should throw their money back in their face because they don't deserve your work. But otherwise? Put away that easily bruised ego of yours and pull up your big girl panties, gents, because the only way you're gonna know if the other eye looks okay is if you ASK. Bonus points for offering works in progress, because those both prove you're not spending all your time playing video games and also that you're willing to receive feedback. (Note: Additionally, you should suck it up and take critique and suggestions. But I digress.)
5. Do Your Damn Job (Don't Open Them If You Won't Do Them)
Listen, buddy, I get how it is. Life is hard. We've all dealt with the bullshit, and some of us have constant bullshit in our lives. Things like mental illnesses or disabilities, difficult marriages or romantic entanglements, medical problems that need constant surveillance, whatever. Point is, we all have roadblocks in our lives that make shit hard. Thing is, though? Art for pay is an obligation. It's a job. For some of us, it's an entire career path. And with every other responsibility tied to our livelihoods, sometimes it really is just about sucking it up and getting through it. But if it's not your career path or livlihood, you're one of the lucky ones! You had the pleasure of deciding that you wanted to do commissions for funsies or a little extra dough. More power to you, but know this: it's still an obligation whether you take art seriously or not. It doesn't matter that you have depressive episodes, you have an obligation. It doesn't matter that you're under a lot of stress right now, you're tied to this thing. It doesn't matter that you'd just rather marathon Hell's Kitchen, it's time to get to work. Nobody put a fucking gun to your head and made you take commissions, so if you can't or won't follow through or you know you won't be able to balance them with the rest of your life, don't take them on in the first place. It's really as simple as that.
6. Don't Be a Fucking Tease (False Advertising is a Crime)
Here's a tip not just from me, lowely normie baby-freelancing scum, but actual industry professionals who don't depend on furry commissions to live: if you're not willing or capable to recreate the work you put in your portfolio, take it out. Replace "portfolio" with "commission information" or whatever and it's the same deal. What you put up as examples of your work is what you should be willing and capable of recreating at the request of your customer. Which means no putting up experimental pieces you can't remember the process behind. No putting up something you got right on a fluke. No putting up something you were once willing to do but are no longer willing to attempt. Your customer knows what they want when they see it, and they're going to (rightly) feel cheated out of their money if you don't provide it for them. A good way to prevent this besides the obvious is to create multiple examples for commission types beforehand - that way you'll know if you can manage the same quality again and again. Because really, you have no right to cry about someone getting mad at you because you didn't give them what they paid for.
7. Have a Deadline (And Follow It)
This may be a bit controversial given some artists don't function under a deadline and will definitely tell me that they don't need one, and that's whatever I guess. But here's the thing in my humble little ole onion: there is no downside to having a deadline. Deadlines make you look more professional, make your customers less antsy if there's a bit of a wait, and help you better organize your schedule around your art. Also, they really get your rear into gear and make it harder for people to come after you for not completing their super intricate painting of 5 characters in a week. How long your deadline is is up to you, but keep it reasonable. 2 months makes sense for larger pieces, 1 year is batshit insane. And, of course, fucking stick with it. It's exhausting seeing how many people still to this day set a deadline themselves, all reasonable and definitely enough time to complete what they're making, and they still get back like 3 months too late. Be smart, give your clients some material reassurance, and avoid landing yourself on Artists Beware.
8. Don't Be Creepy (Customers Aren't Sex Toys)
People don't pay you to treat them like emotional-issue receptacles or obligatory cybering buddies. This is very similar to a point I made wrt people commissioning artists: this is a business transaction, and the only thing you're being paid for is to draw for someone. Them being friendly towards you while they ask for revisions doesn't mean they wanna fuck you. Reposting your work in their gallery is free advertising, not a Friendship Certificate viable through today til you both die. It's nice to become friendly with your more pleasant clients, of course, but the easiest, most straightforward way to tank any potential career in art is to be an absolute creepazoid and take someone saying thank you for your work as an excuse to hit on them or dump your depression fantasies on them or invite them to your sexy roleplay Discord server. Admittedly this happens more with customers then with artists, and nobody in any specific genre of art is inherently going to do it, but it's not hard to find an unprofessional artist who makes NSFW and ACTS NSFW. Keep it in your pants before you scare everyone away. Besides, it's hard to hit Photoshop hotkeys with only one hand available.
9. Don't Be Disrespectful (They Didn't Pay For You to Be an Asshole)
I seriously wanna punch every rude artist for hire in their ugly fucking mugs. When I'm talking about artists being disrespectful, I'm primarily refering to two things: 1) Artists who bring their baggage from their personal lives into their business, and 2) artists who badmouth their customers the instant the money is theirs. For the first thing, I don't care that you had a bad day working your Walmart shift, or that your dog died, or that you're having relationship issues. Nobody does! And they certainly revoke all sympathy when you decide to get rude or snappy about it when communicating with them. If it's not relevant to the discussion (which, in this case, is purely business), keep it to yourself and learn to contain your feelings til you have an acceptable target to spew them at.
With regard to the second thing, I get it. We've all had bad clients. I've had clients that were painfully edgy, very condescending, and even this one dude who was outright homophobic. And they sucked! But here's the thing: publicly calling people out immediately after taking their money isn't just highkey grody, it's unprofessional. People will be less inclined to work with you if they know you're going to mock them behind their backs the instant they do something "wrong" (obvs bigotry is genuinely wrong and shouldn't be tolerated, but how many people are you scaring away when you whine about a customer using broken English? Or kawaii emojis? Or anything else harmless?) If you hate working with someone, you have to be an adult and pick one of two options: suck it up, get through it, and get paid, OR, if you can afford it, just make it clear you don't wanna work with the person, give them a refund, and move on. You're not even obligated to tell them why! Just say "I don't believe I'll be able to complete this to your liking," or some shit like that and bid them farewell. Just PLEASE save how many times you can call someone a vapid cunt for the bitching sessions you have with your friends, not your Twitter page.
10. You Ain't Special (So Take Nothing For Granted)
Being an artist and getting paid for it has never been both easier and harder. The internet, especially sites like this, is grossly oversaturated with artists of all skill levels and styles competing day in and day out for both people's attention and money. That bloated base of potential illustrators to choose from only gets bigger and bigger every day. Say what you will about shitty people selling shitty artwork for way too much money - I know I have my opinions - but the facts are the facts. There's a SHITLOAD more artists to choose from then just you. So why discourage people from doing it? You can't force people to like you or your art no matter how nice or talented you are, but you can make the process pleasant, simple, and rewarding enough that they'd like to come back for more, or tell their friends, or anything else that benefits you. You are definitely not the only person on Earth drawing for money, and you're even less so the only person on Earth who can draw. Don't forget that, and be humbled by the fact that people want to financially support your craft. They coulda chosen anyone else, so prove to them that they chose correctly.
If you're one of the people who read the one for commissioners and have been waiting for this one, sorry about that. I've been writing this on and off for several months at this point, but mostly because I wanted it to be, like, actually informative. It's probably less "funny" then the other one, but what can ya do?
If you're interested in reading the one for people looking to pay artists, you can find it here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8723332/
Hope you enjoyed reading and have a nice day or face the consequences!
You yourself are an awesome artist to work with from a commissioner's standpoint, and as a fellow artist, I can only weep with relief when you post on these kinds of topics (believe me I'll be getting on your critique journal next) But I dont have a computer on hand, and i had to say something like a dumb little nutcase. So yay phones?
In all seriousness though, these are some great points. I've gotten really tired of artists charging 30 to 90 and upwards for lineart alone, or a sketch that, while nice, should not cost an entire groceries bill. Granted, art is a luxury product, but still. Communication is key, and having it disappear allrogether or get way too personal in the middle of a commission - with or without wips (because so many artists dont even try to give a wip these days) - is downright awful. Just... all of this. I want to just post this on the front board of this site, but people would get butthurt.
All in all. Thank you for another great journal, and for not sugarcoating anything. It's great. Keep it up fam. -thumbs up-
match made in hell: someone who charges $60 for an uncolored sketch and then is entirely unreachable until it's done
i'm glad you enjoyed reading!
Point is! My goodness is this all solid and true. This is like taking commissions 101 and I wish more folks would see it.
On prices? If folks are charging that high for sketches/fullbodies (and yeah, I've seen it too) in most cases I see their art may be perfectly adequate. My philosophy has always been not only to get better, but to speed up. If you have to charge that much to survive, then get faster, do more work, and get things done. It IS a job after all, and if you aren't doing your job efficiently it's just gonna suck for everyone.
Gaddang Heebjeeb all these lovely journals and work lately. I'ma gonna save up next month, you'll be seein more of me real soon. Also on that last journal on the critiques - much like you wanting to make this post informative, so too am I going to be mulling over answering that journal for a while because I wanna give ya a bangup answer there! :V
Thank ya again for another cathardic beautiful journal that gives me all the happy.
if someone can't draw more then just dogs, they really aren't ready to take on the responsibility of commissions
i'm looking forward to it! thanks for reading and giving your piece!
And thank you as well, for writin' this journal!! Look forward to seein' more from ya as always!
oh pshaw!
angry commission artists unite
At least half the artists I've commissioned to draw my semi feral badger produce a dog with stripes, and force me to play the tiresome 'is it good enough' game of attrition where they tweak the picture a little more until I just give up and tell them to colour the bloody thing. Even though it still looks like a mangled border collie. Because I'm feeling guilty that they've put so much 'effort' into it, I'm unable to tell them it still looks like they've never looked at any of the photo references I've sent them. And what sort of artist do they think they are, if they can't see the difference - just trace the damn photo already.
It's really annoying when an artist is really good at some particular effect - mustelids love the shiny - but suffer from DFS.
At least I don't have a Colugo character.
And yeah, I feel. There's been so many folks where I'm like, "AH they've got such good work and it says here they can draw any species!" Of course that's so rarely the case and if I dare hand my false killer whale to someone boy oh boy XD Usually I get either a dragon type face back or a really, reaaaally ugly lookin dog. And of course when you start the commission by giving them all the tips and references they could ever need, it's just. That awful feeling of, "Did you... try? :'D"
Also a Colugo would make a stunning character man, but I understand the worry when it comes to other people drawing one. x-x That'd give you a loooot of things for artists to mess up sadly.
As I say below, I'm going to put a quarter of the new ref sheet saying that the badger head is make-or-break, and to trace a photo if they aren't already familiar with the species.
Haha, I only mention colugos because they're one of the oddest-looking mammals I found - not because they're duck-bills or anything, but because they're natural uncanny valley fodder. I don't have a character of one.
XD Also right, I figured. I took one look at them though and I'm just like. Dang that's a lot of traits I can see someone messing up xD
the artist has the responsibility of making it clear what they can and can't draw and turning down commissions they know they can't properly fill. but artists are egoists and always trying to impress at the wrong times and i don't depend on them to always know their limits, so clients should be wary of handing money over to people who haven't demonstrated that they can put their money where their mouth is. i hear a lot of people complaining about doglike artwork specifically, which isn't surprising given how many people here exclusively draw dogs, and i think that could better be avoided if people pursue artists who demonstrate they have the ability to draw more then one thing. + being honest with artists you don't wanna work with would also force them to at least confront the problem, if not actually do something about it
you make a damn good point all the same. not all artists will get their heads out of their asses about it, but people should stop whacking off their egos for half a second and decide whether they actually CAN manage to draw something that isn't one very specific kind of dog
I emphasise every time that my characters are at the feral end of anthro, and that the badger skull shape and limb proportions are very important, but somehow that's not enough. I'm tempted to outright say that I'd rather they trace a photo if it's too doggy in the first WIP because explaining what's wrong in words is too complex and redlining stuff for them - I don't commission stuff that I think I can draw.
The only good thing to come out of this is that I got so disgusted that I determined to learn to draw well enough to please myself, which I'm on my way to achieving, but dropping 100 on someone and getting crap back rankles.
ahaha, part of the reason i began taking art seriously was seeing how many people suck ass at art and yet still make bank from it. spite is an amazing motivator
I've decided to cook up new ref sheets that have a quarter of the page bluntly saying that I'd rather they trace directly from a photo for the head (or some nominated cartoony treatments for cartoony people) because that's my primary make-or-break to avoid wasting anyone's time. (My current sheets say as much in the text below, but who has time to read that, eh?)
That gives me full and guilt-free justification to cancel/refund on a crap job.
Charging for my pictures would just complicate my tax affairs for minimal gain. If FA had DA's currency system that might make it worth my while, but i don't think I'm at that level yet anyhow.
And yeah- the customer is always right! You can for sure suggest some ideas if you don't know what the customer wants- but if they want something they paid you to do that thing. Not somethin else.
Just- this journal. Praise be.
glad you enjoyed the read!
honestly what is so important is
ARTISTS DONT SPEND THE MONEY BEFORE YOU EARN IT!!
if there is a reason why you cannot finish an art piece due to depressive episodes (if its really that bad u can no longer work) be prepared to offer a refund!!
that's an extremely good point. i'm baffled by how many people spend the money before it's officially theirs. like, what if your client hates the final piece, numbnuts? you wanna deal with a paypal claim? i sure as shit know i don't!
People need an easy to read TOS. One popular artist I commissioned had a TOS. But their idea of price listing was ''look at my gallery and tell me what you want''. It was the most confusing thing ever because I couldn't tell what was hard shade and what was soft shade. It's like picking something out of a book with no descriptions. Both times I picked something out I thought they were the same thing. But one was like $60+ and the other was $80+. I don't think that exchange rate is fucking $20.
And the WIP. I honestly thought most artists sent WIPs. But boy was I wrong. I found out I need to specially ask for them. Otherwise they just send the finish product whenever. And if it's wrong or needs to be edited it's either ''too bad'' or pay me $5-$10 to fix it''. I used to feel guilty sending WIPs back for editing. But it's like this is art, not fast-food. Fast-food gives you the end result whenever. If you order a product or whatever from anywhere they usually let you see how they build it so there's no screw-ups.
Finally the price thing. Personally I'm always looking for artists who do decent work for $50 or less cause I wanna save money. I don't wanna spend like fucking $80 on a single commission. I see artists who dish out painted pieces for like $120 or sketches for $40. I can understand if you make a living on art. But fucking $120 for a fancy flat color? $40 for a hand-drawn sketch? What the fuck. It's even worse when the artist gets pissy about it. There's times I inquire about prices because of questions or it's not displaying right. People get personally offended when you politely decline and they ask why.
"pick from my gallery" that's utterly unacceptable. you can't give consistent rates upfront? what are you, five? what if you walked into a store and had to ask an employee everytime you wanted to know how much a can of soup costs? everyone has a price sheet for a reason jesus christ
see, when i was much younger and dumber, i didn't frequently send wips. then the older i got, the more i realized, hey! people like knowing what they put their money towards! there's also no downside to it unless you're a little bitch who hates critique or spending 5 more minutes making modifications. i've gotten into the habit of sending wips for practically everything because not only does it mean less fallout or corrections for me, but it makes me look like superman in the eyes of clients who've been thrown around too much by shitty artists. if you're making someone pay extra for revisions, it'd better be big details that they approved but changed their minds on, not mistakes you yourself made. never feel guilty for demanding to receive what you paid for
to be frank, some commissions deserve to be expensive. my paintings are an upwards of like $65 because they take me a longass time to make - time that i need incentive for spending on furry art when i could be whittling away my hours drawing something fun and stupid like a tree stump in panties. that said....... nobody should pay a few benjamins for something that took you an hour to make. that's what i mean when i say art is both a product and service - if the product is good, it deserves more, absolutely, but if the product was also pretty effortless or only took so long because you don't know how to utilize your tools for speed or whatever? nah. $100 for a flat color doodle with a white background? more like blow me
any artist who gets pissy when gently corrected or politely turned down should be damn grateful they only draw for furpeople. the Real™ illustration industry would eat them alive and screaming
I never understand what's so hard sending a fucking picture to keep people updated unless you never wanna interact with your customers ever. One of my latest commissions kept getting revamped cause the artist kept drawing the turtle with moobs and an obses gut when I said it wasn't like that. At that point I was so close to saying ''sorry you kept drawing him obese'', The real clincher was when it came time to pay for edits they were small things like a single black stripe across the wrist or fangs protruding. It's made me fucking appreciate people who do WIPs without asking.
If it's like super fancy scenery stuff then maybe I can understand the $100+ But flat color single character no background? Even if that took you days because of whatever, that still seems excessive no matter how good you are.
Funny thing is people wouldn't need to ask if everything was correctly laid out or whatever. Just don't get snarky with me cause I don't wanna spend $40 for a sketch.