Whats turn around time on bigger projects

I apologize for the long comment in advance, I just wanted to be thorough with my answer to give you the most info I could!

It really depends. And I shy away from promising a certain amount of time in case something happens and I can’t meet it, you never know with huge commissions because you can run into problems to solve, or have to juggle with other commissions to keep your income stable. Take a look at my terms of service for more information on my workflow. Basically, a deadline isn’t guaranteed unless you pay a rush fee for it. And unless a rush fee deadline is agreed, client will have to respect all the time the artist would need to finish the order.

But in reality and application, I don’t really like sitting on money I haven’t “earned” yet for super long and I don’t like making people wait super long after they have paid, so I move very manageable chunks from waitlist to work queue that I try to get done very efficiently. Turnaround time after the invoice is paid, I try to get the work done within the week, so for small to medium sized commissions, within the week, or 1-2 weeks. Oftentimes for little commissions like these busts, people get a sketch or even the whole finished thing same day post payment. I like slipping lots of them between medium and large sized comms to keep up my post output and have supplemental income.

For large ones, like big illustrations, I’d probably need at least a month of time just in case, but that also really depends, because if someone wants a painting of 1 character versus one that features like 15 characters, I obviously could not paint 15 characters in full detail in one single month, I would probably need more time.

I really do shoot for allocating work for the work-week and getting it done as efficiently as possible. Sometimes I take on a queue with more comms and juggle the work between them all so that I avoid issues of communication delays stopping my work, and have updates for everyone consistently over the duration, but having to juggle more things means a longer span of time to get it all done. Sometimes I have a big commission I’m aiming to get done within a month, with tons of little weekly ones to supplement income and have variety of things I’m working on.

However, something can sit on my waitlist before I’m ready to work on it for a while. When someone orders a commission, first they are put on my waitlist, which is like the pre-queue. And then based on what would work best for arranging my work week, I take work from the waitlist and add it to the active work queue. I only invoice when the slot is moved from the waitlist to to active queue, so only when I’m ready to start the work immediately after payment, this avoids long waits after payment. This also means the client should have that money set aside, it’s like you ARE ordering the commission, you’re just holding your own money instead of me, until I can start work. (Though some folks have really wanted to pay in advance which is fine too and they can do that if they want to avoid forgetting). I’ve also had some folks tell me “oops sorry I already spent all my money!” When I get around to them in the waitlist and that isn’t great either because I’ve clearly outlined that the waitlist is only for people who have the money set aside and can pay at a moments notice at any time, it’s their responsibility to keep track of what they ordered and not forget.

So the answer is that it really depends. Ever since I finished school and have been doing commissions full time these last few months, I don’t think anyone has waited more than 3 or 4 weeks max for their commission to be finished after they paid, and those were reference sheets that only took that long because clients would sometimes take a few days to reply to my emails, which would add more time needed because of all the check ins required and lots of time would go by waiting for approvals. Most get their order in like a week and are very excited about it. But also life happens, and sometimes I have to switch gears to pick up other projects outside of furry art folks don’t see to supplement my career which affects how much work I can complete and how fast, so people can’t and shouldn’t expect a deadline of it hasn’t been agreed/paid for, to avoid any disappointment. There’s been some orders that have been in my waitlist like a month or more now though, but because it’s been tricky to find where to slip them in, It’s a big order, I’m not sure if I feel ready for it yet, etc bc I always want to put out my best. And if I have to work on big orders that came first, a big order from a later date might have to hang around on the waitlist longer while they wait their turn.

That being said, as my TOS states, I will not be held to a deadline unless one is set up prior with a rush order fee. So even if I say “this might take a week”, that’s just an estimate, and it’s not guaranteed unless you order it. I offer 1-month completion guarantee rush fee deadlines for a 50% total commission cost surcharge, and a guaranteed 1-week completion rush fee deadline for 100% commission cost surcharge. If someone wants to order a rush fee, they basically skip the ambiguous waitlist time, go straight to my work queue to start immediately after the payment is processed, and as long as they’re available for immediate communication and don’t take a long time for WIP approvals, that commission will be guaranteed completed by the deadline established. If life happens and I can’t meet the deadline purely of my own fault because I dropped the ball, the rush fee is refunded.

TL;DR: I can only give good estimates on little comms bc they’re easy to knock out. But that’s an ESTIMATE and it a guarantee. I don’t like making people wait long after they’ve paid me so no one has been waiting lots after payment yet. Usually I finish an order between 1-3 weeks, might need more for big comms. Waitlist you might end up waiting months though if I can’t squeeze the order in the right place or don’t feel ready to tackle a huge project. Only ordering a rush fee guarantees a deadline.

I hope this answers your question well and gives you an understanding of my workflow!

TLDR: people can pay for a 1 week or 1 month deadline if they want it guaranteed, and I can’t be held to a deadline unless it is ordered and paid for

But I have no outstanding paid comms currently. Everything I’ve been paid to draw these last few months has all been finished within the month it was paid for as far as I can remember. But waitlist, something can be sitting there for a long time bc it’s not been paid and the urgency isn’t there, I work by order of what would result in my best foot forward.