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About commissions in 2021
4 years ago
Hello there!
There is something that I have wanted to share with you for a long time, and I would very much appreciate your patience in reading all this that I'm going to write in this Journal.
This has to do with commissions, how I will handle them from now on, and some elements and plans that I have for these first 3 months of 2021, but also a little about myself and about some things that I feel that all of you should know, many friends have told me that I should express this and I hope you can generally understand my problem.
As you know, we are already January 16 - 17, the middle of the month and I have been working since the first weeks of 2021 on getting started in digital drawing, dedicating 6 hours a day to digital drawing (there are some days that I could not draw), and the the rest I work in the traditional drawing commissions that I have pending.
I have already achieved 7 practices of digital drawing and I feel overwhelmed, I'm usually a super slow artist in traditional drawing, and as you will notice I usually publish traditional drawings in a margin of 1 a week or month, even publishing sketches or WIP.
This for basic reasons of that medium, I cannot erase many times on paper, and less when the quality of the material in which I work is very poor, that is why when I draw in traditional, for 6 months ago I have started a routine in which I draw a practice or preview that I call "Warm-Up Practices" in which I give myself the freedom to practice the commission that I'm going to work on before actually designing the product.
This helps me to practice and become familiar with the character I'm drawing, create a preview with some different poses of the character I will draw, and give the client a choice of which poses or changes they would like for the illustration.
I love doing this because it allows me to deliver an illustration more in line with what the client would like as a commission, it allows me to practice and warm up before drawing the final product and it gives me security in what I'm going to do.
The cost of this is time, and the time I invest in traditional drawings is something that has always left me discouraged, I like to draw on paper, don't get me wrong, but when it takes me so long, or when I make a mistake and I must start from scratch, I lose the desire to draw a little, and it is difficult to draw without making mistakes, I can do it but I must be slower, methodical and careful, a small mistake and the whole drawing can be damaged and that pressure is something that discourages me a lot.
I can't help feeling pressure when I draw a commission in which I have been weeks or even months and I have not achieved a notable advance, and that fills me with guilt, and it is something that I cannot avoid, even when friends, or the client himself tell me "Don't worry, take all the time you need."
I'm very grateful when they tell me that ... but it doesn't help me to alleviate that pressure, it is something that I cannot avoid, and that makes me feel bad ... I feel like the villain, I don't know how to explain it, but because I charge In advance before starting work, I feel a very great responsibility and duty, and when weeks go by without being able to deliver the drawing, it makes me feel terrible, then I try to rush the drawing and make mistakes, and I have to start from scratch again, it can be frustrating ... and that terrifies me.
I don't know if it is a psychological problem, or if I should talk to a psychiatrist, I haven't said this to anyone and it is something that I feel that you should know because I'm trying to improve, now drawing is my only job, I have no other way to survive, at least not for now, the commissions and donations that I receive from Ko-fi or direct donations on paypal help me pay my bills, and bring food to my house, and now I try to improve my quality of life thanks to that, is my job, and I want to be able to offer the best possible service as an artist.
That is why I get very nervous when I take a long time in a commission, I begin to think that the client is angry at how long I have been late, or that the commissioners who are in the waiting queue and who have been waiting for a long time, are angry from so much waiting ... it's something I can't help thinking about and I get even more nervous.
I tell you all this because it is something that I have hidden for almost half a year ... and I don't know what to do, I have no experience in this, maybe I just have to improve my times, I have to calm down, reduce the slots, and gain a little more confidence with myself, which I think is important ... but I don't know, in that aspect I feel lost.
That is why at the beginning of this year, thinking about it a lot, I decided to try to be more demanding with myself, schedule my work hours, schedule my hours of rest, trying to be as professional as possible, if it's my job, it's time to take this more seriously.
And this is where discovering digital art, and that in such a short time I have been able to draw so many things, has left me devastated, in a good way, I'm very surprised by what I have been able to achieve in just 7 digital drawing practices in less than 15 days, and now I feel terrible for not having studied digital art before.
I still have a lot to practice ... but it scares me that this has been the result of only half a month ... I have always said that I would like to draw traditional and digital art, and offer commissions from both media, but now I don't know what to think ...
Maybe I just have to calm down a bit, and not think too much, however I want to thank everyone for the reception that these practices have had, really, they give me a lot of encouragement to continue and I have no words.
I just have to keep working on being a much more competent artist, I hope to learn from my mistakes.
This is another important thing that I want to inform you, I really didn't have a plan for these digital drawing practices, I improvised a little these first 7 practices drawing characters of friends, and I was simply practicing things from the courses that I'm seeing to study digital art.
But now I feel that I should plan this a bit since I want to improve the way I do these practices, I still want to dedicate these practices to friends and characters that I like a lot, but I must organize this a little better.
So from practice number 8, starting this Monday, January 18, I will plan the practices so that I will be clear about what I'm going to do in the next few weeks, as you will notice I have only done busts or faces, but I plan to draw half bodies and then fullbodys too.
I plan to use the entire month of January to continue practicing sketches, inkings and grayscale drawings, from February I will begin to practice with flatcolors and gradually I will experiment with shadows, both gradient shading and flat shading.
If everything goes well, by March I would possibly be opening the digital drawing commissions, since I also want to schedule a small space of time to do some personal art, and a small space to rest.
I also plan to open experimental sketches commissions as practices since many have asked me, maybe I can make a few small commissions of that style, since they are sketches, they will be economical, I still don't have an idea of what price I will put them, but I estimate about $ 5 to $ 10, in any case I will notify you in advance.
Finally I wanted to talk about this issue, I have been thinking about changing the slot system for commissions, I have spoken with several friends about it, and I have tried to find an alternative, since the slot system is a bit exclusive, at least when the commissions are closed and many people are left out and have to wait until they are lucky to be able to take a slot from an artist in the next round of commissions.
Many have recommended a waiting list system to me, and I'm still not sure whether to use it, because I feel that the problem with the waiting list is that it's something negative for new clients or new commissioners, so I have thought about using a mixed system between slots system and waiting list system, let me explain:
Suppose that I open the commissions, the idea would be that all the people who want to commission me, fill out the google form that I will use in the description of the commissions, once I select the people that I will attend using the form, I assign them a slot, these would be from 5 to 7 slots (they can be more or they can be less), when the slots are full, I will consult the people who were not selected in the form, I will send them a comment related to the information sent, and I will ask them if they would like to be added to the waiting list.
Once the commissions close, I will publish the waiting list, anyone else who wants to request it, I will add them to the waiting list, this list has an order of arrival.
Once I finish with all the commission slots, I would announce the next commission opening, this is where the waiting list will stand out, since of the new 5 to 7 slots of the next commission round (for example), the half or more than half of the slots will be assigned to the waiting list, I will ask you to fill out the google form, and I will assign the slots, again according to the order of arrival of the waiting list, leaving 2 or 3 slots for people who are not on the waiting list, specifically new commissioners.
In case there are no new commissioners, the rest of the slots would be assigned to the waiting list.
In theory, this mixed system would work like this, the idea would be to give opportunity to new commissioners, while attending commissioners who couldn't enter other rounds of past commissions.
At least in theory it would work like that, but again, I'm not an expert on this, and any suggestions or ideas you can give me I will take into account.
Again, I don't like the slot system very much, but I think it can help me attend people from any of the platforms where I operate, Twitter, Deviantart, FA, Telegram and Instagram, I don't want to open only commissions in FA, or in Twitter, because I know that many other people who are not on those platforms, would be affected.
With this mixed system I hope to be able to give everyone opportunities, and not leave anyone out, although I know that over time this could get complicated, so it is possible that I will add a limit to the waiting system, but hey, it's just theory I still have not decided this 100% and I would even like to hear some opinions or ideas from you.
This has been an extremely long Journal, and I hope I could have explained it as well as possible, if you have read this so far, thank you very much for your patience.
I hope to continue improving and offering the best of my art for you in the near future, thanks for everything, greetings!
There is something that I have wanted to share with you for a long time, and I would very much appreciate your patience in reading all this that I'm going to write in this Journal.
This has to do with commissions, how I will handle them from now on, and some elements and plans that I have for these first 3 months of 2021, but also a little about myself and about some things that I feel that all of you should know, many friends have told me that I should express this and I hope you can generally understand my problem.
-Commissions, Traditional Drawing, Digital Drawing and the Time Invested:
As you know, we are already January 16 - 17, the middle of the month and I have been working since the first weeks of 2021 on getting started in digital drawing, dedicating 6 hours a day to digital drawing (there are some days that I could not draw), and the the rest I work in the traditional drawing commissions that I have pending.
I have already achieved 7 practices of digital drawing and I feel overwhelmed, I'm usually a super slow artist in traditional drawing, and as you will notice I usually publish traditional drawings in a margin of 1 a week or month, even publishing sketches or WIP.
This for basic reasons of that medium, I cannot erase many times on paper, and less when the quality of the material in which I work is very poor, that is why when I draw in traditional, for 6 months ago I have started a routine in which I draw a practice or preview that I call "Warm-Up Practices" in which I give myself the freedom to practice the commission that I'm going to work on before actually designing the product.
This helps me to practice and become familiar with the character I'm drawing, create a preview with some different poses of the character I will draw, and give the client a choice of which poses or changes they would like for the illustration.
I love doing this because it allows me to deliver an illustration more in line with what the client would like as a commission, it allows me to practice and warm up before drawing the final product and it gives me security in what I'm going to do.
The cost of this is time, and the time I invest in traditional drawings is something that has always left me discouraged, I like to draw on paper, don't get me wrong, but when it takes me so long, or when I make a mistake and I must start from scratch, I lose the desire to draw a little, and it is difficult to draw without making mistakes, I can do it but I must be slower, methodical and careful, a small mistake and the whole drawing can be damaged and that pressure is something that discourages me a lot.
I can't help feeling pressure when I draw a commission in which I have been weeks or even months and I have not achieved a notable advance, and that fills me with guilt, and it is something that I cannot avoid, even when friends, or the client himself tell me "Don't worry, take all the time you need."
I'm very grateful when they tell me that ... but it doesn't help me to alleviate that pressure, it is something that I cannot avoid, and that makes me feel bad ... I feel like the villain, I don't know how to explain it, but because I charge In advance before starting work, I feel a very great responsibility and duty, and when weeks go by without being able to deliver the drawing, it makes me feel terrible, then I try to rush the drawing and make mistakes, and I have to start from scratch again, it can be frustrating ... and that terrifies me.
I don't know if it is a psychological problem, or if I should talk to a psychiatrist, I haven't said this to anyone and it is something that I feel that you should know because I'm trying to improve, now drawing is my only job, I have no other way to survive, at least not for now, the commissions and donations that I receive from Ko-fi or direct donations on paypal help me pay my bills, and bring food to my house, and now I try to improve my quality of life thanks to that, is my job, and I want to be able to offer the best possible service as an artist.
That is why I get very nervous when I take a long time in a commission, I begin to think that the client is angry at how long I have been late, or that the commissioners who are in the waiting queue and who have been waiting for a long time, are angry from so much waiting ... it's something I can't help thinking about and I get even more nervous.
I tell you all this because it is something that I have hidden for almost half a year ... and I don't know what to do, I have no experience in this, maybe I just have to improve my times, I have to calm down, reduce the slots, and gain a little more confidence with myself, which I think is important ... but I don't know, in that aspect I feel lost.
That is why at the beginning of this year, thinking about it a lot, I decided to try to be more demanding with myself, schedule my work hours, schedule my hours of rest, trying to be as professional as possible, if it's my job, it's time to take this more seriously.
And this is where discovering digital art, and that in such a short time I have been able to draw so many things, has left me devastated, in a good way, I'm very surprised by what I have been able to achieve in just 7 digital drawing practices in less than 15 days, and now I feel terrible for not having studied digital art before.
I still have a lot to practice ... but it scares me that this has been the result of only half a month ... I have always said that I would like to draw traditional and digital art, and offer commissions from both media, but now I don't know what to think ...
Maybe I just have to calm down a bit, and not think too much, however I want to thank everyone for the reception that these practices have had, really, they give me a lot of encouragement to continue and I have no words.
I just have to keep working on being a much more competent artist, I hope to learn from my mistakes.
-Planning of digital practices, Month of January, February and March:
This is another important thing that I want to inform you, I really didn't have a plan for these digital drawing practices, I improvised a little these first 7 practices drawing characters of friends, and I was simply practicing things from the courses that I'm seeing to study digital art.
But now I feel that I should plan this a bit since I want to improve the way I do these practices, I still want to dedicate these practices to friends and characters that I like a lot, but I must organize this a little better.
So from practice number 8, starting this Monday, January 18, I will plan the practices so that I will be clear about what I'm going to do in the next few weeks, as you will notice I have only done busts or faces, but I plan to draw half bodies and then fullbodys too.
I plan to use the entire month of January to continue practicing sketches, inkings and grayscale drawings, from February I will begin to practice with flatcolors and gradually I will experiment with shadows, both gradient shading and flat shading.
If everything goes well, by March I would possibly be opening the digital drawing commissions, since I also want to schedule a small space of time to do some personal art, and a small space to rest.
I also plan to open experimental sketches commissions as practices since many have asked me, maybe I can make a few small commissions of that style, since they are sketches, they will be economical, I still don't have an idea of what price I will put them, but I estimate about $ 5 to $ 10, in any case I will notify you in advance.
-Slot System, Forms and Waiting List:
Finally I wanted to talk about this issue, I have been thinking about changing the slot system for commissions, I have spoken with several friends about it, and I have tried to find an alternative, since the slot system is a bit exclusive, at least when the commissions are closed and many people are left out and have to wait until they are lucky to be able to take a slot from an artist in the next round of commissions.
Many have recommended a waiting list system to me, and I'm still not sure whether to use it, because I feel that the problem with the waiting list is that it's something negative for new clients or new commissioners, so I have thought about using a mixed system between slots system and waiting list system, let me explain:
Suppose that I open the commissions, the idea would be that all the people who want to commission me, fill out the google form that I will use in the description of the commissions, once I select the people that I will attend using the form, I assign them a slot, these would be from 5 to 7 slots (they can be more or they can be less), when the slots are full, I will consult the people who were not selected in the form, I will send them a comment related to the information sent, and I will ask them if they would like to be added to the waiting list.
Once the commissions close, I will publish the waiting list, anyone else who wants to request it, I will add them to the waiting list, this list has an order of arrival.
Once I finish with all the commission slots, I would announce the next commission opening, this is where the waiting list will stand out, since of the new 5 to 7 slots of the next commission round (for example), the half or more than half of the slots will be assigned to the waiting list, I will ask you to fill out the google form, and I will assign the slots, again according to the order of arrival of the waiting list, leaving 2 or 3 slots for people who are not on the waiting list, specifically new commissioners.
In case there are no new commissioners, the rest of the slots would be assigned to the waiting list.
In theory, this mixed system would work like this, the idea would be to give opportunity to new commissioners, while attending commissioners who couldn't enter other rounds of past commissions.
At least in theory it would work like that, but again, I'm not an expert on this, and any suggestions or ideas you can give me I will take into account.
Again, I don't like the slot system very much, but I think it can help me attend people from any of the platforms where I operate, Twitter, Deviantart, FA, Telegram and Instagram, I don't want to open only commissions in FA, or in Twitter, because I know that many other people who are not on those platforms, would be affected.
With this mixed system I hope to be able to give everyone opportunities, and not leave anyone out, although I know that over time this could get complicated, so it is possible that I will add a limit to the waiting system, but hey, it's just theory I still have not decided this 100% and I would even like to hear some opinions or ideas from you.
This has been an extremely long Journal, and I hope I could have explained it as well as possible, if you have read this so far, thank you very much for your patience.
I hope to continue improving and offering the best of my art for you in the near future, thanks for everything, greetings!
