commission stories

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som bodi anser plis

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I don't do a lot of commission work, unless it is by someone I can absolutely trust or is a close friend out of love.

Have you considered selling your originals at fairs or events? Or, have you already?

I don't feel comfortable doing corporate art or art that has any sort of malicious business.

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I am currently investing my time in my webcomic, Mr. Face, which is on my website, woohoopoopoo.com.

The site is down at the temporary moment because there is something funky going on with the servers. No worries there.

I am also working hard on my children's book, which I aim to release by 2020. The book will be called "Further." The writing has small rhymes and descriptive nonrhyming paragraphs. I will be discussing aliens and evolution throughout the book.

Pic Related.

It's not worth the money unless you generally like what you draw, have a workflow that makes it cost effective, or have the sort of recognition or niche that lets you set realistic prices. I generally like what I draw, but have a nice enough day job and only open commissions for extra cash and need to really hone my skills before I ever try for big bux out of self-respect.

Fuck clients, they aren't your friends and don't forget it. The bare minimum of interaction goes a long way and keeps you from fucking yourself by saying something stupid. Most aren't bad, but if you pander to autistic shit, you will get autists. Have clear terms of service. Deposit up front and some basic sales NLP in the exchange and they almost always pay and have glowing things to say. If not, there's a blacklist on the secret discord channel I never go on because artists are scum. Word travels fast.

Generally it's a lot of fun in spite of all that. People relate with what I'm going for and it pays for art supplies for me to pursue some other goals. Just never forget that your name is a business and you represent it when you post under it and to keep the bookkeeping and legal work in check.

>>2768877
>Fuck clients, they aren't your friends and don't forget it. The bare minimum of interaction goes a long way and keeps you from fucking yourself by saying something stupid. Most aren't bad, but if you pander to autistic shit, you will get autists.

This. Especially with furries.

a lot of the commissions I see porn artists doing, I am like "lol I would never draw that"

Doing commissions for almost a year now, it is my primary source of income in between larger jobs.

Mostly doing fantasy and sci fi character and setting art for roleplayers and small passion projects.

>how do you deal with bad or nonpaying clients
They do not get the artwork until I am paid, no negotiation.
If the client is bad I will just refuse to work with them further, I don't need their money that badly.

Most of them are pretty good, there are less assholes than you might expect, but I think this is largely down to your pricing. From prior experience, when you're charging less than say $50 an image, the rate of people trying to screw you over seems to be much higher compared to when you're charging $500 an image. I have my theories behind why this is.

Weirdest thing I had to draw was some badly conceived combination of different genres and themes in a single character. It was a mess to piece together into a coherent design and I was never completely happy with the outcome, but I got it done.

Biggest piece of advice: Decide how much your own time is worth to you. You don't have to take every comission you get, you probably just think you do.

>>2768719
I mean if someone requests a commission I'll do it, but I don't really go out of my way to advertise.

I did that before and I got like no hits over 3 months, it was depressing. I mean I'm a total nobody and all, so it was unexpected, but the people who were pushing me to do it were so optimistic so even as realistic as I was about it it was a bummer.

I mean it was fairly low, $5-10 amateur bullshit hour.

The dudes who commission me are normally really cool to deal with. Not a lot of backseat illustrating or whatever you want to call it, they just kinda want me to do my own thing and pay for it.

Weirdest thing was probably a disney princess having her shit sucked out with a tentacle. Yeah. The dude was cool, weird fetish aside, and I said I'd draw it then never did.

Feel kinda bad about it. Not sure why he ever came to me, pretty much everything I've ever posted has been full painted scenes and he just wanted naked ladies.

>>2768895
>From prior experience, when you're charging less than say $50 an image, the rate of people trying to screw you over seems to be much higher compared to when you're charging $500 an image. I have my theories behind why this is.

Same with writing. If you sell a story on Amazon for $1 or less, you're more likely to get shitty reviews by trolls. If you price higher, you get better reviews.

People treat you how you treat yourself, I guess.

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>>2768719
Iv been doing commissions for almost 5 years now. I draw lots of crap, porn among other stuff.
http://kingvego.deviantart.com/
http://www.hentai-foundry.com/user/MrDickCumz/profile

Now, some suggestions. Always get payed up front, at least 50% of it before you even but pen to paper or pen to table. And, never send full res pics of the commission to the client till you have been fully payed. And, if you dont get the rest of the payment, blast that persons email on the forums you got it form (4chan thread, Deviant Art, Tumblr) and make sure everyone knows that this person is a scammer.

And i have been asked to draw a whole lot of odd stuff. Had some guy ask me to draw his sister being attacked by a tentacle monster :/ Been asked to do plenty of fetish stuff but that one sticks in my mind for some reason.

>>2768921
how much do you make a month on average and do you mainly do comic pages or normal pictures with 1 pane

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>>2768926
I make somewhere between 300$ to 500$ a month and most of the time i have to work my ass off for it.

And, although my artwork is on the western comicbook look, i have done very little comic book work. I have inked some pages before and have done some comic stuff for fun but a rarely do comic pages since it is so much work and time to make. And ya, most of the work i do are just a pic like this here

>>2768886
It's not a question of content so much as dealing with someone who can't express himself in any meaningful way and wants constant changes because they gave you the textual equivalent of mumbling and hand-flapping, doesn't understand that they are paying me to draw shit that looks like everything else I do, and suffers from the autistic tendency to act in bad faith as a way to "get one over" on people because they are broken little fucks. Broken fucks with tech jobs and an addiction to getting art of their faggot OC railed by dicks.

When it is a content issue, I just say no, except for the two times I quoted a ridiculous price and did it anyway. Scotch ain't cheap.

>>2768933
Do more lineart work and fix your anatomy.

>>2768953
>http://www.hentai-foundry.com/pictures/user/MrDickCumz/340328/The-Spartan
>http://www.hentai-foundry.com/pictures/user/MrDickCumz/446185/Commission---Catwoman-and-Powergirl
This style would be worth more if the anatomy were fixed.

>>2768719
>all these people doing private commissions
Work freelance for actual companies and you don't have to deal with as much shit. You also guarantee you will get paid, and typically can make an order of magnitude more. Plus you don'y have to talk with degenerate autists and don't have to paint porn.

>>2768957

good point. can I still work for a studio when living in the middle of bumfuck nowhere and not in LA?

can we get portfolio crits?

>>2768957
Lol I'm not good enough.

>>2768962
then git gud

>>2768947
>Scotch ain't cheap.
True that.

>>2768960
It's rare to get full time positions that let you work remotely, but many studios outsource some work to freelancers, yes. Otherwise choose companies that exclusively hire freelancers.

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My first one was in 2010 for 15 bucks

I've had a few since but didnt really start getting much until this year. At first it was furry shit since you don't really need to be skilled. Now it's just /d/ shit.

Always get payment upfront in full. If someone doesnt want to do that, well fuck them. Never had that problem yet though.

I had one client who was very annoying and had to change every single detail one at a time, and another who is fine with anything I do. So far they are okay.

I dunno commissions arent really worth it anymore. It's hard to fit in studies and improve when you're doing commissions constantly. My shit looks barely any better than it did back in january,

>>2768957
I have a career elsewhere, the art is an outlet for my deviancy and a way to make quick money.

>>2768970
>It's hard to fit in studies and improve when you're doing commissions constantly.
I had a well-known artist say the same thing. If it isn't a major source of income, take a hiatus, do studies and pump out better work to keep them around, then open back up at 3x the price.

>>2768719

dont sell your soul anon

>>2768957
"private commission" is a commission for the client's private use, meaning you can't post it online, but he can't use it commercially

>>2768953
>>2768957
I did not ask for a critique

>>2769014
done plenty of those

>>2768963
I'm trying, it takes a fair while and I'm never sure I'm actually getting results.

>>2768895
How would it work if you don't list a price publicly? I'd rather just quote per piece than have flat rates or retarded menus of add-ons, but having a number posted somewhere saves me from cheap fuckers and being clogged with requests for requests

>>2769035
well tough shit

>>2769044
Also, saying "Fix the anatomy" is not even a critique, just so you know for future references

>>2769047
Here's a critique: you're a faggot.

>>2769047
Do what you want.
Don't complain about how hard you have to work though.

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>>2769048
sure

>>2769060
>>2769061
sure

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>>2769061
>not even a .gif

>>2769043
Although i prefer when an artist publicly shows their prices. But, if you are good enough, all you have to do is say that you are open to taking commissions and the clients will not care if you have your prices public or not.

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>>2769067
Better?

>>2769072
Mission accomplished

>>2769076
yep...

>>2768947
>Scotch ain't cheap.
Fucking double true that.

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>>2768719
i better start taking commissions because im tired of having to clip coupons to afford grocery vs art supplies at the same timeDAMN

>>2769043
Exactly as you described, I quote a price based on what I know is appropriate for what is being asked of me.

>>2769069
>>2769069
Gives me something to think about. Thanks.

I've run into the problem that while I charge more than similar artists just because I do and it's usually worth the time because of it, some pieces take longer to execute for reasons plebs can't understand and it doesn't show in the work enough. I'd rather be completely arbitrary and just give a quote rather than appear arbitrary by explaining why it's going to cost extra or have minutia on a price sheet.

I did a pencil/charcoal recreation of a photograph for a coworker a year or so ago. Paid me $100.00. Was a good experience as she gave me basically as long as I wanted to take to finish it, and my source material was right there to see.

>>2768719
7-8 months I think. I draw furries (but no porn).

All clients I met was pretty nice to work with and agreed to pay upfront (half at least). I'm not very popular so I didn't have a lot of clients though.

I draw furry for money (also comfort zoning) and have an another account for normal stuff where I trying to learn different things and experimenting a lot.

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anon here ive been doing comish for like 6 month now and i primarily do anime shits but no lewds/porn tho..ive been hassled into doing this because i kept doing jobs for free....and still people bitching to me for "underselling" and shit like that
heck i dont care about monies because "commision" work doest pay much anyway i do this for lol and for personal enjoyment/improvement

tldr do shit that you want on your pace and your way and dont be afraid to say "NO"

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been doing it for a short while and I get clients but I'm ridiculously slow when drawing

>>2768719
Have done some in the past. But I'm kinda slow, live in an expensive country and I just couldn't get enough out of it to bother carrying on. I did manage to earn enough for a little holiday trip and a new tablet, but after I started a full time job it wasn't worth it any more and I just draw for fun now. Perhaps I was lucky, but all my clients were nice and easy to deal with. But I did have a very clear TOS and charged up front. I also promised to have commishes done within 40 days or full refund, trust goes both ways. Got most of my commissions on FA.

>>2768719
i would love to take commissions just to make people happy but i lack both skill and a name for myself
i keep seeing on here those saying that you can make bank even being shit with the right marketing but im clueless on what i could do better
what if im just doomed to be a nobody

>>2773116
Find a fetish where you at least understand the appeal. Learn to draw it halfway decently. Profit from it.

You won't get like people who know their niche, but if you're doing something others don't you have a captive audience.

I was commissioned to storyboard an entire episode for a cartoon series pitch. Since I also work a day job, I have been working on this commission in all my free hours that I'm not working at the my job. I've been sacrificing weekends, my social life, etc.

But on top of that, I've been getting more offers to do commissions. As much as I don't like to lose potential clients, I already made a commitment to this storyboard one. I simply have no time, not even to communicate with the people commissioning me.

How do I tell a client I simply just have no time for them? I would be fine with doing this other client's work for them if they weren't expecting me to do it in a few days, but they are the type that wants it to be done quick.

Even if something will take me 2 hours to do, I may not have those 2 hours free to do it until a week later.

>>2773311
>Dear Asshole,

>It's always a pleasure to hear from you. I would love to take your offer as it's really superlative, unfortunately I have an ongoing commitment and will not be free until the 32nd of nevervember. If you are interested after that date, I would gladly accept.

>thank you for your understanding, Anon.

>>2773320
stealing this

>>2773324
It beats dealing with assholes who want everything done right now. The other option is referring them to someone similar who you think will have good clients and connections in the near future and growing your referral network.

>>2773320
is it wrong to say "an ongoing commitment with another project?"

I feel bad not making the client not feel they're the priority but...well... they're not

>>2773362
You don't have to tell him anything. Just let him know you are busy and what his options are.