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Commission tutorial
by-nc-nd
Published: 2009-03-19 17:19:52 +0000 UTC; Views: 298870; Favourites: 10013; Downloads: 4492
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Description
Yes it's true, new monthly tutorials are now available via my Patreon
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Over the past three years I've done loads of successful commissions, and have commissioned others successfully as well. I have never had an issue with my transactions because I did my research before I started, and asked others who were doing commissions themselves how they were managing. However, not everyone has the time to go and note everyone (or, if you're getting noted, you may not have time to answer inquiries constantly)! So for your perusal and reference, here are some helpful tips to help you get started with taking commissions on DA.
This tutorial is more for people who offer commissions, but I have a few words for those who take them as well:
- Do your research. Make sure you're getting art from a reliable artist!
- Art costs money. Don't haggle down, its insulting. Don't forget, you're also getting free advertising when they post it to their gallery (for example, who here doesn't know Audley 's Castor ;3 )
- Don't be afraid to pimp the artists who did good work for you! Here is my list!
Raraarrar you know the drill, feel free to comment w/ questions if you got em, thanks for reading etc
The pics in the icons are mostly from the LJ random image generator, they're (c) to the internet, I suppose XD Except for Kash, he's (c) Geico.
My other tutorials:
Pose tutorial
Expression tutorial
Hand tutorial
Foot tutorial
Ladies tutorial
Fellas tutorial
Face tutorial
Coloring Walkthrough
Related content
Comments: 1342
this is really helpfull since i plan on doing comissions soon or sometime later in my life for a way of income ^^ i (and i'm sure alot of other people) thank you for making this!
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very informative! Thanks..1st tutorial I have seen on commissions 
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That's a great guide, thanks for sharing!
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This is a great tutorial - helped me in the beginning when I struggled with setting everything up x3
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I'm thinking about redoing my commission info. Thank you.
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Make your commissions a priority.
A while back I bought art from this amazing artist here on DA for $25. Such a great price and I was second on their to do list! Now I don't expect them to do their commissions in order but over 10 people below me got their art. It just seemed like I was being skipped over for a year. I even sent them a e-mail asking for the status of my art. They sent a nice reply with "Oh sorry! Did not mean for it to take so long I'll get started soon!". Few more months passed, e-mailed them again to see if I could get a refund or the status of the work. Again they sent me the same generic message "Oh sorry! Did not mean for it to take so long I'll get started soon!".
Over a year waiting and nothing. After my 3rd e-mail they did refund me thankfully but with out a reply message explaining why.
That situation made me never commission again, and its a shame cause they are were a amazing artist but I cannot look at their art the same way again.
/end rant (?)
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D: That sounds like a really shitty situation, sorry you had to go through that. It's really okay if an artist decides that some piece of art isn't within their capabilities, but it's their responsibility to let their commissioner know right away :\
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Thanks for the comment~ ^_^.
And yeah, I would have been fine if the person from the start said "No thanks, your character is not what I'm looking to draw." Rather than keeping me waiting for such a long period of time. It was stressing on my end cause I felt like I just threw away real money.
Thankfully I did get a refund, could have easily been scammed. D:
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well, fine. now I know how to take comissions. but how will someone else know that I take them? 
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Journal entry!
Have a link on your DA journal to your commission page.
Thats how I found a lot of people to buy art from and what I do myself.
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wow, really? you found comissioners that way? but I think you need many pageviews so that people see that you take comissions, but there aren't so many people that visit my profile page every day :<
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I don't have many page views nor am I a amazing artist by any standards. But if 1 person stumbles upon my journal a month and buys art its so worth it! Just have the link and hope someone takes a bite, can never hurt to show your available for commissions. ^_^
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alright than I'll give it a try
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well, fine. now I know how to take comissions. but how will someone else know that I take them?
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I think this is a great tutorial. I'll definitely take this to heart when I feel good enough to do commissions.
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Okay. If I have no PayPal, how will I tell them about it?
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Look through the comments, I've answered the same question several times
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Do you know what I should do?
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hm you can't do anything D: you can ask if they want to send you the money via mail or something like that. didn't have much luck with this until know ;(
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Okay. thanks for your help. ^^
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Congrats for the DD
If one day I'll decide to make commissions, I will surely return here and read again this tutorial!
Well explained, thaks!!
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Art that costs money isn't art and the beauty of creating it fades away when money is involved. In a capitalist world money may be EVERYTHING but keeping your own vision is even more important, because there are many cases where commissions actually don't benefit the artist they just reduce him to a rudimentary state. Commissions are made just to deprive art from it's divine meaning of being an art for the soul.
Scold me all you like, commissions do not make people altruistic nor more cultivated it just shows how greedy they are and how much they are willing to pervert their beliefs for the sake of others.
I am still wondering why people encourage this soulless art!?
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I am starting to believe you people aren't viewing art as a talent, but as an opportunity. Why create for yourself if you can sell? And why do things that don't bring you income? Art is a divine right that people take as any other ragg or cloth off the shelf. It's business?
The chance to create from your vision, from your heart is given to anyone, but few actually appreciate it to it's true potential.
"Every man dies, not every man truly lives." Living for money is that an artist's supreme goal? Commissions are corrupt and degrading and I uphold my belief. True art is from the soul, not from the guts.
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do your own art for expression and fun
do commissions for survival
problem solved n_n
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And there is one explination for posting an anti-commission comment: I am not part of the sheep. Nufsaid.
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I can understand your point of view, but commissions just seem like a great source of fun and inspiration, it's like a collab, except you get to do it all, get constant feedback, and then make money. It sounds like win - win situation for both people.
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Your opinion is yours, of course, but in the real world people need to eat. I make a webcomic that is my life's work and I share it for free on the internet. If I could do it all day, I would. But I need to make a living, so I take jobs that aren't exactly my soul's deepest expression. I'm not sure how old you are or in what profession or how involved in that, but I'm guessing you are still in university. If you want to make art for a living, you have to make compromises and take work for pay and that is where commissions might be one option to explore.
Personally speaking, I put a lot of time and effort into the commissions I do, and I don't consider it "selling out," since I am able to be creative whether or not I'm being paid.
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Iβm sorry but I disagree about commissions being βsoulless artβ.
Iβve done a few commissions myself and I must say I put all my heart into each and every one. I donβt think about the money being made but rather the joy and inspiration Iβm giving to the person Iβm drawing for. I would love to do them for free but I donβt have the time to simply do ever piece I make without cost.
Just because money is involved does not mean the beauty is lost. Look at the world we live in and look at how it works. If art that costs money truly isnβt art then all the paintings made during the renaissance arenβt art. The effects and visuals created in movies arenβt beautiful. And the beloved character of animations, comics, and games are, as you put it, soulless.
Creating and perfecting art takes a lot of time and patients so making art for free is very unrealistic for many artists. If animators and designers didnβt get paid for their work then they wouldnβt have any source of income. Just because artists are paid does not mean they arenβt expressing their own visions. They may be drawing a subject matter that is of the commissioners choosing but the artist themselves is putting their own inspiration and view into the piece. Otherwise whats the point of buying from them?
If you come across a band your really like don't you buy their CD? Or if a new movie is released that you love don't go to the store and rent it? Money may be involved but can you honestly say that the original vision and feeling of the creator is lost?
I understand where your coming from and why you feel this way but not all money related jobs are built from greed and corruption. Money is involved because the artists work and time is worth it.
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Money doesn't lead to anything good. Not all renaiscence pieces were commissions and they survived and van Gogh sold only 1 painting in his lifetime and is a genius or painting now.
Money has a lot to do with all art being commertial and appealing to the audience, because bands dont just compose music for 1 person, now really.
And the mass is very influenced by money because of their need to survive. An artist is put on this earth not to survive but to actually live. Money corrupts art, mostly in the graphic and literary part. Which of the commertial novels or paintings of yester years live now? Most are thrown aside.
Money feeds the artist with greed and the depravation of the world, reducing him to nothing. I am not refering to a JOB which you get your income out of it, but through the request of a 'king', one that wants his own vision to be shown through your eyes. Are you telling me artists DON'T substitute their morality and sensibility for the liking of the customer? He just becomes a machine built to serve.
There's nothing artistic in commissions and it doesn't build anything solid but sloth and avarice.
Artists with a true heart find a way for their own visions to be passed to the world, not other's visions. Because let's face it, artists were actual artists they would have had higher hopes for their ideas, than to waste them on commissions.
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Money is simply a currency for trade that society has built around. Whether a person becomes corrupt or not depends on the nature of the individual. Saying this I suggest you actually talk to a wider range of people with experience in drawing commissions before jumbling them all together. Many individual artists who offer commissions as a side income are not corrupt nor are they sacrificing their visions. They do them because they enjoy it and/or find it to be a fresh and convenient way to make money doing something they would be doing anyways. What give you the right to say the artwork created in the process of a commission is a waste? Do you know the personal feelings that went into the work? How do you know that the artist is sacrificing their values and artistic talents just for the money? Seriously, there are much more profitable and quicker ways to make some quick cash if "substituting morality and sensibility" is the factor.
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How can you see a commission as the customers own idea. It should be considered as a joint idea. The customer may have came up with it, but the artist made that idea come to life. Not to mention not doing commissions is unrealistic for a dedicated artist. The supplies don't buy there selves, whether it be digital or traditional. I could only see commissions as "soulless" if the artist locked their self into a certain topic/theme, and wondered why most if not all of their commissions were of the same topic/theme. For example, if I only do Pokemon type artwork it should be no surprise if all or most of my commissions are Pokemon related. I personally don't think most artist "substitute their morality and sensibility for the liking of the customer" unless they want to widen their pool of customers. Commissions are also good ideas for people without the ability to successfully draw that "great" image they've probably been dreaming about for years, and are willing to sacrifice what is possibly their hard earned money in the hopes to see that dream come to life. And to me your use of the word "request" implies that it is being done for anything but money. But I may be mistaking the definition.
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I think that commissions could really help an artist...
For example, if an artist is "blocked" I believe that doing commissions could help him with his block
I think also that doing commissions is a real challenge, and could help artists to improve, doing things that they would never thought about of making before...but this is just my opinion
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I agree with you - they help to push the artist from their safety zone
Also - even the greatest artists created for money sometimes xD
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Exactly! And others, not "sometimes" but "for the most of their time" xD
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But that's in the case of artists 'blocked' or that need a challenge, because they have none of their own.
But what if you create your own challenge, your own ideas that keep you going. Not practicing, not studying, not observing, not writing nor analyzing nor synthezising induce your 'block'. It's a case of greed here, yes, but also of laziness, because a lazy person will consider what others bring them challenging and refuse to see their own sparks of ideas anything else than scraps.
Evolving your own universe, whether it is graphic or literary, that's what brings you in contact with your own universe and commissions kill that. "Make your commissions a priority" "Money are important" those are the words of a capitalist 'artist'
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Could also happen the opposite situation: someone still keep praticing, serarching, studying and observing, but still the art-block remains...
I agree that an artist must evolve into his own universe, but also having new "imputs" from other people is a way to explore the world all around him
I also think that art and money are really connected, but not in a capitalistic way (example "omnom, I wanna moneeeey, I wanna mooore"). Just think about a few great pieces of art of all our history, in particular those done by Da Vinci and others from that time: the majority of those pieces were done under payment, they were commissioned by the Church or other corporations.
Even literature: books are selled (=money). But that doesn't mean that someone just write in order to have money or become rich (yes, today those people exist, I agree, but I bet that few people will remember their books in 2040...)
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Imputs? No one needs to impute ideas to an artist, they need to suggest, not induce, advice not dominate. You'll come to the conclusion da Vinci isn't actually recognized for his commissioned works, but for his sketches which he did for himself and he did them with dedication.
Literature for the sake of money is dead literature anyways. J.R.R. Tolkien didn't make the Lord of the Rings for the masses, he wrote it for his family and friends and he put his principles and ideals in it and strangely enough, or obviously, nowadays he's regarded as a masterpiece creator because he had done the research and the interpretations for himself, not for others.
The best work of humanity is done for ones self and . Just look at her personal works which are beautifully detailed and crafted, yet when she turned to commissions, the customers didn't had the same thirst for detail as she had and that broke her vision; weirdly enough she says she does fine like this... perverted, commonized. With what is she different now from other manga artists?
That's the curse of commissions I am referring to and ponder upon the lows of commissions before saying it's all fine and dandy.
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The most known works of Da Vinci are La Gioconda (wich he has done for Francesco del Giocondo, but after 4years he left the project unfinished) and L'ultima cena, wich was commissioned.
Yes, he's also known for his sketches, but also for his drawings of anatomy and inventions. I haven't sayed that an artist must do only commissions and stop researching! Research is fundamental!
But it's also true that not all the payed works lack of passion..I think that an artist puts a bit of himself in EVERY work he does
I don't know *laverinne 's works, I'll happly go and watch her art 
In the end I can only say that I understand your opinion, but I don't agree
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Just today I was going through your tutorials! Almost all of them have DDs, lol.
Congratulations! They're great
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Haha, yeah that is a little weird to me too XD Thanks for reading!
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This is very helpful! I'm glad I found it, thanks for taking the time to write it!
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This is one of the most useful tutorials I've seen in a while. I've been contemplating how I want to do things with commissions for MONTHS... And now I have more of a base. Thank you!
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I suggested this a while ago and it got rejected.
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So you co suggested it a little! 
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Aw man! You have my permission to be filled with righteous flames of anger
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