HOME | DD
shingworks —
Commission tutorial
by-nc-nd
Published: 2009-03-19 17:19:52 +0000 UTC; Views: 298902; Favourites: 10013; Downloads: 4492
Redirect to original
Description
Yes it's true, new monthly tutorials are now available via my Patreon
>>>>> Get new tutorials and impress friends, children, strangers, etc with your charitable nature here <<<<<
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
1,894 favorites? *adds this to 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Thanks so much! I've never really known how to price when I do start commissions. ^^ This was very helpful.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
*nods* One day, I too, will make commissions!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Thank you so much for this tutorial.
Do you have any other tips for someone who is just starting out at commissions besides the ones in the tutorial? I don't have very many watchers, and I tried to market myself on the forums, but nothing seems to work. Any suggestions?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
When I first started on DA and didn't have much exposure I actually did a lot of trades and fanart. Those are both good because 1) it helps you practice drawing for other people and 2) it gets you some traffic to your page if you do good work. If you do a good job at making fanart for artists you admire they might help plug you when you open commissions or make you a new friend.
I did the trades/ fanart thing heavily for a year or two before starting commissions. If you don't want to do that you could always start with really low priced commissions but again, you won't have the traffic to support it. Slow and steady work (and practicing your art a lot) is the best way to go.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
alright thank you. I think I will try the trades/fanart thing and see how it goes.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I can't believe I haven't seen this tutorial yet...it's awesome! Very useful, helpful, and concise...it's simple enough for my little brain to understand, too!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I love the format 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Whoa. I found this the day you submitted it and that was before I found out who you were. And now, as I meticulously comb your gallery, Half the things you've done I've seen before. That. Is. So. Wierd.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
All your tutorials are always so helpful and intelligent
I've always hesitated to take commissions because I would feel like such a presumptuous little whippersnapper doing it XD I feel like, who would ever want to pay me for my measly scribbling? But I guess if I'm going to one day, I have to start some time...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Haha, I felt the same way when I started... it helped me a lot to have really low prices, that sort of offset the feelings of "oh god why would anyone ever pay for this ;__;"
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Very helpful tutorial! : D Thanks, this is something not many people think to instruct people on!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
This may be a silly/redundant question but I've been wondering about it for some time.
It has to do with after the art is all finished up and ready send off to the commissioner.
What's the most common and efficient/safe way to actually send the art to the commissioner? Of course there's in the mail, but I get the impression that's not the most common way. I worry about the art's safety from art theft and it actually getting to the commissioner in its entirety.
I guess I have to ask since I've never commissioned anyone and I find it all a little confusing.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Honestly I'm not sure about traditional art, since most of my work is digital. For the few traditional pieces I've done I have the commissioner pay for shipping and handling. Normally this entails some kind of stiff envelope so the piece doesn't get bent, or some kind of signature-required delivery where they have to physically sign for it in order to receive it. I've only done a few commissions like that through the mail, but so far so good!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
So how do you send your digital art?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh, for that I just email it directly to the commissioner in the form of an attachment. Even when I work super large the final files tend not to be more than the max allotted size which is like 20MB for my email client. If there is something bigger it can always be hosted on something like megaupload.com or hosted on your own server if you have one. If they don't mind it, I post a smaller/ lower rez/ watermarked version to my DA or website so that the high quality file won't be used by others.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
That's awesome! Thanks for the help, I kinda figured you'd attach it in an email but I wasn't sure if there was a super secret better way.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This is very useful indeed! I'll be faving this to take more notes later
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Though I still want to wait a little longer and improve my art more, this was sure a really helpful tutorial and I thank you ^^ I'll consider this all when I'm content enough with my so-called 'skillz' to actually start doing commissions ^^ Until then, just giftarts and MUCH practise it is!
Anyway, thanks lots for this great tutorial, it was very helpful for a shy girl like me ^^ *wants a Shy Guy mask! Dx*
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Haha, well doing commissions is a fun way to improve your skills too... I feel more obligated to try hard and make a great piece when I know someone is counting on me!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh well, I often draw things for my friend Lucy when she's feeling down (like with jerky boyfriends...I still need to kick that boy when I get back in England >.>
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This will be SO helpful! I really needed this, lol.
I wanted to have a commissions accout seperate from my normal accout because I feel akward about mixing social life and buisiness, and I figured if I did really good art on my commissions accout, people would notice me. I've sold LOTS of pictures at school before, but there people are looming over my shoulder to watch me draw. But too many people would ask me to draw stuff all at once, so I'd have a brake-down and wouldn't be able to stand drawing for WEEKS and by the time I was up for it again, my little "buisiness" had died. It usually just started all over again the next school year, though.
On my regular account, I had lots of people coming to see my art and comment to me within a few days.
On my commissions accout, I've been a deviant for 5 months and now have... two watchers. VERY recent. I was REALLY discouraged before I got one, because I figured I must be doing something wrong. It wasn't untill they started watching me that I got any comments... Well, except one, but that was for the "bring your vision to life" contest.
Anywho, I've taken a break from trying to figure out how to sell commissions so I could do the 100 deviation challange... I mean, I know I could do them both at the same time, but if I actually DO get commissions, I'll be destracted from the challange and might never finish it.
So once I DO finish it, I'm gonna try this tutorial out! I'm now done with... four. Only ninety-six more to go!
Sorry for ranting... 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I recently got commissioned for two chibi pieces. My prices are pretty low, and I normally open for very few commissions at a time. I've already finished one of the commissions (here: [link] ), sadly I got sick and made the commissioner wait, but I did communicate and they kindly understood my situation. Though, I did in the beginning of our deal, kindly asked them if I could raise the price. I had sketched both commissions and showed the sketches to them for confirmation, before coloring them. I raised the price because I thought some things over and spoke with my mom, and she naggingly said that I need to raise the price. So I kindly asked them and we spoke it out. But I've been wondering, is it really bad to do that? Can it ruin my "reputation"?
and on to another subject, I see some popular artist's ask crazy amounts for little work, I find it unjust for people to have to pay that much. What's your opinion on that?
Thank you for reading.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Hm, well in general I don't raise prices in the middle of doing a piece, it seems a bit misleading to the commissioner. Better to do the commission, then change your prices for the following customers because you had a chance to test the waters.
And yeah, sometimes people do ask a lot. There are a lot of factors involved: more popular artists are in higher demand and can find people willing to pay, and then there is the fact that professional work usually does pay well. On a recent professional project I was paid about $130 per finished comic page, though most regular individual commissioners can't pay that kind of price. It really depends on how you measure the worth of the art, but in the meantime the buyer can always choose not to buy
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes, I see what you mean. That's probably the only time I'll ever do that.
And I've also heard that prices need to be high because of the materials, especially traditional work.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Nice tutorial, thanks
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
The sentences continue as the header for the next section
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Jesus someone really needs to show this to the person I commissioned a couple months back for two $10 sketches.
Especially the "Make your commissions a priority, Money is important, & YOU NEED TO COMMUNICATE" boxes. =_=
I had a little bit of extra money, and my friend is ALWAYS getting her characters commissioned, so I thought what the heck I'll try it. I'd always been kind of apprehensive about commissions, and so far this experience really hasn't thrilled me. But I'm too much of a puss to call them out on it. They're waaay more popular than I am so it'd be a lost cause.
On a lighter note, the 'Do you draw furries?' being in bold made me laugh. It's amazing how relevant that is.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Ugh, thats annoying! A little communication goes a long way... well, if you really had a bad experience maybe you could post on the LJ comm for artits_beware? Even if you're not a well known person in the art community it is important to tell others what to expect from a person who doesn't take their commissions seriously, just to get the word out... Or just never get work from them again :\ If only people were more responsible when it came to stuff with money...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This is pretty awesome. Particularly the communication part which is the problem I encounter most when commissioning artists on deviantart. They almost always come through in the end but the internal agonizing over months and months lessens some of the joy.
I've been trying to write something like this for months but it always devolves into little mini rants from built up frustration. I'm so happy someone has finally made something that addresses the problems. AND, while an artist yourself, you don't adhere to some of the "Artists are gods and you are lucky to get whatever they give you, whenever they get around to it" mentality I have seen in the past.
I also love that you mentioned artists who pretty much use commissioners as their personal loan sharks. Faaaaar too many of these situations end 6 months/a year later with a "hey, I can't do your commission, here's your money back." Ugh! And look? I can't even go two paragraphs without ranting ;D
Anyway, thank you again for making this, it was well worth the read!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Haha, I'm glad you enjoyed this. I am lucky enough to have had mostly good experiences with my commissions/ commissioners, but I do have a few people who just disappeared from the face of the earth... I think people would be surprised how far a simple checking in email goes! Have you gone to the LJ community artists_beware ([link] )? They have a lot of listing and discussions of artists to watch out for, its a pretty good resource. I know I've seen work you've commissioned around DA, I'm sure you can use all the bg info you can get XD
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
The majority of my experiences are good as well. I'm a patient person so I don't really have a problem waiting but you're right, a simple email is all that's needed to make a long wait less terrible.
I found that journal a couple days ago (I think by reaing some of the comments on this) and I think it's fabulous that people are speaking up but it seems to mostly apply to the furry community from what I've read so far? I wish members of other communities would speak up because there are definitely bad artists/commissioners in every art community and it's nice to be warned.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Sir, your tutorials are wonderful. 8) Thank you for this one, especially~
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
awesome!! you did a great job on this! it really helped me to understand how commissions work. I would like to do them, but never fully understood till now ^^ thank you so much ^^
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Aw, no prob! Glad it helped you!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
wow this is really useful 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This is a great tutorial and I really love the format-how each point leads into the next one by the headings to the posts. I've never seen a tutorial done like this and I really like it. Great job
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks very much! Its sort of like essay paragraphs broken up, but hopefully a bit less boring to read...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Wonderful tutorial! Thank you so much! I recently started offering commissions, I think I'm fallowing closely to these guidelines.. Haven't gotten any just yet but, I'm not very well known! <3 Thanks
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This is some great advice; I wish I'd found this before I opened for business, heh.
Great tips and points in there. Thanks for sharing!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
In your opinion, what's the best way to pay/ receive payment for commissions? I've been thinking about Paypal, but I'm not exactly sure how I'd make that work (putting a link on my devART page, transferring money to and from my checking account and such o_o'
Also, for sending out the artwork itself, what's your opinion on the best way to transport it? I had thought about buying a simple frame to put it in, or if that bumps the price too much, to just use a mail-tube-thingy.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
<= Prev | | Next =>