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Commission tutorial
by-nc-nd
Published: 2009-03-19 17:19:52 +0000 UTC; Views: 297311; Favourites: 10025; Downloads: 4492
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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
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Comments: 1342
Hi, thanks for replying. I'm just heard about commision widget. Maybe I will try to use that. Thank you very much
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Thank you for the great info, just a question.
What do you mean by "tap out your watchers" in the paragraph about low pricing?
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Oh, well, think about it in terms of the demand for your work, and the supply, and how much you should charge.
Example: how many of your friends can afford a 300$ commission? Probably not a lot, unless for a special occasion. But if you had the kind of work that is worth it, if you opened a commission like that frequently, you would find at least one or two people interested (for example, look at gg-art's [gg-art.tumblr.com/] work) . It
On the other end of the spectrum, you offer commissions for 1$ each, or something like what... 50 dA points or something like that. Well, a lot of people can afford that. So people who really really want your work get that craving satisfied very easily, and don't really have any reason to come back afterwards. It's like cutting down every young tree in the forest for wood, then realizing you don't have any more trees until they grow back many months/ years after.
So it's important to strike the balance that works for you. The lowest commissions I will ever offer are sketches for 20-25 bucks, since I don't make a living from my commissions I can charge a lower price like that even though they are probably worth a bit more. I always have more people who want them than I can manage, which to me is a good sign that I am not tapping out my audience (there are always people who cannot get them, and will return next time). If I offered doodley sketches for 60 bucks I would still get a handful of people, but would be alienating a lot of potential customers and maybe they wouldn't return next time. If I did quick scribbles at 3 dollars a piece I could sell a lot and make a couple hundred bucks in a month, but then if I offered stuff again it would be less valuable and less interesting to most of the people who want a commission. So depending on your needs, you should price accordingly to keep your audience interested and to get the kind of customers you want to attract.
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Goodness
That's a lot of great advice. Thank you very much for taking the time to explain that to me! I understand what you mean now.
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No prob! And happy new year
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I'm going to try commissions sometime. I just hope somebody likes my art.
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Thank you for this tutorial, I wish to do commissions in the future to earn money for my family, and I was a bit scared at first if I would do something wrong with doing commissions! Again, thank you oh so much!!! <3
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This seems like a very useful reference if I ever do commissions!
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Thanks for showing this to me! Looks useful!
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When do you know when you get a commission?Β
Does it come in a message?
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Generally you would put out a post or something asking if anyone would like one, commission types and prices, where to send payment, etc. Ideally you're the one who sets it up so you have all the control and can give clear communication.
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Alright, thank you so much, I'm new to deviant art and the whole commission set up. xDΒ
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so when you commission on Deviantart you just upload it right? I'm a newbie so it's really new to me. Awesome tutorial it was great. Β Β Β
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I'd ask the commissioner what they want. Sometimes it's private, sometimes the finished file should not be uploaded publicly, etc.
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usefull i just thinking go in this but i live in Colombia and i have some fear about of payments and giving the the final job
is only in digital? or i must create some "original" physical to give?
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I love these ideas. They're so useful. I should try them out.
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This helps a lot! I plan on making commissions to help me get a premium membership so... Thanks!
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This is so helpful. Thanks so much :3
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Good info. Maybe this has already been said, but although it's uncouth to ask for payment up front, it is also not unreasonable on a LARGE project to ask for PART of the money up front. Of course, I am applying my knowledge of freelance design practice to this, which is maybe a different animal *shrug*
βTristan
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Yeah, commissions are a little different. If it's a large one then it's possible you'd want to do that, but that's kind of bordering on actual freelance work if you're commanding those kinds of prices (and outside of the scope of the projects I'm mostly referring to in this).
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this is fantastic!
thank you for doing this!
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I'm trying to get started on making commissions and this helped a lot. Thank you!
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well done sir,,, Β I would press the like button if there was one
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Thank you so much for this. Β I am trying to get started with commissions, and I only just created an account today.
This is really helpful, and I personally appreciate the time you took to help new commissioners.
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No prob! Glad it helps!
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When someone requests a specific drawing from you but it coss either points or money. in this case money
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What do you mean; one of their drawings?
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pretend you have a customer. They have a character they want you to draw. You draw it, but it costs either money or points..
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So it costs to request someone to draw something? If i could draw well I would very well draw it for free.
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you'd draw high quality art for some stranger for free?
you are either a saint sent from heaven or just ignorant of the art industry (and I don't mean that as an insult, sorry if it does sound so)
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I'm not ignorant; I'm just nice.
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thank you! people are cheap though, even if you have very high quality work and semi cheap commissions, (example I spend ten hours on every drawing and my full body commission price is only 80 points) people will bitch and moan about price while other more popular artists will be at your skill level, sell 5,000 point half body commissions, that same person bitching and moaning won't care because it's their FAVORITE artist. people don't choose to create logic, which is annoying when beig commissioned. I still have not been commissioned, not complaining, but maybe it's because of people like that.
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Sorry, but your attitude is completely backwards. You should always charge what the market allows. The market will allow different price ranges for different people, based on demand (simple economics... high demand/ low supply= high prices). That's ok! That gives you something to work towards, if you want to be able to achieve that kind of pricing and demand on your own work. Marketing is a very important part of that (you might notice that popular artists who aren't as skilled can charge higher because of the way they brand themselves, vs skill level).
All of that said, you should always always put a lower limit on your work. Generally you can use minimum wage to determine that. If you're spending 10 hours on an 80 pt drawing, you are practically begging for people to think your work is trash. You are pricing it like trash. If you are working 10 hours, your 10 hours should be at the rate for 10 hours. In my state that would be a $100 drawing, minimum. If you look at the final product and can't imagine someone paying that much, then figure out why not and improve your work until it is worth $100. But never undercut yourself. All through life people will try to cheat you out of your money and your time and your effort... don't make it easier for them.
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sorry... I was just really upset at the moment. I totally agree though! You are very right, it does depend and I am really trying to improve and just improving itself gets out more quality. sorry I totally ranted, had a migraine and was mad xD I really agree with what you are saying.
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Haha, I'm glad. Sorry if I came off as harsh, I just really can't stand artists of any level belittling their own work. Just try hard every day and you can achieve anything you want
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awh thanks! you didn't at all, I was just being that one person xD
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Amazing tutorial, I'll keep this in mind forever xD Now I just need to figure out how to get a Paypal lol...
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It's not that hard 
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How do you spread the word by not spamming?! I think my prices are reasonable and so is my art, but I'm not that popular.
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It takes time and energy. When I started I didn't have anything for a year or two. Now my full-time art job prevents me from being able to take commissions anymore, haha... but yeah, you need to be patient. Spamming is not the way; you'll either make your friends/ acquaintances feel guilty and pressure them into buying from you, or you'll just drive people away. Nobody likes being spammed. Much better to just not focus on money at first and focus on making high-quality art. That's the only reason anyone really buys a commission: because they want your art very badly.
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Im guessing when this post was made there was no such thing as points
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