forum Going to start taking commissions soon, please give me advice i don't know what I'm doing-

Started January 20, 2020 by @The-N-U-T-Cracker

tune

I am broke.
I bought two chinchillas and have to start taking art commissions now in order to care for them
I already got one customer and I haven't even announced it yet so i really need to figure out what i'm doing and fast-

…Help?

I don't know how to price what
I don't know how to actually charge them
I don't know if I should do digital, traditional, or both
I have no idea how to announce this or how many slots I should have at a time
I have no idea what to allow/not allow
I don't know anything about this-
please help me
if not for me but for the sake of my precious lil chinchilla babies

(just gonna tag some beans who might know things…? i dunno)
@Katastrophe @Emi-Is-a-Full-Moon-Lover @Kinarymo @Coffee @Martini @Celestial-Burst @RainyDayArtist @Starfast @ninja_violinist @Moxie @TheGoldenLegend

Ive been summoned

Aight boi
so first off, you should decide what u want to sell - like headshots, icons, bust, fullbody, animals etcccc. and price them how you think. Personally i go 15 for chibi, 25 for Headshots, 30 for halfbody and 35 for full. i usually revolve around this type of pricing, u can go up or down how u wish.
u can do digital, traditional whatev makes u comfortable. I personally take payment through PayPal bcz ye.

Dont allow things that make u feel uncomfortable, like NSFW, or furries, or gore or idk, u know urself better than me.
Ideal would be to hav roughly 3 slots each time, to make things easy for u as a beginner. Announce it on any site ur on, stating what u offer and what the prices are.

Hope this helped qvq

I’ve taken some commissions in my day lol, so I’ll try and help the best I can!

Firstly, pricing:
You don’t want to start with some outrageous number in the hundreds, that’s going to scare people away instantly. If you’re doing this for a living then the pricing should be different than if your just doing it for some extra side cash. If you’re doing this for a living, the best way to find pricing is to take the minimum wage of your country (so if ur American, it’s 7.25 and hour) and times that by how many hours you work on the drawing. This is what a lot of commission artists do. And once you start to get regular commissions, you can raise the amount of money per hour! If your just doing this for some extra side cash, i would go and look at other artists commissions prices, find an art style that may be as detailed or just similar to yours, and kind of base your price off of that? That is what I did. But if you instantly start charging $50 per commission, chances are no ones going to commission you because that’s too high for someone starting out. What I did is I had a starting price, and then slowly over time raised that price so it was from $15 to eventually $25.
For charging them: most artists use PayPal because it’s easy and most people have it. If you’re doing it to people You know irl then just take the money when you hand them your art.
Digital or tradition: well, what’s stopping you from doing both? If you want to then do both! But if you don’t think you can do that then no worries. I’d say go with your gut, whichever you feel best and most confident with. But remember, it’s easier to send digital drawings to people through the internet than the actual paper. Plus, if you can’t send them the actual traditional drawing, then you’ll need a good camera and lighting to take the best picture possible.
How many slots: again, this one is purely based on you! Do you get stressed out easily or no? Do you have lots of free time? I would say set a certain amount, let’s just say 4 for now, and then go from there. If you feel like you can take more, then add another slot. If that feels like too much, take one away.
What and what not to allow: this one is just preference for each artist. By this do you mean what type of character art you’re willing to draw or what not? Well, you have standards! If you’re not comfortable drawing nsfw or anthro or Mecca, then clearly state “I will not draw blank” and you won’t have to worry about it. If you mean something else like rules, then again, you know what you will and won’t allow. You can say “I have the right to blank” or “you may not distribute my art in any way”. Idk, whatever you feel like!
Tips: Remember, taking commissions is a big step up in the art process. You have to know what the buyer wants and do it correctly.
I suggest making them pay upfront before you even start, or after you show them the sketch to confirm they like it. This just makes sure you actually get your money and they don’t run off with the art before they pay you.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

Alright I gotchu
I might do this over Instagram, or at least over Instagram and on notebook if you want to do it over notebook
I would look at other artists you follow that are doing commissions for inspiration. Or I follow you on Instagram and I can find some examples of rules and pricing and send them to you
Honestly, your art is is really really good and I think you could ask for a relatively high price.
You could charge them through PayPal or Venmo but I believe you need to be 18 to use PayPal. You could also use Ko-Fi (I think that’s how you spell it) but idk exactly how that works
You could leave it up to them to chose the style, or offer whatever you feel most comfortable with
How long does it typically take you to do a piece?
What are you comfortable drawing and what are you not comfortable drawing? Knowing you, I would probably say no nsfw. Are you comfortable drawing furrys? Just think about what you’re comfortable with, and be firm with it

Hey there how’s it hanging?

Okay basically the only advice I can give is about traditional or digital? I’m about to shit on my own style and definitely say that digital will probably be the best for selling, for traditional it can go poorly depending on the medium you can use, and depending on said medium, you’ll have to replace it, and you might not have enough cash money to do that as you’re starting out.

If you have a following on Deviantart or just on here, there might be people here and there who are willing to pay you over Paypal!

No NSFW and furries are maybe okay depending. I know a lot of younger, weirder people will want OCs drawn, and they’ll most likely be anthropomorphic.

thank you guys so much!!! <3<3<3
I'll look around insta for ideas~

yeet
im going to answer out of order, and based off my experience so take it all with a grain of salt.

• Decide what want to spend time on, digital or traditional. I do digital because I don't want to physically mail things or spend as much time editing photos as i did drawing the thing
• make a list of what you're not comfortable drawing. If you're under 18 def say no erotica. I personally don't like drawing furries, no offense to those who like them but that's not something I draw so I'm not going to be good at them anyway.
• set up a Paypal account, you can send invoices or receive payments. A friend of mine also uses Venmo, which is mobile based. Whatever thing you use, make sure you get the money and can send invoices or request money.
• Decide your payment process. This is how you get money and avoid scams. I take half up front when my client and I decide on a piece. If I start working (past just thumbnail sketches) I no longer offer a refund of the initial first half (and I make it clear on my commission info page). I will send a small low res file to the client and send the final piece when I receive full payment.
• Pricing is the most difficult, but once you set prices, don't sway unless you get a lot of serious criticism. Many people will take advantage of newer artists and try to bargain them down to unreasonable prices. Now onto pricing. I have a way of calculating the price, which is on my site here (https://kegiblin8.wixsite.com/kgart/commission-info), but I calculated it based on how long it takes me to draw something. As it's all digital, there's not really any materials cost so all of it's based on time. My prices tend to be around $7-10 per hours worked, depending on how productive I am. Another artist I like has her commission sheet, which I based mine loosely off of, here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QD7RhRoHwvvmoLCgpcZeR_RN0MAy4MVDPS0xrwHDKbY/edit?usp=sharing).
• Make sure you have all your terms and conditions and such

• If you make a certain amount you have to claim income taxes (I think for my state it's $400 a year?) idk much about taxes so I'm not going to dive into that but just be aware of it

• for announcing stuff, just post it on social media. tbh you could announce it here, some people would be willing to commission their characters to be drawn
• lastly, for slots, just take on what you reasonably can. I give myself a personal time deadline of 2 weeks per commission, so I only take a few at a time depending on their complexity. Slots are easier to change than prices, so just accept what you feel comfortable with.

Hope this jumble helps, I'll be online for a while so I can answer more stuff.

(Oh dear, I've been tagged, sorry I was out.)

I'm not sure if I can help you but I can try, I'll read over the list in a second.
_{though I don't do commissions, I'm broke as heck, and there's no way I could sell my stuff}

I think everything that I would have said, has already been said..

… I'm very flattered to have been tagged among all these fabulous artists but I'm afraid I've never charged someone for my art in my life haha
The only advice I feel qualified to give is just like… more general idk? This is probably all stuff you already know (it's definitely not intended to be patronising), but I'm going to be the Annoying Older Person and say them anyway:

• Don't use a personal email address/one that features your full name, or that can easily be linked to personal social media profiles. And like… don't share unnecessary personal information with strangers and all that. Stay safe online!
• If there's a type of commission you think you'd be most comfortable taking, don't be afraid to specify from the get-go! Like "portraits" or "pet portraits" idk - the more upfront you are from the beginning with what you want from your customer, the less likely you are to have awkward misunderstandings and interactions.
• If you have a choice, start out by doing it for people you know. That means you can figure out a process that works for you without the added pressure of having to interact with a stranger.
• Taking commissions means providing specific bespoke services for a client based on what they want. If you start out and realise that it's difficult to be creative like that on demand, it might also be an option to sell your existing art (in the form of prints or merchandise).
• (aaaaand now here comes the Boring Adult Preaching) I'm guessing if this is about taking care of animals, then your parents are aware and on board with the plan. So honestly I recommend going to them first if you feel out of your depth, or if anything weird or uncomfortable happens, like getting weird emails or stuff like that (not that I think it would. I'm not trying to scare you or anything. this is worst case scenario). They can probably also help with things like paypal and setting up money accounts and stuff like that.
  (idk what your parents are like but most of my friends who are parents would be genuinely thrilled if their kid asked them for help in situations like this.) (plus that's what parents are there for after a certain point in life. they help figure out how to navigate finances and legal stuff because heaven forbid we actually learn these things in school)

I'm thinking of doing commissions too at some point. So do you guys who do commissions use PayPal or whatever money transferring app/program, and then send the pictures over email?
Also my process is super chaotic, so the "sketch" is likely to not look good/not be liked by the customer. Any tips on that?

Yes i use paypal, its probably one of the easiest and most common methods, though some people use other methods as well.
As for the sketch, I'm not sure what you could do, maybe just clean it up a bit before you show the customer? Or be willing to do the lineart and then show them, and if they don't like it then redraw the drawing from scratch again.
Not all artists show their sketches of the commission to the customer, though I recommend doing it, but you could go that route possibly.