So I am actually considering doing commissions recently. Though this would be my first time ever doing so and for money. Not CS or anything and I am a bit of a loss on how to go about doing so and also the final steps. So just need some tips from people who actually do commissions and the process and answering questions.

Aka Do you show them the process work?

Do you accept money up front or wait?

Do you give them the completed work physically or digitally Through Jpeg.

Ect.

How does one go about pricing.

Things that a new person who wants to get into the commission biz wants to do and know a little bit better before getting trapped and underwhelmed.

I generally show sketches and a few colorations progress with paying clients, especially since I take long gaps between working on art and IRL busywork.

I used to do pay half after sketch, half after finish... then I got lazy and took payment after I finished, but had one isolated incident of having to wait for an indefinite time, so I'm trying to do pay-upfront now.

I privately send them optimized and full-sized editions of the final work in PNG form. JPG and GIF tend to distort colors, smoothness etc after saving.

As for pricing, looking at other shops' prices (if their services are similar to yours) is a good indicator of price, but be warned that more popular users generally charge higher (since they have an established client base) and some of the newer artists undercharge themselves (which I find sad).

I'm personally leery of "pay what you think it's worth" shops since I feel like it's generally people who only scout the art freebies forums who request commissions -- basically I see people getting overwhelmed with work and getting underpaid for it. (Like ohh! here's 500K it's a lot yay look I tipped you --- uhhh NO 500K is almost nothing) I'm not accusing anybody of being "cheap", but I do feel like it cheats the artist and the whole art market as a whole, building on client bases that think they can pretty much get away with only tossing a few mil your way for a decent piece of work. I say only do "pay what you think it's worth" shops if you know what you're doing and you don't accept every request. Personally, sample freebies (so that people know who you are) is only slightly better, to get your name out - but if you do it in the art freebies section it''s mostly people who freeb a lot who know you. Freebies during events - in the event forums - are pretty good for publicity. I recommend those, but don't just give everyone a sketch if they give you a measly 10 flowers c: (drawing a sketch for every 50 posts in the thread and then having 2-3 final "top giver" winners is generally a good place to start, though if you do more detailed stuff it can get overwhelming)

Auctions generally are a bit slower, and not everybody has the money or patience to bid. Sometimes they go much higher than people would normally commission you for, other times it's much less because it's not a popular season of people coming online or anything. They are a better price gauge than pay-what you want shops, though. I wouldn't price my shop at what the highest bids are, though.

Oh, and before I forget, you can always post in the art pricing forum. Ask people to price your art. Some people would pay a bunch and some people would prefer to give you only a few Ks/low mils. That's kind of normal, so somewhere between that range is probably a good place to start.

good luck!

i personally take payment after i finish, and i generally don't send process work unless i'm taking a long time or working on a very large commission. i haven't really had problems with it, except for a few situations, but i'd recommend playing it as safe as you feel you should.

it can be a bit of an experimental process, really. you really have to look at what you're most comfortable doing -- if you're afraid of customers that take an indefinite amount of time to pay you after you finish a commission (which is a nightmare if it happens, by the way, especially if you're taking usd commissions) you might want to make them pay upfront or half and half. if you require upfront payment, it becomes a bit of the reverse of the situation above, and you should ask yourself if you can finish your work in a manner that won't make the commissioner impatient.

as for showing work, again that depends on how you feel about it. if you're really concerned about making the commissioner happy, you should definitely check with them before you finish. (half and half payment works well with this)

when you ask about sending the completed artwork physically or digitally, do you mean you plan to work traditionally? it would be a cool little perk to mail your art, but if you're working digitally there's not much use in making a print or something. like said, .png is the best format, and i agree with her on everything else she's said!

When I'm working with real money, I absolutely take money upfront before I will begin work. Before I started doing that, I just had too many people who would not pay. Some of them would even just run off with the prelim sketch. I have a good reputation, so I can do this, but if you're just starting out and unknown I recommend a half and half compromise system instead, where you show a shrunk down/watermarked sketch for approval and then take payment before you finish the work. That way both sides have to meet in the middle. Then when you've gained a rep and a following, you can switch to payment upfront if you like.

As for showing progress, whatever you choose, it's absolutely vital you communicate it to your customers beforehand. But generally, unless it's something fast and cheap, you're better off showing the individual stages for approval, up until it's time to start shading, where you probably want to make it clear that you won't do any more changes. It's also fairly common to charge a fee past a certain number of small changes, as otherwise you WILL get customers who will flip-flop, renege their own previous edits, ask for entire redraws, and just be pains in the butt and expect it all for free.

As for how to send it, either traditional or digital is fine, but you're going to want to scan art before you send it, include a clause that you're not responsible for the piece once it's in post, and charge extra for supplies and shipping. Digital is fine for most people's needs, though.

For pricing, that really, really depends. When you're first starting out, you tend to have to undercharge until you can raise your prices later, but don't overdo it or you'll just be hurting yourself. Consider both your skill level and how long it takes you to do a piece.

Lastly, understand that Subeta isn't really a good art market unless you're fine with getting sP and chump change. It's not a good place for getting a handle on how to handle an art business. You want to develop that somewhere else, and then tweak it for here. I base most of my advice off of doing this for years for more fair prices on a different site with a bigger audience. Typically, I only offer small things here so I'm not spending a bunch of time on complicated art that isn't going to profit because people have a skewed sense of what art is worth.

Don't take to many protects on at once.

My rule for myself is to not take on anymore small projects then I can do in one day, and if it's a larger more time consuming commission that will take me longer then a day I will only take one with the possibility of a wait list. Wait lists I require a $5 deposit no matter the price of the commission, just so I know a person is serious, this is non-refundable unless I can't get back to the person within a month. As for taking money on normal commissions no wait list involved I ask if the person is comfortable with paying in full upfront, if not I insist on half payment upfront and the rest of the payment when given a watermarked WIP that is about half done. This also allows time for commissioners to request changes. I will not start till I get payment.

If for whatever reason I cannot or will not finish a commission I will refund them plus 10%, this keeps me from being lazy. (haha) Also lets commissioners know you are not just using them like a credit card you don't have to pay interest on. Seen so many people do that. ._.

As to where to price I would first think about your time, and then your 'popularity' If something takes you a long time to do, charge more, make it worth your while. If you aren't greatly popular you might want to lower your prices for a bit or do a few sales to get customers and if you are very popular and have people begging for a spot, charge more. It's nice to have a bunch of fans that are willing to guy your art, but it's better to have a few groupies that are willing to really dish out of it. Popularity doesn't only come from skill, a lot of it is personality, getting things done fast, knowing your subject (if it's an OC ask about them) and do so with a smile may increase your popularity just as much as a solid style will.

That said if your style changes every time you draw... it might be best to not open commissions quiet yet.

I will normally do a sketch WIP- Lineart WIP- and the colors (Finished) giving them enough time to give input, but not so much as it wastes both out time waiting for an answer. The sketch I literally do something in 10 mins like a brief placement and possibly expressions test, no details. The lineart may or may not be with flat colors depending on the commission.

The norm is to just give someone the digital copy and if they really want to they can print it out for themselves but they have no commercial rights to it. However I do offer prints but I HAVE to know before hand, this is b/c I print at 300dpi with CMYK color at 8bit in a number of set sizes. This is a lot different then the 100dpi with RGB- 8 bit that I normally work at for digital copies which also might include opacity, animation, or other effects that can't print...

Also, as people have said... stay away from Subeta when selling for USD, Subeta commissions are cool when you are looking to get sP rich.