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How to get Commissions

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Well, hello there!

So, I've seen  some great guides on commissions around. How to price them, what to pay attention to before setting them up, how to structure your info... all really good and helpful. Still I felt that one thing was missing, and that's more advice on how to actually get a steady flow of commissions! After all, for many of us, commissions are more than the occasional bit of extra work to earn a nice little bonus. Often, artists open up commissions because they really need the money or are saving up for something important. Sometimes, people do it because it's very hard to find a job in their area, so commissions are the only thing they're able to do to raise money.

Of course, this guide won't solve all of your financial problems. The most important aspect of getting a lot of commissions is investing time and patience into it galore. You need to find a way to survive even without them to bridge you over the long periods - probably years - until you've gained enough recognition for your work to generate new customers.
But I've noticed that these methods worked out for me very well. I stumbled into my m.o. intuitively, but I've seen artists who produce work of much higher quality than me struggle with getting commissions, simply because they didn't happen to be as lucky as me. That's why I decided to share my ideas, hoping that it'll help some of these amazing artists out.




1.) Know and adhere to the Holy Trinity of Service.


I think it was Neil Gaiman who spoke about these three important attributes when it comes to offering a service:
  • Speed/Reliability
  • Pleasantness
  • Skill

These three traits are the most important traits ever when it comes to offering commissions! You should aim to get really, really good at all three of them, but since that's very hard, at least try to excel at two. Customers can excuse mediocre work if they are having a blast working with you and feel safe with you as a business partner. They won't mind waiting for a commission longer or having to pay up front as long as you treat them with respect and deliver really good work. And they can deal with not getting along with you as a person, as long as you get the job done well and quickly - but this one is the hardest to pull off.

Commissions are a service, so you should try to provide good service. I've had people not reply to my questions about commissions, or just ask for a reference and pay and then fall silent until they sent me the finished piece. None of that is helpful. Maybe you can afford to do that if you already get a lot of commissions, but as long as you need to gain recognition, you should be willing to go out of your way making sure that the customer will be happy with your work - the whole package. This does not mean that you have to be flawless! It means that you get in touch with your flaws and adapt to them. You know that occasionally, you can't be reliable and might drop or procrastinate commissions you just can't deal with halfway through? That's fine, make sure you can always offer refunds (or better yet, never demand payment up front) and go out of your way to be nice to your customers. Also, work well on your commissions to make them worth the wait. You can see that your skill is notably lacking compared to your competition? Again, pay attention to your good behaviour and ensure that the customer will get what they've paid for. Analyse your flaws as someone who offers a service and see what you can do to balance them out.

If you notice that you lack in two or more of these traits - notably - consider putting commissions on hold until you have gotten more practice.


2.) Know why People buy Commissions - cater to that Need!


I've had it happening to me that I commissioned artists to draw one of my OCs for me and never heard back from them after giving them a ref and handing over the payment until the finished piece was in my inbox. No refunds or the like, of course.

That is not what people necessarily commission you for and you need to be aware of that. There are three main types of clients you will encounter during your work, and you need to know and recognise them and be able to work according to their needs:
  • The Admirer: These clients love your style and work and simply want a piece in your style, drawn for them
  • The Visionary: These clients have an idea, scenario or character that they'd like to see projected on paper or the screen - but they can't do that themselves, so they enlist your help for it
  • The Friend: These clients like you as a person, and they commission you mainly because they want to support you

You can already see how these three types correspond with the Trinity of Service I mentioned above, no? The Admirer values your skill, the Visionary values your reliability, and the Friend values you as a person.

The Admirer might be okay with the treatment mentioned above, since they only want a piece of work in your style. However, the distant way you'd handle them could disappoint them and turn them away from you, overshadowing their admiration for your work. The other two types - well, you'd likely completely miss their point of commissioning you. The Visionary often has a pretty clear idea of what they want in the picture, so not communicating with them about their wishes just results in them being disappointed by the result. The Friend appreciates you as a person and tries to do you a favour (no matter if they really are your friend or just want to support you) so treating them in a distant manner makes them feel unappreciated.

It's always better to work out a system for finding out what the customer wants and what parts of your work they like or want to change. My personal system is requesting feedback after every stage of work (sketch, lineart, flat colours, shading) or even inviting the client to watch me draw via livestream, giving me feedback in real time.
Showing genuine concern about doing the job right is one of the best things you can do to cater to any customer's need. People might first come to you for one of the above reasons, but they will return to and recommend you for the service you offer!


3.) Use Commissions you get to spread the Word.


For some reason, apart from 2.), this is the mistake I see most people doing. When they get commissions, they don't jump at the opportunity to self-advertise. This is a fatal mistake! Nothing is a better promotional tool than your actual work!

There are two main ways you should do that. First off, encourage your clients to promote you. No, I don't mean clinging to them begging for a feature. I mean actual encouragement. Think of incentives to make promoting you attractive. You could offer discounts for features, host art or point giveaways among the people who do promote you, inspire them to upload the commissions they bought from you in their gallery or on their site, crediting and linking to you, or at least ask for permission to upload the commissions on your own sites so you can show people what you're capable of. Yeah, you should definitely always talk to your clients about how you'd appreciate a feature on their pages anyways, but offering actual incentives often makes them much more interested in it.

My personal method is offering a good discount to people with many subscribers, watchers, followers, etc - proportional to just how many they have. The discount is super popular, and from every commission I do with such a discount, I tend to get at least 1-2 new customers! Nobody loses anything by getting your name out there, but having them actually win something will result in your clients jumping at the opportunity to do that for you.
Together with good service, of course!

Secondly: Boast about your commissions, without any shame! Post them on several sites, not only on DeviantArt, and always, ALWAYS drop the hint that you still take commissions, along with a link to your commission info in the description. You've already won if your commission ends up in at least one persons favourites or "things x likes". Describe what you put most work and care in in that particular piece, emphasize it's good points and things the client especially liked, but keep the gap between "This is a Commission" and "And there's the link to my commission info" as short as possible. I personally also upload videos of me drawing for customers who are okay with it and leave them open for everyone interested to watch, which makes my methods much clearer to potential clients - and eventually convinces them to actually order something.


4.) Don't limit yourself to one Community.


Slightly touched upon above, but this is another thing too many people do.

DeviantArt is full of artists. Artists everywhere. And many of them, as unpleasant as that sounds, are better than you in every single aspect of 1.)! It's a huge place filled with harsh competition fighting over few potential customers (because most of the audience is artistic as well) and therefore actually the worst possible place ever to get commissions, even though a fairly good place to gain recognition and a good support network.
Social networks like Tumblr and Facebook offer a much wider audience consisting of people who easily slip into one of the client categories (because they are compassionate and supportive of people whose work they like, love to look at art, or simply have use for it due to roleplaying or self expression) but do not possess artistic abilities themselves. There are hub sites there that will collect big archives of people to commission, and you can find themed fanpages to have your art featured on to gain recognition.
Another fairly good place to get clients is Youtube, but this does mean that you will have to create videos. Be it tutorials, timelapse footage of you drawing, or self-drawn comics you put some voice acting over. If people like your content, they will soon approach you with the question if you do work for others as well, and if they are happy with their commissions, you might get quite some really effective promotion out of that.
There are also sites like Gaia, Aywas, Roliana, Flight Rising, etc. where enough people develop a desire for custom content to warrant artists putting up offers for commissions.
Oh and put some nice pictures of yours, maybe also the commission info link, into every. Single. Forum signature. Ever. You don't need to be obnoxious about it by screaming "PLEASE CLICK HERE!" but simply writing "My Art" and linking that to your gallery will be intriguing enough for people you interact with to at least check it out once.

Do not fall into the trap of, of all sites and communities to choose from, limiting yourself to those filled with artists who could do what you offer themselves.

This also means a lot of work. Whenever I finish a picture, I upload it in at least 3-4 different places, always adding a little description (sometimes having to adapt to a different language or less space for words) and linking to my commission info if possible... I often spend an additional half or even full hour on that after finishing a piece of hard work. But it's worth it! Most of my clients I don't gain via DeviantArt - I'm actually pretty sure that I haven't gotten a single commission on here yet. Instead, I get plenty of customers from Youtube or Tumblr. You need to take your offer to where the demand is waiting.

More good communities to offer commissions in are:
  • Furaffinity (if you don't mind furry art)
  • Weasyl
  • Pretty much every virtual pet-related community
  • Roleplaying communities (for example LotGD sites)
  • chan-sites (possibly especially drawchan)
  • Every single forum you go to ever

Keep in mind to ask for permission to put up your commission offer. You probably don't need to if you can already see a thread or post or whatever where another artist offers commissions, but if you can't find anything like that, ask the admins if it's okay to do it. And put a disclaimer into your post explaining that the admins are not affiliated with you. It's always possible that the administration of a community or site is, for relatable reasons, not okay with users offering commercial services, and you need to respect that. Still, always ask - it doesn't hurt to try, admins often appreciate the question enough to at least consider it and last but not least some people will see your request and get curious enough to sneak into your dA profile and check out your stuff anyways. ;3

And another piece of advice: Expect rudeness. There are always some butts in some communities who feel the need to tell you that your art is awful and you don't deserve money for it, or who go out of their way to protest about how you dare to offer up your work for actual money in THEIR sacred community!!!111eleven
Don't listen to them and don't reply to them except maybe by clearing up exactly once that art is work and work is a valid exchange for money which even you need to survive. Do so politely and then just ignore them. The people who count are the admins and your (potential) clients, and you don't need to let anyone else tell you what you're allowed to do.
Growing a thick skin sadly is necessary when you get more successful. Know that this is not about you at all. People are being rude out of many reasons, ranging from ignorance via stupidity all the way to pure spitefulness or the inability to word valid criticism in a not hurtful and destructive manner. But as long as you abide to the rules laid down by the administration and act in a polite and kind manner, you are doing nothing wrong! Your potential clients are not stupid, they can decide very well if they like your work enough to pay money for it or not - no one has to protect them from you. And not shooting back or being rude in return always improves your reputation or keeps it stable, while arguing with people or hiding their comments might do the opposite - regardless of whether you're right or not.


5.) Don't limit yourself to one Payment Method, either.


The least option you should be able to offer is Paypal. But... it's not really enough. I've had people approach me asking for bank transfer, dA points and even PaySafeCards. Work out a way of accepting as many different payment methods as possible, and you will get way more customers. This plays into one of the bottom line rules of offering service: Make things easy for potential customers. They will prefer an artist they can simply pay with bank transfer over one who requires Paypal and Paypal only when they'd have to create a Paypal account just for that. Yeah, Paypal is one of the most common and comfortable payment options these days. But still, it gives you an advantage over others to offer more.

Take care to keep your accounts safe though! I have a separate bank account just to wire commission money through, which cannot reach negative numbers.

You won't be able to get all money directly from these alternative payment methods. For example, I can't turn PaySafeCards into real money, or only could if I'd pay some fees that would considerably reduce my payment. To solve this problem, I feed my steam wallet with them - I frequently want or buy games anyway, and I can always reinvest the money by getting small, but nice games during sales for giveaways. That way, the money isn't lost to me - it goes towards something I can use as promotional tool again.

Be creative not only with how you use the resources you start out with, but also those that you acquire with your work!


6.) Actively promote Yourself.


This does entail much of the above, but is not limited to that. There are actual tools and sites out there who will support you, like GetWatchers for Deviantart and several artist help blogs on Tumblr. Go around, comment, fave, interact with others at least every now and then. If you use Youtube to get your name out, comment on videos frequently, maybe even send in video responses. Interact with others in tournaments and challenges to show off your art and get practice. Consider investing in premium accounts or sticky functions for your offers and works. Put effort into decorating your spaces on the web in a manner that represents you and communicates something good about you, for example by customising your Tumblr theme with own art.

Investing a lot of time is mandatory for spreading the word about yourself and get known by more people. It's actually hard work sometimes, but if you want and need to earn money, the words "hard work" should not scare you off. Put some time aside each week to answer comments and questions. Check your messages frequently to address questions, concerns and comments quickly. Give potential customers quick and easy ways to reach you. Sometimes, do some work just for promotional purposes - in fact, maybe start out with a batch of up to five really cheap commission slots, just to slowly adjust your price upwards. Maybe draw some public art for a bigger site or community, like a header.

Other things that catch attention very well are:
  • ask blogs on Tumblr
  • well-tagged fan art
  • doing requests (careful with that though! I'll explain why further down)
  • helping other artists (!!!!!!)
  • doing a webcomic or publishing small comic strips

Seriously though - always put in the effort to tag your work extensively and accurately wherever you upload it. Yes, tag that picture of your OC with "brown haired brown-haired brunette girl", even if it's the tenth picture of her you're uploading today. Good tagging helps people find you because your work is relevant to their interests, and that's exactly the audience that needs to know you if you want to sell your work.

About requests:
Try to draw a very strict line between requests and commissions! Commissions are the clients order and should be tailored to their wishes. Requests are things you gift to people though, and they should be made however you like to do it. If a customer commissions little red wood riding hood with two peg legs and a basket full of snakes, that's what you'll draw, and you'll do it well. But if someone requests the same thing and you find it more cute in a effortless style or with only one peg leg or with her holding the peg legs in her hands, that's completely fine and you should do it! Don't adjust requested pictures to the wishes of the requesters if they aren't happy with them. Customised work has to be purchased, simple as that.

About helping other artists:
This might sound counter intuitive for several reasons. I mean, it's encouraging competition, right?
But networking among artists is really important. For one, you are not perfect - there are always things that others can do better and more swiftly, and you can learn from them! Other artists also often are able to give you notably better feedback about your skill. They can word their criticism better in a way that helps you recognise and solve problems, and improvement is always good for you. Other artists also understand you better, since they often share aspirations and dreams with you, so befriending and helping them will gain you a good emotional net of support.

But from a promotional perspective, tutorials, references, advice etc. are much more likely to be passed on than original art. People don't only look at and like tutorials, they often also bookmark them and if they are asked about something they learnt from you, they are likely to pass it on. This is how your art gets around - by being of use or great enjoyment for others. Being nice to others gets you connections and a positive reputation, and both are extremely valuable in art.

Plus, if you're reading this you probably got very far by learning from others online. It's only fair to give some of that back, to share knowledge like it was shared with you.

Investing money is something that needs more consideration, of course. Because you probably do commissions in the first place because you need it. Still, maybe you can invest a little bit into promotional tools or premium accounts, or better equipment. Just always go into this knowing what exactly you need your purchase for, how you will use it and most importantly how to get out of the subscription the moment your wallet is empty.




And now, on to some absolute Don'ts:
  • Do not purchase premium content or adspace on a whim. Just don't. Always calculate what you need and if the investment pays off for that.
  • Do not underprice yourself permanently. Underpricing yourself will make it harder to have your work paying off once you get enough work, and as long as you only get single commissions every now and then, the payment will be so little it evaporates right away. Calculate the prices for your commissions carefully. You can always give discounts and host sales (even though I don't recommend that because it might make your clients lurk and wait for sales instead of just buying) or giveaways, but you risk a lot of protest for raising prices later.
  • Do not blow off clients because you don't like what they want you to draw or disapprove of some of their personal choices. Beggars can't be choosers, and turning down a paying customer because you are uncomfortable with one of their personal preferences and choices can get you into more trouble down the road, when they give you bad rep. You should always at the very least decline the request politely and in a kind manner, as much as it makes you feel dirty. And before you do, consider if the moral high ground is worth it. In some cases, especially concerning sexual content, it might be and you should definitely not need to completely scar your soul in order to earn money. But sometimes, you might be way better off doing the job than not. The best solution to frequently getting commission requests that make you uncomfortable is either to decline them in your commission info already or to raise the prices considerably for them.
  • Do not cave for the special wishes of every client either. Giving single clients a small discount out of kindness or sending people you really, definitely know you can trust the finished picture before getting the payment might be fine, but don't trust everyone too easily and don't let others talk you into taking less than you deserve for your job. If they want to pay nothing, they can ask elsewhere. If they want to get your art, they'll have to purchase it. Do also remember to put your foot down sometimes if a client abuses their right to give you feedback. Stay polite - rudeness will always come back to haunt you - but be assertive if you need to.
  • Do not make the mistake of letting the fact that your commissions have to be paid slip out of your promotional material. I made that mistake on Youtube at first and boy do I regret it. Because then, people will claim that you led them on, and some might not even catch on to the fact that you expect payment until halfway through the work and that can only end in tears. Always, always make sure that at every point during the commission process your customer knows what they're in for! This is vital to getting satisfied clients, and with them, a good rep.
  • Do not be rude. Seriously. This should not have to be in here, but I see it too often anyways. If someone criticises your art, handle it with grace! If you don't want critique at all, say so in the descriptions of your pictures. Only hide or delete comments if they actually insult you (words like "stupid", "talentless", etc... not critique about your style or the picture in particular) if at all. Give friendly answers to questions, especially learn to say "No" in a friendly manner! This might not sound directly related to commissions, but your general behaviour WILL influence how many you get, and Kindness and Respect always take one a long way, while rudeness will always bite you in the butt at one point or another.
  • And last but not least: Do not, never ever, under no circumstances, chicken out of opening commissions or offer them cheaply because you think you're not good enough! Let your potential clients be the judge of that! Let them decide whether they are fine with paying your set prices for the work you offer! Chances are that you'll never feel "good enough", that you might never measure up to your own expectations - but if people buy commissions from you, it's because you measure up to theirs! You are not scamming anyone out of anything if you expect minimum wage payment for your work, no matter at what skill level you are. And don't let anyone - not even yourself - tell you otherwise! The funny thing is - the consistent positive feedback of paying customers might be exactly what you need to build a bit more confidence, and commissions are a great chance to get out of your comfort zone and learn new things. Do it.





So... that's it. My guide to getting commissions. I hope this helps out some people, because seriously, I've seen so many amazing artists who struggled to sell their fantastic work that I couldn't not write it. If you have anything that you think belongs on here, feel free to tell me in the comments and I'll consider updating the guide a little. Feel free to discuss the points mentioned here in the comments. Tell me if this helped you. Pass it on to your friends if you think it might help them. I'd be happy about every scrap of feedback!

And good luck with your commissions! I hope you'll be able to build a steady income with them, be it big or small, that'll help you get through rough times and work towards your dreams.

~ Your Broeckchen
I've learnt so much from this community, I felt like it was time to give something back with a small tutorial/guide of my own. These methods have always helped me greatly to find work in terms of commissions, and I want to help other artists with this, too! I started writing this forever ago, but kept going over it until I felt that it was understandable and polished enough to publish.

If you find it helpful, please consider passing this on in your profiles, journals or just to specific friends. Also please don't just copy it and present it as your own work, I've put quite a bit of time and effort into it even if it's just text.

Keep in mind that this guide won't get you a ton of commissions over the course of a week or so! These methods are all based on my favourite way of handling things - investing in a steady, if slow progress. At first you might only find one or two clients, but if you keep at it, it'll pay off for sure!

Have fun and I hope this brings you much success! ouo
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