What is Commission?

[terrydy]

Okay, I see a lot of these commission thread on this board. Are there any specific requirement for these commissions?
Are there difference for commissions rather than freelance draftsman?
Is costing "FREE $" for drawing also called commission art?

I am a n00b for these commission stuff mainly because I have never done it. I always draw for my own purposes, never draw for money though...

Thanks for answering some of my questions.

[Tsundere Lightning]

In general, commissions are single custom illustrations (or whatever) that an artist makes for a price. The price doesn't need to be monetary, but something is being traded.

Hope this helps!

[Aleema]

I dunno. Personally, I wouldn't say I commission someone who works for free. I think it's more of a relationship than working merely as a client.

If you're going to work for free, I think you'd be more of a freelancer, because you're going to want to work with something that you enjoy. If you just did whatever peopled asked of you ... You should probably get something out of it. Experience and enjoyment are acceptable substitutions for money. If you're getting neither, then you should be getting money.

[Duredhel]

Commissioned art are pieces done in exchange for compensation (monetary or otherwise). And a commission artist IS a freelancer. Art without remuneration is not a commissioned piece, it's a request. There's also front-end and back-end commission deals, front end deals are paid in advance or upon completion of the piece. Back-end are paid upon completion of the entire project or with a percentage of profit, etc. Unless you're working with a big, reliable studio with contractual agreements, or in a situation where there is a lot of trust and you've worked successfully with the commissioner several times before, never accept a back-end deal.

The main difference lies between freelancer and in-house artist. An in-house artist is part of a studio or organization and has work hours, during which he does whatever pieces he's asked to do for the company in exchange for a set salary. Any artist who is not part of the organization and instead is picked up for one or a few projects and compensated only for said projects is a freelancer.

[Aleema]

Yyyeah, I guess freelancer = commission artist. I just separate the two in my mind because one is asking "hey, people commission me" and the other chooses who he offers his services to, in response to people who ask for artists. Probably not true in the definition of the word, but that's how I see the words used on the internet.

[terrydy]

Lol thanks for clearing it up for me. I see all these commissioned art stuff and I was getting confused since some people are offering it for free and some are offering for a paid amount.