When can someone do commissions?

[enta]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask this but....as the title says, when can someone do commissions?

Do I have to be an art college/university graduate? Is there any requirements to do so?
It's not like I'm planning to do commissions right now(maybe when I improved more later) but I was just curious. Is there any specific level needed? Do I need to master all the art of skulls and bones(anatomy)?

And if I'd ever start commissions, are there any things I need to prepare or know? I'd probably work for free for starters anyway so credit cards or paypal are out of question

Thanks in advance :3

[DaFool]

You're ready for commissions when somebody is willing to pay you for your art.

There are a few artists who were self-taught and were better than some who went to art school.

[Ronove]

You can do commissions any time you feel you are ready to and someone wants to pay you for them! I think schooling and all that matters if you're trying to get a job with your art (but then again, perhaps a good portfolio would do for that). As for a specific skill level, it all depends on what the person wants when they commission you. If they're fine with what your style is like now and they want to pay for it, then that's what they want.

I did commissions when I was still in high school and my style wasn't the best (I think it's almost embarrassing now), but I was in a community that wanted a lot of specific art and people asked me if I could do it for them, so I opened commissions.

Things you should know, at least from my experience: if you do sell commissions, don't underprice yourself. Also if you do sell commissions, don't let people talk you into doing it for free (to me it's an insult when they like my art so much but they don't want to pay) or "I'll pay you when I finish the game" (if they say that, chances are you won't get paid).

But since you're interested in doing it for free, you might not need that advice so much. Just have fun with it and use it as an opportunity to get better at your art. When I started commissions, I was getting a lot better the more I did them (even if they are a bit embarrassing now) because I wasn't working for myself, I was working for other people.

[karenbruce]

Getting commissions out of your art, would simply mean that somebody get attracted or getting satisfied with your job.
Thus you will be getting inspired to create and develop more.

___________
"The sword has to be more than a simple martial arts weapon it has to be an answer to life's questions."

[enta]

You're ready for commissions when somebody is willing to pay you for your art.

There are a few artists who were self-taught and were better than some who went to art school.

Haha!!----this means it's still a far road huh...

Things you should know, at least from my experience: if you do sell commissions, don't underprice yourself. Also if you do sell commissions, don't let people talk you into doing it for free (to me it's an insult when they like my art so much but they don't want to pay) or "I'll pay you when I finish the game" (if they say that, chances are you won't get paid).

But since you're interested in doing it for free, you might not need that advice so much. Just have fun with it and use it as an opportunity to get better at your art. When I started commissions, I was getting a lot better the more I did them (even if they are a bit embarrassing now) because I wasn't working for myself, I was working for other people.

Getting commissions out of your art, would simply mean that somebody get attracted or getting satisfied with your job.
Thus you will be getting inspired to create and develop more.

So, I should think of doing commissions as a way to improve my art more! I'll remember that! >:3

Thank you for the replies. Once I finally managed to finish my perspective self-studies, I'm planning to start doing commissions(hope someone hires me >///<)

[Alera]

You can be anyone and do commissions. You can be a five year old that does masterpieces or an adult drawing dots on a canvas. On the internet you can't really prove who you are anyway. So how would anyone know if you've been to an art school or not? Even if you say that you have/haven't, no one can be sure. So it doesn't really matter!

All that matters is your art and what you draw~
Then there are some factors about the quality of your work and how fast you complete it. Each customer will have different requirements so you better talk in detail with them so that both of you are happy in the end.

When you're open for commissions, try not to get depressed if not too many people buy at first. The reasons might be different, sometimes it's just luck-weirdly enough, but don't let that turn you off! Just keep drawing~

[dramspringfeald]

Well it depends, do you have the discipline to take on commissions and keep to them until they are done in a timely manner?
If the answer is yes and yes, then have at it.

there is no requirement for when you can make commissions beyond yourself.

As for prep~
Have a Paypal or similar digital banking system. Make sure they gift you the money or you will have to pay a tax.

Make sure you have a Digital backup of your projects. I've seen WAY to many Crying themselves to sleep after nuking their hard drives.

Make sure you are ready to do commissions. Have a set time when you will work on them and DO NOT overload yourself. I've seen plenty Burn out of art forever because of taking on more then they were ready for.

Have a Deviant art or similar account and post your works on it. Your Pixiv is fine but most still don't use it over here and they tend not to like sites that are "different." Also post more stuff to your Pixiv. Seriously last I saw was 2 pics.

Lastly YOU are the one doing the work. set up rules and stick to them. There are Commissioners who will have some VERY not good requests and you may have to turn them away.

Also if you are doing Digital Commission I suggest you get a Livestream or similar Screen broadcasting service. it lets you interact with the commissioner as well as potential clients. just remember LS is VERY anti-porn and will shut you down if you are not careful.

there are other things but these are more or less the basics.

[enta]

As for prep~
Have a Paypal or similar digital banking system. Make sure they gift you the money or you will have to pay a tax.

W-wait, paypal needs tax? I thought it was just something like online credit card? O_o? <-I'm a total newbie about anything that concerns online money.

Make sure you have a Digital backup of your projects. I've seen WAY to many Crying themselves to sleep after nuking their hard drives.

Does saving them to a memory card works? Or I should upload them in some site or something?

Have a Deviant art or similar account and post your works on it. Your Pixiv is fine but most still don't use it over here and they tend not to like sites that are "different." Also post more stuff to your Pixiv. Seriously last I saw was 2 pics.

I have a devART account, I made it two days ago! (link on my sig, it's been there for two days now, besides my pixiv) My pixiv account was mostly for my Japanese friends to view and I doubt it would help me anything since I post stuff in Japanese there and I'm planning to do commissions in the English community

Lastly YOU are the one doing the work. set up rules and stick to them. There are Commissioners who will have some VERY not good requests and you may have to turn them away.

I'll work up on this once I really start commissioning.

Also if you are doing Digital Commission I suggest you get a Livestream or similar Screen broadcasting service. it lets you interact with the commissioner as well as potential clients. just remember LS is VERY anti-porn and will shut you down if you are not careful.

there are other things but these are more or less the basics

Wow, never knew that there has been services like those now. I'll sign up on once I really needed it.

Thanks for the answers again :3

[dramspringfeald]

yeah, paypal is an american company and thus is taxed. we found out that commissions count as services and are taxable. Gifts and donations however do not and when we are doing commissions for $10 $15 each it becomes kind of a pain.

as for livestream, yeah it is a really interesting place.

and your Pixiv, I'm stalking you on there... just so you know.

[enta]

yeah, paypal is an american company and thus is taxed. we found out that commissions count as services and are taxable. Gifts and donations however do not and when we are doing commissions for $10 $15 each it becomes kind of a pain.

as for livestream, yeah it is a really interesting place.

and your Pixiv, I'm stalking you on there... just so you know.

Were bank transfers impossible? ---wait, yes it is. International fees should be quite expensive. I guess I got no choice but to open up a paypal then.

(and why must it become a kind of a pain? Are gifts and donations limited or something?)

---------------------------------

Also, how do I price my commissions? Since I'm not used in the dollar currency, I'm really confused about the pricing and how much I should price them.

[dramspringfeald]

With your skill, Start at maybe $15 or $20 usd.

if you have many takers increase, if not so many less.

[ebi brain]

To be honest, as a buyer, if someone would tell me to make the transaction as a gift/donation ( on paypal), I would be less inclined to place a comission. In fact, I wouldn't place a comission at all regarding that person.

If you ask for the transaction to be a gift, if my memory serves me right, neither the buyer nor the seller will have any protection in any way. So, if something goes wrong (e.g. The seller runs away with my money) I would be left with nothing and I wouldn't be ale to do anything about it.

If you're really bothered about tax, just add it into your price.


As for pricing, I can't help you with that, but you can check out the recruitment section to get an idea?
You can often find people offering art services there ( like sprites, backgrounds etc) and they'll list a price.

From what I've seen sprites go anywhere between 15-35 (and up) depending on your skills/level and what you offer ( 1 pose with n amount of expressions, 1 pose and a clothes change etc. etc.)


The only advice I can give is: don't undercharge your services!

[dramspringfeald]

To be honest, as a buyer, if someone would tell me to make the transaction as a gift/donation ( on paypal), I would be less inclined to place a comission. In fact, I wouldn't place a comission at all regarding that person.

You seem to have VERY little knowledge of what you speak about. As a Commissioner I have paid $1 commissions for very good artists just doing random chibi doodles and I've paid $100 to okay artists for 3 page spreads of my characters. It depends. The transaction fee or tax is $1 to $3 and the Gifting process common practice nowadays as it saves either side $.

If you ask for the transaction to be a gift, if my memory serves me right, neither the buyer nor the seller will have any protection in any way. So, if something goes wrong (e.g. The seller runs away with my money) I would be left with nothing and I wouldn't be ale to do anything about it.

That's too bad. Again as a Commissioner I've been burned by Artists and I've burned artists. That is business. There are no cute safety nets in the real world. However if either side of the party keeps it up there are a NUMBER of black lists floating around. This list is made of thieves and assholes as well as many complaints on their art pages. If you afraid of getting burned for $5 then I worry about your mental health when going into the real world. If you are so afraid of getting burned maybe you should try the half and half that way if YOU back out of the deal they still get some money.

Anyway Gifting is common practice and can easily get you ignored by artists if you do not fallow it.

If you're really bothered about tax, just add it into your price.

Nope. The American mind prefers 0's and 5's. Adding it to the price will make you look cheap and people will ignore you. I've watched it happen a lot.

As for pricing, I can't help you with that, but you can check out the recruitment section to get an idea?
You can often find people offering art services there ( like sprites, backgrounds etc) and they'll list a price.

Look around on Deviant art in the "more like this" section of the site. it should pull up artists similar to your art and look at their prices.

From what I've seen sprites go anywhere between 15-35 (and up) depending on your skills/level and what you offer ( 1 pose with n amount of expressions, 1 pose and a clothes change etc. etc.)

I don't remember Etna saying sprites. (S)he(?) asked for commissions and that is the information I am going off. Again I've paid $1 for commissions and I've paid $100 for commissions and I've seen them go as high as $450 and $500 but the average is $15 or $20 for full color digital with no shading and some special effects. Some of the artists I fallow on Furaffinity *Would also be a good place because we have lax standards and a MUCH smaller pool of talent. Hell you don't even have to be a Furry*
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8923857/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8688242/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1341569/

The only advice I can give is: don't undercharge your services!

That is a Catch 22. Useless statement. You do not know how much you are worth until you know how much you are worth. the only way is to find out how much you are worth. The market and the current economy kind of made this statement

Nobody knows who Etna is and thus has no knowledge of their artwork nor their ability to complete their work. Until then No one will buy there work until they know the artists. I said $15 or $20 because that is a good starting out point for most users. However users may need to do them for much less until they are known.

[enta]

Ahem! So I signed up in Paypal(using my mom's credit card, when she heard I'll *probably* make at least 30% of my allowance, she gave it away like it's worth nothing ).

I am still not sure about the gifting/donating or including the tax(btw, tax here in Japan is 5% and it will be 8% next year. Wouldn't the buyer be at lost? Or am I getting all this tax and payment stuff wrong?) I'm sure the buyer and the seller can talk their way to a safer transaction... like I give them my contact number and maybe they can contact me there if ever I disappear on the scene which I doubt I would. If ever, I leave some message(like what I did last year here in LSF to stray away from VNs and focus on schooling) and can always refund the money because I failed to do it anway. However my entrance exams are over, so I doubt I'll be disappearing again. I'm an LSF boarder after all ;P

After browsing in devART, I saw some people doing commissions for points but it won't make me any allowance(let alone buy me a can of coca cola which worth ￥130 per can) which was what my mom and me agreed about (or I just don't know)

Again, I don't think I'm in a level where one can say I'm "undercharging". Is this some typo and you are trying to say, don't "overcharge"?

I'm actually thinking of starting for free(like I mentioned in my first post)... then after I improved my art better, plans to do paid commissions. I'm still studying and experimenting in making BGs and my hands aren't getting any better at all + I'm self-taught so I'm not even sure if I'd get them(commissions) but seems like I was not alone so that's out of the problem now.

Thank you for the answers again. This is really helping me a lot :]

[dramspringfeald]

"Again, I don't think I'm in a level where one can say I'm "undercharging". Is this some typo and you are trying to say, don't "overcharge"? "
Not really, There are a LOT of really god artists who charge far less then what their skill was. you are pretty good and if you are getting a lot of commissions you may need to up your prices.

ALSO remember to look around for a few drawing communities that support your style of artwork and make an account there, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr (there are others) and advertise there as well. it's a pain but makes it gets your name out there.