Commissions are paid requests to draw something or someone, usually for personal use. It’s usually the starting point for many artists’s careers and it’s definitely how I started out as a teenage artist! I began with low-priced commissions and gradually raised the price as the demand for my artwork grew. But looking at it through the lens of a professional artist, I think many artists charge too little for their work. Due to the wide availability of cheap commissions, many people have come to expect and even demand these very low prices. If you decide to offer commissions, don’t let anyone convince you that your price is too high – this happens a lot and you’re better off ignoring them and moving on! The best way to approach your pricing is to estimate how many hours would go into each piece, and to figure out how much money you feel an hour of your time is worth, and then do the math. For the rest, I would advise you to:
- Agree on the deadline in advance, and stick to it.
- Ask for your payment in advance. You can also ask for half upfront and the other half later on – but a full advance payment is also reasonable!
- Agree on what your payment will be if the commission is cancelled halfway through the process, because this happens sometimes.
- Show your client the rough sketch and a rough color version before proceeding to the next step, to ensure that the client is happy with where the image is going.
- Establish with your client how many modifications can be made to the artwork based on the client’s feedback, in order to avoid a situation in which you might have to completely re-do your image.
- Be dependable and communicate well with your client. Keep them up to date on the progress!