Lessons Learned: art commissions

Let me start off by saying that I love art, and I love supporting artists. I like buying prints, sharing cool artists on social media, and even better still, commissioning work from them. Further, having worked as a freelance graphic designer, I understand both sides of the commissioning equation. I have been both the client, and the artist.

I’ve had the privilege over the last year to commission several artists for both artwork and music for the world of Galhadria. In that time, I’ve learned some valuable lessons.

1) SET VERY CLEAR TERMS OF USE - on all of the artwork I commissioned, I made sure to ask for commercial rights so that I could include their work in my book. Usually the artist will charge you more for commercial rights, and rightfully so. They’ve done the hard work of creating something beautiful for you, and if you’re going to turn around and sell it and profit from it, the artist deserves to be paid more. If you do not ask for/get commercial rights, DO NOT SELL OR REDISTRIBUTE THEIR ARTWORK.

Songbird by Maria Dimova.

2) HAVE A CLEAR VISION OF WHAT YOU WANT, and set expectations for number of revisions allowed - nothing is more frustrating for an artist than a client who is impossible to please and asks for dozens of revisions. Don’t be this client. Have a very clear idea of what you want when you first commission the piece. This helps both you and the artist in terms of preventing frustration, added costs, and making sure you have a quick turn around time. Many artists will cap the number of revisions they will do on one piece without additional charge. I support this fully. It prevents them from getting taken advantage of and makes sure they are appropriately compensated for their time.

3) CONTRACTS CAN BE YOUR BEST FRIEND - having all the terms laid out plainly in a contract is an excellent way to make sure there is no question later on down the road about who has the rights to the artwork in the end, commercial use, how many revisions are allowed throughout the process, deadline for delivery, and so on. They are not a bad thing at all, just make sure you read them carefully and get clarification on anything you don’t understand. Not all artists will use contracts, but I think it’s generally a good sign if your artist does. In my case, if an artist I commissioned did not use a formal contract, I have saved our e-mail exchanges for future reference. Which brings me to my final point for this article:

4) SET CLEAR EXPECTATIONS ABOUT THE DEADLINE - this is another REALLY important thing to keep in mind. (I’m currently getting burned by this right now). Artists have a lot of different ways to approach commissions. Some will open up a ton of slots all at once, get a list, then close commissions and start working their way through them. Other artists will put you on a waiting list and reach out as they have availability. Different artists will ask for payment at different point throughout this process. Some ask for payment in full up front, some ask for a down payment to hold your spot with remainder of payment due upon completion, some do not ask for any payment until the work is fully completed (these last folks are the brave ones in my opinion). Personally, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for a down payment to secure a spot. As a client, the process I have appreciated the most is to put me on the waiting list, ask for a down payment when (and only when) you actually start working on my project, and then allow me to pay the remaining balance once my project is complete.

Story Time:

Out of the several artists I commissioned over the last year, only two asked me to pay in full up front. One of them has been great about communicating with me, she’s let me know how many commissions are ahead of me in line and so on. Further, it’s been cool to see her post updates on social media about the other commissions she’s working on, as well as my own. She’s happy, I’m happy, life is good.

The other artist set an expected date to begin my project around December 27th, then went completely radio silent after receiving payment in full. Getting information from them has been like pulling teeth. I have had to e-mail multiple times, only to eventually get a response when I threatened to reverse payment after over a month of no communication. There were two subsequent email exchanges in which they expressed they were dealing with unforeseen hardship, which I fully empathize with and was completely willing to forgive. However, now here we are, multiple months later with still not a single word and no art. In my humble opinion, this is completely inexcusable. I cannot express enough how important professional communication is. (So important, in fact, it will get it’s own post at some point).

At the end of the day, don’t be this kind of client or artist. Let people know what is going on, even if it’s just a quick update to say “I have had something come up and have not started on your project yet, I plan on being able to start [insert date].” You don’t have to tell them everything, but especially if someone has paid you in full it is absolutely professional courtesy to keep them apprised of your progress. This is why it is so important to set clear expectations from the beginning, preferably in a contract, for a due date. If this were cover art that I was waiting on for my book, for example, this would be pushing back the entire publication process. This is why it is so important to set those expectations, as well as a course of action to be take by either party if those expectations are not met.

I do not post this to complain or to rag on artists. In fact, so far, my experiences with commission artists have been OVERWHELMINGLY positive and I have loved every single thing I have commissioned so far. I fully encourage all my readers to support artists in any way they can. Just make sure everyone is on the same page before money exchanges hands and work is done. Making a living as a creative is really tough. But by setting clear expectations, both sides can avoid a lot of frustration, hurt feelings, and lost time and money.

Anna, also @Kudraiken on Instagram, initial concept sketches for Jaren and Songbird.

Till next time, dear readers! Go support an artist! <3 Tiff