Commissions Thread, Part Deux

[Anonymous No.3905053]

We had a good thing going on in the last thread >>3890222
Let's continue it.

Anyone here taking commissions?
Post your work, link to blog, and prices.

[Anonymous No.3905078]

>>3905053
Posting this again here since the last thread has been neglected.

So sometimes I take commission work on Upwork. I sent a proposal to a client asking for an artist for his children's book with a budget of $1500.

He eventually agrees to hire me, but hasn't told me anything about the book's story, or how the milestones will be broken down.

Most clients I've done story work for, they show me the script first before asking if I'd like to be on board. This guy just says "you're hired" without even telling me the book's story. Is this a red flag? Am I worrying too much about this?

Is it unreasonable to ask for the general idea of the project, like the book's plot, amount of pages, what each milestone consists of, etc before agreeing to take this project? Or should I just agree with what he asks and go with the flow? He brought up something about character designs, which I'm worried could be a whole different process in itself. I have no idea if he'll just want character design sketches, or full blown clean illustrations of character designs.

Thoughts? Ideas? Attached is the full convo.

[Anonymous No.3905346]

>>3905078
You need more information. Bug him until you get everything you need /want to know. If things aren't clear from the start, you may get into trouble down the road.

[Anonymous No.3905436]

>deliver commission
>commissioner likes it so much they give me a tip
bros...

[Anonymous No.3905493]

>>3905078
I think this person is eager to start the process, but doesn’t know what their doing. As long as their money’s good, I say proceed.

1) Make sure you get a proportion of your pay up front. Lots of people do half before, half on completion. People will try to scam you. Insist on this. Do not take no for an answer.

2) Explain (as it seems based on your description) that milestones are not based on character designs, but rather on pages or chapters of illustrations completed. Idk if I understood their text above right, but it looks like six milestones, one for each character is what they’re trying to do. Ignore this point if I misunderstood.

3) Non-artists probably have no idea what thumbnails are despite your explanation, same with color comps.

4) See what the author proposes with their milestone plan, and then realistically adapt it. Remember: it’ll be a million tomes better to underpromise and over-deliver, than to be late or flaky with dates. I like giving an ETA that it’ll take longer than expected, and delivering slightly (but not too) early as a tactic.

5) Make sure you are fairly being compensated for your work to the extent you can.

And good job not saying yes to all coming projects. It seems you have a good and realistic head on your shoulders for this stuff.

Just be real about it, and if the author is flaky, don’t accept, and if you can make it through the first commission but don’t want further ones, don’t accept them.

The ‘you’re hired’ was a little presumptuous (I prefer clients who take it more as ‘I’m ready to work it out if you are’) but hopefully means nothing bad. Be cautious, realistic, and it’ll be fine. Assess the details they send whenever they do and that’ll tell you if this is right or wrong.

You got this.

[Anonymous No.3905528]

Been commissioning for some time,not that much, although from what i've seen in the previous thread i guess i might be undercharging. i'm glad many people can make a good living out of this

[Anonymous No.3905556]

>>3905528
>that pic
> i guess i might be undercharging
I doubt it.

[Anonymous No.3905941]

I make traditional stuff, DM at https://twitter.com/AdrianDibuja

[Anonymous No.3905943]

>>3905436
feels gud mang! Keep doing your stuff!

[Anonymous No.3905947]

>>3905346
>>3905493
I ended up asking him what he would like done for each milestone because most of these projects I've done in 4 milestones the most.

Granted I would prefer 2 milestones (half up front and the other half for completion), but some clients dont feel comfortable paying a lot of money up front, so I give them the option of paying at least 25% upfront.

The client seemed to understand what I was saying, so that's good. He still has yet to tell me what this story is about or how long it is though.

Should I ask if he has a script? Because I dont want to start to only find out he wants at least 35 illustrations done. Again, the budget he has is $1500

Should I break the milestones down by chapters/pages?
Because I was going to propose doing the project like this:

Milestone 1 : tiny thumbnails/ page layouts
Milestone 2: Detailed pencil roughs/color comps
Milestone 3: Start of final illustrations
Milestone 4: completion of final illustrations

I appreciate the advice fellow anons. Theres not many people I personally know that I can get quick advice from.

[Anonymous No.3905952]

>>3905078
Upwork really is hit or miss when it comes to clients.

I just did a t-shirt design for a client on Upwork for $450.
Then you have clients who want 3 shirt designs for $25

[Anonymous No.3905959]

>>3905947
Seems like he is willing to work with you, my guess is he's the type of people who wants things done without looking too much in the details, they're pretty flexible when it comes to it but it seems you like to plan things out.

My take on it would be to ask about the characters, not only their designs but their personalities "to get a feel of their gesture and reactions", you get me? By doing this you're also making them reply with information whether they have their story planned out already and how much thought they'd put into it, but judging by the fact that he has 4 stories planned I'd say you're a bit safe there. It could also help if you're designing the characters from scratch.

You do you, break the milestones how you feel comfortable and make sure to communicate with your client about their thoughts on the matter too.

[Anonymous No.3905986]

>>3905528
that looks like the most generic anime style ever
you should try to experiment a bit more, maybe try improving your line weight or just playing around with proportions
of course you should experiment with private pieces and not commissions

[Anonymous No.3906096]

>>3905986
Thanks for the input, i would love to have more time to experiment although commission work keeps me from doing much of that unfortunately. not to go the muh style shit, but my point has been to get as close to the animation style to what i'm commissioning, basically no line weight on the inking and cell-shading coloring. i do see your point though , so thanks

[Anonymous No.3906270]

>>3905078
I hired my children's book artist before I really knew what I needed the book to do, but it was because I wanted him to develop the character first.