Why Are Artist Commissions Hard?

So, to start things off, what are artist commissions? Basically, you'll pay an artist to create a work of art in their medium choice. Typically, if it's on the internet, it's digital commissions. I happen to do this myself. The mediums I chose are traditional pen, paper, and colored pencils or markers, and the most popular: digital media. You may have many questions still, and hopefully I'll answer them, so let's dive on in and learn something new!

Why would an artist want to do art commissions? What's the end goal? Well, usually it's to make some extra money on the side while doing something you enjoy. I, myself, work at a retail store part time and don't get paid enough to do the things I want often. So, I turn to my commissions and do those.

It's fun because I get to work on my art and perfecting my style. But it's also time consuming and stressful. You might be wondering why that is. Well, you have to figure everything out on your own. My art commissions prices are fairly cheap. Other's can be more expensive depending on what's going on in their lives. Other artist will have different rules if you decide to share the art, how you commissions them and when payment is due. To think these up on your own is very stressful. Art is very time consuming. It takes up a lot of energy to focus on one thing for many hours at a time. And yes, it can take hours to finish one piece of art. I had an art commissions where the client asked for 4 pieces of art of Asuka Langley (pictured above) from Neon Genesis Evangelion in 4 different poses, with 4 different emotions, all that were full body commissions. All together it took around 5 days to get them done. That's about 120 hours spent on them. Did I have fun? Yes. Was it stressful? Definitely.

I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, and really it's not entirely a big deal, but when I'm told, "but art is so easy, anyone can do that," it makes me feel as if my art is worthless. Some might think it's easy to draw and to that I say, it's not simple at all. Just watch ANY speed paint on the fabulous YouTube website. You'll see the process. It takes some dedication to create something for more than five minutes.

It's understandable that the client wants their art fast. But please don't badger your artist. Don't make them feel that the art is more important than their school work (if they attend school), eating or taking a break, going to their retail or other hourly wage job. It's not fair to them and totally uncool of the client to do so. It only makes the stress worse. Try to be patient. Don't message them every other day, "hey are you finished yet?" They're getting there. I know I have a policy that you should be patient when commissioning me for the reasons I just mentioned. I'm not trying to sound mean or make anyone feel bad about this, but rather I'd like for you to understand that unless the artist fully dedicates themselves to the commissions that they have other things going on and will get to it when they can. For every artist it's different.

I hope you've learned more about art commissions. If you have any questions or comments, please tell me and I'll try to help you solve it!