WOOF, I've been offline for a hot minute. Been busy with stuff, will continue to be busy with stuff (not sure why I thought I'd have stacks of free time for art pfft but we roll) BUT now that things have calmed now a little bit, I'll be back to working on commissions! So so sorry for anyone still waiting on stuff, I'll get it all done as soon as possible, I haven't forgotten about you guys!

So I've decided to close commissions just temporarily while I get through this current batch. Will probably take on a few more slots when I'm ready, but right now I think I just need to focus on what's already on my plate

Ciao ciao, back to art now

Help a friend of a friend out! https://toyhou.se/~bulletins/1929079.emergency-commissions

Unfortunately I am not financially in a way to buy any myself, so here's a little boost!!

Hey hey! I’ve decided to open commissions! Finally finished term, so I’m in a great place to be working on some art for you folk.

As always, just comment here or send a message to order, I don’t mind where, when or how you order them.

Everything you’ll need is here: https://frankkiestein.weebly.com/

Just a couple of things to keep in mind before ordering (please read):

1 - Currently, my commission site is still not finished. I would have loved to have to complete by now, but I’ve been super burnt out and depressed for like the past month or so, so I’ve really struggled to work on new examples. I hope that actually taking on some commissions will get me out of this rut and provide my site with some new examples - in times like these, I tend to work more effectively when I’m drawing for others because I’m actually obliged to finish something :’D

I trust you guys know my art style well enough to know what you’re ordering from me, but just in case, there are a few examples already on the site. (I’m really selling myself here with a half finished website lmaoo)

2 - I also want to test out that method of taking flat coloured commissions only - just to see how it feels, how successful it is, etc. So please bear in mind that right now, I am only accepting flat coloured commissions for this batch!

3 - At the very bottom of my “regular commissions” page you’ll see that I offer “experimental pieces” in some instances. Unfortunately I’m really not in the right mindset to be working on experimental stuff for other people right now, so please just ignore this and stick to ordering official comm types for the time being.

Thinking of giving my TOS a little revamp for the updated version of my comms website. I'm slightly worried that some of my terms come off as slightly unreasonable (such as the "no privating characters" one), but I suppose only I can have the final say in that.

On the other hand, I'm thinking about expanding my TOS to fully explain certain things but I don't want to come off as too draconian nor do I want to explain the obvious (unfortunately it seems what I and most other people consider to be "obvious" isn't always obvious to everyone else - I don't like being asked for WIPs literally the day after I've taken on somebody's commission nor do I like people slacking off on their side of a character trade, hence the new "1 month deadline for art offers" rule which I've implemented). I'm also worried that having a long TOS might put people off actually reading it or just cause people to skim read it so I'm trying to figure out a middle path for that dilemma - I've seen some people use code words but I have my reasons for being hesitant about implementing that too.

https://frankkiestein.weebly.com/terms-of-service.html

Thoughts so far? Feel free to comment your own TOS if you think there's anything missing!

I'm bored and sick, ask me questions! https://curiouscat.live/frankkiestein

Literally anything to alleviate the monotony that comes with a common virus...

Slowly getting round to making some new comm examples for my revamped website! I should just be able to draw my own OCs for most things, but one thing I really do need are some new reference sheet examples and this is where you guys come in.

Previously, I had been using this base to do ref sheet commissions for people, however, I want to move away from that and start drawing them from scratch for a couple of reasons:
1 ) This base is personal base, catered to my own OCs and how I like to format my refs. Not everyone has the same exact wants/needs in a reference sheet, and drawing them from scratch will allow me to customise them to each client’s OC.
2 ) Obviously, as time passes, I don’t want to be using an “old” base lol, I want my commissions to reflect the best of my abilities.
3 ) It feels unfair charging people for what is essentially a base edit (especially on a free base)

As I want to continue using this base for my own OC refs (I love a bit of consistency I do), I don’t exactly have any OCs to test this method out on.

So comment your OCs in need of a reference sheet and I might doodle up a little something for you! As these are free, I’ll be picking the characters I feel most inclined to draw, so I cannot guarantee that I will draw your character nor can I guarantee the “size/complexity” of your ref sheet.

The more information the better, as I want to have a range of both “simple” and “complex” examples. Here are some things you might want to consider adding to your comment:
- Basic bits of information about your character (just small bullet points like name, age, gender, nationality etc).
- Any outfits they have.
-Any alt. forms, palettes, designs they might have.
- Any accessories they have.
- Any hobbies/interests they have.
-Literally just comment anything and everything you might want your ref to have lol, I want a variety of examples.

Thank you! Looking forward to doodling these up 😎

Was pleasantly surprised to see that most people are actually super supportive of me potentially making the switch to exclusively flat coloured commissions - so thank you so much for the support!! I was super anxious even suggesting that I might take on only flat stuff from now on, so the support means a lot to me :"D

Of course, I'll still have to trial run this and see if it even works out - I'll probably spend the next few days working on some comm examples and revamping my website a bit, then I'll open the first round of commissions when I have the time!

In the mean time, people have suggested that I could take on limited occasional shaded comms when I feel like it, and yeah, I might do that. It's hard to tell exactly what will happen - but it's not like my rendered art will vanish completely, I'll still do it for myself and for trades etc. Just gotta figure out what the situation with comms it :"D

Thanks again for the support! Really looking forward to opening my next public round of commissions, it's been too long 👹

** COMMISSIONS ARE STILL CLOSED AS OF NOW, PLEASE DON’T MAKE ANY INQUIRIES **

Apologies for another long form post - I’ll try keep this one brief, but it’s pretty important (especially for future/regular clients), so please do give a read. (Just read the stuff in bold for the important stuff)

So essentially, I’m strongly considering offering flat colour commissions exclusively from now on (examples below) and want to get an idea of how people feel about this.

Fear not if you’re against this! You’ll have your chance to voice your opinion and vote on the matter but here’s my reasoning for wanting to make this change.

I’m still in the thick of uni, and currently don’t have the time to take on commissions. But when I graduate and enter full time employment, I would really like to take commissions on more regularly as a side hustle/weekend kind of thing.

I’m hoping that offering exclusively flat stuff will make my lil art business more sustainable and streamlined because:
- Truthfully, shading can be exhausting. It’s an incredibly time consuming process, and for me at least, it’s the stage that really makes or breaks a piece. I’ve increasingly noticed that I enjoy shading/rendering most when I’m actually doing it on my own terms and because I think it would add something to the piece, and not just because I was paid like £5 extra to do it.
- I’ve noticed with shaded stuff, I tend the overthink the shading stage and as a result, everything else (the anatomy, lineart, composition/pose, etc) tends to suffer.
- As a result, like a lot of artists, I’m constantly unhappy with my shading style and usually change it every year or so. This isn’t inherently problematic, experimentation is actually a pretty important part of growing as an artist. But when you have paying clients who are buying art from you based off examples they’ve seen on your social media/website, it’s really important that you can offer some kind of consistency. It’s all well and good for me to play around with new techniques in my personal pieces, but when I’m drawing for a paying client, I think its only fair that they know what to expect.
- In addition to this, changing shading styles means I need to constantly update my website with new examples, which is super draining!
- For me, it’s really important that I can feel happy and confident in myself when I finish a piece. It’s also really important that I enjoy working on the piece, otherwise I find myself procrastinating or not working to the best of my ability (admittedly, I’ve found myself finishing commissions so I can just have them finished, which I really don’t want to do anymore - it’s unfair on my clients and it’s emotionally exhausting for me). I think I would enjoy working on flat colour stuff a lot more, which as a result, means I can put my best work out there.
- Flat colour commissions take a lot less time, and as a result I can take on more in a shorter amount of time. Great for both you guys (I can offer more slots for ya’ll instead of only taking on like 3 at a time) and for myself (because I can really build my business and put more examples out there!). As I’ve said, I’d love to open commissions on a more regular basis soon and actually make some more significant earnings from my art, so taking on more comms more quickly (without sacrificing quality, of course) would benefit that goal greatly.

So yeah the TL;DR of it is: despite my years of experience, I have a lot of issues around shading, both in regard to my skill level and confidence, and I think this approach would mean I can focus on putting out flat colour stuff featuring the best of my abilities rather then just mediocre rendered pieces “but at least they’re shaded!!!1!!”. This approach would also remove a lot of stress from me - happy clients AND a happy artist are essential to any thriving art business, and I think this would make me most happy.

(If I were to do this, shaded stuff would still be available from me primarily in the form of trades/YCHs/ArtFight attacks - they wouldn’t be permanently gone, but you wouldn’t be able to get them through regular commissions. I may also still keep full scenes open as an exception and they’ll come with shading.)

With that being said, shaded stuff from me is highly popular, and I do worry that removing shaded commissions stuff will sink my business lol. So before I seriously consider anything, I want to get an idea of how this new approach might affect my clients’ opinions. If you can, please vote in the poll attached here:
( 1 ) I highly prefer shaded commissions. If you were to offer flat stuff only, I probably wouldn’t buy from you again.
( 2 ) I prefer shaded commissions. I’d be a little disappointed if you were to offer flat stuff only, but I would still buy from you.
( 3 ) I have no preference, I would buy art from you either way.
( 4 ) I actually prefer flat stuff, this is a win win for me.

Might seem like a pretty self explanatory “well of course people will buy shaded stuff over flat stuff duh” kind of question, but in my experience this isn’t always the case. Some people like myself are actually pretty indifferent for the most part, while others see flat stuff as the budget option and shaded stuff as the “deluxe” option, and some people might even prefer flat stuff if they don’t like a certain shading style! So yeah, just wanna ask to be sure.

I suppose the middle way of this is to just bump up my prices so that shaded stuff is still available in theory but just harder to get a hold of lol. However, this still doesn’t solve the problems of constantly having to update my website and my lack of confidence 💋

Anyway, please vote and comment your thoughts! I want this to be an open dialogue - just because this is how I feel now, doesn’t mean I’m completely closed off to any suggestions. If the reception to this is truly disastrous then I might just have to stick to doing shaded stuff lol

So I’m desperately trying to revive my other story, Hammerheart (for those unaware - it’s my Viking themed historical fiction/alternative history story, maybe with a few fantasy elements thrown in if I can do that seamlessly).

It’s still a long way from being a fully fledged, entirely thought-out story like Smooth Seas is, but I’m starting to get ideas for it again and really do wanna push myself to refine it some more. Obviously a big part of this is writing up the lore/worldbuilding.

Hammerheart has a lot more lore/worldbuilding to it than Smooth Seas does. Unlike the latter, which is a very lighthearted swashbuckler kind of thing and doesn’t really have any more additional lore to it than “anthro pirates”, Hammerheart has a lot more background info the “reader” might want to know.

Now, a big part of the lore (and certainly the most relevant to the actual plot) is the whole “tribe system” I’ve got going on. Essentially there are 6 different tribes with their own cultures and traditions, and I was going to put a little summary of each one in the description of the story folder.

However, I am unsure if I should also include the story’s greater lore/worldbuilding alongside these tribe summaries, or just have them separate as their own thing.

So I’m trying to figure out how to present that! Should I:

Have both the wider lore and tribe system lore together in the same Toyhouse folder

OR

Only include the tribe system lore in the Toyhouse folder, and then have the wider lore separate somewhere else if people decide they also want to read up on that?

I’m torn myself because I do just like having everything in one place. Makes it a lot easier for anyone trying to get into the story, and means they don’t have to read like a gazillion Google Docs just to understand what’s going on. But on the other hand, I’m already toying around with a folder code that includes both the tribe lore and main lore and…it looks very overwhelming, even in a scroll box. I don’t want people to feel bombarded by information when they first click the folder, cos I want this story to be accessible to people! So having separating the two pieces of lore might makes things less overwhelming for people.

Anyways, lemme know what you think. Huge thanks to anyone who takes an interest in this, my OCs and stories mean a lot to me, so I’m super grateful for those of you who take the time to read this stuff! Working on Hammerheart in particular has been hugely comforting for me (Viking stuff = my happy place), so I want to share that feeling with all of you too. Hopefully this becomes a fully fledged story soon…just waiting for more inspiration to strike as of now 👀

Here’s a little sneak peak of what I’ve been working on recently

When I originally started drawing this one I was planning to do another sort of black and white 17th century wood cut inspired piece like this, but now I’m thinking a full colour piece akin to this palette could also work nicely.

What do you guys think? I might just end up doing 2 versions, but that would take me a looonng time