How customizable do you want commissions to be?

Posted 2 years, 9 months ago by Sairus-Art

I've dabbled in many different art styles. There are a few that I've stuck with for years, a few that seem to crop up every once in a while, and a few that are consistently inconsistent. I've come to the forum side of Toyhouse to ask if anyone else does this, and do you consider it a problem?

One of the pros is being able to adapt and draw characters similar to their reference regardless of what style the reference is in.

A con is that I may be using it as a crutch instead of perfecting the styles that I want to be the most proficient it.

I was thinking about this after being asked for a high-detail digital paint of a character that only had a flat color cartoon reference and I was struggling haha. So, fellow artists and toyhousers alike, does this apply to you as well?

And for those who have commissioned/requested art before, have you ever been disappointed with an artist's fluctuating style? (Note: I feel the need to point out that I've never been disappointed by another artist, only myself, so no hate on anyone out there who feels that this applies to them.)

And the meat and potatoes of this thread...

How much customization do you want available when commissioning or requesting art? I could make a reference sheet that includes all the different head shapes, eye shapes, brush types, stylizations, shading methods, body proportions, etc etc. But I don't know if this would be worth my time or if I need to kick myself into selecting a few styles to focus on. For reference, right now I've got 8 different drawing styles and a few of them are somewhat similar but different enough that I don't want to merge them.

I like that I have the ability to let people be super specific with what exactly they want, but it's also a lot of information that I need to collect.

Would you rather have a longer discussion with an artist and really customize your commission/request style, or would you rather see set examples that the artist offers and choose from those? How many examples are a good number?

Lemonylulu

Although the validity of it comes into some question at times, you might want to research overchoice/choice overload. In sales settings, it's commonly believed that too many choices is actually a hindrance, not a positive, and clients are more likely to freeze or stall when having to make a selection between a large number of items.

Personally, when commissioning artists, it's because I like their art style as a whole and think my characters would look good in said style, not because of some super specic details. I'd really rather talk it out with the artist if I wanted specific bits, but I wouldn't commission someone who couldn't provide a solid level of consistency among pieces in the first place. While being able to do a lot of styles is impressive, it can also appear like there's a lack of focus on any particular one to a random person perusing... if that makes sense?

In a way, having things listed on a chart almost feels more limiting. I'd rather just see examples of diversity, that are still consistent in style, across a portfolio.

I have 100% been disappointed in other artists during commissions, but only when it's... clearly obvious that not every piece gets the same level of attention, or their commission pieces are significantly less impressive than their personal art.

In the end, limiting what you provide commission wise would also be easier on yourself, as well. Less overload, aha.

AtomicAdopts

I'd say that on a commission sheet, you should have one example for each style since you have so many, so you could have something cool like a fullbody of one character in each style, forming a scale of most realistic to most cartoonish! Having the examples all be the same character would help show the differences between each style. For smaller details, I think a form to fill out would help? The discussion is important, but letting them pick from a list of shading styles, eye shapes, pupil shapes, proportions, specific brushes, etc will help them pinpoint exactly what they want and avoid 'I don't know, do what you think is best' conversations.

I don't think the form would need examples, but if the commissioner asked 'hey, what does 'exaggerated proportions' look like in Style B?', it'd be easy to provide a rough sketch to give them an idea. Personally, I'd really like to see a number of set examples alongside a discussion if more information is needed, but that's just because I can be overwhelmed by lots of information @u@

Nifffi

I think the it's the job of the artist to figure out stylistic choices and make the image come together.

> I could make a reference sheet that includes all the different head shapes, eye shapes, brush types, stylizations, shading methods, body proportions, etc etc.

This is honestly complete overkill, and you're kinda asking the customer to do part of your job by making all of the style choices for you. It's also confusing for the customer cause they have to imagine how all their choices would come together and that's kinda hard to do.

I think it's best if you sell "prepackaged" styles, ie style A uses shading method 1, body proportions 2, line texture 3, and so on; rather than make the customer chose each of those things individually. Obviously you don't need to follow the style 100% for every commission, in fact it's better to have some room for variation for different characters and scenes/moods. I think as long as you put a good effort and do what you think is best the customer won't mind if there's a little variation (or they might not even notice).