Hi friends, I just wanted to pop in and get something off of my chest that’s been weighing me down this morning and to explain why I will not be taking commissions. First off, I’m extremely appreciative of all the support and encouragement that I have received from friends, family, and strangers that enjoy the art I create, and am truly grateful (and honestly surprised) that anyone would want to commission me as an artist. I started drawing as a hobby a little under two months ago, so my style is still evolving and I am still learning how to hone my craft. I share my art on social media in the hopes that it will bring a little bit of joy and color to peoples’ day with the full understanding that my art is not for everyone (and that’s 100% okay; it doesn’t bother me) and that I am still at the beginning of my art journey. In full transparency, my art is available for purchase via the links in my bio, but I have never treated anyone differently regardless of whether the support given to me was monetary or non-monetary. Again - I am happy if people simply enjoy the art I create and fully understand that there are people who do not/will not like it.
Someone recently reached out to ask if I would accept a commission for them as a gift to their family member, and being the newbie that I am to art, I was super excited and wanted to do this for them free of charge to express my gratitude. They said they didn’t want free work, so I humbly expressed my appreciation and waited for reference photos. I don’t want to get into the nitty gritty details of the DM or post receipts because I don’t feel that it’s necessary, but after sending them the completed drawing and resizing it to their liking, the conversation more or less ended up with them berating me about me not being responsive (not true), which then (for whatever reason) changed to me expecting them to respond faster (also not true; I have a full time job and respond to inquiries as soon as I am able and understand that people have lives), and they also went from (allegedly) loving my work to also pointing out that the drawing was not “done right”. They also decided to tell me they wanted two drawings after expressing they were “disappointed” with the one drawing that I had already sent. I ended up saying sorry that the drawing wasn’t to their liking, referencing my art style in my posts, as well as telling them they could keep the drawing anyway (or not), free of charge as I initially told them, and complimented the subject that I drew. I wrapped up the conversation reiterating my gratitude for their request in the first place and their response (among less pleasant things) was, “that why I don’t deal with free work.” I wasn’t expecting a ‘thank you’ but I definitely wasn’t expecting *that* either, considering they were still (to my understanding) planning to gift my drawing to their family member after writing the recipient’s name on my drawing.
Should I have provided a payment link to them before starting the piece instead of assuming they could locate it themselves via my links? Yes. I didn’t have a firm stance on whether I would take commissions at the time, but this experience has solidified that for me. I let my excitement, naivety, and desire to provide a pleasant experience for someone out of the goodness of my heart rose-tint the reality of what would technically be (I guess) a business transaction.
I started drawing as a creative outlet and as a hobby that helped me to alleviate the stresses of daily life, and wanted to share my art in case it could do the same for others. While I will not be accepting commissions in order to protect my well-being, I am open to receiving technical feedback and requests for what you’d like to see as a subject in my art (which I may or may not accommodate). If you’ve read this far, thank you for taking the time out of your day to hear me out. And if you’re just skipping to the end because you wanted more context than the tldr; - thank you so much for the support and if you aren’t a fan of my art, thank you for stopping by.
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