#commission advice

[art-tnt]

[maikaartwork]

Artists, let’s talk about Instagram commission scammers

There’s been a huge rise in commission scammers recently, mostly on Instagram. A lot of new artists don’t know what to look out for, so I figured this might help people.

How they begin

Usually the scammer will write to you asking about a commission. Something deceptively cute - mostly I encounter asks about pet portraits, with one or two photos sent. They’ll probably try to sell you a sweet little story, like “It’s for my son’s birthday”. They will insist that they love your artwork and style, even though they don’t follow you or never liked a single piece of your art.

What to look out for:

Their profiles will either be private, empty, or filled with very generic stuff, dating at most a few years back.

Their language will be very simple, rushed or downright bad. They might use weird emojis that nobody ever uses. They will probably send impatient “??” when you don’t answer immediately. They’re in a crunch - lots of people to scam, you know. 

They’ll give you absolutely no guidelines. No hints on style, contents aside from (usually) the pet and often a name written on the artwork, no theme. Anything you draw will be perfect. Full artistic freedom. In reality they don’t really care for this part.

They’ll offer you a ridiculous amount of money. Usually 100 or 300 USD (EDIT: I know it might not be a lot for some work. What I mean here - way higher than your asking price, 100 and 300 are standard rates they give). They’ll often put in a phrase like “I am willing to compensate you financially” and “I want the best you can draw”, peppered with vague praise. It will most likely sound way too good to be true. That’s because it is.

Where the scam actually happens

If you agree, they will ask you for a payment method. They’ll try to get to this part as soon as possible. 

Usually, they’ll insist on PayPal. And not just any PayPal. They’ll always insist on sending you a transfer immediately. None of that PayPal Invoice stuff (although some do have methods for that, too). They’ll really, REALLY want to get your PayPal email address and name for the transfer - that’s what they’re after. If you insist on any other method, they’ll just circle back to the transfer “for easiest method”. If you do provide them with the info, most likely you’ll soon get a scam email. It most likely be a message with a link that will ultimately lead to bleeding you dry. Never, and I mean NEVER click on any emails or links you get from them. It’s like with any other scam emails you can ever get.

A few things can happen here:

They overpay you and ask for the difference to be wired back. Usually it will go to a different account and you’ll never see that money again. 

They’ll overpay you “for shipping costs” and ask you to forward the difference to their shipping company. Just like before, you’ll never see that money again.

The actual owner of the account (yes, they most likely use stolen accounts to wire from) will realize there’s been something sketchy going on and request a refund via official channels. Your account will be charged with fees and/or you get in trouble for fraudulent transactions. 

You will transfer the money from your PayPal credit to your bank account and they will make a shitstorm when they want their money back, making your life a living hell. They will call you a scammer, a thief, make wild claims, wearing you down and forcing you into wiring money “back” - aka to their final destination account. 

Never, EVER wire money to anyone. This is not how it’s supposed to go. Use PayPal Invoice for secure exchanges where the client needs to provide you with their email, not the other way around.

You can find more info on that method HERE.

What to do when you encounter a scammer:

Ask the right questions: inquire about the style, which artwork of yours they like, as much details as you can. They won’t supply you with any good answers.

Don’t let the rush of the exchange, their praise and the promise of insanely good money to get to you. That’s how they operate, that’s how they make you lose vigilance. 

Don’t engage them. As soon as you realize it might be a scam, block them. The sense of urgency they create with their rushed exchange, and pressure they put on you will sooner or later get to you and you might do something that you’ll regret later.

Never wire money to anyone. Never give out your personal data. Never provide your email, name, address or credit card info. 

Don’t be deceived by receiving a payment, if you somehow agree to go along with it. Just because it’s there now doesn’t mean it can’t be withdrawn. 

Here is a very standard example of such an exchange. I realized it’s a scam pretty fast and went along with it, because I wanted good screenshots for you guys, so I tried going very “by the book” with it. 

Please share this post, make it reach as many artists as possible. Let young or inexperienced artists know that this is going on. So many people have no idea that this is a thing. Let’s help each other out. If you think I missed any relevant info, do add it as an rb!

Also, if you know other scam methods that you think should be shared, consider rb-ing this post with them below. Having a master post of scam protection would AWESOME to have in the art community.

[earthnashes]

Hi! I've been thinking about opening commissions for a while now, but I have no idea where to start, so im asking artists I follow for tips. Feel free to not answer of course but if you have any recommendations on how to get my name out there, what payment methods are best, anything you wish you did when you started doing coms, etc.

Any advice would be highly appreciated :]

HEYOOOOOOOOOO I apologize for the late reply on this! I'm not sure if you still would like the tips for opening commissions but if so, this is what I got! Before I delve into any of the immediate questions I do wanna take the leap and add a personal note onto taking commissions real fast: if you haven't already, ask yourself the reason behind taking commissions. Is this a side hustle you'll do on occasion? Or is this something you wish to turn into a career/full time job? If the latter, I would like to ask you take caution with it.

No one really ever tells you what happens to your passion/favorite hobby when you turn it into a job. It alters your relationship with it and can potentially be impactful in ways one may not foresee if you don't take steps in protecting that passion. I can't say for sure if it will, your experience will be different. But as someone who's done this for years as a side hustle, then years more as a fulltime career; it absolutely did for me and I had to relearn how to love creating again in the aftermath.

BUT that's a story for another time. ONWARDS TO YOUR QUESTIONS!

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-Getting your name out there is gonna probably be the trickiest part. TLDR: you'll have to find your audience. How you do so largely boils down to a few things:

Posting consistently. I DO NOT MEAN EVERY DAY. Unless you want to post daily, what I mean is simply finding the schedule that works for you on a weekly basis, pick a time you want to post, and stick to it. Stick to it for a long time. Largely, consistency is what will play a roll in getting eyes on you and keep them on you if you're predictable with your posting.

Participate in events, fandoms, challenges, contests, and collabs/art trades. Art is a community, and to be known in it is to participate in it. Find the things that interests you in each category and make the point to participate in them. Talk to other artists, don't be afraid to ask for collabs, and reciprocate the energy. Participating in the things you like while simultaneously engaging with the community is what will help you build your audience, and remember. There is an audience for anything. I'll list a few events and challenges as a starter pack below.

Be good at art. Honestly this point isn't all that important if you're simply taking art as a hobby, but if you plan on having people pay for your work? You gotta have at least some level of skill for potential clients to justify paying for your work. This is largely because you need to consistently be able to create predictable results with your work. What I mean by that is basically recreating a level of quality in a consistent manner that can be relied on.

Social medias and conventions/markets. This is where you will be casting your net and hoping eyes land upon you. Whichever avenue you choose will largely do the same thing (which is put you and your artwork into the public's eye) but for obvious reasons, Social Media is gonna be your go-to as the most accessible. I would personally recommend maybe 3 maximum to manage and going ham on those. However, if you're able to swing it, I also highly recommend attending conventions because of how hugely integrated the art community is to them. Even vending at them if you can! Vending in particular because it gives you a space that is specifically for what you're trying to do: sell your work. I can go into detail on my thoughts here if you'd like but I'll leave it at this: social media and in-person events both play a very important aspect in building an audience. I dare say the largest artists you know in the community does exactly this: they build a community online and offline, and both serve each other as being two sides of the same coin.

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SO. That's what I got for building and audience. If you would like to see others talking about it, I know Kiana Mai has made a post a few years ago I still think remains relevant and on occasion, she answers questions regarding it from the standpoint of being in the industry that is invaluable to know. Here's a link to that post specifically, but I do encourage reading her asks and just following her in general if you don't!

Moving on to Payment methods, this section will be small: -I'll be honest, I'm a little outta the loop for this one. This is largely because I am strictly Paypal as my means of payment method, though over the years there's been similar companies that might honestly be more freelancer-friendly with their site fees. So you may wanna do some extra research on this one and find something that'll work for you. As it is, I'm still with Paypal because they simply work. They're built for professional and personal use and as a professional, it gives me access to resources that I find valuable enough to stay for despite my gripes. Invoice system, the ability to track my earnings and where my money goes, tax documents for when I gotta suffer through tax month. It's all there and easy for me to see.

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Anything I wish I did/wish I knew when I started doing commissions, lightning round:

You will become a one-man army. You will have to do it all, and do it well enough to be credible. Communication, money management, time management, schedule discipline, accountability. By becoming a commissionable artist, you'll need to be both the employee and the manager. It's more lax if it's more side hustle, but it still applies.

Start small. I personally recommend 3 simple commissions (1 character, no BGs, no shading.) as a good starting point to really get the feel of working AND test your visibility in the market before you take on more than that.

Have a sit-down with yourself and consider a Terms of Service. I'll die on this hill: hobby or career, if you're gonna accept commissions you need a ToS as a guide for yourself AND for any potential clients. It tells them what you can and cannot do, what they can and cannot do, and what your process looks like. Basically? It's a brief summary to tell clients how you work as a commissionable artist and what they can expect by commissioning you.

Do not charge pennies. Contrary to popularly opinion, I'm of the thought that low pricing = low confidence, and an artist who doesn't have confidence in their work reads as someone to stay away from when buying art. That doesn't mean shoot your prices sky high though. What it DOES mean is really consider the time you take on your work, how long you've been drawing, and apply at least minimum wage + your level of experience to your price appropriately. This will take some learning, but here's a very concise and detailed guide from the late Dina Norlund that'll get you started.

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aaaaand that's all I can think of as of right now? Please feel free to ask any other questions if ya have any and I hope this was helpful to some degree! :>

[kurouppy]

Commission scam alert!

A scam is going around currently where someone will dm artists offering $200 via paypal to draw "their sons dog", regardless of the artists actual commission price which is typically much lower, so far I've seen the dogs name is often bailey but it can be other names too

The account will most likely be blank with no pfp, bio or posts and a small amount of likes and follows that all seem to be found on one or two tags. The usernames will be a combo of around 3 words that seem randomly generated. Typically they will insist on it being a specific payment method (currently it's paypal) and refuse to send money any other way

Here are the exchanges I had with them and their blank account, typically the scammer will follow this general script. Do not accept comms from a user coolcowboywitch

Here are the pictures of the dog they sent me, reverse image searching didn't come up with anything so I'm not sure where they're from (potentially AI generated), if you get sent these exact pictures it's most likely a scam

There are two main ways this scam can work:

1. They are attempting to steal your paypal login information or to trick you into sending them money. There are many ways they can do this, including sending phishing emails or claiming they can't pay you unless you send them money first

2. They will either send you money and then file a charge back or send you money that never processes in the first place, meaning you do the labor and never get paid. This can even lead to your account being overdrafted

A similar scam was going around on instagram a bit ago that instead offered $300

Posts with recent examples of this scam:

X, X, X

Deeper explanation of how the scam works:

X

[cobezzramblezz]

does anyone have any advice on starting art commissions? more specifically about how to grow an audience so that people will actually see my stuff.

context: therapy is pricey. i need to pay it off because things are getting bad, but i only really have like my 6 tumblr moots

(edit: guys please reblog this so that it reaches more people!! /nf)

[calibrationneeded]

Some actual helpful commission tips for young/newer artists

1. Don’t accept people sending you messages asking for free art. I know it’s tempting because you don’t feel like your art is “worth actual money” because maybe you’re not that practiced yet but there are other ways to put yourself out there other than just taking free commissions, because the thing is people who send you messages like that do not respect you and will not respect you no matter what.

2. A way to exchange art without receiving money with people, but still gaining some notoriety and experience are art trades and requests. Request and people asking for free art sound very similar, but there is one big distinction. It’s that with requests people don’t expect you to make something for them. They are just giving you ideas. People who ask for free art expect it to be up to their standards as if they paid for it and they will treat you as subhuman. Requesters don’t usually do that and if they do, you can turn them down because it’s a request.

3. Some more advice for taking commissions because I certainly needed this advice is if someone contacts you asking for commissions and they start the conversation with a price, especially if that price is very generous; It is more likely than not a scam. If you have on your page that you have commissions opened or you have a pinned post about commissions being open, but they still message you asking if your commissions are opening, they’re also probably scamming you because they didn’t actually go to your page. One thing I fell for is someone telling me that they accidentally sent too much money through and asked me to reimburse them only to have the check bounce and me to have lost a significant amount of money. Never ever ever send money back to someone commissioning you, especially if they’re already kind of shady. (if the sum actually does appear in your bank account fully confirmed and you get verification that it is actually there you could potentially send money back, but it would be better to talk to someone at the bank first to be safe.) 

4. Especially on Instagram beware of accounts that will have a profile picture that is usually just some man, and the account only has three pictures on it. Typically you’ll get messages from these types of accounts saying something along the lines of that they love your art style and they’re wanting a piece drawn of their grandchild or son or something along those lines and then once again they will also open with telling you how much they will pay you out of the gate, ($400 is an amount I see used often) which will be an absurd amount of money. 

5. Never ever ever give anyone your bank information over the Internet. If they’re not willing to pay via PayPal, Venmo, Cash app or any of those other money trading apps, that’s sketchy Af. I’ve had people use the excuse that they’re using their business account and therefore can’t use those apps. This is a lie, same with telling you that they can’t send the payment because the money won’t transfer because it’s too large an amount this is also a common lie, most money transferring apps have a relatively generous cap off so unless you’re selling commissions for thousands and thousands of dollars they shouldn’t be having an issue. Same thing also goes for mail delivery checks.

6. Don’t undersell yourself, but if you don’t feel comfortable selling your art for a steeper price because of your experience level, then at the very least set a reasonable price and have a limit to how many slots do you have available for commissions because otherwise people are gonna take advantage of the low price and you’re gonna be swamped with like 10 commissions at the same time where you making not even two dollars an hour.

7. Lastly, just trust your instincts if something seems fishy just play it safe because from my own personal experience, usually your gut instinct is correct. If something seems too good to be true, it is. All of this information comes from my own experiences with scammers and being taken advantage of as a young artist so if you do end up falling for a scam like that, don’t be embarrassed because you’re not the only one. If something goes wrong, you can always go to your bank and discuss it with the people there and they should help you, and I’m sure there are a bunch of other older artists in the community who would be willing to help you if you were having some doubts about a situation.

[godbirdart]

Hey there. Ive been admiring your work a long time and I was hoping I could get some advice from a more experienced artist.

How do you go about deciding which commission submissions will proceed forward? If you decide to decline a request how do you go about it? I recently started accepting commissions and get nervous when certain requests are too vague, too difficult or the requester isn't fully answering my questions and I dont know how to go about justifying a decline. Is it okay to decline a commission submission?

aAA thank you for enjoying my work!!

i could talk for Days about commissions and how I handle my own work, but I'm going to try to keep this short and simple for ease of reading:

i use a Google Form in combination with a number generator for my commission openings

reasons why i use a Google Form and number generator: - to avoid favoritism / client bias - to push my comfort zone with a variety of projects - to ensure i'm not taking on more work that i can handle

The Google form will automatically assign a number to each form, making it easy for me to pull up a website and ask it to generate a number between [insert number] and [insert number]. That said, I will still manually go through each form. Occasionally I'll pick up a project if I notice someone's reapplied a couple times who wasn't selected during previous openings, or if a project especially appeals to me, or isn't something i'd usually draw!

declining a commission / project:

yes, it is always okay to decline a project! you are not obligated to accept every submission that comes into your inbox / form / etc. there are many valid reasons to decline a project, from a conflict with your Terms of Service, to making sure you don't take on more work than you can reasonably handle.

if the project doesn't inspire you or spark that creative passion, it may result in frustration, exhaustion, and you might wind up handing the client a subpar art piece that you're not at all proud of. it's much more honorable to be upfront about it than to subject yourself to such grief as you waste your time and energy and your client's time and money.

ways to decline: it's always important to be polite. depending on your reasoning, you could say "Thank you for considering me for this project, but, ...." - "... This is not a project I'd be comfortable taking on." "... This project conflicts with my Terms of Service and I cannot accept it." "... I cannot accept it at this time." "... but I would not be able to fulfill your request to the detail / complexity you are expecting for this piece."

there's no shame in saying "i would not be a good fit for this project". i've had clients ask me for hyper-realistic work, which is quite far from my art style. while i could do it, i'd rather not put both myself and the client through months of frustration and waiting for a project i am not completely confident in executing.

if a client is being too vague, not answering questions:

it happens! not every client will communicate thoroughly. some clients will over-communicate, and for others there may be a language barrier so their difficultness may be entirely unintended.

you can't do the job if you don't know what you're supposed to be doing. never be afraid to ask your client for clarification on their request. phases you can use would be: - "I do not have enough information to begin work on this, could you clarify these details: [insert questions about details you need elaboration about]" - "I cannot proceed without knowing more about [insert thing], can you tell me more about [thing you need clarification on]". if your client being deliberately obtuse and refusing to supply the necessary information, you can be more firm with them such as: - "I will not proceed any further with this project if I do not receive [insert details]."

on clients being too difficult:

"difficult" is a bit subjective here. what may be considered difficult for one artist may be a walk in the park for another. this said, i'm going to use some very generic common examples here.

too many irrelevant notes, or randomly forwarding details / requests instead of condensing their ideas into one message:

"Thank you for these additional notes, however: ..." - "... please only supply notes that are directly related to the project at hand." [such as notes on the expression, environment, pose, etc - things that you need to know for the artwork you are working on] - "... please condense them into one message instead of sending multiple messages. I want to stay organized / do not want to lose track of your notes."

frequent requests for updates, or changes to the WIP / final art:

note: you should always be communicative and receptive to a client's request for updates, but here i am referring specifically to excessive requests such as numerous requests sent multiple times a day. additionally, what is considered "excessive" will vary depending on an artist's average turnaround time. "Thank you for reaching out, ..." - "... but I do not yet have an update for you at this time. I will reach out when I have an update ready for you, thank you for your patience." - "... but these requests are too frequent. Please allow more time to pass between requests for updates." You could also ask your client if they have concerns about the turnaround time, if they need the work by a specific date for a birthday / event, etc. It is important to consider that some clients may have been scammed by an artist in the past and their insistence on updates could be a result from that. if a client keeps requesting edits on the concept / sketch or final piece, you're within your right to say enough is enough. this will also vary depending on the artist's individual work process. if the changes are getting excessive, you could say: - "As we've undergone numerous edits to this, I will permit one final request for editing after which I will -" [move on to the next stage, cease work on this project, issue a partial refund, start asking fees for edits, etc; insert next step of your preference]

ignoring work hours / terms of service / communication channels

as an artist, you should set a firm boundary of what is a working day and what is not. you are not in a profession that is "on-call" 24/7. you can save some headache by having your schedule posted on your website / social media or wherever your queue is publicly posted. anywhere that is readily accessible for a client to easy find. - something you could say is: "My work days are [insert days], I answer work-related messages, work on art, and send out updates [if applicable] on those days. Thank you for your patience." if you prefer to have your work messages confined to one social media account or email, it's okay to enforce that! but be sure to have it posted in easily noticeable spots like pinned posts. - something to say here would be: "If you need to reach me, please do so via [insert platform / email etc]. I will not respond to [comments / DMs on other social media, etc]." terms of service, same as above, should be in an easy-to-find location and should be easy to read. if a client's prompt or action conflicts with your ToS, you could address it with: "As mentioned in my Terms of Service, [address thing that conflicts with your T&C."

language barriers

sometimes you may have a client with a language barrier. we live in a vast world, after all! be patient with them, and depending on their fluency, do your best to simplify your questions for them. if you know your client is using an online translator, try and avoid using jargon. we've come a long way with online translators, but they're not going to spit out the right translation if you ask "are they supposed to be super shredded and beefy" and the translator tells your client "should they be shredded meat".

dropping a client

this is an absolute most extreme last resort, but i bring this up since we're on the topic of difficult clients and this particular stage isn't spoken about often. no artist wants to up and drop a client, but sometimes it's better for all parties involved instead of dragging out a bad experience. dropping a client could result from a variety of factors, including: the artist is retiring from art, something has come up in the artist's life and they are unable to continue, a client has become abusive, or an agreement cannot be made on a project or the project has caused a conflict of interest between the artist and the client. if you must drop a client, you could say: - "I apologize, but for [insert reason] I cannot continue with this project. I will be [refunding / partially refunding] this project." If it's for medical reasons, you can say "due to a medical complication, I am unable to continue" - and leave it at that. Your client does not need elaboration on your private medical information. The same goes for private family matter or other personal issue. artists shouldn't let guilt eat at them if they are physically incapable of completing a project due to personal reasons. things happen, life happens. the vast majority of your clients will be understanding and appreciate that you reached out to them to address the situation instead of leaving them in limbo. If you have to drop a client because they're being genuinely abusive and hostile and not respecting you, your time, or your work, you can say the same thing as above. There's zero need to retaliate or be hostile back. The situation will likely make you feel awful, sure, but firmly staying professional is the best thing you can do. When issuing a refund, always specify when the client should expect their refund to arrive. "A refund has been issued and will be processed through [insert payment method] shortly." or "A refund will be issued on [insert date]."

This wound up long anyway despite my effort to shorten it, but ah well.

If you'd like more elaboration on something, don't hesitate to ask! Some sections did get pruned down in my futile effort to keep it short, so things might've ended up a bit vague or convoluted [my apologies].

[swollenbabyfat]

As someone who’s primarily been a commission artist for the past few years, I don’t think it’s sustainable for everyone- I’d say even most people really. However, a way I’ve learned to cut through burn out of sorts is to challenge myself in my commission work and find things enjoyable about it even if the character isn’t in my normal aesthetic wheelhouse.

I can incorporate things like fashion, shape language, focus on one aspect of my technique to improve in with a set of comms. These master study commissions are kicking my ass in a lot of ways but it’s also helping me improve my painting skills immensely, for instance. Find ways that the commissions are pushing you, creatively or in skill - it’s important to give the commissioners what they want but they also came to you for your eye for a reason, use it.

When I was first starting to focus on doing more background work I took a lot of comms that fell under that but specified I was new to it and that the perspective would be limited, offered it at a discounted rate until I felt more confident, people were glad to cheer on my progress with their works.

I think changing up offerings often rather than having one commission sheet has helped me more over time, less overwhelming options for commissioners to choose from and I get to do what I want to do specifically in that time period more.