Guide for first-time commissioners

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Hey folks! I’ve been on Wolfery a while and while I understand the flexibility that AIGen images provide, I’m also wondering if any of y’all would be interested in me putting together a general guide for those who might want to commission artists, but maybe:

  • are intimidated by the process
  • are worried about judgement
  • are unfamiliar where to find open artists
  • don’t know what they should provide when commissioning folks
  • or are concerned about privacy
    among other things. I’ve been commissioning art over the past… 10 years or so and have a good amount of experience under my belt that I’d be happy to share!

So too I could include things about ref sheets versus single custom characters, which artists like to do character design, how to make your character yours, and more.

I want it to be approachable and not daunting, but it’d be nice to see more folks with art that’s theirs, and that they feel comfortable in their virtual skins.

I know for some folks that this is more a play space than a social space, but anyone and everyone can get art, or even make it themselves. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll start drafting out an outline and a few places to get started.

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I’ll chime in… as a new player I have wondered about this… first on my mind is that I have no idea what the average cost would be, or what is a fair price, and no idea where to find such an artist. Also have wondered if giving an artist an AI rendering as an example is faux pas or not.

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For a character/ref sheet the cost varies but I think most will charge around $100 for it. I know some artists will refuse to accept AI at all for refs and such but I recently found a base for the species I wanted a ref for online and just colored it as I wanted my character while adding other accessories and such. To find artists I’ve been using vgen recently which has been nice but before that I just followed artists on twitter and bluesky and followed their links to their pages for comms. I am curious what other people’s experiences, faux pas and other things are tho since I’m sure I’ve done some things wrong in commissioning artists.

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I’ll just chime in that owning your art feels great, because it’s ~yours~ and no one can take it away!

Also, commissioning can be very different depending on who you’re working with and where. From price to process to expectations of etiquette. But being polite, clear, and understanding never fail.

You can also ask permission to use someone’s art for your character, or other things. I’ve done this a few times for projects like characters, websites, and even D&D! Just be clear about what you want to use it for and why, and that it’s completely okay if they don’t want you to. Maybe also avoid asking to use their established characters, or to play AS that character. But it can be serendipity and remove any anxiety surrounding using an image you really love!

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definitely sounding like there’s at least cursory interest for a like… not a comprehensive guide, but a ‘tips and tricks’ thing, for sure. happy to start putting that together. won’t have anything super concrete or polished for a bit, but will share that out when i get it done!

no one just teaches you how to commission art, so why not share out what I can?

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I would certainly love to chime in on this.

The experience

My guide is going to be a very long one, and it’s all based on my experience, so sit tight…

I mainly stick to bidding for YCH, as they are cheaper and fit within my budget. If I have enough money, I can commission custom artworks depicting one of my characters wearing a certain outfit, or if I want an NSFW artwork of my characters, I can commission that. Now while most of my commissions went as smoothly, there are some types of commissions I do.

The type of arts I commission

YCH

The cheapest one I tend to commission is YCH. As mentioned before, they are cheap and fit within my budget. It has always been my primary way of getting artworks done for one of my characters.

While it’s the cheapest way to get artworks (IMO), if the artist offers unlimited slots, then it could lose its uniqueness if too many got the same YCH. You may also be restricted in terms of pose and sometimes the lines.

Group YCH

Besides a single YCH, there’s group YCH that I always had a lot of fun commissioning. It helps bring one of my characters in with other users’ characters, and it’s fun to see them interacting with another.

It depends on the group YCH itself. If a slot shows that a character isn’t interacting with another character (example: backgrounds), then I can simply accept it without any issues. If character A is shown interacting with character B, and if the user has already brought either one of them, I always contact the user, ask what character they like to have interacting with, and then buy/bid for that slot.

As for one where I won a YCH with 2+ slots, I can either pick one of my characters (within reasons) or reach out to a friend of mine to see if they want to appear, then forward it to the artist. I want to make sure the other user is A-OK with it before doing anything else, and to always get permission.

Commissions

In my entire life so far, I have only commissioned two pieces of custom artwork from one particular artist. One is Himari; the other is an animation (something that I very rarely do for this type of commission).

Raffle

Although not a commission, you can shoot your shot at winning a raffle. The last time I had one was a few months ago, but I stopped caring long ago, so I wouldn’t go spamming my watch lists with walls full of links into artist pages.

Just an FYI, some artists may not accept new, inactive, or accounts whose only purpose is participating in raffles.

Where and how do I commission

There are multiple ways to reach out to an artist. In all artworks I have commissioned, I always commission via YCH Commishes or FurAffinity since these two are where I can easily find them. There are X and BlueSky, where you can find a lot more.

There are 3 ways to get a commission:

  • Raffle | Participate in a raffle. Usually you have to follow them and like the post, with journals being the extra points if they have one stated. If you win, you will be contacted.
  • Commission | Before you send the artist a commission, check to see if they’re accepting. Be sure to check their commission sheet that outlines the tiers and costs. For YCH, if I recall correctly, you have to claim a slot and wait for the artist to reach out to you.
  • Win an auction | In YCH Commishes, if you win an auction, the site automatically creates a PM for both you (client) and the artist. If you’re participating in an auction, check back from time to time to see if another user outbid you.

Once you make contact (or they contact you) with the artist, tell them what you want on the commission. You’ll have to send in a reference sheet and likely your email so the artist can send you an invoice (sometimes, they’ll send you their email so you can pay them). If the payment is sent, it usually goes in a queue list, and you’ll be contacted by the artist from time to time to see the progress before the completed artwork gets posted online.

Payment method

I mainly use PayPal to transfer money over to artists, and I always tap into my primary debit card. In cases where a transaction directly from primary couldn’t be completed due to the merchant being located outside of the accepted countries, I can always transfer the money from there to PayPal and then pay it from there, which is a bit inconvenient, but there’s nothing I can do.

I tend to avoid using Hipolink or Boosty unless I really like their art style, high tier for low prices, or a character I really like, due to PayPal not supporting Hipolink and Boosty. In the event that I decide to do it anyways, I always tap into my secondary debit card since that works, though it has been a while, and I’m not sure if it still works as of this post.

Recommendations and random thoughts

To ensure you get the best experience if you’re strapped for cash, I would check out YCH Commishes to get YCH artworks for your character and pick the lowest tier possible if listed. If you’re outbidded and it escalates to a point where it’s outside of your budget, try to look for another YCH. If you still want to own a character that isn’t generated by AI, they have an adopt section that allows you to bid for a character.

Before all of this, I would consider doing research on that artist before you commission or place a bid, specifically…

  • If they have any presence on other platforms
  • How many artworks have they done
  • Turnaround time
  • Reputation - I would also check out artistbeware just to be sure, though it’s not a guarantee. Please avoid artists that use AI.

Additionally, if you can’t afford it, you can reach out to me and rent out my characters for use in Wolfery. I have over 100+ characters, and some didn’t have their backstories fleshed out yet.

Hope my guide helps :slight_smile:

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-Be ready to pay.

Most artists require payment within a set frame, usually 48-72 hours. Trust me, even if you would have a fat stack just a few hours afterwards, don’t order or bid or take a slot if you can’t pay when the artist requires it.

-Stream Time.

While all sorts of artists offer slave stream time where they draw for you, these can get very costly fast, as you are paying -per hour-. Expect the more complex the pieces to take up more time, even if the artist is extremely talented and has a high rate of speed. It’s up to you, but these streams are good for developing a character concept but come with a short list, or be prepared to spend a lot quick.

Avoid being a backseat artist at all costs. -While some artists might not mind someone who wants to direct every detail of the character, a lot of artists do need room to breath. This can matter greatly because artists talk to other artists and difficult customers can find themselves frozen out by creatives at large. Find out ahead of time what the artist likes/will put up with and err on the side of caution.

Avoid sparkledogs-It can be easy to want to create unique markings for your fox OC. Thing is, this can get very out of hand, yes even if your creation is composed of the fabric of time and space. Having been around for a while, I promise you, the artists who have been around a while, the ones who can help you get the art you want, the ones with work ethic, the ones who rarely open? They do -not- like sparkledogs. And their mutuals like them less. Don’t mistake ‘Yes that’s fine’ for ‘I love it’.

-You aren’t friends with your butcher ..usually. Or your cashier when you buy stuff. You can spend hundreds, thousands or more. That doesn’t mean you should think you are their friend. Yes, you can develop friends with artists. 98% of the time that doesn’t come because you paid a bill. Being a good customer who knows what they want, follows their rules and respect them is not the key into friendship. It is the ground floor of basic customer behavior. Please don’t forget that.

-Private Commissions almost always will cost more. That means if the artist you want is not one you want to be posting your commission? Expect to pay more and some artists will -not- take ‘no post’ commissions period.

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Lil bit added onto this-
If you aren’t sure you’ll be ready to pay in time, don’t be afraid to ask if they can hold the slot for just a bit longer (totally didn’t do this recently).

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delighted that everyone is already responding and engaging with this. Hoping to get my guide finished (which is half on commissioning/finding artists and half on communicating ideas to artists/ideating characters without AI)

I really hope it ends up being useful! will probably make a new post in here, and will mirror the guide on my personal website.

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good points made but I’d like to try avoiding blanket statements about artists. this day and age, complex/“sparkledog” character designs are really on an artist by artist basis.

some folk love to go wild, while others are more reserved. my advice is folks see what the artist is already drawing, or if they mention the kinds of OCs they like to draw. ideally, you make any designs on your character either variable (in the case of my dragon, i very specifically say 'tattoos optional/vibe based, not specific designs) or manageable (zebra stripes, cow patterns, big things that aren’t super intricate.)

the other advice i can give folks with this is once they have a character, enjoy the stylistic variation they can have between artists! feel free to point out the things that are important to get ‘right’ , but every artist will show up in their artwork, and that’s awesome

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The only addition I can think to suggest, and one that is often overlooked by such guides, is how to protect yourself as a commissioner as well.

  • Making use of a service from which you can cancel a payment, and using that feature should the artist take long enough for any such window to near its expiration date.
  • Checking an artist’s past works, making sure it’s not A.I., a scam, impersonation, etc…
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