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For those of you who do Commissions

Home Forums Windstone Editions Paint-Your-Own Windstone For those of you who do Commissions

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  • #590679

    I was wondering if any of you who do commissions struggle with some of the same things I do- I just did a commission- and I hated the way it turned out. Not only that but it took me twice as long as a regular piece would and there was less detail on it.
    I always enjoy painting- I can’t really explain it but I just love doing it- but this commission felt like WORK.

    I am actually thinking about not doing any more commissions. I have painted things for people with great results- but they were always as gifts– so I didn’t feel pressure because the person wasn’t paying for the piece. With ebay I can just create as I go with no pressure- I list it for a really low price and only people who really like it bid- it is completely different. On my canvas paintings I almost never do commissions except for pet memorials- but for some reason I usually can get those pretty close- but I still feel a great deal of pressure to get it perfect. But even the few commissions I do on canvas- I only let the person give me a very vague idea of what they want- and they give me free reign to do what I please.

    I don’t know- I am just so frustrated because now I have to show this dragon to the buyer and I don’t even like it. If it were something I was working on for ebay- I would have put it in my closet and walked away from it until some later time when I was less frustrated- and I probably would have repainted the entire thing. At this point I just want to cry- I have already emailed the buyer with pics etc and explained everything- I even lowered the price because I didn’t think it was worth what we originally agreed on.

    I know many of you do primarily commissions- and I don’t know how you do it! I guess I just can’t paint under pressure- which makes me feel like I am not a true artist- because even when it feels like work I should be able to get the job done.
    I guess I am just wondering if you guys feel this way. I am so disappointed in myself- part of me feels like I should try to repaint the whole thing again- but I just can’t bare to do it!

    #491578

    #590680
    Skigod377
    Participant

      I hate the wolf I did for Starbreeze. I stopped taking comissions for the very same reason you mentioned. Something that was a fun hobby turned nerve wracking… wondering if it was what they pictured, etc etc… Now I dont mind doing them for forum friends, but thats cuz they all know that its my hobby and they dont ply me with details. I can totally relate. I like to just paint… if someone likes it, they will bid. 🙂 Try not to get frustrated… 🙁

      #590681
      Purplecat
      Participant

        If I’m frustrated with a color combo or how something is working out, I walk away for a bit til it begins to clear up for me mentally. Comissions fire me up because I love a challenge, but they can be hairpullingly frustrating when the finished product doesn’t work out the way you wanted. I try to have an idea of the look I’m going for and how I want the colors to blend before I start. If I don’t, my pieces tend to look bad (to me at least) and I’m unhappy with the result. I never really have any “concrete” planning. I’ve had a couple color ideas that proved problematic for me and the answer was just to walk away and clear my head (Although my rainbow griffin still bugs me, I still haven’t gotten the look I wanted).If I end a piece thinking “I gotta do one of these for me” then I know I’ve done an ok job. Sometimes a piece irritates me enough I give it to my babysitter as a trade for future babysitting and start again from scratch (yes, i’ve paid my babysitter in pyo’s).

        #590682
        drag0nfeathers
        Participant

          I completely understand mipa! Honestly, I haven’t done any comissions for quite a while. ot that I wouldn’t have, I just haven’t gotten any with the airbrushing craze. I’ve been working on the same one for like 3 months now! LOL! Thanks goodness the one who comissioned me is a repeat customer so they know I’m not going to blow them off or dissappoint, but still, it makes me feel awful when I can’t do what I promise in a decent amount of time.

          When I did Arlla’s firebird I HATED IT SO MUCH!! I did a similar one for lamortfille which I thought came out a million times better, so I felt horrible about that too, though Arlla says she still loves hers, 😆 As the artist, it’s hard not to be tough on yourself and the pressure sometimes can get to you.

          Ebay seems like a good idea, but I’ve had such bad luck with it. With the exception of one or two most of them weren’t even worth the time and effort I put into them for the 30 or 40 bucks I made from it. Hence why my room is slowly getting flooded with them, haha! There are SO MANY on ebay now too and airbrushing is getting really popular. I don’t really know how so as they get cranked out faster and faster they kind of left me in the dust.

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          #590683

          I’ve been very satisfied with the way all my commissioned pieces have turned out so far. But I’ve only done four or five so far… The pieces I try without someone asking me for a certain color scheme are the ones that tend to disappoint me.

          #590684
          lamortefille
          Participant

            I want to be your babysitter, purplecat! hehe

            Speaking from the other side, the only commissions that I have been disappointed in are the ones I never received. 😕 I don’t mind waiting for a piece to be finished, as long as the artist gives me a shout once in a while. After all, life happens. If too many of you gave up doing commissions, I would be up the creek! I have just enough talent to amuse myself painting pyos, but I could never match the talent that you guys have.

            #590685

            lamortefille wrote:

            I want to be your babysitter, purplecat! hehe

            Ditto! Half a dozen families will gladly tell you I’m an excellent babysitter. 😀

            #590686
            Jennifer
            Keymaster

              mipa wrote:

              I always enjoy painting- I can’t really explain it but I just love doing it- but this commission felt like WORK.

              I think you hit the nail on the head right there! Commissions are work. Some people can adapt to do what they love for money and not feel terribly pressured about it- but others do! It doesn’t make you any less of an artist. Don’t take commissions unless you feel comfortable doing so. This is a hard lesson to learn. If you hate doing the work on a commission, not only will you be miserable, but you won’t like the end result, and is the money really worth all that? You never do your best work when you feel that way and sometimes your client can see that too.

              Relax and paint as you will- commissions are not for everyone. 🙂

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              #590687
              Purplecat
              Participant

                If you guys lived close enough, definately! Three kids at once is definately a challenge babysitter-wise! She has a gargoyle panther that I was getting irritated with and a couple griffins, one of which I dropped and he had chips everywhere which I re-airbrushed to look like battle wounds…She loves him dearly, I was cursing as I his head and feet back on! He was ok-looking in the end but I just didn’t like him.

                #590688
                KoishiiKitty
                Participant

                  I think this is something normal for Artists to feel and go through.

                  I deal with it, but i do things to combat it so i stay relaxed:

                  first of all, I keep in mind that I am NOT a profesional. I am bound to make mistakes and I am learning from these. I Keep in mind that the people commissioning me also know this.

                  Also, Even if I don’t like it….that does not mean that the commissioner will not love it. I have to keep in mind that because I am working on it and because I have certain expectations of myself, I am going to be more critical and see things that other people won’t. So i need to just relaxe, I will keep that detail in mind for the next one i do.

                  The last thing is that, as we learn, you get one in a bath that will flop. the flop is a learning experience though and most people REALLY desire them. there are a lot of people that see vallue in our mistakes and the ones we think are not worthy. In a sense they are very important because those are the ones where we REALLY learn and progress.

                  that rainbow one i did, while i am painting it I am thinking,” THIS DASTERDLY PIECE! UGGHHHH!!! I HATE THAT RED, it ISN”T bright enough!” So I worked, and i worked. I found out that with bright colors, do not use black to antique, it does not look right, and i found out that dark blue does not blend so well with red because the purple is too dark.

                  I am finished with it now, and i still think that red is not “red” enough an is not blended enough…
                  but my commissioner loves him and i learn a lot…so he is worth the effort and the pay.
                  Perhaps this will help you as you paint to to keep these things in mind.

                  #590689

                  purplecat wrote:

                  If you guys lived close enough, definately! Three kids at once is definately a challenge babysitter-wise! She has a gargoyle panther that I was getting irritated with and a couple griffins, one of which I dropped and he had chips everywhere which I re-airbrushed to look like battle wounds…She loves him dearly, I was cursing as I his head and feet back on! He was ok-looking in the end but I just didn’t like him.

                  So where would you be at home? Maybe I can put in some babysitting on my trip and come back with even more Windstones… 😆

                  #590690
                  dragonmedley
                  Participant

                    I have never done a commission; my 2 swap pieces are the only things I painted for someone else, with directions. Yes, I can see how stressful it could get! I agonized over how I could render what they asked for.

                    So the first thing I thought when I read your post, Mipa, was: only take the commissions with which you’re comfortable. If you think it’ll make you tear your hair out, like Nam said, the money wouldn’t be worth it.

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                    #590691

                    drag0nfeathers wrote:

                    There are SO MANY on ebay now too and airbrushing is getting really popular. I don’t really know how so as they get cranked out faster and faster they kind of left me in the dust.

                    Perhaps the reason people are “cranking them out” is because they are stay at home parents, just trying to survive. Just a thought. I know myself, and 3 other artists, who actually *have* to do this, or go get a job and drop the kids off in daycare. Just because it’s airbrushed doesn’t mean it’s worse. It just means that that’s the way they chose to do them. I tried pastelling, and I top my hat to anyone who does it because I did one side of one stablemate in one color, and lost intrest.

                    #590692

                    Commissions are harder, becuase there’s generally no artistic freedom. I’ve come to find the bulk of my work is better when someone doesn’t tell me what to do. They are also far less stressful. I think when you sell a finished peice, someone buys it because they like how it LOOKS, you had fun with it, ect. But when you do a commission, then you have to MAKE it look like you think they want it to look. It’s like mind reading sometimes. I almost never take commissions, unless I’m broke(like the PYO unicorn things I just did) or times are really slow and I need the work(like the 5 commissions I took last week). but as a whole, I avoid them.

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