Hi everyone! Chiken here.
In this last lesson of the bonus chapter,
I'd like to give you a few tips
about setting up commissions, finding them, and completing
them in a professional manner.
First of all, doing art commissions is a
service and should be priced and handled professionally.
It can seem a little bit intimidating at first, but
once you set up a system, it's really easy!
Clients generally like clear and
friendly communication, and reliability.
This means that as part of the service,
even the way you talk to the clients
will affect their experience with you.
So make sure you are speaking
in a professional, but friendly way.
For example, these are a few of
my default messages for the commission process.
I don't really stray away from using emojis
as I think it makes for a more
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pleasant exchange, especially on social media.
But I will still be professional and I
will usually talk about the work only. Providing
a pleasant experience can be the difference between
getting a few commissions and getting many, especially
from happy returning customers.
When it comes to prices, I highly, highly
recommend to price them higher than lower and
don't go lower than your country's minimum wage.
I recommend pricing them at the very
lowest 10USD per hour of work.
Not only will pricing them too cheap be a waste
of your time, but it also really hurts the market
for other artists that do commissions full time.
So, take an estimate of how many
hours you need to finish a piece.
Multiply that by your income per hour, and
you have a price for your art.
If you are really unsure, you can always
try the market and adjust from there.
You never want to be overwhelmed with work, so
if you ever feel that the demand is high,
please don't hesitate to raise your prices.
Don't undersell yourself!
However, if you are not getting as much work
as you like, I do not recommend lowering your
prices below what you would be happy to earn.
If you can, I think it would be
better to work on improving until your art
receives more attention or just marketing yourself better.
There are many ways and platforms to market on.
I highly recommend using Twitter if
you don't use it already.
It's a really good place to get clients.
Because of the way Twitter is set up, you don't
really need to have a lot of followers, or frankly,
any followers at all to get clients there.
Many people looking to buy art will
make "looking to Commission" tweets and you
can just reply them with your info.
Other people will be going through these lists too,
so it's a great way to attract clients after
you started getting and worked on some commissions,
if you post a commission, make sure
to mention that it is commissioned art.
This way, anyone who comes across your art
will know that you do commissions and have
an idea of what you offer.
Now moving on to your commission info, the
easier it is to find your commission info
on your social media page, the better.
I recommend avoiding the "DM for more info" set
up because it just puts more barriers between people
looking to commission and actually commissioning you.
Instead, either have a master post with your prices clearly written
out for each type of commission, like bust up
or half body or full body and etc.
And if you want to offer background or additional
props, mention the prices of those as well.
If you use Twitter, you can pin that post
on your profile, or if you use Instagram, you
can create a highlight for your commission info.
Or you can use a separate website.
Personally, I like to use "Carrd", which is a
website that I can display all my information on,
and I can include my terms of service, prices
for commercial commissions and different styles that I offer.
The clearer and easier it is to navigate, the better.
And I'll always leave the link to this page
on my social media along, with my commission status.
Speaking of terms of service, I encourage you
to write it out as clear as possible.
You can take a look at mine,
and see what I include among them.
One I would like to point out is
always taking payment before you start drawing anything.
Take at least 50% upfront and the
rest before you finish the commission.
This way, you won't have to stress about getting runaways,
where people get their art but never pay you.
Now, you've got your commission, but how
do we keep track of them,
while giving our client an easy way to check in?
I recommend having a page to track your progress.
I use Google Docs, but a lot
of people use a website called "Trello".
In my Google Docs, I will have a table listing
all the names of my clients, and what their order
is, along with the status and progress of the commission.
So, as I work on my commissions,
I will edit the status of each.
I leave the Google Doc readily accessible
through my carrd so that clients can
track the progress on their commission.
This helps the reliability on the artist's end so
that the client will have a peace of mind.
And when I'm done with the commission, I
put them in the Google Drive and send
the link to the folder to the client.
I've always found this to be
the most hassle-free way.
To conclude, commissions are a great way to make money need
off your art, and as you get better and
better, you can start charging more and more.
I hope the tips in this video help
you if you are starting out or are
interested in doing some commissions. Good luck!