How commissioning works with the client and the artist

by kst3xh

I've developed a new hypothesis among other things recently, but I felt this one is worth the share.

So from what I have observed and reviewed, it seems the people; otherwise known as the client/customer, prefer their pickings from a more social standpoint. The more you socialize, the more you succeed as an artist.

Perhaps that is how we all started as successful artist, be it a simple story you wrote graphically or visually or a picture you posted. I have come to notice they tend to approach you best when they come to developing a liking of you. You do some free art every now and then. You get this user regularly. You become the best of friends. You draw for them often. They commission you for their work after some time, and suddenly the others start noticing you.

In the end of it all, it all started because the artist enjoyed what they were doing and they continued to do it and developed a nice friendship. It was never their intention to become a star or so well noticed. However, it happened anyway because this particular user redistributed their work fairly with credit; or spoke greatly of them every now and then each and every time they did a picture for them, until suddenly other users started noticing as well and realized the great personality or this user and their potential and the cycle repeats until it becomes overwhelmingly demanded; depending on the artist of course and the kind of attention they tend to attract.

That is how we all start out. On a personal aspect on all of this, I will not lie when I say there are those supporters who have been with me since my beginning as an artist who follow me everywhere I go. Regulars have approached me in the past with the intention of paying me money; which I kindly and gratefully turned down because I did art because I loved it. I never once did it with the hopes of glory, fame, or money. I did it because it was what I loved to do. It helped me relieve stress from a hard day's work. It gave me something to do during my spare time rather than sit around and let the dust gather on my motionless body.

However, there were the few who greatly insisted I accept their money because they felt I deserved it after the hard work and dedication I put into their work and felt had they not I was being taken advantage of. I took it for their sake, thanked them for their support, and went on my way. I usually gave the money to a more deserving individual such as someone in need of money to pay off their bills, or to buy food needed on their tables and so on; charity as I liked to call it, because I had all the money I ever needed in life. Frankly, the only times I would actually open up for commissions; with the intention for the user to pay whatever they felt was worthy, was when I was in the process of trying to raise money for another rather than myself. I tend to keep it private though for their sake as requested; like my most recent case.

So, my point here from all this is this. Do not simply draw for the money, glory, or fame. That never ends well for the artist, simply because you rely on the attention of others for you motivational fuel; or in most worse cases, your entire source of income.

Do it because you enjoy it and love it with a compassion and perhaps maybe, just maybe, you will become a successful artist whom everyone knows and loves. Someone that friends and clients will feel worthy of giving their money to. At least, that is how I see it.

Oh yeah, and one final thing because I've seen this happen one too many times. Keep a hold of yourself and never change who you are or what you are; always be yourself. I have seen one too many great individuals take this kind of thing to their ego and become quite the egotistical, self pretentious, rude jerk. I am sure we have all met them one point in our lives.

That was my general two cents for the night, and with that I bid you all farewell. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this journal entry. None of this could be possible without your loving support.

--Keith S.

Viewed:	109 times
Added:	8 years, 12 months ago 30 Apr 2015 00:35 CEST

8 Comments on this Journal

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Grandvision

8 years, 8 months ago

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That's a very humble approach and I have believed that for many years as well but recently I cannot afford to release music for free, or at least free music. I still will and do release full tracks for anyone to enjoy when I do compose them, including commissions! If you are good at something, I believe you should be rewarded for putting so much time and work into something you're so passionate about. The world isn't free or all kind, and to survive, you've got to decide, between kindness or availability/restrictions. Relying on chance to becoming a successful artist or going through word of mouth is fine, and being kind wise always helps, I've always been like that, and artists must be nice to attract customers, especially returning ones. Independent artists, especially in the fandom work on everything, from marketing to profile design, the art itself, the TOS agreements. It's a lot of work and people can't afford to do that for free, especially they're good at it. Building a fan base early on with free work or cheap prices is always a requirement in the fandom though due to the lowered expectation of artists to charge high, and this has affected the common public to demand lower and lower prices, which I do not believe it. I watch many artists and the prices they charge are very good outside the industry. I want people to understand and appreciate the care, love and work that gets put into creative work. With the ongoing competition in these markets, quality has risen. Piracy has risen, especially with music, and most artists don't fight it, it's free marketing indeed, and if you shared, that is a sign that your music is good. I just want people to at least support these artists as it is what they do for a living and cannot do it for free, especially independent artists who are even more reliant, as they do not have contracts or monthly fixed payments with a team of agents and marketing departments behind them.

SerpentStare

7 years, 9 months ago

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Hm. I understand what you're saying here, and there is truth in it.
However, some people just can't help but dream of glory in anything they do. The love of the art may be there, the squee feeling of "hey I made this and it worked!" is excellent, but it won't keep people from dreaming or hoping that maybe, someday, they could make a name for themselves this way.
Ambition is a character trait not easily denied in those who have it.
I won't dispute that if you're working as an artist and it isn't primarily for the love of making art, then you're probably picking an ineffective path to get to anything else. But on the other side of the coin, not everyone is lucky enough to be financially stable, and some of those people love to draw too... And may end up being just a little bit desperate.
It's important for them/us to avoid letting our dreams make us into entitled jerks. That won't be good for the fun or for business in any case.
I just... I guess I just wanted to ask you, do you actually think it's wrong to want to do art as a career and be paid for it?

kst3xh

6 years, 4 months ago

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@ SerpentStare

Not at all, my apologies for the delay in response. It is something I am known for doing more often than I should. I tend to add things on my to-do list amongst my wall of other tasks with varying levels of prioritization which often times has backfired against me

In all honestly, it is also something I do because often times I need time to think some things over, or time to forget what I have started, in hopes of one day finding what I wrote and what was said while in a totally different mindset to have the ability to respond from a truly neutral standpoint. Something like that at least, do not quote me on that.

In the end, it is all a bit complicated to explain for I am a rather odd and different individual as I've heard many times when it comes to my mindset and the way I see things and try to explain them.

KharonAlpua

5 years, 10 months ago

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Fame in art comes from humility and production and skill. There is no small part of that that is finding the intersection of your passion and the needs or wants of your community -- and there are many needs and wants in all communities. We live today in a world that dismisses and denies us our passions far too often, and insists that we do what the world expects of us, but I will be blunt: this world expects us to do things that are overdone and poorly done, and to do them as excessively and poorly as anybody else.

I will never deny the value of an artist pursuing their passions, whether they do so as a hobby, a lifeline, a profession, or a career. Many artists are happy to do no more than pursue their passions as a hobby, for personal enjoyment, personal expression, and relaxation or relief from stress. These artists may find this to be their draw and appeal in art, with no desire for glory, fame, or connection with a community. They may feel some or all of these other things, and they may or may not find those drives satisfied elsewhere in life.

Some artists seek to connect with people -- not only to express themselves for their own sake, but for the world around them. They may have a message, they may seek validation, they may seek to provide validation. If they are passionate about this, then they will find a type of fulfillment in art that the private practitioner does not -- and this is neither a good thing nor a bad thing, only a thing. We are all different, and if we find different types of validation, encouragement, motivation, and satisfaction in the same things, that is fine. Some people are artists to communicate with others, some are artists to communicate with themselves. Some are artists for profit and others are profitless, and neither type is better, nor worse, than the other.

Finally, I believe the character of a person is difficult to change. If the personality a person shows others changes, I believe it is usually not the person who has changed, but their circumstances. If an artist becomes egotistical, pretentious, rude, or a jerk after becoming famous, I believe it is because they were always like this, but had reasons to hide it, reasons that were lost in their rise to glory. It is easy to have no ego when you are beginning to share your work -- and it is not when you have no ego that your true character shines, but when you have a well-developed ego, developed enough (indeed) to grow overinflated. But going from no ego to an over-large ego is not a change of personality, but of circumstances, and the way that "changes" the personality is the same way that any confidence and security changes us: it very often makes us more true to who we are deep down.

kst3xh

5 years, 9 months ago

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@ KharonAlpua

holy hell I have to admit, this has been another one of the most interesting and well put feedbacks I've received in some time. Thank you so much for taking the time to provide feedback to this input. It most certainly helps.

I'm sure you've noticed I tend to refrain from updating the journal based on the [very useful] feedback I have received that usually updates and modifies my outlook on things in more ways than one and that is what I seek through such things yknow? My responses usually count as the updated form of this journal but nothing here is ever official since times and situations change and it as always most certainly helps to receive others feedback on things ...in more ways than one I might add haha (usually in private from the other's end)