The Ultimate Commissioner's Guide (Patreon)

I mentioned this the other day in Discord chat, so here it is: a complete, comprehensive guide on how to commission any kind of humanoid artist for personal use.

Before you send your references to the artist, here are some points that are incredibly important to consider:

1. Recognize if you’re ordering a design or a fully-fleshed Original Character. This is one of the most important points to consider when commissioning an artist, because the process for these two are incredibly different. Mixing them would confuse the artist and leave the commissioner dissatisfied. This could also end in a frustrating chain of commissions, which will often mark the commissioner as a hard client.

When ordering a design, this means that you haven’t FULLY envisioned your creation yet, and you want the artist to bring it to life. Here, you can put vision boards, vibe inspiration, hair options, etc. In this process, you’re giving the artist A Vibe that they have the creative freedom to mold. Depending on the artist, this could be fun or frustrating, so if you’re not sure, ask! Artists usually charge a fee for designs. Additionally, it is incredibly silly to ask a lot of revisions with this stage, since YOU gave them the images. Unless the artist misinterpreted/misread the images provided, you shouldn’t be too fussy with it.

When ordering an original character, you already know what they look like, what their vibes are, what they’re about. With this kind of commission, pick only the BEST representations of your OC. Do NOT give the artist vision boards unless you want something uniquely designed. Pick the best face, the best hair, the best commissioned art. Here’s why: Artists will often pick their biases or the easiest art to reference, so if you want them to draw that specific hair or outfit, then do not give them other options. Your job, as a commissioner, is tell the artist exactly what you want, no ifs or buts. It would be disrespectful to the artist to give them options and for you to just hate what they picked.

2. Do a quick glance of the artist’s posted artwork or portfolio. One of my artist friends once joked, “all I draw is cute girls, why did you give me a man!?” You need to recognize what the artist is capable of drawing before you commission them. If the artist draws same face and specific body types, they would not be able to do something completely out of left field. Of course, some artists are always looking to expand their skill. If you’re unsure what they’re willing to take on, it is safe to always ask. If they take on art they can’t execute, the fault is entirely on them, and you should hold them accountable to it.

3. Read over their terms of service. The most frustrating types of questions are the ones I already put on my own terms of service, and other artists feel the same way. Some of them even ensure you read their terms of service first before commissioning. My terms of service indicate that I take one month at the most with my comms, so you should only ask after that time period. Commissioners who ask for updates before that are not only annoying, they’ve shown they disrespect my terms of service, so I would be more willing to work with others than them again. If there are stuff in their ToS that are vague like if the art is okay to edit, you can ask them. 

Of course, if the commissioner breaks their own promises too, you should hold them accountable and demand a refund. Commissioning isn’t an industry — it’s a two-way respectful exchange of services between two independent parties. Artists should treat commissioners with respect and execute the order to the best of their ability, and the commissioner should read, understand, and respect their terms of service. 

(Fun fact: Want to make an artist’s day and strengthen your relationship? Tip them! Think they’re charging less than they’re worth? Pay them how much you think the art is worth! Artists ALWAYS remember tippers fondly.) 

The References

1. The Basics: (Always mention)

- Eye color

- Hair color

- Skin color

(Note: A palette is way more useful than just words, hence why Minecraft models are okay to put)

- Hair style

- Clothes

- General body type

- Pose

- Expression

- Key words for vibes

Note: Images are more powerful than written descriptions, so a picrew is also infinitely more helpful than a detailed paragraph.

2. The Details: (The artist is particularly good with details, either with anatomy or clothes, so add these too)

- Real life face ref

- Real life body ref

- Otherwordly textures, like horns, tails, skin discoloration, etc.

- Zoomed in clothing details

3. Commissioned art. Always include these, and pick 2-5 best ones you wouldn’t mind them referencing! Ideally, they should either be close in features OR features you wouldn’t mind the new artists emulating.

Something I noticed is that people sometimes pick really cool, artsy, oddly lit pieces because it’s their fave. Unless you want the new artist to copy that, don’t do that. Also, unless you’re SPECIFICALLY asking for a night piece, don’t put dark, night or dimly lit pieces. The reason for this is that we try to read the features and color pick from the commissioned art!

4. Image hosting. Something commissioners don’t consider when sending references is that artists draw in gigantic canvasses and have to zoom in to the extreme to add details. To that effect, the ideal image hosting is sending them directly to the artist via DM, imgur, or pinterest. Google docs are alright if the commission is simple, but they’re absolutely horrible for clothing and face details. If you want a detailed commission or to properly represent your character, send the FULL image directly!

5. Short descriptions > Big paragraphs. Artists are not illiterate, but drawing commissions requires artists to go back and forth your reference and the canvas in quick succession. Putting everything in bullet form or filling up my basics list (ex. Eye color = Light blue) is the best way for the artist to check then go back to what they’re doing. You could say the exact same things in paragraph form, but it would make the artist need to scan the paragraph to find what they’re looking for, which means the drawing halts and they’re more likely to make mistakes. Make it easy on them… stick to the basics!

…That’s it, that’s the end! If the rest of you have other questions I failed to consider, feel free to ask them and I can edit them in the future. This guide is not only applicable for me, but for most humanoid artists out there — I know plenty of them, and they express their grievances to me too, so I’ve included them here.