I’ll Gladly Pay You Tuesday For A Sketch of My OC Today
Nobody’s good at everything. We often need others to bridge the gaps in our skill sets by requesting their unique talents. This is the reason we commission others: that is, we pay them for their time and dedication to their respective craft in order to get something tailor-made.
Need a picture of your D&D character? Commission an artist. Want a social media header? Commission a graphic designer. Are you a vtuber who needs an opening tune for your streams? That’s when you look for a musician. And everyone’s offering commissions nowadays!
Whyyyyyyy?
What’s the appeal? Aside from the valuable service of getting what you need (or want), there’s also a fun sort of vanity in knowing that a talent is being put to work for your own benefit.
There’s a whole culture of commissioning on this great web of lies we call the internet, whether you look on Twitter, DeviantArt, Fiverr, Artistsnclients, Sketchmob. Skeb– I could go on for a while, and I probably shouldn’t.
Art commissions do tend to be the most common, not because the skill is commonplace, but because so many people are actually exceptional. Keep your eyes open for the telltale signs, such as “COMMS OPEN” in a username field or bio, and I guarantee you’ll start to see it more often. (That’s called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, by the way.)
A Day In The Life
As someone who goes both ways — commissioning and being commissioned, of course — there’s an appeal to each side of the equation. You see, I’m a vtuber and a writer (or vwriter if you’d like to combine the two) who takes commission for vtuber lore stories.
I started up this ‘business’ via Fiverr back in December 2021, where I promptly had one client and then nothing but silence for four months. Then, on April 1st, with near-alarming frequency, I began receiving requests.
For the past few months, however, I’ve been working in collaboration with a dear vwriter friend, Earendel Prime, as a pseudo-company called Almagest Productions. We have this huge dream that some day we’ll expand to partner with artists and more to become a one-stop-shop for lore videos — where we can pen the story and then have our collaborators make it a reality.
Be Aware!
Commissions aren’t all fun and games and easy money, though. It takes dedication to your craft and the discipline to budget your time appropriately. You have to flex your customer service muscles when discussing your clients’ wants and needs. You need to learn how to market yourself, though in many cases you’ll have templates laid out for you by the third-party platform of your choice.
Whether it’s more beneficial to take commissions independently or through a third-party site is entirely up to the individual. Third parties take a cut of your profits, but they can also afford greater protections from commissioners who might seek to cause problems. But don’t set up shop and then try to skirt a website’s regulations to get a larger cut — if you ask someone to pay you privately, they can report you and get you banned.
Outlining your personal Terms of Service can be beneficial, too. You can let people know that you’re not comfortable composing jazz, drawing horses, or writing in any genre that isn’t sci-fi. Being upfront with people about your process, such as how often you’ll provide progress photos or after which stages you won’t allow additional revisions, is also excellent!
Wrapping Up…
Writing commissions in particular can be tough because you can’t just erase a line or swap out a color, and progress can be difficult to show if your target word count is relatively short. Despite the occasional hiccups, it’s often wildly rewarding. Touching people's hearts with words is truly the reason I soldier on, as cheesy as it may be.
Still, if you’re so inclined, you can commission Almagest Productions by checking out our Carrd or hitting us up via Fiverr.
