2016-2019 Commissions

Up until around 2016, the only art for other people that I had really done was for close friends, or for my niece and nephew. I only ever really worried about making my own ideas, and they didn’t need to be excellent, they just needed to get the point across.

I think one of the weirdest things that I experienced in my art journey was hearing that I should ask for money for doing something that I might have done without.

Drawing is something I love, it always has been, either because it was an escape from my home life or because it made things that I loved that much more real. As someone who tends to forget things as soon as I look away from them, having something I can store somewhere as a reminder seemed logical to me. Art felt like an obvious solution to the problem. And on top of that, it was something that I sort of felt a compulsion towards. To create things, to share them.

Why would I ask for money for that?

Eventually, anyone who grows up in a corperate society would come to realize that without money, you can’t really do much. Once I had accepted that reality, it got easier because I saw it as a sort of trade.

With quality as a concern, I had to start upping the resolution and variation of my work, so I had a period of time where I had to really find my style and process.

I’m very thankful for the people who supported my art in that time and spent their hard earned money on me.

First of all they pushed me to get better. I remember every single one of the people who commissioned me fondly, they have always been friendly people. Aside from like two people (total, ever) I don’t think I’ve ever gotten any kind of unwarranted hatred for my work, or particularly harsh criticism. I think that because of that, I could figure things out on my own without ending up hating my work.

Second, I think it has always been the people who have supported me who have been the ones to push me to charge more for my art, or to find new ways to offer it. To push myself. When I would have given up, it’s always been my friends who have supported my art that kept my passion going.

When doing commissions, you are often doing art in larger volumes than you are particularly used to, and you are usually working with your client’s ideas, not your own.

It' is important to realize that you will always have limits, and there are so many sources out there that are there to ease the burden of different parts of the artistic process, including AI powered art generators, models online who do photography, tutorials and youtube videos. All kinds of things.

Some people don’t agree with all forms of easing the process along, but it is because art as a culture is steeped in tradition and technique. In a world that is growing faster than ever before, it' is more important than ever that we, the artists, keep up with it’s progress.

So trace reference pictures you find, if they’re being offered. Use AI to rough out your backgrounds, follow a youtube video to a T. Do what works for you, and then do the rest of us a favor and share what you learn.

(Credit to Adorkastock on Deviantart and Twitter for most of these poses)