Forums: Should I open up Point Commissions? (Thumbs of art included) REPOST

Hey everyone, I'm Aileen... I've been thinking about opening up point commissions, however I don't know if anyone would be interested/my skill level is high enough... Can you guys do me a favor? Take a peek at my galley (sorry I don't have much, I'm kinda new here)and comment saying if you think I should open them or not. Also it'd be extremely helpful if you don't just tell me to open them because you like my work, but if you would seriously consider commissioning me.

I do traditional work in pen & ink (Pigma Microns) in a realistic style humans and animals, I like doing fantasy, sci-fi, conceptual the most and drawing human females, no color or cartoon-y/anime styles. I do initial sketches in graphite, then layer over with ink. I honestly have yet to determine ranges, depends on the type of feedback I get from here. However I've read lots on commissioning, cannot underprice for my hard work and years of art practice and I've set for each hour to be minimum wage, I am a working high school student who is trying to pay for my own personal art gallery next year (I do go to an arts high school :3) and art supplies. Please understand my situation.

Examples of some work-

Fallen Angel (Where do your loyalties lie?) by artsyaileen

character concept/finished (pigma micron)

Praying Mantis Doodle in Pen and Ink by artsyaileen

creature concept/finished (pigma micron)

technical anatomy practice/finished (pigma micron)

creature concept/sketch (ballpoint pen)

sketchbook designs and doodles, if you'd like to see more please let me know

(micron/ballpoint)

character concept sketch (graphite)

what a typical WIP looks like for me

Information Overload (Rising Artists July Contest) by artsyaileen

a contest entry, finished (pigma micron)

thank you so much

please let me know what you think!

Comments16

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ElectricalFreak

I'd say go for it your really good so your commissions would be a little pricey depending on the commission and things but it could easily go between eh maybe 80-200+ points maybe 500? It just really depends on things.

I think I'm worth more than 500, considering 80 points is $1 XD I've been considering Paypal/actual money instead recently however, but thanks so much for the feedback ^^

ElectricalFreak

Aug 4, 2014

Oh? That's cool I didn't know that and your welcome uvu

Lady-RyuuXX87

Edited Aug 1, 2014

it depends what you want to use the points for- as far as I know, the only way to turn the points into cash is by using the dA commissions point system (which I don't even know much about) but I heard they keep 20% or something

BUT I'M REALLY NOT SURE so don't quote me on that

I personally am charging very low for point commissions simply because I use the points for trades and other things not money-related... 80 pts = $1.00 sooooo to people who buy points it wouldn't be too much but 80 points is a lot to people who only collect them

which people do by llama trades and entering groups or following giveaways XD; your art is very good- I personally like the anatomy and creature ones best

I heard $1 was 100 points, I read that in a journal. But don't quote me on that either XD Thank you very much for the feedback and compliment ^^

Lady-RyuuXX87

I think people assume 100 points is a 1$ because 1.00 = 100 sorta thing but if a person were to purchase points on here, the purchases dA has listed are: 400 points for $5 and 800 points for $10... if a person were to buy them...

so what I did was some math... 80 * 5 = 400 and if the 5 counts as the $5 it would seem logical that 80 = $1

because 80 * 10 = 800 and the 10 counts as the $10... it seemed to work when I made a chart of 1-25 anyways x3;;; I know, I'm lame lol but I wanted to be thorough XDD you're quite welcome :3

Hey, you're not lame at all! This was pretty useful considering I'm not a math person, haha. Thank you for taking your time on the calculations!

Lady-RyuuXX87

I'm not a math person either but I was like staring at it one day and was like... hey, I wonder how they did this... but you know it WOULD make more sense if it were 100 points = 1.00 but idk why they did it this way- probably so that if a person wanted to purchase the $20 or $25 option it would seem they weren't spending as much...? pff no clue though heh I'm actually going to put up a chart soon- but now I'm kinda curious to know if other people have already done this

Tiishio

Point commissions? Heck nah. You should charge money for that kind of stuff! Nice art!

haha, thank you

Been considering paypal more seriously now... (btw your icon is boss).

Tiishio

I think it'd be a great idea.
and thank you

Welcome

yeah,you can definitely start a commissions page,your art is very good ^^keep in mind though that it's gonna be difficult to find buyers.Traditional art is not very sought after(I've been drawing traditionally for about 5 years on DA,so I know XD) but it'd be a pity to charge like,100 points for a drawing like yours,which necessitates a lot of time and effort,just to get people interested. Maybe about 500 points will suffice at the beginning,and once you see that you're getting buyers,you can raise the price,like I'm doing at the moment with my commissions XD Also,make sure you join a lot of groups dedicated to people who want to share their commission info,it helps a lot :> I hope I helped

and sorry for the long post -.-"

No worries, that was an extremely helpful post ^^ I am aware of the raising the prices as more requests come in, and yeah there's absolutely no way I'm undercharging XD I do need a bit of experience in marketing my work because like I said, I plan to sell originals for my gallery. Thank you so very much for the feedback!

ketsura