Hey guys, I'm wondering about ART COMISSIONS. I wanna know how they work.
I'd like to sell some sketches here, and there are alot of things I'm wondering about. First of all, how do people know what they're getting without me posting the whole thing in the post, taking away all purpose of selling the sketch? Secondly, how much do average sketches cost?
Finally, since I am planning on selling things over here, what would you guys be interested in buying? I will definitely be doing art from the Sonic universe, I am right now thinking about just portraits of Sonic in both Adventure and Genesis form, I am gonna make portraits of my own OC's, and just maybe try my hand at some other customers' OCs who are willing ter pay. 
So, could anybody help me here?
I've never done commissions so I couldn't tell you for definate.
You advertise by showing samples of your work for every type you're selling. Like if you're doing pencil, painted and CG commissions show an example of each. Same for portrait, full body, background etc. If it is paint or CG send them via email the sketch before you get to work on it properly so they can tell you anything they want different. If it's just a sketch then you shouldn't need to bother, since sketches shouldn't cost too much and they wouldn't have commissioned you if they don't like your stuff anyway.
The cost is entirely up to you. I couldn't help you there. If your style is very detailed you could probably charge more than for a more simplistic style.
I'm not currently looking for commissions as I'm fairly artistic myself, and to be honest I haven't seen any examples of your work so I couldn't tell anyway. You'll get a lot more if you're more open minded on what to draw, as especially OCs are quite popular in regards to commissions. Try not to refuse to draw a particular type of art (e.g machinery) unless you well and truely suck at it. But you should have a list of things you are confident to draw and stuff you're not as confident but are willing to take a crack at so people get an idea of what they'd get. You'll always have the right to tell them that it isn't working out, refunding via paypal isn't hard.
That's all I've got.
Well, thanks for the advice. Here's what I am pretty good at:
Sonic Characters - Archie OR Sega
Detailed Badniks
My Own OC's
And will have a crack at anybody's OC as long as the descriptions are, well, fairly descriptive, or have an already supplied picture.
If you are descriptive enough, I can also try and make you an avatar.
Before people will take you up on your offer, you might want to link to some examples of your work.
If you have a deviantART account or similar, linking to that would be a very good idea. People aren't going to want to separate with their money unless they know what they're going to get =P
Oh, I wasn't expecting them to, I'm just saying that whilst trying to fix my scanner >:-(
This is helpful information for me too, as I have been considering taking commissions myself, and didn't know where to start.
But other than what has already been said, I read somewhere that it's a good idea to charge a deposit before you start, maybe not for sketches and the things that are less involved, but like...for if somebody wants something in color...or something. I dunno.
Edit: Also, I'm a bit strapped for cash at the moment...so can't really commission ANYbody right now. :/
Deposit is a very good idea with anything more complex than a sketch or simple drawing I'd say. Probably a must for anything which takes longer than five or so hours of work. For the biggest pieces I'd say... 25% initial agreement, 25% for a complete sketch to work from with their agreement, then 50% for the final colouring and refining and such. That sounds reasonable to me.
Thanks for the help. I've decided that for the time being, I will post free art- if I get good enough reviews, I will definitely start posting art for commissions. Thanks!
