How long should someone wait for art?
By
Ael Rhiana,
Posted on: 2007-09-12 07:45 in Multi-Media Fan Creations
That is a wonderful story Morcani. It had me misting up a little by the end because I could picture all the emotion and your reactions.
=^_^=
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We've had a few threads going on forum stuff... why not this one? I've heard of people waiting a year or more. I've also heard of people losing interest (both the artist and the person "requesting").
So, what do you think is an acceptable wait?
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I dunno. *looks at watch and taps foot*
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Well, if it's Alex, I'd wait about 15 minutes. That dude is fast!
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
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darn I wish I could see the faces of my clients when they see the work for the first time... that would be nice. Congrats, can we see the painting?
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Unfortunately, I don't have a scan of the painting itself, as it's pretty huge... more than two feet by two feet, and the last time I scanned something that large, it cost me a c-note and change. I am also a craptastic photographer, but I'll give it a shot with the old 35mm this weekend and see if I can't get something decent to come out.
In the meantime, I did get a pencil sketch early in the commission process, that I scanned from my printout (it's still on my fridge).
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Ah very nice...
well, there were like two people that promissed me something about two years ago and then they just vanished.
and I'm sorry to say that I've been keeping a group a people waiting for some micros for a couple months now...
From my point of view, I think it depends on what is said at the beginig of the "transaction". The person requesting art should ask for a rought timeline, and the artist should try their best to give it and keep it.
Personally, I average a month from Beg to End. If I think it'll go much past that, I don't accept the request.
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well, there were like two people that promissed me something about two years ago and then they just vanished.
and I'm sorry to say that I've been keeping a group a people waiting for some micros for a couple months now...
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That first part is teh suck.
But about the micros, they is teh awesome. And they is teh free too (which is like icing on the cake)
Free + Awesome = Willingness to wait
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I don't mind waiting a few months for a decent piece, and longer if the waiting list is there and I know beforehand, or something sudden comes up.
My main issue is that I have had a few comissions where I have had to repeatedly send an email to the person inquiring how things were going. I'm still waiting to see a hint of a piece I paid for from someone who was doing it to help raise finds for another artist who had gotten hurt and had some bills piling up - great thing, but it's been many, many months, and I have nothing to show for it, except a slightly smaller account balance. Another artist, after many months, refunded my downpayment which was good, but I'd rather not have gotten to that point in the first place...it's exaspirating.
I will always be much more understanding if there's communication there, and especially if I see some results before I have to drop my ducats in someone's account.
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*throws my fur into the ring*
Well I've gotten a lot of art. A LOT. So I've probably had every kind of wait time there can be. From a few days to over a year (STILL!!!!!! GRR!). The average is usually around a week or two, plus waiting in a queue time, so 2-3 weeks is typical.
And that's fine. I really don't mind any wait time with a few caveats:
1. Keep me updated!!!! If you are posting new journals every day, posting other new pieces, skipping ahead in queue, not even PUTTING me in the queue, etc, then I wanna know what the heck is going on with my commission. Just drop me a line say hey this is where I'm at, what I'm doing, and you can expect to see an update by such and such a date. And when such and such a date comes, even if you -don't- have an update, just let me know!!! Don't just keep quiet and ignore it!
Ok I put a bunch of caveats into that one
I really hate having to go poke the artist and say 'hey what's going on' (in a nice way of course), and I usually always pay up front (so i don't have to worry about paying when they finish or paying a half of it etc, maybe i can't afford it when they finish), so usually I'm always the one left out in a lurch.
Oh also if I'm doing a full color whatever, then dadgum it send me the 'idea' sketch and get approval, send me the PENCILS and get approval, send me the inks, and send me the flats. DO NOT JUST SKIP TO THE FINAL IMAGE WITHOUT APPROVAL!
Can't tell you HOW many times I've gone through this, where the artist just went ahead and finished the piece before I even saw it, and got -so- many things wrongs that COULD have been corrected had they just shown me the sketch and lineart so we could make fixes when we still had time!
Argh! Okay I'm getting upset so I'll stop writing now.
Yeah, that touches on the other thing. If it's a freebie, I don't really worry about it. Khepra was doing one, there were a couple of others that were starting little freebie projects - that, they can do on their own time, and if they never finish I haven't lost anything and they've possibly gotten some practice. I don't sweat those at all. If I get something out of it, it's a "Cool, you did it, thanks a bunch!" moment.
I just commished my first piece (cant wait) so I hope I dont wait too long, but I'd be more then a little happy if they put time into it but still finished in a timely manner
Depends. If its a,
Request - This can take years to get done. Trades come before a request and a paid commission comes before both.
Trades - Usually you and the other person set a tenative dealine. Can take days to months, or longer. Paid commissions come before.
Commission - Depends on detail factor. Ive had commissions ive worked on take anywhere from literally 2 days for something very simple, on up to a few months for something that was very complicated.
It always will depend. But the person doiong your art should be keeping you up to date with progress pics and such.
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This is going to sound snarky, so I promise I'm not pointing fingers specifically, this is just a general observation on policy.
The only gripe I have is when "donations" (paid-value commishs 'given away' as prizes or gifts for someone) get bumped to make way for real money.
Yes I know it's a donation of the artist's time. Bumping it back just devalues that time, it's no longer "you're in line with everyone else" but "oh yeah, you get the leftover minutes that come up when I'm NOT working on something lucrative."
If the artist is popular enough to always have commissions rolling in, then essentially what happens is, these "donations" NEVER get worked on (cos they're always being bumped). The recipient ends up feeling a bit ripped off, like they won a trip to the Caribbean, but then found out they have to wait for a spare seat on the plane that no one else will buy, whatever hoopty old-and-busted rental car that no one else wants, and the trashed motel room out back that everyone's afraid to go into.
In other words, the artist should treat this as a prize, not a handout.
So, if you're going to donate art for a contest, please, do one of two things:
1) treat it as a full-payment commission, and work it with the same priority as everything else.
2) tell the recipient up front what the terms are, before you get to sketching. They may opt to not accept it, or give it to someone else.
That's all.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Normally, I could draw a figure a day, and an extra day if its colored. So the length of time it takes to do a piece usually depends on how many figures/effects are involved. And faster if I'm paid partially in advance. There's no better motivator than money, believe that (as Naruto would say)!!
However, for close to two years my time has been very sparse, as I'm working a normal 8 hour work day plus commute that totals about 3-4 hours. So, I've only taken commisions I could do over the weekend, and lately not even that. Because of this, I've been mainly doing gift art. Those I work on in my spare time so they take as long as they take, no guarantees. I do these to keep up the practice...and for the huggles. 
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...Bumping it back just devalues that time, it's no longer "you're in line with everyone else" but "oh yeah, you get the leftover minutes that come up when I'm NOT working on something lucrative."...
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This is the exact reason I don't do 'prize-art'; if someone can't wait for my 'free minutes' to get a free piece, then I don't want to do the piece. It's not worth it.
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...Bumping it back just devalues that time, it's no longer "you're in line with everyone else" but "oh yeah, you get the leftover minutes that come up when I'm NOT working on something lucrative."...
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This is the exact reason I don't do 'prize-art'; if someone can't wait for my 'free minutes' to get a free piece, then I don't want to do the piece. It's not worth it.
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I'll be frank im not an artist and Ive only gotten one or two gift pieces and jsut made my first comission... literally today... but honestly... Comissions do and *should* take priority. Gift art is just that, a gift, they are in no way obligated to do it unless you traded something for it in which case it isnt a gift its a trade.
Gift art is something they are doing with their free time, not anything else really.
"Gift" - as in a prize, is different than "gift" as in a suprize. The former being an obligation that if entered into, should be treated as any other (IMO).
When you win something in a contest, you're essentially getting something for free. Unless it's a raffle of some sort where real money has been expended towards the prize, it's free. While you might feel disappointed because you happened to get shafted on your free art, it's still *free.*
You get what you pay for, you know.
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I disagree. If an artist agrees to provide a prize, in my opinion, the prize should be provided in a timely manner. If an artist doesn't have time, or has other obligations that would prevent fulfillment of the contest, then don't agree to provide a prize in the first place.
RL obligations and emergencies notwithstanding, of course.
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So for the measurement of hearing the announcement of a contest, standing in line, being chosen, and winning... you equate that with the RL time it takes to make the art? And therefore should stand in line with paying commissions? I disagree. When someone wins a contest I have provided art for, I let them know they are at the bottom of the barrel, an unfortunate reality, but they will eventually get free art for exactly that price.
Hehehe, I guess we all know which art contests to enter from now on
((joking people))
I sometimes feel guilty filtering my queue with my warm up pieces, but without them, I find my attention span and inspiration wanes. I think my customers have come to know this, and don't mind that some of these warm up sketches includes them 90% of the time. An aside piece of art in addition to the final, and also an occasional finished piece other than their own gives them another idea of how theirs will turn out.
Apologies for slighting any contest winners, I try to finish every piece with the time it deserves, but rushing your queue to finish any piece over another does a disservice to all of it.
LJ, I can tell you I was grinning ear to ear when I got the inks for the Jimmy/Lina piece and was just about bursting to show someone, anyone, even the people who smiled and nodded and had no clue what I was on about I was so happy. I'm sure YJ was the same when I showed it to him :7