Our team has been testing an early version of our brand NEW Commissions portal. On the Commissions Portal you can find ALL of the (currently) 26,000 available Commission offers from artists, neatly categorized by Style, Type, Price, Popularity, etc. It's awesome!
When we launched Commission widgets on Profile pages a few months ago, I personally didn't find them to be very helpful by themselves. Without a directory of available artists for commissions, and what commission options there are from across the whole community -- I couldn't be sure that I was buying the right thing.
The new portal (which will be accessible right from deviantART.com's home page) has added an incredible value to my life since I've been playing with it: The ability to easily commission artists!
Because the commissioning process exists in-line on the Commission area, I was able to facilitate 5 commissions in an initial 2 minutes and 30 seconds for a total of ~2,000 Points ($25) which I want to discuss in a second. But, yes, you read that correctly. Two minutes and thirty seconds to commission 5 artists to make custom stuff for me. I did have to have a Note conversation later on with each artist, bringing the total time spent on these commissions to about 10 minutes of discussion. One of the commissions failed to complete due to misunderstanding that I think can be avoided. But about a week later I have the four final results to share.
I gave artists very simple instructions like, "This is awesome! I want one! Just make it Ninja-styled like my Avatar!!" or, "OMG it would be amazing if you could draw an english setter [link] that had just gone through a stinky garbage bag!" -- (Because Bentley, my English Setter, did this a few weekends ago when I left a garbage bag on my porch for a minute before taking it to the trash. GRR! hehe) or, "This is great!! Could you draw me like that?"
Simple, easy instructions to get us started. Which is what you should expect from 100-500 Point ($1.25-$6.25) commissions. This way, artists who are either learning or interested in perfecting a style of work can just facilitate an easy commission that motivates them and inspires them, plus adds a couple bucks in to their pockets.
Here are bigger versions of the results:
A ninja avatar made in a style
=seimemi is working with.
And a Spyed Chibi by ~
MiniWoopWoop which is interestingly very similar to the avatar made by =
seimemi if you look closely!
I'm extremely happy with my purchases!!! I not only feel happy to share these with you but also with my friends and family. I feel as though I got a great value for $25. And I also feel as though I supported artists by giving them fun tasks to work with in exchange for the fees they requested.
I do want to say that I believe this portal is going to assist greatly in raising prices that are charged, as artists see what other artists are able to charge and what they offer at those price points.
If I had one message for deviants using the Commissions system it would be: RAISE YOUR PRICES! Your time is valuable, your work is valuable. If you're a young artist and learning, incorporate price points in to your learning. Sure, offer 100 Point Commissions for fun, but please don't form any beliefs that your work and time should be worth $1.25.
Minimum wage is ~$9 an hour in the United States. That's 720 Points an Hour. Your work is skilled work, so especially as you develop as an artist you can charge much more than minimum wage. Please consider the time you are taking. It is fine if you want to discount your time because you feel you are taking longer than a Pro would, but if you spend multiple hours please value your time. Professional illustrations and the like should range from $250-$5000 a piece depending on your skill level. Professional Logo Designs can range from $250 to $50,000 a piece but tend to average about $1,000. Know this!
We are very excited about Commissions on deviantART as we believe we will be able to assist a growing community of artists and clients to find each other. We are equally excited to nurture professional artists who grow up on deviantART so that they can be invited to join our new professional commissioning platform known as
DreamUp.com -- Rates on DreamUp start at $200 per Commission, whereas on deviantART you can find any price point even as low as 10 Points from developing artists. Additionally all artists and designers are welcomed to our Commissioning Platform on deviantART!
If you are an artist who accepts commissions on deviantART, set up your Commission modules on your profile today so that you can get commissioned by our Staff and an increasing number of clients who we are giving access to over the following weeks and months! (Full public launch is yet undetermined, but within 3 months.)
Visit EDIT PAGE on your Profile:
And add the Commissions Module from the Misc category!
Then, follow the instructions on the Commissions Module. You will automatically be indexed and promoted inside of the Commissions Portal!
Some Questions:
- Why are deviants setting prices at 10 Points or 100 Points for Commissions like the ones above?
- What is the right price point for these types of Commissions in your view?
- What types of art or design would you like to Commission from artists or designers on deviantART?
Sta.sh
After much deliberation we are finally ready to announce the new alpha testers!
There were lots really tough decisions to make to try and get that number down to a mere 20 alpha testers!
)
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