People Have Been Asking If I Do Sculpture Commissions Or Am Selling Any Of The Ones I've Made, The Answer

I like to think of her peacefully/happily playing with water. c:

Barely able to upload it, took a few weeks to make. (not sure hours compiled since I was actually drawing this casually on the side of something else) Full size version can be found on my Tumblr, would link but it omits me from searches. (Username is Krystami)

I finally finished the sculpt of Garnet :D A little over 6 inches tall~  I haven’t made anything in SO long and need to get more materials/tools eventually (mainly tools but yeah, because I had lost everything I used to have and have to build up again) Who should I make next, which versions, etc? 

SO.....I’m homeless now, well our landlord just kicked us out today, we have no way to pack anything, nowhere to go, three cats, no money I’m super sick right now and can’t even walk around the house without wanting to fall over...

found A cord....but yeah, gone two weeks and no one respects any of my personal belongings at all....

Sorry for all the text filled bad stuff lately, this is just another one of those.

So, I have a huge phobia of being around males in general. (past traumatic events, etc.) My husband has a thing for mocking me continuously in the future with past things I said to him in a serious manner...(like him saying “she was asking for it” when he was trying to do something bad to a friend of mine without either of our permission vocally, and while we were both drunk, no matter how much we’d try to argue his logic, he sticks to what he thinks...this is a different matter so it isn’t important in the context of what I am posting about, but it’s just to give where he was coming at from this.) I tell him that I don’t want people just walking into my private space without MY permission, that he should go out if someone wants him. He tells me I’m being rude and should stop being so...(well I forgot what he actually said but around the same lines of when he calls me mean, evil, etc.) I say “I don’t like being around guys..” husband says “that’s sexist” in a very condescending tone. I vocalize to him SO MUCH that I get a panic attack when there are other guys around, the more...the more panicky, or also depending on the personality could escalate it, sadly this person is a roommate who I though we would be gone from since we are out of a home but nope...but this guy is just like the person who helped put this fear upon me... So I don’t get why he says this when I tell him constantly whenever he would have friends around too that I can’t go in there, I can’t even say “hey i need you for a minute” or anything, that’s how bad it is, but nope....he just tells me to get over it or it’s irrational, etc. it’s worse that this guy talks badly about me (though husband denies it even though I know some of the acronyms the guys used in front of me and heard some of the things passing by his room) he keeps my husband from me, enables his drinking and everything, this guy buys tall cans of beer everyday (like 10 or so of them a day) I preferred our last roomate, he couldn’t pay for a second month but at least I knew the person decently and even if I was still uncomfortable when alone with the guy(like husband at work, so if he had to ask me for something I’d freak out knowing I’d have to communicate by myself) I could still talk and feel okay with their presence. just all this...just is too much.

I finally finished this :D I was making this on the side while I’m working on all my other sculptures. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lapis Lazuli, this is inspired by the Fayth from Final Fantasy X, this type of scene kept popping in my head when I would listen to this song- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (((these are the lyrics, this has been my favorite song for quite a long time, this band has been my fav since middle school. 83))) https://youtu.be/V8xG3X4ECrc ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Oceania” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (((Should I make any of the other gems like this?))) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ALSO, I’m sorry about how the text is, I don’t have a computer and mobile doesn’t post properly at all, I decided to delete most of the text ;_;

I forgot to mention, this is the Peridot I have, bigger than I remembered so a figure would be too big to make for this. I might make a plaque instead, that or find some more peridot that is smaller (this is the smallest thing I have besides jeremejevite, which is the size of a grain of rice and some cut gems.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is one of my favorites in my collection, I love when they have inclusions. I consider the first pic the front and the second pic the back.

I just threw this card because it was in my way while I was painting, without looking where and this happened.....

Hey, regarding what kind of prices you're planning to set for commissions, you could always browse the artists of tumblr to get some rates they charge and base it off that. With that said, I would be fully willing to pay like $40-60 or maybe even $70 for a big art piece like the one you made for crystreams xenoblade chronicles, and maybe $20 for a simpler, sketchier piece. I hope you can get some commissions up and running as soon as possible, good luck and I hope things can turn around soon <3

Thank you for the message, I’ll try to do that I’ve just been trying to pack things into garbage bags right now while being super sick, so I honestly haven’t had the motivation to do so.Ohh, I didn’t realize I never clarified or maybe I was just in a panicked daze, with drawing I have a general idea of how to price my work (I tried making a price list awhile back regarding drawings, it was extremely rushed and I wanna kinda change a lot now that I look at it with how outdated it is in every way haha, as you can see even then I had no clue how to price sculptures, it’s confusing because I’ve had people offer me 10$ for something I spent a lot of time on and then someone else giving me 25$ for a little keychain I made, it’s weird and confusing because everyone has such different values for things.)~the super old price list~http://krystami.deviantart.com/art/Commission-454909332I’m kinda gonna try basing it off what I’ve been paid a few other times and rounding it out from there and trying to keep into account quality improved, time taken, etc.That’s probably one one my favorite drawings I’ve ever done to be honest with you, besides my mecha sup guy and my current bg on here ovo

Really low prices make me less likely to commission an artist. Me: I’m not an artist. I do commission artists - I spend around $300-600 a month on digital art commissions. I sometimes find an artist who has really impressive work, or a unique style, or something else that makes me think “I should commission this person.”. Then I look at their prices and they are crazily low. As in less than 20 dollars for a colour full body character. And I don’t commission them. Because I can’t pay prices that low and feel good about myself for doing it. I know it takes hours to draw even one character. Plus the time it takes to study the brief, look at the references, communicate with me, etc etc. No way are they making even minimum wage this way, let alone a living wage. I commission art because it’s fun. It’s my hobby. If I’m knowingly paying someone slave wages to support my hobby, it isn’t fun. To artists who undercharge: Please reconsider. I’ve heard many reasons why you decide to do this (see below). But if you price your work like you don’t respect it, you won’t get clients who will respect you or your work either. You charge peanuts, you get monkeys. To commissioners who push for these prices: Have some respect. Not just for the artists, but for the other commissioners out there. You’re giving us all a bad name. If you can’t afford decent prices, don’t be mean about it. Save up, or find some other hobby. Or hey, learn to draw.

Comments I get whenever I say the above:

“No-one will buy commissions from me at decent prices.” - That’s a pity. But you realise by underpricing like this you are making your problem worse, by contributing to the “art should be dirt cheap” mindset that seems to exist in dA and other places? (okay mostly dA, that place is a cesspit) Besides, there are other things you can do than keep lowering prices. There’s tons of advice in dA: ‘Official’ Pricing Your Commissions or Artwork Thread Finding Freelance work: pricing and self doubt! And other places: How to get commissions: A guide Getting the Most Out of Commissions If none of the above helps you… maybe you need to reconsider if you are at the right stage in your development to be offering commissions. Sorry.

“I’m only doing this for fun, I don’t care about the money.” - Good for you. But there are others that are trying to make a living doing this. Have some consideration for them, yes?

“It’s the clients pushing my prices down.” - Gah. Then your clients are awful people who don’t respect you. It’s a trap though - you charge low prices, you get cheap clients. There’s only one way out of that trap.

(Commissioner says) “But I want this drawn and I can’t afford higher prices.” - I want to live in an exact replica of Wayne Manor, but I can’t afford that. So, um, I don’t. Simplify your idea, or don’t commission it until you can afford to do so without ripping off the artist.

(Commissioner says) “By paying less per artist I can support more artists.” - No. Just… no. You are not supporting artists, you are exploiting them. Paying less per artists lets you exploit more artists.

“Just tip the artist.” - I have done that, but it sends the wrong message. Tipping isn’t the norm in this game, so when I tip artists assume it’s because they did an extra-awesome job, when in fact I’m tipping them because they did their normal-awesome job. Plus if an artist is charging one-third or one-quarter what they should be, do I tip them 300%?

(Image by me. Not an artist, remember? The price list is made up, but based on real lists I’ve seen recently.)

submitted by -badgermushroom