Occasionally amidst my busy schedule I will have time to accept commissions. Most often I am asked to complete paintings and holiday cards, but I also offer services designing posters, advertisements, and stationary with quick turn-around. I’ve done album covers, tattoo designs, portraits, and concept sketches. I also accept commissions for costumes, garments, wigs, and prop design. Project timelines vary greatly depending on the season and if there is a wait-list, so I encourage you to commission early! Below is a sample of commissioned work.
- Commissions may be ordered in person, via phone, or email. However, I will need a written copy of your commission request in order to deliver the best possible service. If you order a commission in person or over the phone, I will make hand-written notes to use as a reference when it comes time to work on the commission. If you order via email, your email counts as the written request. The more detailed the email is, the better chance you have of me doing exactly what you want. I will read your entire email and I will tell you if parts of it are unclear to me. You may also include sketches and reference images with your commission request to help me understand what you are looking for.
- I will not/can not duplicate any image for you exactly. If you would like me to do a painting of a photograph, I will do my best to get an extremely close likeness. However, artistic liberties may be taken to ENHANCE your provided image. Ex: Intensifying colors, cropping the image, moving elements around to improve composition. You may direct me in how to change the image if you like. Otherwise I will do what I feel is best for the project.
- You may not give me a picture/illustration done by another artist and ask me to copy it.
- Paying for an image that I created does not mean that you own the rights to that image. U.S. copyright law states that the client may only use the work of art for the expressed purpose for which it was commissioned. If you, as the client, wish to own exclusive rights to the image, permission must be granted, in clear writing from the artist (me) and an additional cost will be included in that contract.
- This means that I as the artist, unless otherwise stated in a written contract, have the right to reproduce my work in any form.
- In the event that you do purchase the full rights to the image, you must still credit me as the artist.
- I will send you samples of in-progress work whenever you ask and probably more often than you ask in order to make sure everything is going exactly as you wish it to.
- If your commission is especially extensive or will take a long time to do, I may request that payments be made throughout the project. Example, if I was illustrating a book for you, and I estimated the project to take 300 hours, I may ask that you send partial payment every 40-80 hours. That is just an example, but any payment plan will be worked out and agreed upon prior to me beginning work on your commission.
- If your project requires a deadline for completion, I need you to be available to provide me with information that I may need to advance the progress of your commission. If I cannot get a hold of you, I reserve the right to miss the deadline with no penalty to me.
- If at any stage during your commission, you cease communication for a period of more than six months, without first giving explicit notice of this hiatus, you forfeit any deposit, material’s fee, materials, and rights to the in-progress work made on your commission. You may in the future order a new commission, which will begin from scratch, only if you do not owe me payment for prior time spent on a commission that had not come to fruition.
- I reserve the right to refuse any commission for any reason. I’ve never refused a commission. But I reserve the right. 🙂
- I prefer Paypal, but I do accept cash and check.
- I will ask for payment for materials at the beginning of the project, before I start working, but after I buy the materials. I will show you a receipt in order to verify that these materials did indeed cost what I say they did. The only time I will charge for materials without a receipt is if your project will require a large amount of a material that I already own. (Large relative to the unit size) Example: if you want a 4’ x 6’ painting that will require me to use most of my paint, but will not require that I buy new paint, I will charge you for the paint but, the charge to you will be LESS than the cost of a new tube of paint. If you have any problem with this, I will simply buy new paint in the appropriate sized tube, and charge you the full price of the new tube with proof of purchase.
- For most projects I will not require final payment until the project is completed. I will NOT send you the final image until I receive payment. I will however, send you a preview of the final image via email in low resolution, not suitable for printing. Typically, my preview images are sent at 60 – 70 dpi. The sample image will also have the words “Sample Image” or a watermark placed over it to prevent theft. You do not own the image nor do you have the rights to reproduce the image until you pay for it.
- Once payment has been received, I will send you the full resolution image or painting or whatever it is you ordered, without watermark. If your image is digital, I will print it for you and mail it to you for an additional charge upon your request.
- For digital images only, if after your commission has been completed you need more file types, resolutions, and sizes of your image which are smaller than the original (this includes cropped images, or images without text layers) I will provide these for a small charge for no less than six months, given that you own the rights to the image. If you are requesting more file types or image files for rights that you do not own, you will need to buy those rights from me, and a new contract and fee will apply.
- I do not offer refunds on anything. Not on materials, and not on the time spent working on the image or item. Because final payment is not required until you see a sample of the finished image, this shouldn’t be a problem. If you receive the final image and then ask to send it back to me for a refund, I have to assume that you have reproduced the image and are trying to steal it. If you do have any problems with the final image after you receive it, please contact me and I will work with you to resolve the problem until you are satisfied.
I reserve the right to refuse any commission for any reason. Please browse the menu above to learn about the commission process and my commission policies. Don’t forget to also read my standard contract for terms and conditions.
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