About Commissions... (Patreon)

TLDR: Nah Brah! I'm sorry.

I spent a lot of time in March, when I wasn't drawing or designing, questioning everything about how I do what I do and how to improve it. Not just for myself but for others.

One of the most difficult topics for me was the recurring question of Commissions.

I have looked at the following options;

• having a Commission based tier restricted to 1 patron per month, with a set flat rate per picture. 4 days of work on it max. 1 commission per month.
• selling the rights to choosing one of the weekly Patreon images, instead of choosing the characters myself.
• offering free 'commissions' as a random reward for one top tier patron.
• cancelling any personal projects and doing side commissions for exposure on twitter.
• returning to FurAffinity and working on furry commissions. 
• closing Patreon and working on commissions full time.

My problems with these options are that I felt none of them are right for me. I do love some furry art but I don't indentify as one and always feel like an outsider. I love the work I do on Patreon and have no interest in leaving. Offering it as a random reward seems too similar to my suggestion thread and polls and selling the rights to choose seems like double dipping and I am not a fan. 

That really only leaves the first option as the last option. Taking a commission through a limited Patreon tier is not uncommon, but it bumps me up to a 6th monthly image and my Edgeways work. At my current rate of work that's a lot. Especially since that's not taking into account time needed for activities related to Patreon, Discord, Social Media, Research, Learning or posts like this that do not include drawing.

But people seem to really want commissions so I have considered it very seriously anyway. I then decided to look at the reasons I currently have not chosen to take on commissions.

• I don't have the time.
• I want to feel I can experiment and grow.
• I want to use the limited spare time I do have to work on long term personal goals.
• I don't want to feel pressured to draw characters I have no interest in.
• I don't want to have to justify why I won't draw certain things.
• I don't have the time to wait three days to hear back about a sketch. 
• I suffer with anxiety and commissions can be uncertain ground.
• I have had bad experiences with unreasonable clients.
• I have difficulty standing up for myself.

Don't get me wrong, most clients have been amazing - Very kind and accomodating. But the bad ones are legit traumatising and my ability to draw is very much tied up in my mood and opinion of myself. I do better when I feel better. 

It's this last thought that makes me feel that taking on commissions at this time is irresponsible considering I have a Patreon account to take care of. Having a bad commission/ client experience setting me back would have a larger knock-on effect on my mood/ ability to perform.

CONCLUSION:

Though it will be upsetting for some to hear I currently don't believe it is wise or responsible for me to take commissions on at this time. Thank you to everyone who sent me messages asking about them. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you but it's just not a good fit for me right now. I'm not ruling it out entirely but I'm also not considering it for at least the next few months, at which point I will review it.

xoxo Blitz