👋🏼 Hello readers!
This week, I completed two portraits as part of a commission. The video above is the making of the second portrait, and has not been shared on social media yet. That makes this post the world premiere and you its exclusive audience! Please walk down a red carpet and wave at imaginary paparazzi before hitting the play button.
I want to share two reasons why I accept private commissions. One reason is generous and the other is selfish. Both reasons are good.
Every week I strive to do a better job with this publication. Your feedback creates a positive feedback loop that enables this process. So if you like what you read, tell me about it, and consider sharing this post with a friend!
🖼 Reasons to Accept Commissions
We lived in the town of Eau Claire in Wisconsin when I first fulfilled a commission request for a family. I didn’t think much of it, other than being glad for the opportunity, until the day I handed over the finished piece.
I met the client at a cafe, and we chatted for a few minutes about how she liked the drawing and what she would do with it. It was only when she left that it hit me - my drawing would stay at her home for many, many years.
What a strange feeling! It was just a piece of paper that I had bought at an arts supply store. It was just a pen with which scratched that paper to make lines of ink. It added up to only a few dollars of tangible value. But turned into a drawing, those lines were precious to my client. And as time wore on, they would only become more valuable. This is the magic of the artistic process - that a few dollars can create an object of incredible value.
This is the first reason that I always accept commissions -
To have something I make occupy a space in someone’s home. For it to sit at their table, or hang on their wall, while time passes and they live their lives. To have it be there until they no longer even notice it at all. For my work to thus become a part of their world.
I make a sharp distinction between the terms ‘artist’ and ‘illustrator’. I think of myself as the former, and my line is drawn at this argument - I draw the way I want.
I am fortunate that most of the people who approach me for work also like the way I do things and give me complete creative freedom. In Ep 32 of the SneakyArt Podcast, I speak with artist Emma Carlisle about the unique responsibility that complete creative freedom puts on the artist, and how it leads to us producing our best work.
In the episode, I say -
“My best client work happens when I don’t think about the client at all.”
That said, working for someone else means working within certain constraints.
It is good to be answerable. There is no better cure for the artist’s ego than being asked to make one small change, to grumble about it, and afterwards realize it really does improve the piece.
It is wonderful to be challenged. If I only ever drew what I wanted, I would stay within my comfort zone and only draw people at street corners. Over the last year, however, I have taken opportunities to draw pets, young children as well as older people, and hundreds of people of different ethnicities. These challenges pushed me to understand my own style better, and to uncover more things I could do with pure line-work. They helped me to expand my library of good lines.
This is the second reason to accept commissions.
Click to see why it is good to venture outside your comfort zone, to check out some challenging pet portraits I did, and to read about the library of good lines.
(Also, I am currently accepting commissions! Reply to this email for further enquiries.)
Over the past month, I have written nearly 10,000 words about my appearance on The Seen and the Unseen podcast with Amit Varma! If you haven’t had the chance to catch up with the ideas, follow links below -
👨🏻🎨 Insider #19 - Would Da Vinci make a TikTok channel? and where we go wrong in emulating artists of yesteryear.
🔐 Post 95 - What gatekeepers steal from us, and why we must reject them.
👀 Insider #20 - Other People Exist, a profound realization that changed the course of my creative work forever.
🎯 Insider #21 - The Path of an Accidental Artist, and how I optimized within my environment to both make and sell art.
📚 Insider #22 - Why I Self-Published my First Book, and why you should too.
I believe that long-form writing helps both the writer and their audience.
As a writer, it helps me connect stray thoughts into larger narratives that would otherwise remain imperceptible to me. As the reading audience, it will save you time from having to figure some things out all by yourself.
Such writing is made possible by my lovely base of SneakyArt Insiders. Without their support, I would be unable to devote sufficient time and energy to this task. Grab the offer below to join the SneakyArt Insider Club and support my work.
Thank you for your time and attention. See you next week with Issue #100!
99 - Why I accept commissions.