Questions to Ask for Art Commissions
These are the questions to ask for art commissions before you name a price, written for artists and illustrators who take on pet portraits, family paintings, character art or pieces for a small business. They run in the order a commission form or a message thread tends to take: the subject and its references, the look, size and medium, where the piece will be used and the rights that go with it, the date and the money, sketches and changes, and delivery. Send the ones that fit the job and drop the rest.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Subject
What would you like me to make, and who or what is in it?
Why ask it
Count the subjects as the client describes them. One head and shoulders is a different price from a couple, two dogs and the house behind them, so read the list back before you quote. The extra pet has a habit of appearing after the number is agreed.
Is this for you or a gift, and is there an occasion behind it?
Why ask it
A gift comes with a date that cannot move and a recipient whose taste you only hear about secondhand. Ask what that person already has on their walls, and whether it is a surprise, so you know not to post progress where they might see it.
What pose, expression or moment do you picture?
Why ask it
Some clients arrive with an exact scene and some want you to choose, and the dangerous case is 'whatever you think' from someone who secretly has a picture in mind. Two quick thumbnails will bring it out. Their pick also shows how much of the figure is in frame, and that changes your hours.
What goes behind the subject: a plain color, a simple setting or a full scene?
Why ask it
Background is usually the line between your price tiers, so name each tier's cost as they answer. A real place, their garden or the church where they married, needs its own references and its own hours.
Which reference photos can you send, and who took them?
Why ask it
Ask for the original files at full size, not screenshots, and for several of the same subject in different light. If a professional took the picture, someone else may hold rights in it, and how that works depends on the photographer's terms and the country, so have the client check before you paint from it.
Which one photo looks most like them to you?
Why ask it
Likeness is judged by the person who knows the subject, and they usually have one picture that is 'her exactly'. Build the face from that one and use the others for color and detail. If the favorite is small or blurred, say now how much you can honestly get from it.
What should I know about them that a photo cannot show?
Why ask it
The ear that never stood up, the cap he was never seen without: details like these are what make a client say you got him. When the piece is in memory of a person or an animal, go gently and let them tell as much as they want to.
For a character, is there a reference sheet, or only a written description?
Why ask it
A sheet with front and back views and color swatches saves a round of corrections. From a description alone, ask for eyes, hair, build, outfit and the markings that must never change, then send a sketch before any color goes down.
Is there anything that must be in the picture, and anything to leave out?
Why ask it
Must-haves run to a wedding ring, a team scarf or a favorite toy. Leave-outs are the leash, the braces, the stranger at the edge of the photo. Put both lists in the written brief so the final piece is checked against them and not against memory.
Should there be any wording on it, such as a name or a date?
Why ask it
Have the client type it, then copy and paste. A misspelled name on an original painting has no undo, and even on a digital file it is the mistake they will remember. Ask where it should sit, since lettering needs space planned at the sketch.
Does the piece include a real person, a brand or a character that belongs to someone else?
Why ask it
Each of these raises a question of permission, and the answers differ by country and by what the client plans to do with the picture. Decide your own policy before anyone asks, state it plainly, and tell a client who wants to sell copies to check their position for themselves.
Look
Which of my finished pieces is closest to what you have in mind?
Why ask it
Their pick becomes the standard the result is measured against. Check its size, medium and level of finish against what they are asking to pay. If they point at a large oil while asking for the sketch price, show an example from the sketch tier before going further.
Have you saved work by other artists that shows the mood you want?
Why ask it
Other people's pictures are fine as a guide to palette, lighting or composition, so ask what they like in each one. Being asked to imitate another artist's hand is a different request, and it is reasonable to say that you will make it in your own style or not at all.
What size do you want, upright or wide, and does it have to fit a particular space or frame?
Why ask it
Get a measurement, in the unit you work in. Clients guess sizes badly, so suggest taping a sheet of paper to the wall at each size you offer and living with it for a day. A frame they already own fixes both the size and the proportions.
Do you have a medium in mind, or would you like me to recommend one?
Why ask it
Most clients choose by the look of an example without knowing what follows from it. Give each option one sentence: watercolor and pencil want glass in front of them, oil needs drying time before it can travel, digital arrives as a file they print themselves.
Do you want full color, a limited palette or black and white, and are there colors it should sit well with?
Why ask it
Matching a room is a fair request for a piece bought to hang in it, so ask for a photo of that wall in daylight. For a character, ask for the color codes or a swatch image. 'Teal' covers a lot of ground.
How finished should it be: a loose sketch, clean line work or fully rendered?
Why ask it
Send one example of each level from your own portfolio with its price beside it. These words mean something different to every artist, and a client who asks for 'just a simple one' is often picturing your most polished piece.
How true to life should it be, and how much may I simplify or flatter?
Why ask it
One portrait client wants every line on the face and the next wants ten years taken off. Ask about the specifics: glasses on or off, the gray in the hair, the old dog's white muzzle. If your style pushes faces a long way, show a past portrait beside its reference photo.
Which parts would you like me to decide for myself?
Why ask it
The answer marks out where you have room: the palette, the crop, the time of day. Repeat it back in the brief. A client who handed you the background and later asks for a different one is asking for extra work, and you will both know it.
Use
Where will the finished piece live: on a wall, in print or on a screen?
Why ask it
A painting is read from across a room, a book illustration at arm's length, an avatar at the size of a coin. That tells you how much fine detail is worth the hours, and which surface or file to prepare.
Which room will it hang in, and does that wall get direct sun, steam or damp?
Why ask it
Strong sun, bathroom steam and kitchen grease are hard on artwork, works on paper most of all. The answer may change what you recommend: a different wall, glazing, a varnish or another medium. For a mural or anything outdoors, ask what the surface is and who prepares it.
Is this for your own enjoyment, or will a business or a project that earns money use it?
Why ask it
Here the two price lists divide. A portrait for the hall and the same drawing on a product label are different jobs with different fees. If the reply is 'personal for now', write down what happens when that changes.
If it is for a business, what will it go on, in what quantity and for how long?
Why ask it
A book cover, a bottle label and a band shirt each have a print run and a life span, and a license is written around those. Take down the specifics in place of 'full rights' and price the use they need. Everything, everywhere, forever is a larger figure, and you can say so.
Do you plan to make prints, cards or merchandise from it yourself?
Why ask it
Buyers of an original often assume it comes with the freedom to put it on mugs. Whether it does rests on your agreement and on the law where each of you lives, so spell out your answer in writing: free for personal gifts, a fee for anything sold, or not at all.
Are you expecting to own the copyright, or the artwork itself?
Why ask it
Most private buyers have never thought of these as two things. Explain your terms in plain words: what they receive, what you keep, and what a full transfer would cost if you offer one. What happens when nothing is written down varies from country to country, so never leave it to assumption.
May I post the finished piece and work in progress, and from what date?
Why ask it
A gift needs silence until the day it is given. Some clients want their child, their home or their character kept offline for good, and some artists charge extra for a private commission. If you do, name the fee here and not on the invoice.
Do you plan to run the image through an AI tool or sell it as an NFT?
Why ask it
Artists write this into their terms in both directions: some forbid it and some price it as a business use. Say which you are before the deposit, because a client who meant to train a model on their own character needs to hear the no while they can still walk away. Name both uses in the agreement, since clients read 'personal use' in different ways.
Time and money
When do you need it in your hands, and what is that date tied to?
Why ask it
Work backward from the birthday or the wedding. Shipping, framing, drying or varnishing and one round of changes all sit between your last brushstroke and their date. Reply with the day by which you would need the deposit and the references to make it.
Is that date fixed, or could it move if my queue is full?
Why ask it
It is better to say your queue is eight weeks long than to accept and deliver late. If the job can jump the queue, quote the rush fee as a figure. For a gift, offer a printed card of the approved sketch to hand over on the day while the piece is finished.
Do you have a figure in mind, or shall I send what each price covers?
Why ask it
Private clients often have no idea what a commission costs and are shy of naming a number first. Three options at three prices, say a head study, a half figure and a full scene, let them choose without embarrassment. It also keeps you from guessing low.
Does that figure need to cover framing, shipping and any tax, or the artwork alone?
Why ask it
On a small piece these extras can add up to a large share of the total, and a client who meets them for the first time on the final invoice feels misled. Whether you have to charge tax, and on what, depends on where you and the buyer are. Ask an accountant or the tax office there.
Are you happy to pay a deposit before I start and the balance before it ships?
Why ask it
The deposit holds their place in your queue and pays for materials if the client goes quiet. State the split, when each part falls due and what becomes of the first part if they cancel. What a seller may keep can depend on local consumer rules, so have your wording checked once.
Can I send you a short written agreement to confirm before I start?
Why ask it
For a private job, keep it to a page: the brief, the price, the dates, the number of changes, what the client may do with the image and what happens if either of you cancels. A reply that says 'agreed' gives you both something to point to. What makes an agreement binding differs from place to place, so on a large job have someone qualified read yours.
How will you pay, and in which currency?
Why ask it
With a client abroad, settle the currency and who absorbs the transfer fee, because a small commission can lose a visible slice to it. Choose a method that produces an invoice and a record. Read that provider's rules for sellers before you rely on it.
What should happen if you cancel or change the idea after I have started?
Why ask it
Tie the answer to stages: before the sketch, after the sketch is approved, after color has begun. A new pose once the sketch is signed off is a new piece, not a revision. Its price is far easier to agree today than in the middle of the job.
Revisions
Have you commissioned an artist before?
Why ask it
A first-time client does not know that the sketch comes before color, or that a change costs more after it, so give them your stages in two or three lines. Someone who has done this before will tell you what went wrong last time. Ask, because that is the part to get right for them.
At which stages do you want to see it: rough sketch, line work, color, final?
Why ask it
Every check-in is a point where a change is still cheap. Tell them what can move at each one: composition at the sketch, colors at the flat stage, small touches only at the end. With paint or ink, be clear about what cannot be undone once it is on the surface.
How many rounds of changes do you expect to need at the sketch?
Why ask it
Give your included number as you ask, and define a round as one list of changes sent in one message. Add what each further round costs. A limit the client knew about from the first day is seldom argued with.
Who else will look at it before you approve it?
Why ask it
Late changes tend to come from the husband or the sister who sees the piece for the first time when it is finished. Ask the client to show the sketch to everyone whose opinion counts and to send back a single combined reply.
When I send a sketch for approval, how soon can you get back to me?
Why ask it
A sketch that sits unanswered for ten days comes straight off the time before a fixed date. Agree a reply window, such as three days, and say that the delivery date moves by however long an approval is late.
Would you rather keep all of this in email or in direct messages?
Why ask it
Whichever they pick, the brief, the approvals and the payment record belong in that one thread, where you can search them. If the job began in direct messages, send the agreed brief by email and ask for a reply that says 'approved', since accounts and message histories can disappear.
What would disappoint you most when you see the finished piece?
Why ask it
What comes back is the fear behind the commission: that it will not look like her, that it will come out cartoonish, that the colors will be dull. Use it to pick the stage where you send a closer preview, such as a study of the face before the full painting.
Delivery
For digital work, which file type and pixel size do you need, and will you print it?
Why ask it
A profile picture, a poster and a stream overlay are three different files. Get the largest print size now, because a canvas set up too small cannot be enlarged cleanly afterward. Say whether the layered working file is part of the price.
Do you want it framed and ready to hang, or will you frame it yourself?
Why ask it
A frame changes the price, the weight of the parcel and, with glass, the risk in transit. If the client is framing it, give them the exact image size and the border you are leaving so they can buy or order before it arrives.
Will you collect it, or shall I ship it, and to which country?
Why ask it
Get the full address and the country before you quote, as a large canvas sent across a border can cost more than either of you expects. Import charges are set at the destination. Tell the client to ask their own customs office or the carrier what will be due on arrival.
Do you want the parcel tracked and insured, and what should we do if it arrives damaged?
Why ask it
Agree this while the piece is still on your easel. Photograph the artwork and each layer of packing, and ask the client to photograph the box before opening it if it looks crushed. Carriers differ on what their cover pays for artwork, so read the terms before you count on them.
Is it coming to you or going straight to the person it is for?
Why ask it
A surprise sent to the recipient's address needs no invoice in the box, a return label that gives nothing away, and someone at home to sign. If it goes to the buyer first, leave them time to wrap it and carry it there.
Where would you like my signature, and should the back carry a title and date?
Why ask it
A collector usually wants the signature visible, while someone using a character piece as an avatar may want the image clean and your credit in the caption. On an original, a title, a date and a short care note on the back cost you two minutes.
Once it is up, would you send me a photo of it in its place?
Why ask it
Asked at the start, this is an easy yes. A picture of the piece on the client's wall shows scale in a way a studio shot cannot, and it tells the next client what a commission from you looks like in a home. Check that they are happy for you to post it.
How to run a commission from first message to delivery
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Building the commission form
Ask on the form only what sets the price
A form that takes twenty minutes loses the client who only wanted a rough idea of cost. Keep it to the answers that change your hours: number of subjects, size, medium, level of finish, background, the date and whether the use is personal or for a business. Taste, nerves and the story behind the piece come out better in a few messages afterward.
Put pictures beside every choice
Next to 'sketch', 'line work' and 'fully rendered', show one of your own pieces at that level with its starting price. Do the same for sizes and backgrounds. A client choosing between pictures picks what they mean. A client choosing between words picks the cheapest word and expects the best picture.
Link your terms where nobody can miss them
A short page that states your deposit, your included changes, what you will not draw, how you handle rights and how long your queue is answers half this list before anyone writes to you. Add a box on the form that says the client has read it. Having those terms checked once for the place you work in is money well spent.
Leave out what does not apply
A digital avatar needs no questions about shipping, frames or sunlight, and a painting for a living room needs none about file types. Send each client the questions for their kind of piece. Being asked about customs for a profile picture tells them nobody read their message.
Turning the answers into a quote
Write the brief back in your own words
Before any price, send a short summary: who is in it, the pose, the background, size, medium, finish, the use and the date. Ask for a reply that says it is right. A misreading costs nothing to fix in a paragraph and a great deal to fix in paint.
Price the things that change your hours
Extra figures, a detailed background, a larger surface and a rush each add time you can count. List them as separate lines so the client sees what moves the total and can trim the piece to fit what they have to spend. A single lump figure invites haggling over the whole job.
Quote the use apart from the making
For a business, show the fee for making the picture and the fee for the stated use as two lines. When the client later wants the image on something else, there is already a line to revisit, and nobody has to reopen what the artwork itself was worth.
Give the quote an end date
Say how long the price stands, and that a place in your queue is held only once the deposit arrives. Without that, a client can return after three months expecting last season's price and next week's delivery.
What to press on for each kind of commission
Portraits of people and pets
References decide everything here. Ask for eye-level photos taken in daylight, the client's favorite likeness and one picture that shows true coloring. With pets, ask for the markings on both sides and whether the collar or tag belongs in the painting.
Characters and fan pieces
Get the reference sheet, the exact colors and the list of details that must not change. Mention early any content you do not draw. Decide ahead of time how you treat characters owned by a studio or a publisher, since what an owner tolerates differs from one to the next and from place to place.
Work for a business or a publication
The questions under Use carry the weight: what the image goes on, how many, how long, and whether the client expects to own it outright. Ask who signs off and whether a contract of theirs is on the way, and read it before you sketch. A clause you do not understand is a reason to consult someone qualified.
Gifts and pieces made in memory
Work the date backward and add slack, because these are the jobs that cannot arrive late. The buyer is often guessing at another person's taste, so ask about that person's home and what already hangs in it. With a memorial piece, send the sketch with more care than usual and let the client take their time over it.
Where commissions go wrong
Starting before the money and the brief are settled
Enthusiasm on both sides makes it tempting to begin from a friendly message. Then the client goes quiet, or remembers the piece differently, and there is nothing written to point to. A confirmed brief and a cleared deposit come before the first line is drawn.
Promising a likeness from one poor photo
A single dark, distant picture cannot give you a face, however much the client loves it. Say what you can and cannot get from it, and ask for anything else that exists, even a still from an old video. An honest limit at the start is kinder than a portrait that looks like a stranger.
Leaving changes open-ended
'I'll tweak it until you're happy' sounds generous and turns one painting into three. Fix the number of rounds, tie each to a stage and put a price on the extras. Most clients find the limits reassuring, because they suggest you have done this before.
Treating silence as approval
Moving on to color because nobody objected to the sketch puts all the risk on you. Wait for the word 'approved' in writing at each stage. If the reply window passes, send one reminder and say that the schedule is paused until you hear back.
Settling rights with a nod
A client who says 'of course, post it' on a call may remember the conversation differently when the picture turns up on prints. Whatever you agree about copying, selling and posting belongs in the same document as the price. When real money rides on it, have the wording looked at by someone qualified where you work.