Okay, so I’m currently in the process of adjusting my commission prices and the way that things work. Also messing with Sketch on the Spot and methods of payment. If you want to learn more, read below.

So far, I’ve gotten the sketch and comic styles about the prices I feel are reasonable. It’s going to take a while for me to do the painted version of my demo piece, though.
Still, I feel that breaking it down this way is more natural and less scary.

I’m also working on an actual storefront so I don’t have to be reliant on Paypal and can get stuff directly into my bank if I want (but that people with Paypal or whatever other online cash they have can use it without it being a problem.)

This ALSO means I’ll be able to have a site to do the math for people so they don’t have to! Won’t that be neat?

Of course, I trust all of you not to… um… like order a bunch of things when I’m not available, right? I mean, it’s not up yet, just something that I worry about. I know a lot of you really like my work, and you’re very enthusiastic! <3 Hehe.

Anyway, all of this extends to Sketch on the Spot, in its own way. Some of the requests have been a bit taxing, and the need to make each sketch a full piece has overridden what it was meant to be and essentially made them into super cheap commissions.

Unfortunately, this means people have been treating them as such, getting series, multiple characters, or really detailed things.

What they’re supposed to be is quick, fun, sketches that people can hang out and watch me do as they unwind on Fridays. They were never meant to be a replacement for the commissions, nor were they meant to be as detailed or as time consuming as they have become.

I’ve tried before to reduce my stress by changing the perimeters and price of the SotS, but the main thing I think I’m going to have to do is impose some actual solid rules.
So what, exactly? Well I have some ideas.

Possible rule ideas:

Limit to one character. Two or more characters limits what I can do in a short period of time and while I CAN, I really don’t like drawing smut during the SotS. It isn’t relaxing. Plus the more complex I have to make something, the less I’ll be able to do with what I’ve got.

Black and white or limited pallette. I moved away from black and white because I wasn’t comfortable about my sketch work, and I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, but I think you all know what I can do now. I try to do limited color or splash a little color on everything, just so it looks nicer, but still.

Everything has to be paid on Friday before the stream and an e-mail with your idea HAS to be sent. No e-mail, no picture. If you’re not comfortable e-mailing me (or any artist), you might want to reconsider buying artwork online. So if you can, schedule it to be sent or whatever. Later, when the store is open, you can just buy a voucher and use that.

People who are in the stream go first, then people who aren’t, breaks are spaced further apart.

No secondary queue! Everyone is limited to one spot on the list at a time. Anyone who doesn’t get their picture done (hopefully everyone who’s there will), or sends money and no info can either bank it for a larger commission, the next week, or if you want to, gets it returned. (I won’t refund it if I don’t HAVE to, I’ll just send you the money back and eat the Paypal fee because refunds may take a while to get back to you.) I want the list cleaned every week, if possible. No buying multiple rounds.

Most of this relies on me being a bit more stern and a bit more on top of things, of course.

A lot of it was people really seemed to like the idea and I have fun with it, but the stress tends to build now and again and I have to stop or I get really burnt out. It becomes very unfun, and that’s mostly because I kept giving more and more to people, to keep from disappointing them, that it became regular and expected. Then, as I said, people began to see these as my commissions, not as… well… just something fun, and when I showed people the prices I wanted for my commissions, they got the wrong idea about things.

This would also make more people just buy SotS and bypass regular commissions completely (which has been happening.)
Not that I blame anyone but myself or even hold anything against anyone for that! That’s not your problem. It’s mine, and if I don’t want to stress myself to death, then I’ve got to fix it.

I understand that some people may not like this, but compared to a lot of things, these are very cheap. I’d rather do something big that I can show off with if you really want to commission me then a ton of little things. I’m trying to edge towards larger products and projects, you know? I’m not trying to make them too expensive! But I need it to be worth the time. I’d like to have fun, and I’d like to have money, but as the followers and fans have come in, it’s been putting pressure on both and that makes me stressed pretty badly.

Anyway, that’s what I’m kicking around.

The rules for this week are going to be a bit nebulous but I’ll probably have them solidified by next week. Hopefully all my demos (and the video of the one I’m currently doing) along with the prices will be done by next week as well and you can all check those out.

Anyway, sorry for the long blurb! Thanks for reading!
~Sali