Sorry for the delay, but here it is! A (hopefully) short but thorough breakdown of my new commission process, and a little step by step that will also be available on my Weebly website's front page. I hope you find this information useful and easy to follow! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments~

Outside of stream commissions and conventions, I now use the Commiss.io service to manage my work flow. Commissio is a website that organizes the commission process from start to finish, and I've been testing it out for close to a year and loving it. They use the same payment processor as Patreon (Stripe). Basically, an artist sets up a store front with types of commissions you can request, or digital downloadables you can buy right then and there, such as comics or art packs. You can even subscribe to an artist and receive email notifications alerting you of when they open for commissions.

For my personal Commissio page, I've set up slot limits, which helps me from taking on too many commissions and overloading my queue, that results in keeping people waiting for a long time. For each commission type on my page, I have a specific slot limit for how many of that type of project I'll take. I've purposefully kept the slots quite low, especially on the more expensive and detailed options. Additionally, there is a global slot limit for how many projects I can have active overall, regardless of commission type. Right now, I have this set to 10, but I may raise or lower it depending on how this works out for me.

Commissio also has a built-in work board that I can choose to make private or public; it's like a less detailed and more automatic version of Trello. Right now my board is set to private, as I have a commission in my queue which was requested to remain anonymous. Once I've finished this commission, I will be making the board public from there on out. It is important to note that when you request a commission, the details of your request are only visible to me and the site owners, but your username/guest name and the title of your commission are public! If you want to commission something that you would like to be kept private, or that you're getting as a surprise for someone, don't put that information in the title, and you'll be A-OK.

Now, let's talk turnaround time. These days, I have been notoriously slow in my turnaround for correspondence to project requests, answering inquiries, etc. This is an area I'm turning a lot of my focus to, so all of you don't have to be left wondering what's what when you contact me. And in a show of great timing, Commissio made an announcement in their Discord channel about an update that will be coming soon (it is not yet in effect). When you submit a project request, if an artist doesn't respond to it within 30 days, it will be taken off the artist's workboard. Similarly, if a client is unresponsive for 30 days on a project pending final approval, the client will be notified and the project will be marked as closed/completed. This sounds like a really beneficial thing for both artist and client, and I'm looking forward to that change when it arrives.

As far as asking me questions about potential commissions that you're unsure about, asking for price quotes, or any other inquiries that take place outside of an official commission request, I'm going to be a bit more strict about how I receive those, and how often I answer them. For my part, I will set aside time a minimum of once per week to respond to these sorts of messages, so you will hear back from me within 7 days when you contact me about these things, unless I am away on vacation or convention business. When you have a question for me, I ask that you contact me through email, via Spixish [at] gmail.com, through my Contact page of my site (which also leads to email), or through the note system of your art gallery of preference (FurAffinity, Weasyl, etc). Inquiries made via instant messaging services like Discord or Telegram, through Twitter DMs, and/or through Picarto stream chat and whispers will be redirected to email, or even ignored. Please do not use these informal methods to discuss commission information with me. This includes friends and repeat customers as well as strangers.

Last bit of info! Commissio allows you to leave a tip for artists via their Commissio home page, if you feel so inclined. They are also in the beta stage of allowing people to become monthly backers of artists you enjoy. Currently I don't have any rewards set up for distribution to my supporters, but that will be changing in May, so keep an eye out for updates about that.

And that's about it! These are all the most important points I can think of for how and why to use this service. I hope you all find this site as convenient to use as I do, and that because of it the commission process can go a heck of a lot smoother and more organized, for both of us. Again, if you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments below, and thank you so much for reading, and for supporting my art!

Malachyte's Commission Process, Step by Step

1. Look through the examples of types of commissions offered and choose the one you would like for your idea. Examples can be found in each listing on Commissio, on my business site, or in my galleries.

2. If needed, email or note me with any questions you may have before officially requesting a project.

3. Go to Commissio, find the commission type you are interested in, read the details of what you are buying and make sure you accept the terms of my Terms of Service, which are linked from each and every listing.

4. Click "Request Project" and fill out the details of your request. Commissio's help page has a helpful breakdown of this part of the process, too.

5. Submit your request. The request is automatically placed in my Pending list, where I can review the information and decide whether to accept or decline the commission.

6. Once accepted, further discussion takes place using the comment system, which sends each of us an email when either of us responds. Your request is now moved to the Queued list, which means I have officially accepted your commission, but no money has changed hands.

7. When I am ready to actively work on your project, I send you an invoice, which you receive via email. Once it's paid, your project is moved to the Active list, and you will receive WIPs and updates.

8. When work is completed, I will submit the final assets to you for final approval. If you are satisfied with the work and no last changes are needed, you mark the final assets as approved, and the project is officially completed.

-Optionally, you can rate and review me on Commissio if you've made an account, or leave a tip at this time if you're extra stoked and financially able.

--If my slots are full for the type of commission you'd like, simply subscribe to my page and enable email alerts, and when I open for that type you'll receive a notification about it.