Commissioned art. It can be a financial lifesaver. It can also make you grit your teeth and feel like quitting!
Knowing yourself and how you operate is the key to being a successful commission artist.

You  already know that the next few days will be hectic. I set my alarm to 5:30 for this morning, allowed myself (so far) 1 hour to get the computer work done, drink my coffee, putting the dogs out (who protest as it is raining again) then will complete laying out the commissions and spend the next several days working non stop.
Frankly that old saying, “Make hay while the sun shines” is what commission deadlines is all about.   And Christmas is a huge motivator for those people who have thought about your work all year long!
I work well with deadlines. I know that. So although I still may procrastinate starting the layout, once it is accomplished I go right on from there. I also mentally calculate those pieces that need to ship, those that can be picked up and those where I would like to toss the payment back at the client! And it IS a fact that price determines value so IF you have a difficult client, I will bet you dollars to doughnuts that it is a client who is paying the least amount of money for your work! Or one for whom you have made a few exceptions for……

I am not sure that procrastination is the right word for delaying…or it may seem like delaying….starting on a commission piece.  I pretty well seem to have an internal calculator that does seem to kick in and pre-determine the time it will take to complete a commission without  sitting down with a chart or graph or timeline so it is important to know yourself and what you can accomplish!  If you need longer to complete work,and get easily stressed,  don’t take on so much work. Even if you need the money, unless you can bring in someone to help you organize and streamline what you are doing, it won’t be worth it! All of that comes with commission work!

It is mid month on the last month of the year so within the next few weeks we will all start the thinking process of making up your individual business plans for 2010! A big part of what we do at Art Career Experts  and at the ArtistPaycheck (where I also posted this) is to motivate you to make a plan because having it in writing is what makes your goals happen!  So while we are all finishing  up our commissions, holiday and travel plans, by New Years Eve we’ll want to be reflecting on what we accomplished in 2009 with our goals and what we want to do in 2010! It’s just around the corner!
Theresa