#not using lineart nor things that might look similar to it

[printucesse]

wip I might never finish

[sharky857]

Hello! I want to ask an artist for a commission for the 1st time but idk how to approach and Im afraid to come out as rude. I saw in a post that you are "good customer", so maybe can help? D:

Ok. First of all: relax. Artists are just people like you and me. C;

(Secondly: politeness in general is the key.)

That being said, when looking for an artist to commission, assuming you already found one with a drawing style you may like, always look at their commissions/prices list/info before trying to contact them.

Generally, those lists contain each price for any different kind of drawing, like head shots/close-ups, half busts, full bodies. The most detailed lists also specify the prices based on whether the art work is gonna be also a sketch, lineart or coloured pict; some even go into further details (like with/without backgrounds, price for additional characters, etc...)

In addition, you should also find a list of the subjects/themes/characters that the artist themselves are willing to draw. If something isn’t on that list (and isn’t on the “DON’T DRAW” list either), you can always ask the artist if they can draw what you have in mind (something like: ”Hi, I see that there’s no mermaid listed under “DO” nor “DON’T”. Would you be able to draw them?”)

If you think an artist’s prices may be too much for your wallet/Paypal, do not, under ANY circumstance, ask them to lower a price just for you.

I repeat:

NEVER ask an artist to lower their price.

(You might try to ask directly the artist if they may be planning some limited time/slots discount sale in the future, but know that with some of them you would be walking on thin ice with this question, especially when approaching for the first time.

Personally, I tend to avoid to ask an unknown artist if and when they might be arranging a discount on their commission prices.)

In case prices are too high and you can’t save any further money for the commission, you can try to look for another artist with a similar art style/ability to draw the same subject(s).

Once you find the right artist to commission, it’s time to contact them, naturally.

You won’t need to do a full introduction of yourself. All you’ll have to write is that you’re interested in asking a commission to them (”Hello, I’d like to have a sketch/lineart/full coloured close-up/half bust/full body pict of [insert subject/character to draw here]”.

From that moment on, just keep writing to the artist, answering their questions (and also ask some yourself as well, if you have any; they won’t definitely bite you) and providing them with as many references as you can. The more references, the higher the chances for the artist to do the drawing exactly as you want it to be.

If you don’t have visual references, you may try to either google for any image or attach a written description to your message (usually I do both the latter together).

Once you’re both settled, you could definitely expect the artist to ask you to pay in advance (most of them have a Paypal). If you’re not yet familiar with the payment method chosen by the artist, don’t be afraid to ask them how said method works. There’s no shame into admitting that it’s your first time using such method and that you’re afraid to mess things up.

Remember: it’s always better to ask first and knowing how to do the thing right, than not asking at all and doing the same thing all wrong (and of course, it is good etiquette to thank the artist for taking their time to explain you the things).

From that moment on, if you haven’t stated any deadline, it’ll be all about waiting.

Usually, an artist would contact you back from time to time, in order to show you the work-in-progress of your commission. These WIPs are generally rough sketches, because a work still in a sketch phase is way more easier to fix/adjust than a lineart.

So, if the artist will show you the sketch and something seems off to you, don’t hesitate to let the artist know and kindly point out everything that seems in need to be adjusted, so that they can do all the fixing right away (the less times they take to adjust the sketch, the quicker the final piece will be done, after all).

And yes, the artist should show you the fixed sketch too, so to know if it needs more adjustments or not.

Once the sketch will look 100% alright to you, the real wait will begin as the artist will move on to the next steps of their work (linearts/outlines, colours, etc...).

If you haven’t arranged a deadline beforehand, during this time it is better not to pester the artist with frequent messages to know when the work will be completed.

On the other hand, and if you haven’t done so before, you could still ask for that once. Don’t expect a precise date as answer, tho. Usually an artist would reply with something like “your drawing should be ready in 7-10 days”. Please, note the should and don’t underestimate that word.

Like I said, artists are just people like you and me, which means that their works should be ready within the time they said in their responses, unless some unforeseen event happened in the meantime, which could delay their work.

So, if an artist said “should be done in 7-10 days” but now it’s day #11 and you still see no commission done, don’t panic. Just leave the artist be for a few more days and then, if no message/drawing has appeared yet, try to contact them, without being aggressive. Just keep calm and ask them if everything’s fine/they’ve run into some kind of problem.

Personally, once the commission is officially in progress, I don’t bother the artist anymore. The only times I might ask them how the drawing is progressing is when a couple of weeks have already passed by, and I haven’t heard absolutely anything from them in that lapse of time.

In case you’d like to ask a commission which requires a deadline, it would be great to ask the artist at least a couple weeks earlier, or even a month or two earlier (in short: the earlier you can contact them, the better. Especially when you don’t know how long your commission might take).

Another important point is, for the love of all you hold dear:

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT ask an artist to do “some more adjustments” after they’ve moved to lineart or (even worse) are already colouring your commission!

(Yes, some people are like that and yes, all artists utterly loath that kind of customers.)

This is all I could think of on “How to be good customer 101″. Hope this loooongass post may come in handy. ^^;

P.S.: Online artists have the tendency of posting all their works on their profiles/galleries/portfolios, commissions included. If you don’t want your commissioned work to be displayed, make yourself sure to let the artist know at any time before they might complete the art work!

On the other hand, if you want to post their finished work in your own profile/blog, it would be good etiquette to let the artist know. And it is also extremely recommended that you could credit said artist (their online nickname + at least one link to their page/blog/profile/whatever).

[crystalbehindthescenes]

I think you're being pretty unfair and biased saying that Yukie only based her designs on Naoko's manga, but in the same breath Takashi's designs take cues from Aikatsu (which I won't argue because it's clear). Yukie's designs, or should I say style, is very much informed by Takahiro Kimura, who is Code Geass' CD being that she worked on that anime. And that's not a bad thing at all. Every character designer has their own style. [1/2]

The CD’s job isn’t simply to just copy manga designs, but to simplify it for anime. Which is at complete odds with some of Crystal fanbase’s obsession with the designs having to be exactly like Naoko’s. I think Dream should go for more mature designs, but it needs to also have enough room for the animators to flex their own creativity. That’s the beauty of animation. [2/2]

Oh! I apologize about that! (I also apologize if I start talking in circles in this.)

I forgot she did work on Code Geas! Though her overall style is very… Code Geass-y style? Same with Akira’s style, I try to say that S3 and Takahashi’s Animation Direction episodes in S1/S2 are very similar, but it’s not in Suite or Doki Precure style. You feel? (I’m starting to call these “animators quirks”.) Like you said everyone’s got their own style. 

For example, here’s a piece of art Yukie did, not related to Code Geass nor was she a CD for, and yet you can still see her little quirks that’s also in Crystal (lineart, shading, clothing folds ect ect).  Also when she was working on Crystal’s design, she was finishing up on Majestic Prince. From what I’m looking at, that show doesn’t look very Code Geass. I mention Aikatsu because, besides Precure, it was one of the things I knew Akira was working on currently.

However, I always mention that the styles most likely come from the vision of the Directors: Sakai and Kon. When it comes to Akira’s style for S3 I always mention that it’s most likely how Kon wanted it to look, Sakai wanted the style to be “Naoko’s style but for modern anime.” I do mention that S3 has some Naoko influences in it I’m just not too sure about it because it’s more like Aikatsu than Naoko’s style or Yukie’s style (Or Takahashi’s style in S1 and S2)

What I meant was that Sakou- based on her interviews- had based Crystal’s style on various styles Naoko drew, put em together- while using Kazenban as a base- and simplified for animation, like you said. People nitpicking at the art not looking like the manga 100% need to know she simplified/changed it for animation reasons and because Naoko’s style varied from cover to cover. Sakou says that in her interview, and those are people I don’t agree with especially ones that whine because the Crystal’s layout/composition is not 100% like the manga???? That’s… really shitty. 

Honestly I kinda thought everyone knew that though. Sorry for the confusion! I’ll try to be less biased too. (try cus I get… bitter, but bitterness is usually on my personal. Bias however, that happens on accident I assure you!)

As for the style mixing~ Tbh the mix of Takahashi’s cute style and Yukie’s mature style would most likely be… Takahashi’s episodes during Season 1 and 2. Maybe with more detail? Honestly I think Kozue Komatsu might be a good candidate for Dream/StarS but I haven’t found like, original art from them so I’m only basing it off her work in Crystal. 

(you can ignore this btw imma ramble) Imho, Yukie’s style was actually alright, but, as said time and time again something unknown happened behind the scenes that caused Crystal’s production to go absolutely haywire and cus of this we got the quality. Was it the poor direction from Sakai? Was it because of common problems seen in the industry? Was it the budget?  Was the budget because of the 12 translations? We just don’t know.

 I see Sakou’s style potential and just… wanna see that animated? It’d look so nice under the right circumstances…. And I really want it to be different from the moe cutesy style from S3 but not something similar to any of the CDs from the 90s anime. I want Crystal to be it’s own thing… 

[epicmyki-student-blog]

For our First blog post we were instructed to look around at Icon Sets we liked and disliked and pick three of each and then explain why we like or disliked them. 

In order the First 3 Images are the icon sets I liked and the last 3 are the ones I disliked. 

Liked

Set 1: I like the simple lineart style is sets and the limited color palette that times all of the icons together. You can pick a color and find it in multiple icons in the set rather than each icon featuring it’s own unique color set and making the set of icons as a whole dysfunctional or feel less like part of a whole set. I think it’s important that it’s consistent and draws from a similar style for each icon so they can be seen as whole. That being said I think this set might struggle with scaling as some smaller details would be lost at super small sizes.

Set 2: I adore the styles and muted colors of set 2. The set itself looks like it’s meant for a coffee shop’s website or a mobile app for ordering coffee, something along those lines for the most part. The varying shades and brown and limited greens help keep the color scheme in a general whole, even things like the beer icon and ray gun look a part of the set because of the color. The line width and simple style also help bring the set together in a whole but I feel it’s the color that really helps tie everything together. I feel they would do well scaled down as well with how general the shapes are rather than complex detail.

Set 3: The third set definitely has lines and color going for it in creating a set of icons that look like they belong together. The theme is consistent across the board in conveying Japanese culture and what the set represents. The range of color is definitely wider than the previous two sets but it doesn’t feel overwhelming or like it causes any one Icon to stand out. While the palette is definitely wider the colors are reused in multiple icons to keep it uniform and the lineart has a very defined break/pause somewhere in the icon which helps give it a unique look but also keep things feeling part of a set. 

Disliked

Set 1: While I commend it for the simple style and muted colors that feel roughly similar, I do not think this would survive scaling down to tiny icon sizes. I don’t like the banner and words placed over the Icon design and some of the drawing chose do not fit the word associated with it. Probably the reason they need to slap a banner and word over the drawing because I would not be able to determine the person as an “account” nor would I be able to distinguish the Shipping truck mean “free”. The icons would be okay for maybe bank statements but in smaller environments or infographics I would find them distracting or lacking.

Set 2: While these felt simple enough to understand I also feel this would suffer from scaling with how detailed some of them are, like the map and what I assume is a plane ticket. That is another reason I dislike this particular set, while I like the usage of 1 color, some of the icons I cannot tell what they were supposed to be right off the bat. The plane ticket and what looks like a first aid kit but is actually supposed to be medication I did not understand without have to put some thought to it. For Icon sets I would think all of your icons should be able to come across easy, especially with such a simple style to start with. 

Set 3: The last set I do not like at all, I don’t like the color, what it’s trying to be, or the idea they were going for. It’s very limiting in usage as it’s varying lenses for a magnifying glass that I assume you would use on a computer desktop, the problem is that I can barely make out what they are trying to depict from the start. I don’t think scaling them up or down in size would help either. If you took away the description underneath them almost half of the set would become just a jumble of orange on a strange blue disk. It makes them hard to read when the orange and blue almost seem to be the same hazy, oversaturated color too.