What Are Art Commissions? – An Easy Guide to Art Commissions

Art commissions are an excellent way for artists to create more financial security in their practice. Selling a commissioned art piece, however, involves extra admin and clear communication between you and the client. This article will look at how to get art commissions, how to set up an art commissions website, and how to price commissioned art. It aims to provide a clear guide to answer the questions, what are art commissions, and how does art commission work?

Not to be confused with the commission a gallery takes on art sales, art commissions are special requests by a client for an artist to create a new piece specifically for the client’s needs. Gallery commission is a percentage of the selling price a gallery takes for their work on marketing and showing the artist’s work (normally 20 to 50% of the selling price).

Commission art is the process of a buyer reaching out to an artist to hire them to create a new piece that the client will definitely pay for and take.

Art commissions, for example, include the buyer requesting the artists to make a painting in their style in a specific style, redoing a painting the client likes in a different palette or size, and creating an artwork that can be used for a business’s marketing purposes, using the artist’s style on a specific subject matter the client wants and so on.

Buyers often commission a painting, for example, because they like the style of the artist but cannot afford any of their existing pieces, want a specific subject matter, or missed out on buying a painting at an exhibition that sold out. Businesses often commission artists to create content they can use as part of their brand identity or in a specific project or campaign.

Art commissions are often also requested when the buyer wants something personal created by a specific artist, like a painting of their house, dog, or family. 

The artist will often limit what can be requested as a commission, by specifying the medium, style, and subject matter limitations on their art commissions website. An artist needs to get clear on what it is the buyer wants, and the terms of the commission, and draw up a contract that holds the buyer accountable to purchase the piece in full when it is done.

How Do Art Commissions Work?

An artist needs to make themselves available to receive commission requests by adding a page or art commissions website to their marketing. If you are not interested in doing commission paintings, for example, but want to do digital commissions you need to state this clearly.

This way, the request you will receive from clients will already be filtered and clear.