Hey, dear subscriber! It's Flygohr here, your trusty digital artist that makes a living delivering art commissions for people like you :)

In this update, we'll be looking at a full-body, full-color character art commission featuring Gilrik, a badass Elven Storm Sorcerer. I'll walk you through the entire commission process, including the initial contact, the various revisions, and a final timelapse, so you get to see how the stuff is made!

Here's what the client had to say after my delivery:

It all began with the client sending over a short synopsis of their character through my quote request form:

I needed to know more details before I could get them a quote, and they too had some questions about my process. We spent a good ten emails doing back and forth, expanding on our respective needs for clarification. This is perfectly normal, each client and each request they bring carry significant differences. It's important to spend as much time as it's needed in the early stages to make sure we are both on the same page :)

After reaching an agreement, it was time for me to start sketching. After a couple weeks, I had this rough draft to show:

At the beginning, sketches are rough and loose, meant to block-in the main shapes of a composition. I don't go into much detail at this stage, to make sure I can iterate quickly over a design and be as efficient as possible with both my time and the client's.

The client was happy with the direction I was taking, but wanted some changes. We spent some time going over what was working and what wasn't, and it turned out that they wanted Gilrik's mirror - and the horrors inside it - to dominate the composition more. This was the result:

According to the client, we were almost there. They spent some time going over the sketch with some friends, as getting some fresh eyes over an art piece is always a good idea. What was missing was Gilrik's "deranged-ness". He isn't crazy, he's.. functional. Having witnessed cosmic horror does that to your mind. So I got back to the drawing board:

It's subtle, but the unkempt hair and beard, together with the manic look, the smile, and the bags under his eyes definitely give Gilrik more character. With this approved, it was time to work on the lineart.

This is usually the most time consuming stage of the commission process, where I go over every tiny detail and render it with precise linework.

This time, the client had no notes for me. Spending enough time in the early stages definitely pays off - that's a tip I always give other artists as well. Since we had everything blocked-in from the sketch phase, there was nothing "out of place" or needing revisions at this stage. I got the green lights and went straight into coloring. The client had already given me instructions and a color scheme to follow, and here's my 1st take on the colors:

The client was happy with the colors I ended up using and with how I combined them, but they didn't like the white background. That's something I usually include in all of the commissions I deliver, because it makes the characters pop against the white borders of an art print. But not everyone likes or wants that, and it's OK to request a change.

With the added background effects, the portrait turned out like this:

With that, the client gave the final approval, and it was time to wrap everything up:

• I exported two versions of the artwork, one in full HD, almost lossless, and another resized and optimized for web display (something that didn't weigh 10 full MB to begin with)
• I exported a minute-long timelapse of the whole commission process (you can see it below)
• I included the original, Clip Studio Paint layered source file
• I created a private, discounted INPRNT link for them to order a professional, physical art print

I sent them everything in a final, polished email that also included extra details about contacting me again, and a link to the testimonials subreddit where they left their review. And that was it!

Thanks for reading this far, I appreciate it :) I'll be back in March with another update. In the meantime, please remember that I'm always available to be commissioned. You can even reply to this very email to kickstart a conversation about your art ;)

Talk to you soon, Flygohr