~theBlackRook

[Our Art:]
I work together with a lovely artist named lavenderpandy whom is my partner, mate, and reason I haven't gone ape shit and murdered a bunch of people. Our art has a few steps and we'd like to take the time to explain this to our commissioners. First off we sketch by committee. Every picture begins with a sketch by either her or me, it gets looked at, red-lined and checked by both of us for input before the art ever goes to the commissioner. During this base process we pair up to see what will work best for the picture. After the sketching stage what happens next depends on if it is Vector Co-op/Flat cel shade or Soft Shade. If it is soft shade I will give final red-lines and assessments before handing it off to her for colorization, this means soft shades tend to show her strengths and preferences more than vector co-ops because my involvement physically in the picture is at an end here. Most of the time we agree on this stage and move to colorization, but sometimes I may not like the way something looks and I will move in to change it. Because of this soft shade commissions are posted on her page. Vector Co-ops are vector inked by me. Because of this they take on a shape and form a little my preference before colorization; all vector co-ops are posted on my page. Like with soft shades there are times where something I've done irks her and she goes in red-lines it and makes me change it. All coloring is done by her. So we both do the sketching, I do the inking and she does the coloring. We used to post all art on both pages, but we found that people would just favorite it or watch me because I was the more popular of the two of us. This way we both get exposure and the patrons of the site get a different artistic experience on each page.

[Tax on Transactions:]
There is a Wisconsin State sales tax(5.5%) on my transactions. Why? Because one of your peers thought it would be nice to try to blackmail me into free art by threatening to report that I didn't claim my commissions on my taxes. Most artists don't and I didn't. Well I told the guy to fuck off and a few months later the IRS ripped me a new bunghole, so now I report my income and incur tax like any other business. As I do my comics and other things here in Wisconsin under an LLC, it's just easier to do it all under the same banner. If you can't handle that please do not commission me.



[How To Commission Us:]
All commissions are a process. The first step is requesting a commission via a note. Your note should clearly state that you are requesting a commission and have a description of what you want. Go into detail about what exactly you want. We would also like links to the characters involved so that we can see how complicated the characters are as it affects the price. Once you have been approved we will link you our commission form for you to fill out with the necessary information (everything said in your note). Once the form is received, we will send out an email and invoice to you. You have no spot, no commission, and no agreement until that invoice is paid. Your spot will not be held.




----[Second Life Reference]
Second Life (SL) references are allowed but must be done in a proper manner. We will no longer accept multiple images of your character unless displayed on a single reference sheet. Details get lost and honestly, it makes it harder for us to keep up with all important details your character may have when you present a plethora of images.

Proper SL reference sheet example provided by  wyla http://i.imgur.com/cetDmMd.png
I also recommend using custom environment/windlight settings for taking pics. These are in Firestorm though, I'm not sure if the default SL client has them. http://i.imgur.com/0csMQ9C.png ~Wyla


[Consent Policy]
Since apparently, this is necessary; all individuals involved in a commission must send written consent from their FA pages to be in a commission. If you are getting a gift for someone, we still need consent from that party that you have permission to use their character and that they are fully aware of HOW you plan to use their character. We're sorry, but this has become an increasingly disturbing issue as of late as people have made us take down, remove or even hide commission work that has been done because of communication errors and consent errors between both parties. In the future, we will need solid confirmation before we begin a commission. Involved parties must send a note to either me or Lavenderpandy stating that they give permission for their character to be involved in a commission.

[Sweat'n Me Policy]
Do not sweat me. I'm incredibly easy to find; I can still be found on telegram at theblackrook or discord on theblackrook#0745. Know that your commissions will take two to three months to start, unless otherwise informed. There are always work list. You have a right to ask about your commission every now and then. If you believe it is getting to be a long time, I have no problem with you contacting me via a note about your commission, or even sending me a skype message. Do not add me to skype just for solely this purpose please. You can send me a message, tell me who you are and I will respond. But don't sweat me, don't casually ask me every week about your commission. Don't pester me about your commission. You know the difference and I know the difference. If you violate this policy, I will give you a warning first. If the behavior continues then I will refund your commission and forbid any future transactions.

[Professionalism Policy]
Also known as the 'Chevalier Agreement' or the 'We're Not Friends Policy'. I am aware that there is a level of decorum and professionalism in our interactions. People want to be friendly. But I would like people to understand that I know the average commissioner doesn't give two shits about me as a person. Don't ask me how my day is going, or how I'm doing. You know you don't care. Don't ask about the family, don't make small talk to be polite. You want to know about your commission, ask about your commission. 'Hello, it's been X amount of time; and haven't gotten an update. Can you please get me an update on my commission. Thank you.' All I require is the obligatory Hi, Hello, or Hey greeting. We both know there's only one reason you're talking to me so let's get to the point, as though you are kind of being polite, it feels deceptive and exceptionally insulting. So, lets avoid that shall we.

[Finished commission policy]
Upon delivery of your finished commission, the commissioner has 5 days to approve their image or request the necessary changes desired. After those 5 days, no request for edits will be allowed and your image will be posted. Of course, I will let you know when the image is delivered to be fair.



[Re-posting Policy]
I have absolutely no problem with anything I have already posted to my page being re-posted to your page. Once you receive your commission it is respectful to wait til I have posted it to my page before you post to yours.A small version of your commission will be posted in either me or my partner's page. Use that version.Do not post the high-resolution version of your commission...ever. If you wish to post my work to e621.net, swanky, that's up to you. The only time I have a problem with this is if I am not properly credited. If you do not credit me or have links back to the original post I will have an issue and possibly ask you to take it down. If you bought a commission from me you can re-post it on your various pages but cannot be used commercially without consent from me.

[Additional Fee Policy]
I'm going to be frank... if you make me work harder for it, I'm going to make you pay extra for it. Stylized armor, ridiculously complicated characters, props, weapons, backgrounds and other things that add to the drawing time will cost you based on difficulty. Drawing feathered wings will also cost you as they are time-consuming; especially for someone forced to work with a mouse. They drive me nuts and it will drive up your final price.

[Right First Time Policy]
I reserve the right to refuse or deny any changes to an agreed upon commission after I've already received and accepted the commission. If you have problems with the person you commissioned with or that idea you had, you are at my discretion on whether or not I change it. It's just rude and unprofessional not to have your stuff together when you first get the commission and your indecision makes doing you commission a chore. This doesn't mean you can't ask me to fix things. This is changing entire concepts, characters, and outfits after we already agreed on something. I'm not saying we won't do it, I'm saying it's our decision on whether or not we do it.

[ PRIVACY POLICY]
If you wish for your art to remain private, we require a privacy fee to be paid. The artwork we do gets posted and that helps promote our art and brand and helps us attract new business and work, to take that away hurts us commercially. As such there will be a 50% charge of the original commission price fee if you want your commission private. If the art is posted and wish to have it removed later, you will still need to pay the privacy fee.

[My Characters and Subject Matter]
You may be able to negotiate a small, 10% max, discount on an additional characters in a commissions that include one or more of my characters. This discount does not apply if there are more than 2 other characters in the image and doesn't apply to comics and sketch commissions.

[Happy Birthday Policy]
If it's your birthday or leading up to your birthday, you can commission a Happy Birthday Adult Picture. This would be a commission of one of my characters fucking your character. I get to decide which character, but you can make suggestions. There's a 10% discount for these commissions. this applies only to soft shades and vector co-ops.