Your weekly newsletter for Web3(-curious) creators! Looking to further your creative practice as a creator in Web3? You’re in the right place! Here’s a weekly rundown of information curated for creators, by creators.

How to Grow Your Income Through Commissions

Back in the 1960s, artists like the legendary Andy Warhol brought art commissions to the forefront, transforming art collecting into a deeply personal experience. At his peak, Warhol was working on 50 commissions a year and charging around $25,000 per piece.

While these days we may be more accustomed to seeing large scale open edition drops in the crypto art world, delivering one-of-a-kind, ultra-personalized pieces remains one of the biggest untapped opportunities to build a special bond between an artist and their collector.

Portrait of Maurice by Andy Warhol 1976

If you have never sold a commission before however, knowing how to price and market it can be tricky. Lucky for you, we've here to guide you through pricing and selling a custom artwork, while informing you of the latest Web3 innovations to help you take your practice to new heights.

The Basics of Starting a Commission Business

Before diving into offering commissions, it is important to have a well-oiled machine in place. This at the very least means:

• Having a defined workflow before engaging your client

• Deciding what products you are offering for commission, e.g. custom portraits, landscapes, etc.

• Having clear and written communications with your client

• Understanding your client's budget upfront

• Setting expectations with your client around terms such as delivery timing, payment, number of revisions, copyright, and more

Francesca Harvie offers 3 distinct product offerings for her commission business

For starters, we recommend you check out Francesca Harvie’s Terms of Service as a fantastic model to follow.

Pricing Your Commission

Before pricing your commission, consider if it is to sit within an existing collection or if it is something that stands alone. This will help guide you towards a starting price range, while taking any existing collectors into consideration.

Artist bigwideworld offers commissions alongside the rest of her Wide-Eyed collection

As a rule of thumb, you should always raise your prices to accommodate a commission. After all, aside from taking time away from your personal practice, you likely also have to account for additional time spent on client correspondence and revisions.

And while raising your prices can feel intimidating, this is your opportunity to define your value to your collector. Ask your collector these questions to get in tune with their values and desires:

• Who or what is the commission for?

• What do they care about? How involved in the co-creation process do they want to be?

• What does a successful commission look like for them?

Ok great, but what dollar amount should I start at?

There are 2 ways to start pricing your work. First, you can figure out a rough hourly rate and translate that into a yearly salary that covers your expenses. For example, if you'd like a $60K annual salary, that's about $28 an hour. You can make use of this handy calculator here.

That said, we encourage you to get more granular. After all, artists incur costs too! Remember this formula.

Fixed costs + Variable costs + Profit = Price

Examples of fixed costs include rent or mortgage payments for your studio space, as well as equipment and software expenses, whereas variable costs could include marketing expenses, utilities, or the cost of raw materials.

Lastly, another way to figuring out pricing is to check out what your fellow artists are charging. Increasing your pricing over time is well-justified, especially as your audience and demand for your work continues to grow. In fact, check out the responses to this tweet to see how much other artists' commission prices have evolved over time.

Most importantly, know your worth and don't sell yourself short!

Marketing Your Commissions Business

Now that you have decided to start offering commissions and how to price your work, it is time to let people know you are open for business!

Start with folks who already have an appreciation for your art, and start to build genuine relationships with your audience through email lists, social media, and other community building tools like Discord.

To make your life easier, HUG has just rolled out a new feature that lets collectors know you are open for commissions and submit their requests directly from our platform. Learn more here.

HUG's latest Commissions landing page facilitates direct commission requests from prospective clients

Commissions, But Make it Web3

Web3 and blockchain technology takes the art commission game to a whole new level! With dynamic NFTs, a topic we touched on lightly in last week's issue, artists can create commissioned masterpieces whose metadata evolve and grow over time, or even involve the community in the creative process.

Some of our favorite examples:

• Power of Women artist Leah Sams offers 1/1 commissioned artwork to any of her collectors who owns 10 or more NFTs from her Blazing Women collection.

• Membership community Friends with Benefits partnered with OpenSea to commission 10 pieces of artwork from FWB members.

Closing Thoughts

Unleash the artist within! It's time to put a value on all that creative genius and bring those one-of-a-kind masterpieces to life. After all, you've got skills that someone out there is just itching to have for themselves - and we all know that nothing beats a personalized artwork that speaks to their heart and soul.

In fact, our featured creator of the week Sylvo says it best, "it is really satisfying to help people discover and define their own personal taste (through commissions)."

Want to learn more and hear from other artists on how they tackle this problem? Join us on Twitter Spaces as we speak to artist Sarah Script and Jackson Alves on Thursday, February 2nd from 4PM ET. Set your reminders here.

In the News

• Interested in accepting commission requests? HUG officially makes it easier for you to do so! Simply join hundreds of creators in getting your very own customizable Artist Profile by applying through this link! On top of accepting commissions, a HUG Artist Profile also allows you to showcase your collections and collect reviews from current and prospective collectors.

• The open editions trend continues, with artists such as Terrell Jones, Lucréce, and Marcel Deneuve dropping OEs to great success. We covered some considerations you need to have about OEs in our first issue, but we also recommend this thread from punk6529 and another take in NFT Now here.

• PROOF Collective revealed the 20 artists behind its Grails III drop, and unsurprisingly, they were a list of heavy hitters including 0xTjo, Josie Bellini, Bored Ape Yacht Club artist Seneca, and more. Check out the full reveal here.

• This week saw a number of high profile scams and hacks, including to PROOF founder Kevin Rose and to NFT project Azuki’s Twitter. This is a reminder to all of us to stay vigilant, and revisit this list of security tips to stay safe.

• The crypto bubble has burst, but what will happen to the crypto art world? Check out this opinion article on the critical fixes needed in both the contemporary and crypto art space.

• Alethea AI, a research and development studio, has launched its dApp with Polygon allowing the creation of AI-powered NFTs. This enables users to create NFT avatars by simply entering text prompts. Read more about the launch here.

Artist Grants and Opportunities

• Beeple’s physical studio, BEEPLE STUDIOS, opens in Charleston, South Carolina on March 11th, and is inviting all artists to submit their work to be displayed and get a free ticket to the grand opening. Learn more here.

• SWOOSH, Nike’s new non-fungible token NFT platform, is inviting users to design their own digital wearables. SWOOSH community members are invited to participate in a contest called #YourForce1 that challenges users to build a visual storyboard on Instagram showcasing their footwear design. If chosen, four winners will earn $5,000 each and receive an opportunity to work directly with Nike designers to create their own one-of-one digital sneakers.

• Applications are open for Meta Angels x Adobe’s artist-in-residence program, which gives you a $1,000 grant, access to Adobe Creative Cloud, mentorship, and more. Learn more and apply here.

• Get your art sold and displayed in London at the 5th edition of the “What Is Art” contemporary art show, which celebrates different approaches to contemporary art. Open to international submissions and free to apply. Learn more here, and apply by February 4th.

• MacDowell encourages artists from all backgrounds and all countries in the following disciplines to apply: architecture, film/video arts, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theater, and visual arts. The sole criterion for acceptance is artistic excellence. Apply here by February 10th.

• Post your best work to Creatively every week, let the community vote, and stand a chance to win a $5,000 cash grant each month.

This Week's Art Drops

• Marzanna by Unickate (1/1, 0.25 ETH) - follow Unickate on Twitter: Part of Unickate’s Slavic Myths collection, Marzanna depicts the goddess of winter and death who is both beautiful and dangerous.

• postcards | 002 by mae (Timed Open Edition, 0.05 ETH) - follow mae on Twitter: mae injects surreal romanticism into her art. This is the 2nd of 12 monthly drops we can expect to see from her postcards collection, a love letter to the art community.

• INFINITE LOVE by Joy Chiang (Timed Open Edition, 0.018 ETH) - follow Joy on Twitter: This artwork from Joy tells a timeless story of the infinite love and bond between mother and child, and was inspired by the memories of her grandma and a tribute to the enduring impact of maternal love and the bond that connects generations.

• Putin’s Ashes by Shepard Fairey (Timed Open Edition, 10 Tez) - follow Shepard and Pussyriot on Twitter: OBEY artist Shepard Fairey teams up with Pussy Riot to drop the first ever open edition on Objkt.com to raise funds for Ukrainian troops as an act of protest against Putin’s Russia.

• Women’s Prerogative by Marrisa Wilson (Generative collection, 0.075 ETH) - follow Marrisa on Twitter: A collection of 250 unique, hand-drawn fashion illustrations by fashion designer Marrisa Wilson, which gives collectors a chance to win a ticket to her show at New York Fashion Week.

• Fragile Friends by jprittee (1/1, 0.07 ETH) - follow jprittee on Twitter: Come January 31st, there will be new marine creature additions to Jack’s Fragile Friends collection. Fragile Friends are delicate, vibrant, and lovable symbols of joy designed to support and celebrate LGBTQIA+, BIPOC & women creators in Web3.

• The Colour Engineer by Chipped Pixels (1/1, 0.08 ETH) - follow Chipped Pixels on Twitter: Part of the South Asian Sybernetics collection, The Colour Engineer represents the use of new world technical knowledge to advance the boundaries of creativity.

• Journeying Spirit (Ermine) by Mat Miller (Timed Open Edition, 0.035 ETH) - follow Mat on Twitter: Mat releases a second Journeying Spirit piece, featuring a trademark mythical creature in pastel colors surrounded by oriental elements.

Creator Spotlight: Sylvie Lee Vo

Sylvie Lee Vo aka sylvo is an artist and designer working out of her studio in California. With a focus on prints and abstract watercolor works, work from Studio Sylvo seeks to shine a light on life’s simple pleasures — the overlooked and unassuming moments that bring joy and calm to each day.

Sylvo's genesis project, Daily Practice 2022, is comprised of 365 original artworks created for every day of the year in 2022, and is available on OpenSea here.

Learn more about Sylvo via her HUG Artist Profile, or follow her directly on Twitter and Instagram.

We asked Sylvo... What is your favorite thing about working with collectors on commissions?

"While it’s always delightful to help people bring specific ideas to life, my favorite thing about offering commissions is helping people who feel they have no idea what they want translate their ideas, emotions or words into visual art. It's really satisfying to help people discover and define their own personal taste, and it usually results in some really inspired work."