Commission thoughts and discussion

I have not been going after art commissions too much lately, just a couple here and there, like at Supershow. I can't really justify (or afford) to spend large sums of money on that stuff anymore, but I still like to see what different artists can do, and I still have that list of artists I'd love to commission someday.

Which brings me to my main point. Two artists I've always wanted art from art Adam Hughes and Josh Howard.

Now Adam Hughes, he's a master. His art doesn't take a half hour to do. You get on a waiting list for him at a con, and he only does what he really wants to do. He charges a lot, and it's worth it if you can afford it. Not to mention, the man is non stop busy, so he can only really afford to do commissions at cons. Understandable.

Josh Howard on the other hand, I've never been to a convention where he showed up (he dropped out of a couple, last minute), and at one point he used to take commissions at one point during the year, and you only know when if you follow his blog. And I've been following his damn blog for over two years, and nothing. The man makes it near impossible to get art from him. So gradually, he's coming off my list.

What about you guys?

My commission purchases have also dropped a lot as well, for a lot of different reasons.

First, my go to commission is from my now defunct webcomic. While I still pick up the odd commission of the character, not doing the webcomic has definitely lowered my need to see what other artists do with my character.

Second, money. I don't mind spending good money on commissions... if I have the good money. I am taking a lot of steps to having the funds for that available again, but it is a long road.

Third, opportunities. This one goes back directly to the old Comics Forum. Remember when that was frequented by enough artists that you would have really talented folks offering commissions at reasonable prices pretty regularly? It still happens, but not nearly as much, and most are for specific shows/cons that I won't be attending.

Now, as for actual artists that I have on a wishlist... I don't really have that. In the past, when I have been planning to attend a convention, I go over the guest list and look for artists that I like and then email them to find out if they are doing commissions for the show, and how much they are. The artists generally like being able to knock out a commission ahead of time, and just being able to hand it to me at the show. I usually aim for one reasonably well known artist at a show, and then several lesser known, so I get a pretty good variety for the money.

I'll echo a lot of what's been said already. Price, opportunity, all that. Something I always tried to do was pair an artist with a character that their style would fit especially well. And I'm still interested in that, but that narrows my aim considerably, and it comes back to price and opportunity.

At this point, I'd love to get commissions of specific Lanterns by the artists that (to ME) define them. Kyle Rayner by Daryl Banks. John Stewart by Cully Hamner. Guy Gardner by Pat Gleason. Hal Jordan by Darwyn Cooke. Each of them a really nice, finished piece of work that I could frame and put on my wall. I just have a tremendous problem justifying what MUST be a tremendous price tag for something like this.