Terms of Service
Below follows the standard Terms of Service for commissioners and clients who are not seeking to purchase rights to the work produced. By commissioning me you agree to these terms unless otherwise explicitly agreed upon. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Payment and Pricing
Payment is due up front, and is acceptable as USD, via Venmo, Square or Paypal. Payment plans may be worked out for commissions in excess of $300. No work will be completed until initial payment is made.
Refunds
The commissioner may request a refund at any time. Full refunds are only available if the work on the commission has not yet started. Once the sketch stage has begun, refunds will be partial based on the amount of time thus far spent on the artwork. The more time invested in the piece, the smaller the refund will be.
Once a refund is requested, I will send back the current state of the work on the commission, and inform the client of the portion of payment that will be refunded. Refunds are to be handled within one week of their request contact.
I reserve the right to cancel a commission for any reason, at any given time. A refund will be given, at an amount which reflects the time spent thus far. I have never had to end a commission mid-work, and would not take doing so lightly, but potential reasons would include: abusive treatment by the client, physical injury or severe medical issues which impair my ability to finish the project, etc.
Edits and Fees
At the beginning of a commission, a preliminary sketch will be provided. At this point the commissioner can request any changes they see fit. Two major revisions are allowed on the initial sketch, beyond which additional charges are added to merit the time spent.
Once the art has moved beyond the sketch stage, minor changes can be requested within reason. Larger changes later in the process may be subject to a fee equivalent with the time investment required to make said changes. This also applies to pieces presented as finished.
Note that provided pricing lists are base estimates only. Complicated designs or high levels of detail may merit additional fees, which will be quoted in the original estimate. “Private” commissions, in which the finished art may not be posted online or otherwise in any form by either party, may be requested for a fee.
Communication
Email to cael.illus@gmail.com is the preferred method of communication. Messages sent through Twitter, Instagram, etc are not guaranteed to reach me and are discouraged as a method of communicating for commissions.
Apart from the initial sketch, work in progress shots are not always provided by default on smaller commissions, but the commissioner is welcome to request them at any time. Inquiries regarding the status of a commission are welcome. For larger commissions, I try to touch base once every two weeks.
Please make an effort to respond in a timely manner to messages about commissions. If I do not receive replies, I will be unable to continue making progress. Commissioners who are chronically slow in their responses may be moved lower in the queue so as not to hold up other work being accomplished.
If any delays do occur in the commission, the commissioner will be notified, though I do my best to complete work in a prompt fashion.
Rights of Use
For digital commissions, a print is not automatically offered in the base price of the piece, only the high res and web size files of the finished piece. Printing options are offered at the end of the process, however, with a 20% discount on anything produced with your commission in whatever format you are interested in.
Traditional commissions include the original artwork as part of the base price, along with high res and web size digital files. Delivery is free within an hour driving of Santa Fe, or if we arrange pick up at a convention, otherwise shipping is charged separately. Matting, framing, etc options are also offered as a discounted paid service, or you are welcome to handle matting/framing yourself.
The commissioner retains all rights to characters of their own creation used within the commissioned work. By requesting a commission, you are allowing me the right to draw your character for the purposes of the requested work. As the artist, I retain full rights to the artwork produced. The commissioner may arrange to purchase rights, either select or in full, for a fee to be worked out on an individual basis.
The commissioner is not permitted to make any modifications to the artwork except for the following: Crops to much smaller forms such as icons for use on online sites or services, or personal banners for non-commercial social media. With permission the commissioner may post the completed work to their personal gallery as long as the work is unedited and full, clear credit is given to me with a link back to my work. Modifications such as coloring line art, tracing, recoloring, etc are not permitted without my permission.
Reproduction rights to the art or use of it in any form on sites for commercial purposes is not allowed. The right to reprint is not part of the base commission price, including but not limited to: Artwork prints, book content or covers, game art, CD covers, online or physical publishings, etc. I may recycle any of my sketches rejected from a commissioner for later use.
I am open to discussion of selling the reproduction rights, whether limited or in full, to the commissioner either before a commission begins, or after it has been completed, but I highly suggest bringing it up at the beginning of the process so that the cost for such is not a surprise.
No artwork created by me is ever permitted to be minted or used as an NFT, or for any similar cryptocurrency related endeavor whatsoever, no exceptions.