#laundy

Laundy in Pont-l'Évêque, Normandy region of France

I commissioned the AMAZING AND TALENTED @laundy​ to draw my other Arcana OC, Ellyon Midus. She will be featured in another fan comic of mine!

SHES SO BEAUTIFUL AND BADASS IM GOING TO CRY, THANK YOU LAUNDY!

Artist: @laundy

Walk us through your process. Are you able to sit down and work through an idea fairly quickly, if it’s one of your own, or is it something that takes you a couple of days or weeks?

Motivation can die quickly if it’s my own muse. I’m very much familiar on operating in some kind of institutional mindset where if it’s an assignment or client commission, I can easily work for (UNGODLY AMOUNT OF HOURS REDACTED) straight, which might be some form of ‘a job is a job’ mentality, and perhaps it’s easier to follow a command than one’s own temporary inspiration for me.

If I’m too invested in a concept (which tends to be personal fanart), the need to be a perfectionist in capturing whatever I’m trying draw comes into play, and can result in me putting it off for days at a time, and (in typical artist fashion) to never touching the file again (usually due to the death of the muse). It sucks, but on the rare occasion that I get it right, you can bet that I’ve already screenshotted my work on my phone to stare at in complete hubristic indulgence into the late night.

What’s the weirdest commission request you’ve ever received and did you have to turn it down?

Opening commissions can sometimes feel like you’re banging on pots and pans knowing that there’s super niche fetishists that lie among the sleeping crowd of potential clients. It’s risky but I’ve never had an off-putting commission prompt, which I like to chalk up to the fact that I keep myself in good company (shoutout to my very normal clients, ha ha!). Gun to my head, I’d probably say it’d be the commission of a stripper Rick poppin’ out of a cake in front of a befuddled Aaron (bonus points for rarepair), to which I didn’t get any context for, making it even better. And by ‘weirdest’, I really mean coolest.

Speaking of commissions, how do you price your work? Is it based solely on the market at the time, or are client flexibility and finances worked in too? 

Thanks for the platform to let me air out my thoughts on this, guys!

A couple of years ago during the summer, I once undercharged myself heinously (talking $5 - $8 USD here) as a naive fledgling fanartist who only ever did requests. It sucked but it definitely helped me realize how much time I input during the commission process compared to what I was getting out of it.

Since then, I’ve shaped a general model price that reflects solely on my own allotted time & effort (and how I perceive the value of my own art, as objectively and non-deprecatingly as I can); I don’t factor in external markets of other people or competition since I like to mind my own business, and honestly speaking, I view my commission rate as this: if people are willing to shell out the set price for a full body colored character from me, then fuck it, they deserve the drawing! If they don’t (or can’t), that’s cool and dandy, and makes it one less obligation out of my busy life. I try to price it like a hobby that I’m good at and how much I’d feel comfortable earning for something that’s 6, 8 hours of work (keeping in mind my country’s minimum wage as bar to hold to). Truth be told, every year I feel like I’m underpricing myself (in reality, I’m investing more time in the commission process to give back a higher quality of work, ergo that depreciating feeling), and every year I try to gain more confidence to stand by my work and price without the need to defend myself at every instance. Hopefully I’ll grow a backbone soon!

(I’ve been wanting to make a general statement on this without being too ‘in-your-face’ about it to my followers so thanks for the space to talk about it!)

What’s one of the biggest things you’ve done to further your career? Do you see it that way or as more of a hobby?