I recently did my first art commission for a near and dear friend who wanted a portrait done for a character they are role-playing. Aren’t RPGs awesome?!
Here is what the client gave me to help cement who their character is.
My character is His Most Noble Highness Prince Meriendor Fardove, Prodigal Lord of the Night Sky, but his friends call him Meri! He’s an astral elf and he is literally the prince of the moon, so he has a pink/blue galaxy theme going. He’s a fairly feminine pretty boy, high on the androgyny, and he’s an Abberant Mind sorcerer, so a little on the weird side. When he was a child, he was sent to the mortal world to learn from one of the high elf families down there, but when he lost his sense of humor at the Witchlight, his family deemed him too weird to come home and rule. He’s on a quest to prove his worth and be allowed to go home to the moon. He has a deep belief in manners, morals, and always doing the right thing.
I absolutely love the detail in this. There is so much to work from, and it really gives you a sense of who Meriendor is. And yes, we are on a first name basis but you may call his Your Host Noble Highness. This is the kinda stuff I love as an artist. Gives me a lot of ideas for imagery to pull from, which still giving me freedom to bring my own interpretation to the character.
Reflecting on my first art commission
To be perfectly frank, I’ve been anxious of do an art commissions in so much as I am an artist who does this for the joy of it. And while I hope to eventually get to a place where I can pursue my art full-time, I know second-hand from very established artist friends that once you start doing art for pay, your relationship with your art can change. More directly, there is both a tension and a balance of doing the piece I want to do versus meeting the needs and wants of the client, who is after all paying you for your time and energy. So much of where you end on that scale is dependent on the client — choose your clients wisely!
To the astute reader of this site, I’ve certainly done work in the past such as with a local winery, a local pizza/catering , and even a filmmaker friend; however, this is the first art-art commission that is not commercial in nature.
A great client makes happy artist. Thankfully this person is quite familiar with my style. Aside, do I even have an established style yet? I’m flattered that they think so! And as such, they were very comfortable giving me the freedom to create something we both love. Which is always the gift that keeps on giving.
The struggle is real
I will admit I struggled with this piece toward the end, in part as I’ve never quite been satisfied with the image when viewed small-scale. There is something about the mouth – I think it’s the values – that does not quite sit with me. I may finally figure it out and send the client a revised final. But as with any artwork, at some point, you have to let the process come to a conclusion. And more so trust, based on feedback from the client, that they are satisfied with the piece.
Which is to not say I’m not proud of the piece; I am. But as a person is trying to grow my craft, I think it’s important to remain objective about your artwork in order for you to reflect and grow.
Aside from some issues with values, I really do like the more cropped version where you can really see a subtle, dare I say, sublime look to Meriendor. I fully admit I’m enamored with the canvas texture I added to the image even if it’s fully digital picture; sadly, it does not render well when zoomed out due to the moiré effect, but nevertheless I think it looks amazing close-up.
Client reference pieces
The client provided some initial inspiration for their character with some images. It’s startlingly how good AI-generated image (bottom image) are, and while I was tempted to use more of it as a template for my version, I opted to not go to strongly in that direction lest I fall to creating a derivative work.
And then there are my own references
With both textual and visual references in the proverbial hand, I then went on an internet safari hunt for my own reference photos. A lot of times in personal pieces I use myself as the reference, but in this case I thought it was important to look elsewhere to ensure this was not just another vanity piece.
We both really liked the bottom photo, especially as I could see the character’s hand up cupping a ball of magic to help tell the story of who they are. He is, after all, an aberrant mind sorcerer. Additionally the lighting and colors were already close to what I was thinking for this piece, which always makes adapting a reference easier. I really wanted some depth so I added a moon … whether it’s Earth’s Moon or not is open to interpretation.
Process
Of the pieces I’ve done recently, I think this captures some of the process that a piece goes through from concept to final rendering. You really get the sense I did not have a good handle on the face in the first half during composition and value study. I had to go back and repaint the entirety of the face toward the end. And as noted above, I might still make revisions.
Originally I wanted to have a more bare-chested version, but the client felt it did not fit with the reserved, proper nature so we added a sheer shirt and ensured that arm was mostly covered. I added a lot of finer details included the small unicorn horn pendant, and other embellishments that would convey a person of high pedigree.
Not matter what quibbles I might have as an artist with my own work; it comes with the job description, I think; at the end of the day, it’s ultimately the client who has the final word on an artist’s output.
I love it SO MUCH!!! Thank you so much for this – it’s absolutely stunning!!
The Client
How can I possibly disagree with that?
