On Chasing Art Commissions

Michelangelo did it, da Vinci did it, even guys like Raphael and Titian did it----they worked on paid commissions.   Now , the circumstances are a bit different today than during the Renaissance era---these artists would operate a studio, and have apprentices help them on art commissions while they learned the business of art (it was a guild back then, a trade).  But they still were contracted to create art, and were paid when they did it.

It was always my intention to become a commercial artist, i.e, an illustrator for hire.  When I attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I was called a 'prostitute' by some friends when I told them just that.  We were expected to live for our art: to take a some time of job (anything), and paint, draw, or sculpt; get our work in a gallery, and provide for ourselves that way.   Not for me.   My dream was to be published in magazines like Playboy, Esquire--anything that featured art as editorial or in advertisements. I always found more value being viewed by the masses.

Fast forward, and I now work as a marketing director at a magazine agency, which hasn't really helped me become published as one might think.  I also work at a major home improvement chain as a certified nursery consultant.  No help there, either.  So, I chase down commissions on the side, which normally consists of men wanting sexy images of their wives or significant others.  Or the wife having me create an illustration of her for the husband.  Either way,  it's an eventual payday, and I'm not complaining.


Commissions are a nice balance to the work I do for me, my own personal "Michael Jordan" art  (Jordan allegedly had a clause in his Chicago Bulls contract that he was allowed to play pick-up basketball games anytime, for "the love of the game").  There are rewards from both kinds of artwork.  Doing commission work like these helps to pay the bills, but when I do a "me" project, it is always of someone that really inspires me.  Unfortunately, they may sit for quite a while until I complete them.

I have been lucky so far this year---I am completing a commission of a lovely wife in the next week or so, have had a couple of serious inquiries on new art, and agreed in principle with a former client to produce a new one of his wife.  I am lucky that people entrust me with this type of art, and I take it seriously.