1 Like
hi marilyn!
thanks very much 
Great wok. Must’ve taken you ages!
hah, yeah…it did!
1 Like
My fav has to be Andy vine
1 Like
naturally, he’s a very handsome man!
2 Likes
Hey Bam,
I belatedly did a bit of etsy research for you into other people doing custom portraits and here are just some thoughts of things that you might want to consider if you wanted to go ahead trying to do commissions. Putting it out here rather than sending you a DM as others might have constructive things to add.
-some people do just offer a digital copy and get sales from this, so that could be an option if getting it printed is more hassle than you wanted. In this case it is probably best to specify what file type you would be sending.
-if you are doing custom pictures that people are buying to get printed you will have to think about the dimensions/proportions of your drawings to make them to a standard size so you can specify this on your listing for people (I don’t know if someone else could fill you in on what the standards are here?)
-a good way I saw one seller do their listing was that they had a price scale that went up per person in a picture, as I am guessing that is the factor that is likely the variable that increases the workload per picture this might be a good approach for you too.
-it is worth thinking about what you would need to specify in terms of detail from a customer, so in your listing request a clear photo to work from, and also on here I remember you asked for eye colour so perhaps that and any other details that would help you get things right and mean you don’t have to go back and ask for them.
-I think you would be fine to specify that you require two weeks as a lead time to make a drawing and say that bigger pictures may take longer, but smaller ones are likely to be sooner. Also a lot of sellers use a notice on their shop to announce any changes in production time at busy periods.
-definitely emphasise that you draw freehand, pretty much any other digital portraits I saw all obviously had a base of being traced and looked just like better versions of stuff I did messing about on photoshop as a teenager, they had none of the indivuality of your style!
I hope at least some of this is helpful
3 Likes
I think also it would definitely be worth setting up an instagram account to show your work, if you like I would be happy help you with this? Just create a new email that can be your business one and come up with a name (e.g. ‘[your name] custom portraits’ or something more creative). There is a thing on instagram where you can put two pictures on one post, this could work really well to put the original beside your drawing if you get permission to use the pictures from people on here.
It might be worth building more of a portfolio of different tyoes of picture. You already have plenty of great single portraits, I would suggest trying to get some couples (maybe even a wedding picture one in there too), families, perhaps some pets by themselves (if you want to offer pet drawings) and anything else you can think of that would add different groups/combinations to show. People on here who have said they would commission you for pictures might already be sources to get these for your portfolio, if they are happy to have at least the drawing, if not the photo too, shared.
2 Likes
hey, thank you so much for looking into all of this for me. Wow you’ve gone to a lot of trouble to think about all this 
I guess I could work out the dims of paper sizes like A5/4/3/2 etc I’d imagine that’s how the printing world works.
These all seem like valid points, sadly stuff like this is why I freeze up when I look into doing anything properly, just seems like so many details need addressing.
Really heartening though to hear so many people say I have a “style” or that my stuff has character beyond what a lot of others are doing! Maybe there is hope
I have to get on with this in the new year, gotta find a way to put my fear behind me
6 Likes
You definitely have a style and I think that with a bit of help you could bring quite a lot of joy to people with your work! I do think that it would be worth doing this in partnership with someone - I’d totally offer to do it myself but I don’t think I have either the skills or the time to do it.
2 Likes
some people have kindly offered to help already, I need to get it together and do this
3 Likes
Do it. I would definitely consider getting one for our family
1 Like
Might be worth making friends with a local print shop and see if they can give you a mate’s rates for repeat business as well.
1 Like
Yeah, I’d definitely commission you Bam, would love a family portrait!
3 Likes
happy to do this for anyone who would want one x
I have just purchased my Christmas elf selfie drawing from Bam, very happy customer! 
8 Likes
jeez sorry I missed this, thank you
Ah you’re my fave too 
