Hey folks!

Its that time again. I'm gonna be opening for another commission batch! The previous one took a while to complete; this was primarily due to some poor time management decisions by me in the latter half of 2023 that resulted in a big slowdown on work and other issues. But that's all been solved, so now I'm ready to get things going again!

So, first things first, I'll mention that this and all future batches will no longer have first come first serve slots! They will all be my choice! I'll get into that further down (among other things). Lemme just get the primary details out first!

My Terms of Service has useful information: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BDIUQ2YWiUqCWxeiMlAHYXPKVEaDlfdmfEMXoS-fWoU/edit?usp=sharing

I'll be opening for 5 commission slots on April 22nd, around 4PM EST. Copypasta:

• The journal will be posted with the link to the commission form. It will stay open for a little over 24 hours.
• All 5 forms will be selected by me.
• I'll email those who got the slots to discuss ideas, prices, and other details, and then I'll send invoices and work on thumbnail sketches for commissioners' approval .
• The queue will be ordered by who gets that whole process done first, and I'll work down the queue in order.

I'll be sure to announce slots opening on my Commission Announcement Telegram channel: https://t.me/joinchat/UkhXN2FfoHgsCKKk , as well as in journals and on social media.
As always, if you're interested in getting a previous piece finished up, just email me (nommzarts @ gmail.com) about a commission upgrade when the form opens up.

First Come First Serve Slots

ALRIGHT! So, removing the First Come, First Serve slots has been a long time coming. It was a holdover from ages past, when things were simpler and stakes were much lower. Recently, now that some of the dust has settled from my move, I've been reexamining a lot of aspects of my life, schedule, and work to figure out what needs to change. And in the process, I discovered a -lot- of things that were holdovers from the past that I held onto because they were interwoven into other things or I just took them for granted, and they either weren't helping or were making things worse. FCFS slots were one of them.

FCFS slots had a couple key issues. The big one was that I was leaving the shaping of the batch up to basically random chance. If a lot of complex pieces got in first, then I couldn't pick any complex pieces for my own selections. If they leaned towards one theme, I'd want to get some variety with the other selections. I realized it was really heavily affecting my ability to ensure my batches are done in a reasonable amount of time, and right now, I'm realizing I need more control over these sorts of things. The other issue is that honestly? It was -incredibly- stressful for all people involved. It was really stressful on me to get the form posted everywhere at the same time without any faults so there wasn't an inherent edge anywhere. It was super stressful on y'all to try and submit a form immediately. It wasn't worth it, and I regret not realizing that sooner, as it would've saved so many headaches for everyone.

A big reason I had kept them was that people would insist that they're the only way they could get a commission, and for some reason I believed that. I get it, I understand the massive disappointment when you don't get a commission slot. Its especially rough to keep trying and not manage to get one. Realistically? I get well over 100 form submissions that I have to narrow down to 5. There are a -lot- of people in the same boat. And most of them are ideas I'd love to work on! Even if we chatted about the idea before and I said I like it, I can't guarantee you'd get the slot. There's a lot of folks who talk to me about ideas, and they -are- good! But I can only take on so many. Some of them have to get turned down for the time being. You always have a chance though! There's a wide variety of things I enjoy working on, so give it a shot! With the whole batch being my choice, it should allow me to take on only a reasonable amount I can handle, and open up again multiple times a year, giving folks more chances!

That said, I'm sure some folks would appreciate a lil guidance on how to increase their chances of getting their form selected, so I figured I'd point out a couple things.

-I'm sure there's a general feeling that including me in the piece ensures I'll pick it, and that's actually not the case! There's plenty ideas including me that don't get picked, so don't feel the need to try to pander to me in that regard. Plus, its hard to know ahead of time exactly what I'm in the mood for, so its a totally moot point. Just commission the idea you want to get most, because that's what you'll be the happiest receiving. Embrace your really rad characters and ideas!

-Second, now that FCFS slots are gone, I will highly HIGHLY suggest you include your references in the form submission! If I don't know what your characters look like, I very likely will not select your piece. There is no longer any rush, so please make sure to have that linked.

-"Creative freedom" is generally not an appealing thing for me. I'm very good at figuring out how best to execute an idea and utilize all the various compositional tools to get that idea across. I am -not- good at coming up with ideas from absolutely nothing. I never pick these, and it does not play to my strengths. You don't need to micromanage every minute detail that is in the piece like the pose or exact placement of things in the composition, etc; I work best when you give me a clear idea of what you want, even if its simple! Things like the overall mood of the piece that you want to get across, how characters may feel in this situation, maybe a lil bit of background story to really ground the piece in the setting. Even if its very simple, stuff like that really gives me a good direction to go in! I can make really intelligent decisions on details and background stuff when I know how you want this to feel and turn out, and it makes for a much more appealing idea than something with next to nothing.

-Finally, as always, you are absolutely free to submit multiple ideas! You can only receive one commission slot, but you can submit as many forms as you want to! There's no need to anguish about figuring out which idea of multiple I'd like to do. There is absolutely no downside to this.

Slavestreams

I think, given my prioritizing of flexibility in my schedule and workflow, these may be shelved indefinitely. I apologize to folks who may have been looking forward to me opening for these again! They were an absolute boon back in the day when I had much more time, and when I was much faster at completing work, and I didn't have as many responsibilities. I honestly don't feel like they mesh with me very well anymore, and I'd been feeling like they've been less and less worth it to y'all as time goes on regardless of the price. So rather than try to work these into my schedule, its better to shelve them for now. Maybe when things are different in the future, I could, but don't count on it for now.

Patron Tokens

There are a number of folks out there with tokens from the higher tiers of my Patreon that are no longer on those tiers, or on my Patreon in general. These tokens are still valid and useable, and they've had a slight revamp. Please contact me if you wanna know more about using them, as they CAN be used towards a full commission slot if you manage to get a slot! I'll happily fill you in on details.

Special Condition

Usually, the first batch of the year has the condition that if you commissioned me in the past year, you cannot receive a commission from me in this batch. This year, I'm going to forgo that and postpone it until next year, potentially. I think, with how long the previous batch took and how the timing of that messed up the new patron tiers and such, I think I want to give them a chance to use tokens on commissions. It wouldn't be fair to limit them again so soon. We'll see how things shape up this year.

OKAY I think that about sums up what I needed to ramble about. TLDR, First Come First Serve is out, slavestreams are out, and there won't be a special condition this batch. Please please PLEASE let me know if you have ANY questions regarding anything commission related, be it about the process or your ideas themselves. I wanna make sure everyone is fully ready and we're both on the same page. Comment, note, or email me if you need help.