[Giveaway] Art Commission Terms and Conditions Project Proposal Templates
- "Muhammad at-Tayieb" al-Hyari
- Jan 20, 2022
- 3 min read
Since I created my Art Commissions - Terms and Conditions page and made it search-engine discoverable, I have seen a great deal of traffic under it, and I have seen it being copied by other artists around the web. That makes me glad, especially as I did not start it from scratch. I stole it (like an artist!).
One Problem!
But there is a problem. The terms listed on this page are for my Custom Cartoon & Digital Portrait Painting service. They are fixed and they apply for non-commercial use only.
For commercial digital art and illustration projects, I use a template which my friend (Mohammed Musleh, an architect) helped me to build based on his experience. The template allows my clients to read my proposals clearly, navigating through the briefing, process, pricing options, definitions, terms & conditions, and a slide about, ehem, the artist. It also defines the official communication channels.
How it Works?
I normally share this document after I hear the briefing from the client (over phone or email). Thus, The Brief describes the project as I understand it. I sometimes refer to those communications here. It's important to have the brief clearly written to set the expectations correctly and set the price accordingly.
The Process is my favorite part as it sets the roadmap towards delivering the project smoothly without distractions. From sketch to final touch, it defines 5 stages of delivery, and it limits the number of revisions per stage. Furthermore, it clarifies the impact of major and minor revisions on the proposed delivery date.
Major and minor revisions are defined in the Definitions section.
The Notes & Terms cover various topics like the contract's termination, delays, additional fees, payment terms, crediting, collaboration, damages and communications.
The Offer includes more than one option that are based on the copyrights acquired by the client. The more the copyrights wanted, the higher the price.
Get & Use for Free
To support fellow artists, I made these templates available for free. The first is for Children's Book Illustration projects and the other is for Key Visual Design. They can be modified to cover portrait painting, logo design, character design, visual development and other types of illustration and digital art commissions.
Download from my website
Or add to your Gumroad Library
Future Updates
I keep updating these templates as I learn. For instance, I don't have a template for a royalties payment option yet, but I am working on it.
I will notify those who get the files when I renew them in the future.
Things to Remember
The terms and numbers in the templates are examples. All of them should be fine-tuned and agreed-upon between the artist and the client.
The terms are there to keep the project under control. I never count the number of modifications or object about deviating from the initial briefing if the process remains creative, productive and exciting.
I always aim to be fair when pricing a project, both to myself and to my clients.
Whenever possible, I always try to find pricing solutions, especially for the projects I really admire. So when a client asks for one of the offered options at a lower price, I sometimes accept it by changing another condition (delaying the delivery date for example) to stay on top of my other projects.
In most cases, companies prefer to own the full rights to the artwork, but it is not always necessary. The artist should clarify this to justify the price gap.
Companies normally come with their own contracts. I just try to map my proposal to their terms and understand any deviations or additional terms.
The proposal aims to put the administrative aspect of a project aside and jump straight into the creative part.
I hope you find this helpful. Please reach out to me if you find any gaps or have any queries.
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