Creative Freedom: What My First Commission Piece Taught Me

Hello – thank you for being here!

Happy Saturday to you, the lovely reader who opened this page. I thought I'd write a short little "lesson" on what I've come to appreciate and realize from doing my first commission piece, a tattoo for an online friend I met through this business.

1. You can't rush the creative process

While I was very eager to get started on this project, I knew I wanted it to be thought out

and properly planned. This is something I tend to overlook when beginning projects, as the main thought I usually have is "how can I make this come to life?" and usually, that means me wanting to jump right into projects. I tried to sit back and – not procrastinate necessarily – but rather, let myself 'be ready' to begin. That meant I had multiple occasions where I would sit down and put out my paints, and my watercolour paper, and pour water only to put it away shortly after. This is normal! I can imagine that other artists reading this now can relate very closely to this situation as well.

2. Communication with your client is key

I got incredibly lucky with my client for this project – she was not only sweet but was more than willing to communicate back and forth with me. In other words, she worked with me and made the experience wonderful for me as the creator. We tossed around the idea that she had in mind, which was a mushroom ring and her desired placement, under her knee. These questions I asked her were to ensure that I (a) was working towards something I would be proud of and (b) was meeting her vision as accurately as possible. When the process was over, I received such kind words from her, making me feel so grateful.

My client and I figured out how we best wanted to adapt the mushroom ring idea into a half-ring. The first photo was my digital rendition of the original, physical copy. I then tweaked the original design and added some shading!

3. Advocate for yourself as an artist

To me, advocating for myself as a creator meant taking the leap and reaching out to this client on my terms. I landed this job because I reached out to her via Instagram after she posted a story asking if there were any artists to design a tattoo for her. Internally, I was thinking, "well I've never done something like this before" and almost talked myself out of it... I had to overcome my fear of creating something out of my comfort zone to get started. So in a sense, I was internally advocating for myself – I was standing off against my inner critic to be able to reach my goal... designing my very first tattoo.

My final thoughts...

Overall, I have to say that this experience was so eye-opening! I challenged myself to reach out to a client and dared to try a new skill. If you've made it this far in reading, thank you for being here. I appreciate you dearly and hope you continue to stick around as I create more content and artwork for our fast-growing community 🤍

Take care, xx

Jade

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