Is it 'OKAY' to PM an Owner if they are willing to do a face-up commision?

I've been asked several times, and it is indeed very flattering. Sadly I have to turn people away because I'm not allowed to take comissions. But if I do start to take comissions I definitely would like to know that there are people out there who are willing to comission me
-Pandora-

 

yeah, sometimes, i see some DoA members face-up are awesome but no thread of theirs...(TxT)...good to read this...

 

Going to go with the majority, and say that asking really can't hurt. Be polite and brief to begin with - the potential face-up artist doesn't need to be bombarded with back story or descriptions before they've agreed to take on your commission. Just ask if they take commissions, and be ready to take "no" for an answer.

There is nothing worse than responding to a polite "Sorry, no" with indignation, or begging. ​

 

I'm another one who would be incredibly flattered if someone ask me to do a face-up on their doll. As others have said, as long as you're polite about it, & I can't imagine how you wouldn't be, it's perfectly ok to ask someone if they'd do a face-up. But not everyone is going to feel confident enough to do that or they may worry about having someone else's doll in their possession so don't take it personally if they refuse.

(Oh, just a little OT thing here...I know folks like to use abbreviations online but your face-up one can mean something entirely different. I mean f-u...LOL!)

 

That is brilliant! I do love a happy ending.

 

I'd be really flattered, and probably say yes, unless I'm super busy >.<

 

I don't see where it would honestly be a problem. Some really good artists don't do commissions because they don't feel they can make money on it, or don't have the time to do it regularly, or many other reasons. Really, the worst you'll get from a sane dollie owner is a polite no, and possibly an explaination as to why. And best case, you get that face up you wanted and they have some money in theiir pocket

 

I've been doing face-ups for my friend's dolls and will be doing so again for my Ai when she arrives. I would be flattered if someone was interested in commissioning me. Granted I don't consider myself professional, but I am pretty confident in my ability. But it would depend on circumstances, since I may have other projects in the works aside from face-ups. That and I get hesitant about the time in between shipping lol ^^; But yeah I'm with the others, worse they can say is no.

 

I think that if the person does not specify that they do faceups or do not, that it wouldn't hurt to ask. The worst thing that could happen is they say no, right?

 

I don't see a problem with it as long as you're polite

 

"f-u" I like this abbreviation, lol. XD
Uuh, I wouldn't mind if someone ASKED, but if I said no and they kept pestering me about it, I'd hate that. Especially since they might talk me into it and then I would have to actually deal with it. /wrist;;; (Can you tell that's happened to me before?;;;; Not with faceups, but still..)

 

I would feel flattered and would absolutely do it If I wasn't scared that I would mess it up!

 

It couldn't hurt at all to ask. Just don't be obnoxious about it and gracefully accept their answer whether it is yes or no.

 

HAHAHAHA oh PenguinCheese... your avatars crack me up!

Ok, OT... If I was any good at face-ups, I'd definitely be flattered.

On the other side of the spectrum, there's a girl here on DoA who does the most amazing face-ups IMO, but doesn't have a commission thread. She's painted two of my heads so far and LOVES the practice, so I have no issues tossing my heads her way! I'm pretty sure she asked to give some of my kids face-ups at one point or another to be honest...

 

I would find it very flattering since that would mean someone finds value in my work. As a few people have said, the worst they can say is no, but perhaps you gave confidence to someone who didn't think they were very good (I know some awesome face-up artist who didn't think they were that great).

I know that once you get your heart set on a particular persons face-ups, it can be hard to change your mind. I have someone I commissioned once for two face-ups that I LOVE and I have kept her thread bookmarked, She closed for several months and I kept watching the thread to make sure she opened back up again because my next girl I want her to do her face-up and I would have been crushed if she couldn't do it (you know who you are).

So go for it, they might say yes.

Thats a good point, to be respectful. There are a lot of reasons that someone might say no (not confident in skills, not comfortable working on other peoples dolls, perhaps they live out of your country and don't like shipping internationally, too busy, no long er do face-ups, ect). I know it might be upsetting if they say no, but it's important to think about the feeling of others, as well as your own (we were suppose to learn about that in elementary school, right)?

 

I've been asked before and I was so very flattered, but I had to refuse. I felt bad, but I had several reasons: 1)I don't feel like the quality of my faceups is good enough to be commissioned, (2)I'm in school and when I do art commissions I prefer it to be done in a very timely and orderly fashion: at the moment, I cannot guarantee such things and (3)I would never want to disappoint the commissioner, so I would feel awful if I couldn't properly capture their vision. I wouldn't at all mind doing a local doll workshop for this kind of thing.

But, if you are interested in asking, you might as well test the waters with the person and see how they respond.

 

I think there's nothing wrong with asking a member whose face-ups you like "Hey, I absolutely LOVE the face-ups you're doing on your dolls! Would you do one for me, too?" Worst thing that can happen is them telling you "Nope, sorry, I do face-ups only on my own dolls.", right?

 

I think concern about this this might come from the "is it okay to ask someone to sell" idea, but isn't the same thing. People probably aren't deeply emotionally attached to faceups they haven't done yet, after all . I think a brief, politely worded PM or email would be flattering to most people. Anything beyond that could start to get rude, and you certainly have to take the answer as it comes.

 

The only problem I can think of with PMing people about taking on face-up or mod commissions is that it bypasses the Marketplace/feedback system. While it may not be a concern for some people, you need to remember that sales and commissions outside of the Marketplace are against the rules and it could result in you losing Marketplace access, or contributing to someone else losing their Marketplace access, which I can assure you, will not make you a popular person!

If you take a commission through an unsolicited PM rather than through a dedicated thread in the Marketplace, there's no guarantee that the person who approached you has Marketplace access and good feedback. There is always a strong reason behind Marketplace suspensions and bans, so it is very, very important to check feedback carefully before you approach a customiser or before a customiser accepts a commission.

 

I see it like this: If you don't ask, you don't get an answer. It's 50/50 for a no or a yes. I wouldn't mind anyone asking me if I'd do a face-up for them if they really like my face-ups. How can that be rude? xD