Most artists take commissions without a commissions page — and then wonder why clients ghost, haggle, or misunderstand what they're paying for. One clear page changes all of that.
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Imagine two artists with the same skill level. Same style, same social following, similar prices. One gets clean commission requests — clear briefs, prompt payment, happy clients. The other spends 40% of their time answering the same questions over DM, chasing payments, and redoing work because expectations weren't set upfront.
The difference almost always comes down to one thing: a commissions page.
A commissions page isn't just a price list. It's the document that does your client-facing work for you — setting expectations, filtering the wrong enquiries out, and making the right clients feel confident enough to actually place an order.
This post walks you through writing one from scratch, with templates and real examples at every step.
A commissions page isn't a terms document. It's a sales page — but one written to attract the clients you actually want to work with, while naturally repelling the ones who will waste your time.
The best commissions pages have six components. Miss any one of them and you'll find yourself typing out the same answer to the same question, over and over, in your DMs.
Visible, unambiguous, and current. Clients should know within two seconds whether they can even place an order right now. This one thing alone reduces ghost enquiries by half.
What you offer, what each option includes, and what it costs — in plain language. No "DM for prices." Clients who have to ask for a price rarely come back.
From "you contact me" to "you receive your file." Walking the client through this builds trust and sets the right expectations before money changes hands.
A short list of what you take and what you don't. This isn't rude — it's professional. Clients who need what you don't offer will move on without feeling misled.
How long will the client wait? How many revisions are included? Vague answers here cause almost every commission dispute. Be specific.
A form, an email address, or a booking link. The simpler, the better. The goal is to make placing an order feel obvious, not like a puzzle to solve.
"A commissions page isn't just a price list. It's the one page on your website that does your client-facing work for you."
This is the most skipped part of a commissions page, and it creates the most friction. An artist who doesn't update their status gets enquiries during crunches, false hope during slow periods, and a constant background anxiety of not knowing what to say when someone messages out of the blue.
Put your status at the very top of the page — above your prices, above your introduction, above everything. Here's what it looks like in practice:
A few things worth noting here. First, be specific — "2 slots available" creates urgency in a way that "open" alone doesn't. Second, when you're closed, always tell people when you're reopening and give them a way to be notified. A waitlist with even 10 names is worth more than 100 cold visitors.
If you use Squarespace or Pixpa for your website, you can update this status in under 30 seconds from your phone. There's no excuse for leaving it stale.
The biggest mistake artists make with pricing isn't charging too little (though that's a problem too). It's being vague. "Starting from ₹500" tells a client nothing about what they'll actually pay — and the gap between their expectation and your quote is where most commissions fall apart.
Write your pricing the way a good restaurant menu works: clear categories, clear inclusions, clear prices. Let clients self-select the right tier before they contact you.
Here's a format that works for most digital artists — three tiers, clearly labelled, with explicit inclusions. Adapt the prices and categories to your own work:
| Type | What's included | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Sketch / Lineart No colour, single character | Pencil-style digital sketch, 1 round of revisions, high-res PNG file | from ₹1,200 |
| Flat Colour Lineart + solid fills | Clean lineart with flat colours, simple background, 2 revision rounds, PNG + layered PSD | from ₹2,200 |
| Fully Rendered Detailed shading and lighting | Full illustration, detailed shading/lighting, detailed background, 3 revision rounds, all source files | from ₹4,500 |
| Additional characters +₹800 each · Rush delivery (under 48 hrs) +50% · Commercial licence available on request | ||
A few things to notice here. "From" pricing is honest — your base price is for a standard request, and you reserve the right to quote higher for complexity. Listing what's included for each tier means no argument later about whether revisions were covered. And the note row handles add-ons cleanly without cluttering the main table.
Yes. Almost always. The most common reason artists don't is that they're afraid of scaring people away. But the clients who leave when they see your prices weren't going to pay them anyway — and now you haven't wasted an hour of back-and-forth figuring that out. The clients who are serious will respect that you're transparent.
The only exception is bespoke or high-value work (book covers, branding, large commercial licences) where the scope genuinely varies too much to quote upfront. In that case, list your starting price ("Commercial commissions from ₹12,000") and ask people to fill in a brief before you give a quote.
Clear pricing isn't just professional — it filters enquiries so you only hear from clients who already know what they're paying.
Once you've drafted your pricing section, run it through Grammarly. It catches awkward phrasing, ambiguous wording, and the kind of "this sounds fine when I write it but weird when a client reads it" errors that erode trust. The free version handles most of this.
Most clients have never commissioned custom art before. They don't know how long it takes, what to send you, when to expect a rough sketch, or what happens if they change their mind halfway through. Your process section answers all of this before they have to ask.
Six clear steps is usually enough. Here's a framework you can adapt:
Tell me the type of commission, your reference images, colour preferences, and any details I need to know. The more specific you are, the closer the first sketch will be to what you want.
Within 48 hours I'll confirm pricing, estimated delivery date, and ask any follow-up questions. If something isn't possible, I'll tell you now — not after you've paid.
I start work once the deposit clears. This protects both of us — I don't spend days on a project and then not get paid; you don't pay in full before seeing anything.
Before any detail work, you see the composition, pose, and layout. This is the right time to request major changes — once rendering starts, significant changes may incur an extra charge.
Minor tweaks (colour shifts, expression changes, small details) are included in your revision rounds. I'll send you a watermarked preview before the final file so you can confirm everything looks right.
Final payment releases the high-resolution file. You'll receive a PNG (or PSD, depending on your tier) within 24 hours of payment confirmation.
You don't have to use this exact structure — some artists prefer 100% upfront, some send multiple WIP stages, and that's fine. What matters is that you document your actual process clearly, so clients know what to expect at every stage.
Every artist has things they won't draw. Publishing this list isn't about being difficult — it's about being honest. A client who finds out you don't take a certain type of request after they've sent a detailed brief is far more frustrated than one who found out before they sent anything.
Keep this section short and factual. You don't need to explain every decision.
Two additions that are often worth including in this section:
Usage rights. Be clear about what the client can do with the finished piece. "Personal use only" means they can print it for themselves and post it online with credit — it doesn't mean they can sell merchandise, use it commercially, or license it. If you offer commercial licences, price them separately and state it here.
Credit policy. Most artists ask for credit when their work is shared online. State your preference clearly: "Please credit @yourhandle when sharing this work online." It's a reasonable ask, and the right clients will respect it.
Your commissions page should live on your own website — not in a Google Doc, not as a pinned tweet, not in a Carrd you built in 2021. It should be at a URL that looks like yourname.com/commissions, so clients can find it directly and you can link to it from everywhere.
If you don't have a website yet, the Artma guide to building your art website walks through the best options for artists at every stage. But if you're specifically looking for a platform that handles commissions pages, a contact form, and a portfolio in one place — here are two we recommend:
Beautiful templates designed for creatives, a clean contact/booking form builder, and mobile-optimised out of the box. Starts at around ₹1,200/month. 14-day free trial available.
Designed specifically for photographers and visual artists, with India-friendly pricing (plans from ₹490/month). Includes client galleries, a store, and custom pages — everything you need without paying for things you don't.
Keep them separate. A contact page is for general enquiries — it's short and low-friction. A commissions page needs to do a lot of work: setting prices, explaining your process, filtering requests. Combining them makes both worse. Link to your commissions page from your contact page if you like, but don't try to do both jobs in one place.
Yes. List them anyway and update them as you grow. Underpricing while you build confidence is fine — what matters is that clients know what to expect and you know what you're charging. "Starting from ₹800" gives you room to move while still being clear. The only prices you should hide are the ones you genuinely don't know yet, and even then, a "DM for a quote" on the highest tier is better than nothing listed at all.
For Indian clients: UPI, bank transfer, and Razorpay (which supports cards, net banking, and wallets). For international clients: PayPal is still the most widely used, though Wise is worth mentioning for lower transfer fees. List your accepted methods clearly on your commissions page — don't let this become a back-and-forth conversation after the client has already committed.
That's fine — your commissions page is a starting point, not a contract. If someone wants something slightly outside your usual tiers, you can quote a custom price. What the page does is give you a baseline: instead of starting every conversation from zero, you're answering "this is similar to my Fully Rendered tier, but with two characters instead of one, so I'd price it at ₹X." That framing is much easier for both sides.
Before your commissions page goes live, run through this list. Each item prevents a specific, common problem:
Once this page is live, link to it everywhere — your Instagram bio, your portfolio homepage, your Behance profile, your email signature. The more traffic it gets, the more it works for you.
Part of the Series
This is Post 2 in Artma's guide to building an online presence that gets you clients. Each post goes deep on one page or strategy.
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