Studio Queues Team · Last updated June 24, 2026
Learn how to create an effective commission intake form that protects your time and ensures clear project scope with specific questions.
Your intake form is a Google Form from 2022. You copied it from a friend who copied it from someone else. Half the questions are filler. "What's your favorite color." "What's your zodiac sign." "Tell me about your character." The ones that would have caught the difficult client at the inquiry stage are missing. The ones that would have locked the deadline in writing are missing. The reference image situation is "feel free to share if you have any."
You keep ending up two weeks into a job with a reference you've never seen, a deadline you didn't agree to, and a client who's now sending follow-ups at midnight asking if it's done yet.
The intake form is the cheapest legal protection you have. Done right, it filters out bad inquiries before you've replied to them, locks scope in writing, and creates a documented agreement that holds up later. Done wrong, it's a vibes check that does nothing.
This is the structure that actually works, with the specific phrasings that matter and a clear list of what to cut.
The form does three jobs.
It collects the information you need to quote and schedule the work. Contact, project type, references, deadline, budget. The basics.
It surfaces problems early. A client who can't articulate what they want, can't provide references, won't commit to a budget, or expects unrealistic turnaround, all of these reveal themselves at the form stage if the form asks the right questions.
It creates a written record of what was agreed. Project scope as the client described it. Deadline as the client requested it. Usage as the client confirmed it. Six weeks later when scope or expectations drift, the form is the reference point.
A good intake does all three. A bad one collects fan-fiction-flavored character backstory and asks no operational questions, which is most of the intake forms you'll see floating around.
These six sections cover everything an intake actually needs. Specific question phrasings included where the wording matters.
The minimum: name (legal or business if you need it for invoicing, otherwise display name is fine), email, and a backup contact method if you're not using a platform that keeps messaging in one place.
The reason for the backup is real: email gets buried. Discord DMs get lost. Telegram threads get archived. Most commission disputes that drag on for weeks have at their root a thread of conversation scattered across three channels with no clean record of what was agreed where.
The fix is to consolidate messaging to one place that holds the record. Studio Queues does this by default with in-platform messaging tied to each commission, so every message about the project lives with the project. If you're not using a platform, designate one channel as the official one at the intake stage and stick to it. The "where did we talk about that" problem at month three is what kills artist time.
The fork in the form. Different project types have different downstream questions, and a flat form that ignores this asks every client every question regardless of relevance.
A simple version: a single radio button or dropdown with your offered types. Character portrait, full illustration, reference sheet, vtuber design, animation, whatever you actually offer. Selecting a type can show or hide downstream fields if your form platform supports conditional logic, or you can keep it simple and just route based on the answer manually.
Then a free-text field for the scope description: "Describe the project in your own words. What's the subject, the setting, the mood, anything specific you have in mind?"
The reason you keep it open-ended: clients who can articulate the project clearly are clients who know what they want. Clients who can't write a coherent paragraph here are clients who will struggle to give feedback later. The scope description is a clarity check.
The single most important section. The phrasing matters.
"Provide at least two reference images for any character, subject, or style direction. Required, not optional. Reference can be other artists' work for style only, photos for subjects, or your own existing material."
Required, not optional. If you let "I don't have references, just go with whatever you think" slide, you've signed up for unlimited revisions because the client will discover what they wanted only when they see what they don't want.
Two minimums work. One for the subject (what is this character/scene/object), one for the style or mood (how should it feel). More is fine. Less means you're inventing the brief yourself and getting paid as if the client gave you one.
The references need to stick to the commission record. Discord attachments expire. Tweet embeds break when accounts go private. Imgur links rot. Three weeks into a project, the references the client uploaded at intake should still be one click away. Studio Queues attaches reference uploads directly to the commission so they're always there with the project, not living on a third-party host that might disappear. If you're using a generic form tool, specify acceptable hosts and download the references to your own storage at intake so you're not chasing dead links later.
The question that catches rush jobs before you've quoted standard pricing.
"Do you have a specific deadline or target date? If so, what's the date and what happens if it can't be met?"
The first half is information. The second half is the test. Clients who say "no deadline, take your time" are different from clients who say "I need it by the 14th for an event" are different from clients who say "I need it by Friday or I don't need it at all."
The "what happens if it can't be met" question reveals how committed they are to the date. If the answer is "well, sooner is better but it's flexible," you have room. If the answer is a hard date with consequences, that's a rush job and the rush fee applies, which you can quote when you reply.
Without this question, you commit to whatever the client said, find out three weeks in that they actually meant something stricter, and now you're rearranging your queue for free.
The contested question. Some artists say never ask because clients will lowball based on it. Others say always ask because it filters out clients who don't have the money. The second camp is right, with a caveat.
Phrasing that works: "What's your budget range for this project? If you're not sure, leave this blank, but it helps us figure out if we're a fit."
Two things this does. First, it surfaces clients whose budget is far below your actual pricing, before you've spent twenty minutes drafting a custom quote they'll bounce off of. Second, it surfaces clients whose budget is far above your standard pricing, which is information you should have. You don't lower your price because of a high budget, but you can include scope that would normally be an add-on.
The "leave this blank" option matters. Some clients legitimately don't know what commission work costs and asking them to commit to a number scares them off. Letting them skip the question while including it for those who can answer gives you the filter without the friction.
If you've published a price list, mention the budget question is for projects outside the standard list (custom illustration, multi-piece sets, etc.). Standard work doesn't need a budget question because the price is on the pricing page.
The question almost no intake forms ask. Almost every dispute that comes up later has its roots here.
"How will this commission be used? Select all that apply: personal display only, social media posting, profile picture / icon use, streaming use (Twitch, YouTube, vtuber model), printed merchandise, NFT or blockchain use, commercial advertising, other."
Each of these has different licensing implications. Personal use is the cheapest. Streaming use is a step up because the client is using your work to generate income. Merchandise is a license you usually charge separately for. NFT use is a category many artists explicitly exclude in their TOS.
The point isn't that all of these are red flags. The point is that you charge differently for them, and you need to know which apply before you quote. A client who needs commercial usage rights for a brand campaign is paying significantly more than a client who wants a personal profile picture, even if the artwork is identical.
If your project type field at the top is "vtuber design" or similar, this becomes the most important section in the form. The full breakdown on usage and licensing for vtuber work specifically is in the vtuber commission guide.
Last section, by design. The submit button is the click-to-accept moment for your terms of service.
"By submitting this form, you confirm you have read and agree to the terms of service at [link to TOS page]."
Required checkbox, then the submit button.
This is the difference between a TOS that holds up in a chargeback dispute and one that doesn't. Linking your TOS in your bio is a "browsewrap" agreement, and most disputes go against the artist because there's no proof the client actually read it. A timestamped click-to-accept at submit is a "clickwrap" agreement and is a much stronger record.
The TOS itself should be readable, not a wall of legalese. Cover the basics: payment terms, revision policy, deadline expectations, what you don't draw, what happens if the client cancels, what happens if you cancel.
The questions that show up on most copied intake forms and shouldn't.
Favorite color. The character's color palette comes from the design discussion, not the client's personal favorites. Cut it.
Zodiac sign. Cut it.
Backstory paragraph for the character. Cut it unless the project is character design from scratch, in which case it's part of the brief, not a separate question.
"How did you hear about me." Cute, not operationally useful. If you want this for marketing data, put it after the submit, not as a required question.
"Any other questions or comments." Replace with a more specific prompt or cut. Generic open-ended boxes invite scope creep at the intake stage.
Long lists of optional artistic preferences. "Preferred medium, preferred color palette, preferred composition style." This is the artist's job, not the client's. Reference images cover the preferences without the form bloat.
"What's your name (real or fake)." Cut the "or fake" part. You need to know who you're contracting with. If they want to use a pen name on social, fine, but the actual name goes on the form.
The principle: every question on the form should either be operationally necessary or a deliberate filter. Cut everything that's neither.
Two reasons.
The technical reason: a click-to-accept on the intake form creates a timestamped record that the specific person who submitted this specific form agreed to the specific TOS that was live at that moment. If the TOS lives on a separate page they might or might not have visited, you don't have that record.
The practical reason: clients don't read terms unless you make them. A separate "please read my TOS before booking" link in your bio is read by maybe five percent of inquiries. A required checkbox on the form moves the read rate dramatically higher and, just as importantly, moves the agreement from "implied" to "explicit." Disputes treat those very differently.
If you're using Studio Queues, the intake form has the TOS acceptance built into the submit with timestamped records. The structure described in this whole article (the question sections above plus the click-to-accept) is basically what the platform's intake is, so you can either build the form yourself with the structure here or use the version that's pre-built. If you're using a generic form tool, you'll need to wire the checkbox plus an automatic email confirmation that includes a copy of the TOS that was live at submit time. More setup, same principle, but the records are usually weaker than a platform that does it natively.
The form has to do four things: collect the structured questions above, handle file uploads for references, record a click-to-accept TOS with a timestamp, and route inquiries to a place you'll actually see them. Most generic form tools handle the first two. The third and fourth are where they fall apart.
Studio Queues is built around this exact intake structure with the TOS click and reference attachments wired in by default. Inquiries go into a queue that's the same place you manage the rest of the project, so there's no copy-paste from a form tool into a separate project tracker. The form is part of the workflow rather than a step outside it.
If you're not on a platform, the fallback hierarchy:
Tally or Typeform. Decent conditional logic, file upload support, can wire a checkbox for TOS. Embed in your site. Free tiers exist on both. Best of the generic options.
A custom form on your own site. Most control, most maintenance. Worth it only if you have specific needs the form builders can't meet.
Google Forms. Free, ugly, conditional logic is weak, file upload requires a Google account from the submitter which loses you inquiries. Acceptable to start, you'll outgrow it fast.
Whatever you use, the form is the gate. Nothing reaches your inbox without going through it. The day you start enforcing that rule is the day your inquiry-to-booking process actually becomes manageable.
Most intake forms collect personality data and skip operations. The fix is the opposite: minimal personality questions, comprehensive operations. Name, project, scope, references, deadline, budget, usage, TOS click.
Eight sections. None of them filler. All of them either operationally necessary or a deliberate filter.
If you want the version of all of this that's already built, Studio Queues is the intake structure described in this article, plus the click-to-accept TOS, plus reference attachment that sticks to the commission, plus the queue and messaging on the back end so the inquiry doesn't live in a separate tool from the project. If you want to build it yourself, the structure above is what you build toward. Either way works. The difference is hours of setup and ongoing maintenance.
Cut what doesn't fit. Add the click-to-accept. Route every inquiry through the form. The difficult clients who would have soaked your time at the inquiry stage stop reaching you. The good clients get a clearer process. You spend less time on inquiries and more time on the work.
