Studio Queues Team · Last updated July 17, 2026
Commission request example: side-by-side bad and good versions, the seven fields every request needs, and adjustments for different commission types.
Most artists will tell you the same thing: the difference between a commission that ends well and a commission that ends badly is set before any drawing happens. It is set in the first message the client sends. A vague opening ("hi, are commissions open? how much for a full body?") produces a vague quote at best and a rejection at worst. A specific, well-structured commission request produces a fast quote, a happy artist, and a piece that lands close to what the client had in mind. This guide gives you a full commission request example (two, actually: one bad and one good) plus the underlying structure that makes the good one work.
Artists take dozens of commission requests. Most of them are, functionally, the same three lines: are you open, how much for a headshot, can you draw my OC. Those messages force the artist to spend twenty minutes extracting the information they needed in the first place: what character, what format, what style, what usage, what budget, what deadline. Every question the artist has to ask is time the client did not save them, and it signals that the client has not yet done the internal work of figuring out what they actually want.
The result is predictable. The artist either delays responding (client feels ignored), replies with a canned "please fill out my form" message (client feels processed), or quotes a wide price range to cover their bases (client feels overcharged). Meanwhile, the client sitting in the next chair over who wrote a clear, specific request gets a fast quote and a slot in the queue. Structure moves you up the queue.
Regardless of the commission type, a working request answers these questions in one message:
That is the whole structure. Everything below shows what it looks like in practice.
Here is a commission request example of what most artists actually receive:
hey! are your commissions open? how much for a full body of my OC? she has red hair and horns. can you do her in your style?
Everything the artist needs to quote is missing. What does "full body" mean here (flat color, cel-shaded, rendered)? Where are the references for the OC? "Red hair and horns" is not a character description; it is two adjectives. "Your style" is unclear because most artists have three or four styles they can work in. The request has no usage information, no budget, no deadline, and no references. The artist has three options: reply with a wall of questions (feels like homework to the client), reply with a wide quote to cover unknowns (probably too high, client bails), or not reply at all (queue is full, this message drops to the bottom).
None of those outcomes end with a commission actually happening. Which is why the client wonders why "no one ever answers me on Twitter." They are answering. This is what an unanswerable message looks like.
Here is the same commission for the same OC, rewritten as a working request:
Hi! I'd love to commission a full-body illustration of my original character. Here's what I'm looking for:
Piece: Full-body character illustration, cel-shaded, standing pose (three-quarters view). No background or a simple gradient.
Character: Existing OC named Vela. Reference sheet attached (three angles, expression variants, outfit close-ups). She's a demon-adjacent character, red hair kept in a low ponytail, black horns curving back, red eyes, wears a dark green military-style coat and boots.
Style: I love the piece you did of "Reya" from Feb 2026 and the twin cel-shaded pieces you posted last month. Similar rendering level and color depth.
Usage: Personal use only. She'll be my Discord avatar and I might post the finished piece to my Twitter.
Budget: Around $300-$400, flexible if the piece needs more.
Timeline: No hard deadline, whatever your standard queue looks like.
References attached: Full character sheet, three style reference screenshots from your gallery, one pose reference photo, one mood board with three color palettes I like.
Let me know if you have questions, and thanks for considering!
This message takes the client roughly ten minutes to write. It takes the artist thirty seconds to read and produces a quote in the same reply, usually with a proposed slot in the queue. Every question the artist would have had to ask is already answered. The style references are specific to that artist's own work, which shows the client did their research and did not just copy-paste the same message to twenty artists. The budget range is realistic and flexible enough to leave room for a slight upward quote if the scope requires it.
The difference between the two examples is not talent or knowledge or social skill. It is preparation. The good version is what happens when a client spends ten minutes organizing what they already know before they send the message.
Some artists take commission requests through DMs, some through email, some through Google Forms, and some through workflow-tool platforms with structured intake. On a structured-intake platform, the fields above are prompts the client answers as they submit; the request arrives already organized. Even so, the underlying content is the same: piece type, subject, style, usage, budget, deadline, references.
Where you submit the request also matters. On a marketplace, you might click a listing that already defines the piece type and price, then just describe the subject. On a workflow-tool platform, you fill in a fuller intake before a quote comes back. On a DM to an artist directly, you have to write the whole thing yourself in prose. For context on how these platform categories differ operationally, see where you submit the request also matters. For more resources on the commission process end to end, browse more Studio Queues resources on the commission process.
The template above is written for a character illustration. Other commission types need slightly different emphasis:
The core structure stays the same across all of them. What varies is the extra field or two that specific commission types need to price accurately. Add those fields as needed; do not skip the seven base ones.
A good commission request example is not about writing style or professional polish. It is about answering seven questions in one message so the artist can quote you fast and start the piece close to what you actually want. Piece type, subject, style, usage, budget, deadline, references attached. Ten minutes of preparation on the client's side saves both parties an hour of back-and-forth and dramatically raises the odds the finished piece lands where the client had it in their head.
Artists notice when a client did the preparation. It is one of the strongest signals that this is a serious commission from someone who will be pleasant to work with, and serious clients get moved up the queue accordingly. Writing a good request is one of the cheapest, highest-leverage things a commissioner can do.
If you want to browse artists whose intake is set up to accept structured requests directly, you can browse artists on Studio Queues where founding artist spots are still open. The founding artist program keeps 0% platform fees active for artists as long as their premium subscription stays active, and only the first 500 spots are available. Payment processing fees (Stripe) still apply the same way they would on any platform.
