Understanding Artist Commissions: A Buyer's Guide
By Otieno Odhiambo · 27 August 2026 · 1 min read
What a commission actually requires from a buyer — a written brief, a deposit, and real creative latitude for the artist — laid out as a practical guide, not a vague suggestion.
A commission is a fundamentally different transaction from buying existing work — you're paying for time and process, not a finished object you've already seen. Here's what actually makes one work well.
Start with a written brief, not a verbal idea
Put the concept, scale, medium, and any hard constraints (a specific colour that must appear, dimensions that must fit a specific wall) in writing before work begins. Vague verbal briefs are the single most common source of commission disputes later.
Agree the price and timeline upfront
Confirm the total price, payment schedule (typically a deposit reflecting real material costs, with the balance on completion), and a realistic timeline — and build in the understanding that a genuine creative timeline can shift, which is different from an open-ended one.
Give the artist real creative latitude
The brief sets the boundaries; within them, let the artist make the actual creative decisions. A buyer who art-directs every choice is commissioning a service, not the artist's actual work — and tends to end up with a less interesting result either way.
Plan for revision, reasonably
Agree upfront how many rounds of feedback or revision are included before work begins — an open-ended "keep changing it until I like it" arrangement is unfair to the artist and rarely produces a better result than a bounded, respectful process.
What happens if it doesn't work out
Discuss, before starting, what happens if the finished piece genuinely doesn't meet the agreed brief — this is rare when the brief was clear and written, but having the conversation upfront protects both sides more than hoping it won't come up.
— Njeri Wachira