I will admit, commission pieces always get me a little nervous. Trying to visualize what is in the head of the client is very daunting and I find myself over-stressing about perfection. I recently got a commission piece by a lovely tribal belly dancer and I was immediately anxious yet excited about the project. Her requirements were that it was similar in style to the drawing “The Bride”, (which was a line drawing she purchased from me months ago) and also that it incorporated 2 dual swords and a symbol that her brother had created. She stressed her interest in the masks that I used in my pieces but otherwise left it very open. When asked if she wanted full body, or partial body, or a particular pose of interest she responded “use your judgement”. This made me even more nervous since the freedom was all mine. It took me a couple days of sketching, tearing up multiple pages before I finally reached my final image. In the end, she was very pleased with the drawing and I am excited that she will be using it as their belly dancer tribe image.
