About Hey Draw!

Hey Draw is a platform built with the hope of helping artists in need of emergency funds!

Our Commission Wizard makes placing a commission request easy-peasy!

Step 1: Options

Base

Pick whether you would like to commission an icon, a character bust (half-body), or a full body character.

Colouring Style

This is essentially the render level you would like for your commission, from stopping at the sketch layer to delivering a fully shaded render.

Art Style

Some artists are more comfortable with certain art styles over others. If you're not fussy about what art style your commission is delivered in, you can leave this at "Any" and the artist will simply use the art style they are most comfortable with.

If you pick a specific art style, such as "Manga / Anime", "Realistic", or "Chibi", the pool of artists that the algorithm will create to match you with will only include artists that are capable of that art style.

Theme

While the theme doesn't direct affect the artist pool, it helps inform the artist of the direction that you have in mind for this commission.

Some examples of the themes that we have listed: "Horror", "Fantasy", and "Contemporary".

Background Style

This determines the complexity of the background. You can choose between "None" (which means a solid colour of your choice in the next step), "Simple", and "Full".

If you picked "Icon" as your base, the only option that is available to you here is "None".

If you picked "Sketch" as your colouring style, regardless of whether you picked "Bust" or "Full Body" as your base, the "Full" option will not be available to you here.

Step 2: Details

Character Type & Use Case

The character type you select is crucial in informing the artist of the anatomy and complexity of your character. Whether that be humanoid, anthropomorphic, an animal, a creature, or even a mech, these require different sets of skills and experience with their anatomy. The Use Case, however, is simply to help the artist better understand the purpose of the artwork (e.g.: Book cover, D&D character, mascot, etc).

Character Type and Use Case

Number of additional characters

You can specify if you want multiple characters included in the illustration. Each additional character adds half the price of your selected Base Category from Step 1.

Note that this is specifically to add characters to the one illustration, not to order multiple illustrations of individual characters (e.g.: You want two of your OCs doing something together).

Additional Characters

Character Description

Here, you enter the character's name, physical description, personality & attributes, and any additional details that you think is relevant to the character and important for the artist to be aware of!

You also have the option to use a pre-existing OC (or save the details you just entered as a new OC for future reference)!

Character Details

If you select a pre-existing OC, the following options appear:

  • A select menu to choose which OC you'd like to add.
  • A toggle to link the artist to your OC's public profile.
  • Select menus below each detail field to insert previously entered details about that OC.
  • A toggle to include all the existing OC references you've previously uploaded.
Character Details (OC)

Pose(s)

Enter what pose you would like your character (or poses if you've added additional characters) to be in. Feel free to provide multiple options if you're not picky!

Background Details

If you chose to have no background, you still get the option to choose a background colour for your final delivery.

Background details 1

If you chose a simple or complex background, you can describe the background you have in mind to the artist.

Background details 2

References & Attachments

Here, you can include any additional materials that would help get your idea and vision across to the artist! That can be reference imagery, links to previous commissions, and any images you've already uploaded for your selected OC (if any)!

References

Additional Requirements

If you'd like to include sensitive materials in your commission, that's totally okay, but make sure you use those toggles to ensure you're matched with artist who are comfortable working on these types of illustrations!

Additional Requirements

Note that if you enable "NSFW", a number of sub-options appear where you can pick exactly what type of NSFW content you expect to see in this commission (some examples include "Suggestive", "Explicit", "Fetish", and "Extreme / Taboo").

Step 3: Delivery Options

Transparent Background?

Asks the assigned artist(s) to include a version of the deliverable on a transparent background.

Hi-Res?

Asks the assigned artist(s) to ensure that they work on this commission in a large canvas with high DPI, then export it at high resolution for you.

This is a paid add-on and will exclude artists that do not meet this requirement (they have disabled "Hi-Res" in their artist settings).

Cover Processing Fees?

You can choose to cover the fees that our payment processor, Stripe, charges to process the transaction. This is optional, but encouraged to ensure artists get as much of the payment as possible.

Usage Rights

Here you can choose what usage rights you would like covered for your delivered work once the commission assignment is complete. Each one of these has its own contract for you to review and sign after the artist accepts your commission assignment.

The default usage rights we provide is "Personal Use Only". This is included free of charge with your commission. All the others come with add-on costs.

The options we provide here may change over time as we continue to work closely with artists to refine them.

Step 4: Artists

Number of Artists to Commission?

You can choose how many artists would you like to assign to this commission.

Choosing more than one does not mean that multiple artists will be working on your commission together, it means that multiple artists will receive the same assignment details and will deliver you their own interpretation of them.

E.g.: If you were to pick three artists to illustrate an OC, you'd receive three different illustrations of the same OC with the same requirements/options you've selected.

Emergency Status Artists Only

If you would like to prioritize artists that are currently in emergency status.

This will match you only with artists from the emergency status pool, unless the algorithm cannot find any that are available, that meet your requirements, and/or that are not currently at capacity.

Artist Level

The artist level does not mean their skill level. Artists rank up in level as they take on more commissions on Hey Draw.

A higher level implies more proven experience working with commissioners on the platform, therefore more trust that they are capable of delivering results you would be happy with.

You can set this to a different level for each artist individually, but the higher you set it, the higher the add-on cost. You can leave it at Level One for no extra cost.

Artist Art Style

By default, artists will be assigned the art style you've set in the first step, however if you'd like multiple different art styles, you can set that for each artist individually here.

Step 5: Payment

Billing Address

We need this for the usage rights contract, for our payment processor to validate your payment method, and to calculate taxes at checkout.

Payment Details

You can enter a payment method of your choice, whether that be credit card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. If you've already entered a payment method in your settings, you have the option to use that here instead of having to enter your payment details again.

Okay, but how does the matching algorithm even work?!

In their settings, artists can choose what options they provide, as well as opt-out of being assigned algorithm-matched commissions.

Once you submit your commission assignment request through the commission wizard, a pool is created made up of artists that are opted-in to being matched and whose selected options meet your commission's option requirements.

From that pool, we filter out the artists that are unavailable or at capacity. We then sort artists based on their current workload, prioritizing those that have less work at that moment.

If you did not have the "Emergency Status Only" toggle enabled, we run a weighted randomizer that determines whether to stack the pool of artists that are in emergency status at the top of the list. This weighted randomizer works like so:

  • For high cost commissions with only one artist assignment slot:
    Only match from emergency status pool if no matches found for artists outside the emergency status pool.
  • For mid-range cost commissions with only one artist assignment slot:
    50% chance of selecting from emergency status pool.
  • For low cost commissions with only one artist assignment slot:
    Always select from emergency status pool first and match from non-emergency status pool only if no matches found.
  • Commissions of any cost with two or more artist assignment slots:
    Odds of selecting from emergency pool increase per additional artist
    e.g.: If 4 artists assigned, first match is 100% from non-emergency status pool, second match has 75% chance of being from non-emergency status pool, third match has 50% odds of being from non-emergency status pool, and fourth match has 25% odds of being from non-emergency status pool. If there are more than 4 artists assigned to commission, all artists after the fourth are always from the emergency status artist pool (if any available).

The idea here is that emergency status artists need a lot of work that they can complete rapidly in order to reach their goal and withdraw their payout before their deadlines, so we try to prioritize reserving smaller, easier commissions for them.

No Matches Found

If the algorithm fails to find artists to assign, we place your commission request in a queue and the algorithm search tries again regularly until it gets you a match.

Did you say fixed pricing?

Yes, in order for this system to make sense, we've made algorithm-based commissions use fixed prices.

If the algorithm took every individual artist's pricing for each add-on, the matching pools would be too fragmented, and it would be really difficult to actually find matches. But note that these prices are for algorithm-assigned commissions only, not direct commissions.

We've discussed with many artists to find a happy median for these fixed prices, and they may change from time-to-time as we continue to work with artists to refine them.

As a commissioner, you also have the option to cover processing fees, which we highly encourage. As much as we'd love to not have processing fees, these are put in place by Stripe, our payment processor. If you choose not to cover those fees, they will unfortunately be taken out of the artist's revenue.

Note that covering fees is mandatory if you select "Emergency Artists Only" in the wizard.

In addition to this pricing, we also charge a platform fee of only $1 USD per artist assigned to a commission! Use the calculator below to get an idea of how much you would pay for an algorithm-assigned commission, how much each artist that is assigned to the commission would pay, and how much our platform would collect.

Icon

Character's head or prop, often for avatars.

15 per artist

Bust / Waist Up

Only the top half of a character. Great if you don't need a full illustration!

30 per artist

Full Body

The character's entire body visible in frame, usually posing or performing some sort of action. Great for showing off your character, reminiscing narrative moments your character lived through, or prints!

50 per artist

  • Style

    Sketch

    0

    Default

  • Style

    Line Art

    +10

    Add-On

  • Style

    Flat Colours

    +20

    Add-On

  • Style

    Fully Shaded

    +30

    Add-On

  • Background

    No Background

    0

    Default

  • Background

    Simple

    +15

    Add-On

  • Background

    Full / Detailed

    +25

    Add-On

Pricing Calculator

Total Fees Artists get:Artist gets: Each Hey Draw gets:
Select Commission Type
Select Style
Select Background
Select Usage Type
Extras
Include a high resolution version.
Payment processing fees are 3% + $0.30

Commissioners have the option to cover processing fees. Hey Draw only keeps $1 per commission, per artist. Mostly to cover salaries, fees, and maintenance. Any money raised beyond that is re-distributed to the artists on our platform! Processing fees not included.

Commission Assignments are where all the magic happens!

Commission Assignment Details View

This is where both the commissioner and the artist keep track of the commission. You use it to communicate anonymously (or not anonymously if it's a direct commission), review deliverables, and keep track of all the information relating to the commission, including commission specifications, character details, reference material, linked commissions, and agreement contracts.

Specifications
Subject Details Tab Agreement Tab

So what's the commissioner's perspective?

As a commissioner, you can swap between all the artists assigned to that commission here, assuming you've assigned more than one. You can also review and sign the agreement contract, communicate with the artist directly, upload images and files to share with the artist, approve or decline deliveries, and request revisions!

Commission Card

On the commission card, you can see a list of the assigned artists and the individual statuses of each assignment, the overall status for the commission, the receipt, and any actions that are required from you will be highlighted at the top (such as a delivery pending approval or a contract waiting for your review).

... And the artist's?

As an artist, you can see all the same details that the commissioner can see. You can also communicate and update the status of the assignment to keep the commissioner up-to-date, send images and files, submit delivery updates, submit final deliverables, set a delivery date estimate (which is completely optional), ask for consent to share the final deliverable publicly, share your emergency status (if it isn't public), and reveal yourself to the commissioner (after the delivery is approved).

Assignment Details View As An Artist
  • The earnings you will receive once you deliver this commission assignment.
  • The commission specifications provided by the commissioner.
  • Set an estimated delivery date. This is completely optional and will only appear to the commissioner if you enter a date.
  • Report the commission if the commissioner is being rude, attempting to scam, or doing anything that makes you uncomfortable.
  • Set what stage of the assignment you've reached (sketch, line art, colours, etc).
  • Delivery your final work or provide a delivery update by switching to the "Deliverables" tab here.
  • Communicate with the commissioner directly. Note that when adding attachments to your messages, you have the option to apply watermarking to them in order to protect your work.
Set the sub-status

Keep the commissioner inform by updating the status of the assignment. Choose between "Preparing", "Sketching", "Inking / Line-work", "Colouring", "Shading", and "Finalizing / Touch-Ups".
Note that you can move the status back-and-forth, it's not restricted to only moving it forward, so if you move it to "Inking", but then realize you still have more sketching work to do, you can move it back to "Sketching".

Watrmarking

In order to protect your work, when attaching images to comments, you can check the "use watermark" checkbox to add watermarking and glazing to the image before uploading it. This process is applied directly onto the raw image before storing it on our servers, so we do not store the original unaltered version.

Delivery Reminders

Here, you can share "Deliverable Updates", which are work-in-progress shots of the work you're doing, and you can submit your final deliverables for approval.
If the commissioner requested a high-resolution deliverable or a version with a transparent background, you will see reminders here to make sure you include those files as well.

Ask for consent to share

After the final deliverable is approved, this action box will appear where you can ask the commissioner for consent to share the work publicly. If they agree, the delivery preview (watermarked and glazed) will appear in the public gallery, on your artist profile (if public), and on the related OC's page (if public).
Either party can revoke consent at any point afterwards.

Assignment Card

All your assignments are listed on your dashboard. On the assignment card, you can see the earnings you will receive after delivery, the assignment's status, action buttons to report or cancel the assignment, and if any actions that are required from you will be highlighted at the top.

Okay, so what happens after the deliverable is submitted?

Once the artist delivers their work, the commissioner will have three days to approve or request revisions. If they do not perform an action, the delivery is automatically approved and the commission is marked as completed. Below is what the commissioner sees when the artist submits their delivery.

Delivery Approval

If the commissioner approves, they are given access to the deliverable files and are also prompted to leave you some "Thumbs Ups", which contribute towards your level.

If they decline, they are prompted to request revisions. When requesting revisions, it is up to the artist to determine whether they will include that revision work with the initial payment or charge additional fees for the work.

If the artist decides to charge, they can propose the price they want to charge and the commissioner can choose to either accept the proposed price, counter with a different price, or decline altogether, which automatically approves the commission.

After the commission is complete, new actions become available: A button to ask for consent to share the work publicly (only the artist can initiate this), a prompt to leave a tip (only the commissioner sees this), a button to block the other party (blocking means neither party will ever be matched together again), and a button for the artist to reveal themselves to the commissioner (more on that in the Artists section).

After Actions

This is the commissioner's perspective. In this case, they haven't left a tip yet (so the prompt to tip is still there), the artist asked for consent to share and the commissioner agreed, and the commissioner has neither blocked nor reported the artist, so both prompts are also still there.

And how does payment work exactly?

As a commissioner, when you place a commission request, you get charged the full amount and Hey Draw holds that amount in escrow. Any extra charges requested by the artist for revision requests will be collected upon agreeing to the charge and will be held in the same escrow.

We use this method to protect the artist from scams and ensure they get paid. In the future, we will have a system in place that allows for commissioners to earn "trust". These commissioners will be able to simply be charged a "payment intent" (no real money is exchanged, only card validation) instead of using the escrow system, and the actual charge will occur once an artist delivers.

When artists complete their assigned commissions, the amount they are owed is transferred from the escrow to their accounts. If the commissioner leaves a tip for the artist after delivery, that payment goes directly to the artist and does not go through our escrow system.

If an artist cancels a commission request partway after accepting it, the commissioner is given the option to either re-assign it to a new match, or to simply refund the amount that would have been owed to that artist.

Payment for direct commissions work a little differently, but more on that in the Artists section.

Unlock artists like collectibles and commission them directly!

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Bring all your original characters to life!

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Help artists in need of emergency funds!

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