How to find an artist for a commission

Send an artist a request through their commission post, or post what you want made with a budget and a date and pick from the proposals artists send you. Nothing is charged until you accept one.

Guide · 7 min read · september 28, 2026

Most commission sites make the client do the finding: scroll a marketplace, compare prices, message a stranger and hope. openmog keeps that door open and adds a second one, where you say what you want and the artists come to you. This post walks both from the client’s seat; how commissions work covers every rule from both sides.

Where do you find artists on openmog?

Start on Explore, which scopes to commission posts and filters them by the categories artists type for their own work: character design, animation, pixel art, whatever they call it. A commission post shows the artist’s starting price, whether they are open, waitlisted or closed, and their reviews. A profile carries a “Commission me” door when the person has a listing open, and a character page lists the artists credited on its designs, which is often the fastest way to find someone who already draws the kind of thing you want. Portfolio posts are the proof: the post is the work, so what you see is what they make.

How do you send a request?

Open the commission post and answer the form. The artist wrote the questions, so they ask for what they need; if the listing has no form, openmog’s default questions stand in. Add up to four private reference files, your budget, the date you need the work by, and the licence you want if the listing prices them: personal, commercial content or merchandise. Accept the artist’s terms, and send. The request costs nothing, you can withdraw it any time before you pay, and you can have one open request per listing, three with the same artist and twenty in all.

Some listings also take an instant order at their stated price plus the options you pick, or a skeb, where you name your own offer at or above the artist’s minimum and get the finished work with no changes and no thread. Both place a hold on your card, not a charge, and the hold is released if the artist does not accept within 5 days. A listing that is full may keep a waitlist you can join, and one that is closed lets you ask to be told when it reopens.

What is a “Looking for artist” post?

Your brief, posted to the feed. Describe what you want made in at least 20 characters, set a budget of $5 to $1,000 and the date you need it by, within 90 days, and if it is art of one of your characters, name the character so its page becomes the reference. You can name the licence you need too. The post takes private proposals from artists until your date, closes when the date passes or when you close it, and can be reopened while the date is still ahead. Nobody but you sees the proposals, and you can decline any of them for free.

How do you choose a proposal?

Read the milestones. A proposal splits the job into one milestone or up to six, and for each one says what it covers, what it costs, how long it takes and how many change rounds it includes, from none to three. A single-milestone proposal is one price, one delivery, one approval. A longer plan lets you sign off on stages as they land, and you pay each stage only after approving the one before it. Every proposal comes under the artist’s own terms, which you accept when you accept it. Accepting means paying the first milestone, within 5 days of the proposal arriving on a listing, or any time before your post closes on a “Looking for artist” post. On your own post, paying one proposal fills it, and the others are simply not selected.

What do you pay, and when?

One milestone at a time, up front, and always the number on the button. openmog’s fee, 10% of each payment with a 75 cent minimum, is included in the price you see rather than added afterwards: a $30 milestone costs $33.34 and credits the artist the full $30.00. The money sits with openmog while the artist works and moves to them when you approve the delivery, or 5 days after delivery if you say nothing. When you approve a milestone the next one is ready to pay, and you have 5 days to pay it or to end the job there. A deposit, which an artist may make the first milestone of a longer plan, is the one milestone released as soon as it is paid.

What protects you?

Your money waits on the delivery. Nothing paid for a milestone reaches the artist until you approve it or your 5-day review passes without a word.
Changes are part of the price. Each milestone includes the change rounds its proposal states, and a change round is due within 5 days. Past those, the artist can quote a paid round, which you can decline.
Late work has an exit. A milestone 5 days past its due date with no delivery and no extension ask waiting lets you cancel the job and get that milestone refunded in full. If the artist cancels, every paid milestone you have not approved is refunded in full, the deposit included.
Disputes are decided by a person. For anything else, open a dispute on paid work, during the job or within 5 days after it completes. Every clock pauses, the artist’s unmatured credits from the job are held, they have 5 days to reply, and openmog decides: a split between a refund to you and a release to the artist, a new due date, or the job resuming. Open the dispute before calling your bank: a chargeback joins the dispute and pauses the job until the bank decides, and it also pauses every payment on the account that raised it.
The files are private. References, work in progress, deliveries and dispute files are visible only to the two of you (and to openmog staff during a dispute), delivered at full resolution and stripped of photo metadata.

What happens after the work is done?

You approve the last milestone and the job completes. Within 5 days you can add a tip, from $5 up to the job’s price, with the same fee inside (a $10 tip charges $11.12 and credits the artist the full $10.00), and both of you can review each other. Reviews are double-blind, hidden until both are in or the window ends, and public once they are. Every job has a receipt you can print. And if you agree, the artist can link the finished work to a portfolio post on their profile, tagged with your character if it features one, which is how a good commission finds the artist their next one.

If you already know the artist you want, a request is two minutes. If you do not, Explore is where to start, and how commissions work has every rule above in full.

Frequently asked questions

Is sending a commission request a commitment?

No. A request costs nothing and can be withdrawn at any time before you pay. The artist answers within 5 days with a proposal, and you have 5 days to accept it by paying its first milestone or let it expire. Only an instant order or a skeb offer touches your card before that, and both are holds: charged only if the artist accepts within 5 days, released otherwise.

What if no artist answers my post?

Then nothing is paid and nothing is lost. A “Looking for artist” post takes proposals until the date you need the work by, and if none arrive, or none suit you, the post closes on that date with no charge. You can reopen it while the date is still ahead, raise the budget, or send a request straight to an artist whose work you like instead.

Can I commission art of my own character?

Yes, and it is the common case. A request and a “Looking for artist” post can both name one of your characters, so the artist gets its page, its designs and its references as the brief. When the work is done, the finished commission can be linked to a portfolio post that tags your character, and the character earns a badge after five finished commissions have been drawn of it.

When is my money actually with the artist?

When you approve the delivery. Each milestone is paid up front, held by openmog while the artist works, and released to the artist when you approve it or 5 days after delivery if you say nothing. If the artist cancels, every paid milestone you have not approved is refunded in full. If a milestone runs 5 days past its due date with no delivery, you can cancel and it is refunded in full.

How much does openmog add to the price?

Nothing beyond the one number you see. openmog’s fee is 10% of each payment with a 75 cent minimum, already included in the price on the confirm button: a $30 milestone costs you $33.34 and credits the artist the full $30.00. Each milestone, paid change round and tip is its own payment with its own fee, and a refund returns the whole charge, fee included.

What can I do with the finished work?

What the licence you chose allows. A listing prices its licences, personal, commercial content or merchandise, and a “Looking for artist” post can name the one you need up front. The artist’s own terms, which you accept before you ask or pay, apply alongside it. The delivered files are yours to download at full resolution, and they stay private to the two of you.