3 Client Choices In the Commission Process

There are many ways that commissioned paintings can be done, so I gave this a lot of thought when deciding on my process. I wanted it to be a personalized experience that was authentic, engaging, and exciting, while also maintaining low stress levels for clients. As a result, I designed the commission process to ignite personal reflection, involve an opportunity for conversation, and include an element of surprise.

Choose Your Song: What Do You Want to Feel?

This first step is crucial. While it may seem obvious that you should choose a song you love, I encourage you to set aside some time to think about why you’re thinking of choosing a certain song and if it truly resonates with you. Which favourite songs come to mind right off the top of your head? What personal meaning do those songs carry for you? Sometimes it can be easy to pick a song just because it’s popular, or catchy, or a classic, but it might not necessarily be a song that strikes a deep nerve for you. I suggest choosing a song that makes you feel something that’s a core part of who you are, or because it’s something you rarely feel but wish you felt more often. That way, every time you look at your painting you will feel a consistent sense of catharsis and connection.

Review the Sketch: Is This the One?

Once you choose the song, I take a few hours to listen to it on repeat while sketching out what I see as quickly as I can. Then, I take the most prominent colours, shapes, and movements and organize them into the perimeters of a canvas based on a few different things (that’s a whole other blog post on its own!). Once your composition sketch is ready, I’ll send a photo of it to you for review. This is so that you can get a preview of the general idea of what the painting of this song would look like (there are always slight changes, so it isn’t exact). Here is where it’s important for you to be honest with yourself and decide if you like what you see. Do you want to get right to the painting? Should you choose a different song entirely? This decision has to be made before we continue on to the painting stage - this is where we have the freedom to have a conversation before moving forward.

Optional Finished Photo: Do You Want to Be Surprised?

The final choice in the process is whether or not you want to see a photo of the finished painting before I ship it off to you. This step was a surprise for me - I expected almost everyone to want to see a photo of it but interestingly, most people didn’t want to! I was interested to see how the element of surprise appeared to consistently be a component of the experience that people enjoyed about the process. One client put it this way: they said that photos typically don’t do justice to their subject, and so they wanted to have their first engagement with the painting be in person for full effect. That being said, everyone is different! I recommend taking a moment and playing out both scenarios in your mind to see which you would personally prefer - do you want to see a sneak peek of your painting to savour while it’s on its way?  Or do you want the full impact of its first impression on you when you open the package? The choice is yours!

In Conclusion… It’s What You Make Of It!

A lot of the experience is in your hands through the choices you make in the creating phase of your painting. By doing the work based on your choices, your decisions are steering the process. Through personal reflection, honest conversation, and surprise, I believe you can have an amazing experience with your painting, and with Chroma Songs.

What do you think of the process? Which choice of the three discussed above do you feel would be the most interesting to make? Do you wish there were more choices or fewer choices? Let me know in the comments! Feel free to share this post, and remember to follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn!