Advice on commissioning illustrations?

Anna Iguana, a children's illustrator friend sent me this link that might be helpful: http://www.hireanillustrator.com/i/blog/583/learning-how-to-commission-illustration/

If you want to be a true patron, try a local college art program. I commissioned a painting of our daughter based upon student work I found on an online gallery hosted by the school. Once I found the artist I liked, I contacted the school with my interest, and they gladly setup the introduction.

The student was thrilled (her first commissioned artwork), and it put some much-needed money in her pocket. I got a piece of art that I love and still hang in my home, 9 years later.

Win-Win.

Kevin

Just in case you don't live in a big community/lacks art schools and the like, an opportunity may be deviantart if you're willing to dig through the dirt. Usually good artists can do commissions for semi-reasonable prices (like 40 euros for a full body/background, for example). I'd honestly go for Kevin's plan first and foremost, but it can be an emergency line just in case you feel a bit hard pressed.

I used DeviantArt to find an artist for a drawing I later incorporated into my last book cover. There are many excellent artists on DeviantArt, and seeing samples of their work helps narrow down the choices until you find one whose style you like. Yes, there are a lot artists there, so it'll take some time to plow through the crowd. Some are amateurs who will charge little, but others are pros who will be expensive. Of course, the quality will vary, but the DeviantArt community is so vast that there is someone there for everyone. A big plus is that, by dealing with the artist directly, you cut out the middleman. The artist I found was perfect. Great work, reasonable price, and very easy to work with.

*whispers* Hire me~

Just kidding (I'm not that good).

You could also look through Instagram (a lot of artists list their emails for commission inquiries). Artstation is another art site that could help. It seems the art there is better quality than DA.

Good luck!

Ditto on the Deviantart website. I used an artist there to create a logo from my online radio station and was happy with the result. The latest logo I use came from an artist on Fiverr.com

This thread would probably work better in our Art and Design room, so I'm going to port it over there. Hang on...