How to prepare for commissions at the artist' alley

[ladyvoid]

When someone asks you to draw a commission of something you don't know about, like an anime you haven't watched or manga you haven't read, what do you generally do? I know many artists keep reference handy in the artist's alley, but are there other ways of avoiding saying "I don't know what that is, so I can't draw it"? do you just know what people usually ask for? Thanks!

[Arcane]

It really helps to have a smartphone on me.  It allows me to look up references on the fly.

However, without one, I believe your only options are to ask for reference or politely tell them that you do not know the subject.  That or find someone with a smartphone to mooch off of.

[darkkako]

Up until this year, I didn't have a smart phone. If you can, I'd suggest getting together some references of popular characters you're not familiar with and loading them onto an mp3 player - most of them can display jpegs. If you still don't know the character, just ask for references. You can point them towards the kinkos down the street if they don't have any on hand. There's nothing wrong with saying "I'm sorry, I don't know that character." If the commissioner really wants a picture of that character, they'll probably be willing to provide reference. :)

[AnimeJet]

Up until this year, I didn't have a smart phone. If you can, I'd suggest getting together some references of popular characters you're not familiar with and loading them onto an mp3 player - most of them can display jpegs.

*Gasp* this is a really good idea! I forgot i could just reload images to my ipod LOL i was avoiding to print a bunch of photos XD

[octorok]

Do people ever commission drawings of themselves?

[jAded]

Do people ever commission drawings of themselves?

A lot more than you would think.

[Arcane]

Do people ever commission drawings of themselves?

A lot more than you would think.

I always feel sort of bad doing those kind of commissions.  They usually want it to be stylized, so I end up having to stereotyping the hell out of them.