EDIT August 30, 2005: Fixed and cleaned up all the info on this page. Please read for updated policies and such ^^

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Hey all! Welcome to my Exchange and Commission information page. Here you can find all of my policies and information on Pic Exchanges, Commissions, and the Lists of People Exchanging ^^ This page is divided into the following sections:

1. What I Will and Won't Draw


2. Pic Exchange Information


3. Commission / Freelance Information


4. The Lists
   
   • Pic Exchanges
   
   
   • The Waiting List


5. Status of Pics

1. What I Will and Won't Draw

Before you consider asking for a picture, please consider the following protocols. This is for my own sanity, for the most part

I will NOT do ANY of the following:

Copyrighted Characters (COMMISSIONS ONLY!!!): This means any sort of TM'd or ©'d creations, such as Disney and Warner Bros. I will, however do FAN art, such as a fan character. That's it. (I will do them for pic exchanges and "ideas", because I am not recieving money for it.)

Hardcore or Child Pornography: I'm not comfortable drawing it, and it is against my morals and values. Wrong wrong WRONG. I will only draw artistic nudity, so long as it is not X rated. Nonetheless, I'd rather not draw anything in this general category for people.

Realistic Art: PLEASE don't ask me to draw real things. I'm just not very good at it, and it takes too much time.

Comics: The answer is no. End of story.

Anything Portraying Hatred: This includes art intended to hurt another person, whether through race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or their system of beliefs. Everyone is entitled to their own ideas, and I will NOT be the one who will destroy that for anyone.

Extreme Violence and Drug Abuse: I really hate seeing people wasting their lives away with drugs, and harming other people through violence. Please don't make me support it... I will draw people using LEGAL drugs/alcohol (booze and cigarettes), AND I will do "action" type violence, such as pointing a gun. As long as there's no body parts splattered about the landscape, it's all good. ^^

Computer Coloured / Illustrated Art: Computer art is something I do in my spare time and when I feel like it. It takes too much time for me to finish one image. Depending on the complexity of the image, it can take me between 3 - 24 hours for ONE image, which is time I'd much rather waste colouring 6 images by hand. So... No. You will only recieve a computer coloured piece if I CHOOSE TO MAKE IT COMPUTER COLOURED.

I WILL NOT, under ANY circumstances, I WON'T DO DESCRIPTIONS ONLY!!!: I cannot stress this enough. This irks me to death. I hate drawing pics from descriptions. Descriptions require me to do more work than I want to on a pic, and half the time people complain that I didn't draw their character right... PLEASE send me a pic of your character. All description exchanges will be turned down automatically. Yes, you can have a description WITH the pic, giving me an idea of what the character is like, but just the description alone is a definite no-no. My assumption is that you are an artist, so you've OBVIOUSLY drawn a picture of your own character, right? Yeah, that's what I thought.


I WILL draw:

Copyrighted Characters for EXCHANGES ONLY, because I am not recieving money for it and therefore cannot be sued.

Artistic Nudity as long as it's not sexual in anyway.

Comical Scenarios as long as it's ONLY ONE PANEL. No multipanels.

Cigarette and Alcohol Use as LONG AS the character being portrayed is OF LEGAL AGE (in other words, no children drinking and smoking).

Concept Scene Violence for stories and such. Like a gun being pointed, but not the actual impact of the bullet.

Fan Characters

DeviantID's, LJ / MSN Icons, Avatar Icons so long as you either provide the image you'd like used OR provide a VERY DETAILED DESCRIPTION of what you want on it.

Anything not listed in the no-no list.

If there's something you're not clear on, please note me and I'll let you know if I'll draw it for you.



2. Pic Exchange Information

Listed below are my policies on doing pic exchanges with me. Please respect them.

ONE PICTURE PER PERSON! I only like doing about 3 exchanges at a time, so I want to give everyone equal oppportunity to ask for a picture from me. Yup.
Pic exchanges are FREE and I will not, at any time, ask for money for them.
If you ask me for a pic exchange, you will not recieve my half until I recieve yours. I would expect the same if I were to ask YOU for a pic exchange. It's very depressing when I get all excited about getting a pic and... well... it never comes. I'm usually the last one to finish the exchange, so yeah, I never really have to enforce this rule.
I love thank yous. Please remember that. It lets me know that you got your half instead of making me sit here for months on end not knowing if you got it or not.
Please send me a pic of or a link to the character you want drawn. If you don't care which character I draw, send me a link to the page where YOUR characters reside, and I will be more than happy to pick one.
Please email me or note me your half of the pic when it's done. I hate looking for pics on an archive, checking every month to see if it's been finished or not.
I also do original pic exchanges. These are exchanges in which we draw a pic for each other, and send the orginals via snail-mail. I love these, and automatically accept these. Note me for more details.
I DO NOT JUDGE ON SKILL, so don't be intimidated if you think you are a "lousy" artist. I love all my pictures I get from all skill levels.
Surprise me with one of my characters for your half I can never decide who I want drawn, or I always ask for the same people... Hee hee. It's better if you just surprise me. You can view a list of my characters with references HERE.

NOTE: PLEASE DEVNOTE ME IF YOU WANT TO DO AN EXCHANGE, as all email sent to my Hotmail account automagically is filtered as junk to prevent viruses, and I don't always check the junk account.



3. Commission / Freelance Information

Basically, everything that goes for pic exchanges goes for Commissions. Commissions will always get top priority and will always be done first. I've never been asked to do a commission or freelance work, but would love to and will work extra hard on it for you.

Prices:
My prices are ridiculously cheap because I NEED MONEY DESPERATELY and are IN CANADIAN DOLLARS. This list below is just a rough estimate of what I charge for the standard pieces. I will have a more detailed list soon. I WILL NOT TAKE LESS THAN WHAT IS QUOTED NEXT TO EACH ITEM.

B&W Pencil Shaded on 8.5 x 11 White Bond (1 character): $5.00 (add $1 for each additional character and another $1 for a detailed background)
Coloured Pencil on 8.5 x 11 White Bond (1 character): $10.00 (add $2 for each additional character, and $5 for a detailed background OR $2 for a basic, undetailed BG)
Digital Art: NO LESS THAN $20 for complete piece PLUS original sketch. Additional cost for the print (will be quoted)
Multi Media (mix of traditional and computer): $ will depend on amount of work.

Website Design: $50/day of work.
Digital Photography and Manipulation Prices will vary. Will be costly due to amount of labour involved.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MAKE ME AN OFFER. THESE ARE JUST ROUGH BASIC ESTIMATES. I do have other media (mainly traditional) such as inks, pastels, and paints, as well as access to different papers. Please note me if you need or would like to make a quote.

To commission me, please note me (if you are on deviantART) with COMMISSION OFFER in the subject line. If you are from outside dA, please email me at commissions@stephratte.com with "COMMISSION OFFER" in the subject line. When sending the note, PLEASE send me a description of what you want done, references for me to use, and your price offer. PLEASE NOTE SHIPPING AND HANDLING IS PAID FOR BY YOU, not me, so depending upon what kind of shipping you choose and your location, you will be quoted when I get a quote from the post office.

I SHIP INTERNATIONALLY.

*** THESE PRICES WILL CHANGE WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT. SO MEH!! ***

Payment Methods:
I accept international money orders, cheques and Westen Union. I hate Paypal because I can't get my money from it, and cash in the mail is stupid. ALL PAYMENTS MUST BE CONVERTED TO CANADIAN DOLLARS and MUST BE ABLE to be deposited into my account at the bank. You will be charged extra if I have to pay extra.

All commissions are subject to the same rules and policies listed in #1. If you have any questions about commissions, please don't hesitate to note me. I will have a more complete list soon, I think.



4. The Lists

Alrighty then, so here's how this is going to work. I always and ONLY ever do 3 exchanges / commissions at one time, 1 per customer. ALL of my exchanges are on a first come first serve basis. Once the top spots are filled, I will start a WAITING LIST, in the order that I continue to recieve them. Once I finish a picture for someone already in the top spots, the first person on the waiting list will move to the bottom of the exchanges list, and I will then contact you to see if you are still interested in an exchange with me. A maximum of TEN PEOPLE will be on the waiting list. SPOTS DO NOT OPEN ON THE WAITING LIST ONCE SOMEONE HAS MOVED UP OR LEFT IT. If the waiting list fills up, exchanges will be closed until later notice. This entry will be open for exchanges/waiting list spots until whenever I feel like closing it.

* COMMISSIONS ARE AUTOMATICALLY SENT TO THE TOP SPOTS.

All of our interaction will occur via devNotes OR eMail. This is because I don't want to flood my journal, so... yeah.

These lists will be updated regularly, as I recieve exchanges and/or check my devart gallery thingy.

Pic Exchanges:

1. ~nivek2
2. ~shiverz
3. > OPEN <

The Waiting List

1. > NONE <



5. Status of the Pics

You can view the status of your exchanges on my entry entitled Pic Exchanges and DevStalking, updated weekly, under the first heading "Pic Exchanges/Giftart". Or you can note me to ask how I'm doing on it. Whichever.



Thank y'all for taking the time to read this and considering my art worthy of your want ^^

Steph


Pic Exchanges, Art Updates, and DevStalks (Updated Often)

Character References