# First Time Fursona Help?!?



## FluffyStryker (Feb 27, 2016)

Alright! I'm brand new to all of this and soo desperately need someone's help! I've been interested in furry art for awhile and have pretty much nailed down my fursona. What now? I can't draw it to my liking and don't want to rip off of someone else's, so before I contact someone to commission a drawing for me...

-Is it acceptable among the community to 'copy' another art piece for the general face shape, with a different color pattern?
-How much money is reasonable for a toony-type picture? Looking at semi realism here, not too crazy
-How much will an artist put up with my gripes about how I want my fursona to look? Right now I have the color scheme of a bio cross breed dog that I feel is great (a picture of the face/muzzle), and about 3 pieces of art that are someone else's (furry). I want different characteristics from the three with the colors of the dog... How do I go about communicating that without seeming like someone crazy?

If someone could help me sort this out that would be awesome, I'm getting into the fandom and absolutely loving it! Just need a little guidance. Thanks much
-Stryker


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## Sforzie (Feb 28, 2016)

--It's generally not cool to (effectively) recolor someone else's art for your own purposes.
-- Price will depend on the artist you're commissioning. It depends on how much you're willing to pay.
-- Most commission artists, in theory, will be fairly patient with you. If you know specific details of what you want and have examples of it (let them know you're building it from scratch, but have references of what you'd like), that can make the artist's job easier. You can go 'I like this one's nose and the way this one's eyes look and this one's overall muzzle shape' for example.

Try searching 'free template' on furaffinity to find some free to use blanks for you to color and put notes on.


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## Yarik (Feb 28, 2016)

*Is it acceptable among the community to 'copy' another art piece for the general face shape, with a different color pattern?*
Honestly, there are only "so many" face shapes available. Even when going "original" the face ends up being similar to something. If you like the Sergal face shape but don't want a Sergal there is nothing wrong with asking an artist to do "something alike to a Sergal head." It's only rude to claim it was your own idea. If somebody asks then you can always say "yes it was inspired by XY". It's ok. 
Personally I'm always happy when commissioners have favorite pictrues/design to show. It instantly tells me all their preferences and I can work with that a lot better than plain text. (But it might be different for other artists)

*How much will an artist put up with my gripes about how I want my fursona to look?*
Many artists charge more for references/first time designs. I guess that they already calculate the possibility to have to re-design it a lot. The best thing to do is to look for artists that have a good history on drawing references as commissions. They have good experience in how to work with first-time-designs and communication in general. 
In my personal experience first-time-designs work with a lot of back and forth communication as well as many many maaaany edits and re-draws. Communication is the key here. Try to avoid picking an artist whom seems to be a roulette-type. (You order something and the next time you hear from them they deliver the completed work. This is not what you want. You want an interactive design process!) I also saw some artists doing streams. This might be a perfect way to finalize the design. Sadly I don't remember which artist did those (the price also was fairly high if I remember correctly).

You could also try to open a thread in this forum (Art Sales and Auctions), name your budget and say what you're looking for as well as stating that you'd like an interactive process where you can take a lot of influence during the sketch stage. This one would be especially good if you can't find a suitable artist on your own or don't know any that would work with your budget. 

To answer the question directly: It depends on the person you're dealing with. I know some artists that no longer do designs because it's such a huge time investment and the payment falls flat compared to it. But there are also people that are willed to do it because they love helping bringing something to live. At least that's how I feel when I invest a lot of time into it. First-time-designs are really different from regular commissions. 


I hope this helped :V


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## Copperwuff (Feb 28, 2016)

Hai durr! Nice to meet you. Here's my take:

You definitely DO NOT want to copy. I can't draw well, so I used line art -- and make sure that's free for you to use. It took me about a month to figure out Copper. If you have the species and colors down, good for you! You just need to plan it out effectively.

Like Sforzie said, every artist has their own prices.. but realize that more complex characters often take longer to do, and might be more expensive to commission. And by complex, I mean like 400 wings, jewelry everywhere, 20 colors... lol.

When you say "gripes," I'm sure that artists will be totally accepting. Just be nice to them, and they'll be nice to you. 

If you know any friends of yours that are artists off hand, ask them for help. The most important thing here is communication. Just be respectful. A little bit of humility and respect can go far. :3


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## FluffyStryker (Feb 28, 2016)

Thank you everyone for clearing that up some! Just going to find and talk to some artists now- might as well post here when I get it commissioned too so y'all can see it!


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## WolfNightV4X1 (Feb 29, 2016)

You can 'copy' in the sense that you are not tracing, using exactly similar features, or trying to be another persons fursona; otherwise it is okay to draw similarities in what you like but make it different so you have your own spin on it. Nobody quite owns a general idea for a design, so as long as its not a hard attempt at copying its okay. If you want further reassurance you can always contact the  owner of the design and let them know your intentions and if you can use a similar design aesthetic from theirs as reference.

With price it varies far too much and you wont get a clear answer, it depends entirely on the artist.

Most artists when commissioned for artwork will accomodate all needs and ideas of a commissioner so long as they are respectful and clear in what they want. In fact detail is better because an artist wants to know theyre getting it right, too.  In fact having your fursona planned out in detail is significantly better and youre a step ahead already.


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## Jack the wolf (Aug 22, 2019)

Look I’m not good at drawing so I would recommend using a free base to make your fursona because that is what I’m gonna do


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