COMMISSIONED WORK? WHERE? I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT...

And I didn’t until I discovered these Facebook groups and start to dig in. Ah, this is a post for noobs like me, so experienced collectors are welcome to trash me. :P

With the exploding popularity of Collectible figures, ZBrush 3D sculpting software and 3D printing a market is emerging, the commissioned works. What is that? That is the beginning of the future as I mentioned in the article “A Look into theFuture”. Collectors gather and commission a project of a statue the way they always dreamt of (but was and will not be ever released) to a professional independent sculptor. Using the new 3D tools in most cases (or not, some still work the old fashioned way) they produce the pieces in ultra-limited quantities to this small closed group. Generally, reliable people so not to alert the licensers about the infringement of copyrights, since the majority of the projects are from pre-existing characters. Sometimes the artist creates a 3D software sculpture, put on sale and if there is demand, they go on and produce it but always at limited quantities. You may be a part of a Facebook group about collectible statues and never realize that this is happening but it’s there.

Commissioned ultra-limited Magneto.

And the market is not limited to commissioned full pieces. You can commission a new head for your XM Thanos, per example, or commission a repaint of a Sideshow Collectibles Red Sonja since Sideshow’s work didn’t please you and you wanted more realism and blood to the piece. You can commission a repair on your broken big Red Hulk leg that didn’t survive a move to a new home and so on. The collectibles figures hobby is an increasingly wider market that opens the doors to a great variety of services that professionals or semiprofessionals are sinking their teeth in.

Commissioned Thanos head.

In other words, a newborn secondary market, independent and copyright free is emerging, surfing in the growing tides of collectible figures hobby. It’s a very low profile activity because no one wants to get sued by Disney or Warner Bros. It’s more like a fan service that the fan couldn’t get any other way. As I said, you don’t get commissioned editions of hundreds or thousands of pieces, the max is something around a hundred pieces (and is rare to get to this amount, usually it’s just a couple of dozens). Many times is just one piece to one specific client. It varies but it never gets too big in order to avoid get undeserved attention from licensers.

How the contacts happen? I most cases, people share their portfolio on social networks as a clue to interested people who can than contact the professional privately to arrange the job. Many times, an intermediary is put in between professional and client and does all negotiation so to protect and cover the artisan or so I suppose it’s the case (maybe it’s just because artists don’t like to deal).

What is most impressive to me is that very often the quality of the work (being sculpture, being paint job) equals or surpasses the quality of standard industry. And so the prices. Such limited pieces and customized jobs are extremely expensive due to production costs that cannot be diluted in high number editions, the artisanal manufacturing and the uniqueness of each piece. According to a fellow collector, there are commissioned statues that can go as high as $15,000; even more! It all depends on the artist reputation and the size of the edition, not to mention the complexity and size of the piece (usually ¼). It's good to mention that there are artists that freely create their own pieces (in 3D software) an then put them on sale when they have something presentable. 

I hope I can pay this guy.

I’m gathering money to see if I’m able to get at least one commissioned piece to my collection. (Of course not one that costs much more than 1k!) If you want one, keep your eyes opened; look for works in progress, 3D rendering posts, paint job pictures and things alike. People sharing their work. He/she could very well just be sharing their productions for praise or maybe there’s something deeper there. Dive in. You may discover marvelous pearls hidden. Just look at the images in this post!