Quality of work for swaps vs. commissions

[josiekat]

 Personally, I would mind less if a swap pony came to me with certain flaws than a comissioned one. When I go into a swap, I know that there are people with more talent and experience than me, as well as people with less talent and experience than me. I think as long as the person who made the pony tried their very best, and worked as hard as they could on it, a flaw like that wouldn't bother me. Especially if I were to find out that the person was either doing their first swap, or perhaps even making their first custom. When I pay for something however, I know that I am also buying a certain level of experience that comes with the custom, and therefore the tolerance for such mistakes would be lower for me. But that's just my two cents.

**yeah, so I just copied and pasted my answer from the other thread. lol***

On my end though, I put in 110% effort in to my customs. I have only been comissioned once, and that was super stressful. lol. I am no where near as talented as many other people here, but I always hope that my partner can see the time love and effort I have put into the pony.

[tsukikakushi]

In a swap I ran on another board a few years ago, one of my participants PM'ed me to see if the partner I paired her with "knew how to make customs" so she could see how much effort she needed to put in to her own custom - she didn't want to give her partner a well thought out and well executed pony if she was going to get one she didn't believe would be equal to her own skill level.  It took me HOURS to come up with a reply that wouldn't have gotten me banned. 

Swaps are every bit as important as commissions, and in my eyes are actually the same.  The only difference is you don't know who commissioned you!  I give my best in swaps and expect to receive the best my partner has to offer, regardless of their skill level. 

Skeen, I want you to know I've never been less than ecstatic to be in your swaps It's unfortunate that anyone would think like that. Though I guess it goes with the mentality of many people these days; only put in as much as you'll get out of it.

I personally love swaps, & put my best effort into every swap pony I make, 'cause I tend to freak out till I hear they like it. I don't really care if I recieve a pony from a veteran customizer or newbie, as long as the pony looks like they put they're very best into it I'll love it. Swap customs tend to be very personal, & mean alot to me. Actually, some of my favorite customs are from newbies

[Skeen]

Tsuki, you have no idea how ecstatic I am when you join my swaps, lol!  I'm always like, "Whew!  There's one person I don't have to stress over!"   

[josiekat]

Skeen.....I can't believe that someone would even dare write something like that. That's just terrible.

Ps: Tsuki and Skeen.....I can definitely say I have enjoyed all the swaps I've been in with you guys.

[Skeen]

Dude.  You guys.  I found the PMs.  O.o


A thought occurred to me while I was searching - custom swaps are basically advertising for your work.  Everyone sees the custom you make for it, and the quality of the work has the potential to spur people to commission you later.  Why would you ever turn out something less than your best, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of your partner, regardless of your own skill, when people are judging your abilty based on the custom you present and NOT on what you know you're capable of? 

[Eluluu]

I was just thinking the same thing... how do you expect to even GET commissions if you put out less than your best on swaps?!

[Dee_Kary]

I always pour my heart into making each pony be it a show-accurate/persona pony or a completely original design. I must say though, by my personal experience, that I've always ended up doing A LOT more to a swap pony than what I would originally expect of myself . It's mainly the fact that, since this pony won't be paid for, I don't have the constraint of "doing only what I'm getting paid to do" and can "overdo" it all I want! . It is a pony meant to make someone else happy, and having a reaction that's nothing short of a "SQUEE" from my partner like CSA said is more than enough payment for me for a swap pony .

[TexasGal]

Honestly, I just try to do the best I can, since it is for someone else, and wouldn't you want them to go and give a good account of your work to others?  It's just like in life, be kind and treat everyone the same way.  Don't be two faced about things, because you don't want to show someone a good face, but then them find out you are hateful to them as well when they aren't looking. 


Just do the best pony you can.  Like the quote:  Do everything with your whole heart or none at all. 

I personally don't mind little flaws, especially on the ponies I make for myself. But I want someone else to do their best on a swap pony, as I do my very best on my own swap ponies.  Give what you want to get.  Besides, I look at this as learning and creative growing sessions....there are things that will get brought up that I haven't even thought of doing before, sometimes, so I learn to grow and be a better customizer by doing new things that are not necessarily something I'd do for a casual custom making process, which helps me become a better customizer.

[kaelynn]

A thought occurred to me while I was searching - custom swaps are basically advertising for your work.  Everyone sees the custom you make for it, and the quality of the work has the potential to spur people to commission you later.  Why would you ever turn out something less than your best, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of your partner, regardless of your own skill, when people are judging your abilty based on the custom you present and NOT on what you know you're capable of?

This...exactly.

[Ligress]

I have to agree- why make something you yourself arent proud To send out? I am sure the person would rather hear " Im behind" then get something rushed and low effort... But maybe thats just me. I havent been in anything but a few personal swaps and the fact is, I am slow, but I refuse to send something uninspired or rushed ... Even if I have to restart I will. I am still new and I am still "testing" new things- but I doubt I will ever do full commissions unless I was pressed- unless I could feel confident on executing the idea with little artistic freedoms, I like that in personal swaps people tend to give you a theme or reference and trust you to do it- I always strive to add something personal and from the heart- I know the other person is trading with me is a gift. Maybe some people go into the swsps and feel like " well time is short, whoops, better throw something out?" But honestly that is a shame. I know Im slow so if I got in a swap that wasnt personal, I would start on it as soon as I knew, because I KNOW I am not able to just whip out art, it takes me a good amount of time, and its part of why I havent joined a non personal swap- I know Im just *not* fast enough to promise it yet... One day though!

[coinoperatedgirl]

I always pour my heart into making each pony be it a show-accurate/persona pony or a completely original design. I must say though, by my personal experience, that I've always ended up doing A LOT more to a swap pony than what I would originally expect of myself . It's mainly the fact that, since this pony won't be paid for, I don't have the constraint of "doing only what I'm getting paid to do" and can "overdo" it all I want! . It is a pony meant to make someone else happy, and having a reaction that's nothing short of a "SQUEE" from my partner like CSA said is more than enough payment for me for a swap pony .

Yup.  I always feel like I overdo things on the swaps. 

[Griffin]

I'm a newb to customizing, but to me each custom is a different pony, with its own personality.  So if you're not really putting your heart into the customs you make, whether for swaps, commissions, or just for yourself, then you really ought to question why you're doing it.  After all, some customs can be so time-consuming that you can't exactly make a living off this stuff.

Well put!