Commission infomation organization - thoughts? - "Artists Beware"

Commission infomation organization - thoughts?

Feb. 2nd, 2010 at 6:18 PM

Hi there. After reading a bit of the community, I was pondering writing a tool that could help people organize and track their commissions in a logical fashion. I figure it would be a free thing for the basics, with a possibility of a pay product for really advanced stuff. Any input on what people might like if such a tool was offered? Like I said, I want to write something basically useful for free but I only want to write it if people would actually -use- it.

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Comments

( 16 comments — Leave a comment )

thornwolf

Feb. 3rd, 2010 12:29 am (UTC)

I like things that allow me to put in "next action" stuff, like say I had a full color commission for Jane Doe Deer, it will say something like:

Who: Jane Doe Deer, Email: DoeADeer@gmail.com, Project: Full color 2 characters, Links to reference images, Next action: Waiting for sketch approval.

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thornwolf

Feb. 3rd, 2010 12:30 am (UTC)

Also, color coding is also awesome. Like say, things that are nearing a deadline are in red, things that are paid in full are in green, something like that.

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(Deleted comment)

johnthornbush

Feb. 3rd, 2010 12:43 am (UTC)

Yeah, I remember seeing that a little bit back - which is good, but it lacks if you don't have access to the internet when you want to work on your artwork. I am certainly not looking to steal from others, or duplicate efforts of better products out there. :)

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5p1ic3

Feb. 3rd, 2010 12:49 am (UTC)

This sounds like a great idea!

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theassassinnox

Feb. 3rd, 2010 01:30 am (UTC)

I use Excel, and have no problems with organization.

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johnthornbush

Feb. 3rd, 2010 01:33 am (UTC)

Well, my thought is that this would be for people who might not have Excel or want a bit more analysis capability. Of course, if your system works for you then more power to you. :)

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theassassinnox

Feb. 3rd, 2010 01:35 am (UTC)

Fair enough.

I imagine that there are a lot of programs out there that can serve the same purpose.

As for my organization, I use this:

Commissioner, Contact, Project, Price, Paid, Completed

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lobotomysoup

Feb. 3rd, 2010 01:38 am (UTC)

For someone who doesn't want to pay for Excel, I believe Open Office has an equivalent.

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mineral2009

Feb. 3rd, 2010 02:27 am (UTC)

As does Google Docs, although it doesn't require installation of any software!

http://docs.google.com/

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eoswildcat

Feb. 3rd, 2010 01:33 am (UTC)

checking out 17 cats now.

lacks the offline use feature, but does have an Iphone app, for those who have I phones, I generally use http://lifetick.com/ for similar project goals, and would probably just use that for my commission info as well-though it would be nice to catalog only commissions in the long term.
Lifetick has both free and paid versions- more features are assessable if you pay the annual fee.

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jurann

Feb. 3rd, 2010 08:59 am (UTC)

We've been working on one at FurBuy for a couple years now, but the general sentiment from artists is that "it would be nice to have but I probably wouldn't use it unless it had an offline version too". So for the time being we've put development of that on hold, might revisit making an offline client eventually that can sync-up with the servers. If you'd be interested in joining our efforts, let me know. =)

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fyphfoko

Feb. 3rd, 2010 12:07 pm (UTC)

i used to try and keep tracks of everything i comissioned in a spreadsheet file. failed to keep it up though

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stormrunner1981

Feb. 3rd, 2010 02:29 pm (UTC)

I'd like something like thornwolf is talking about, but with a feature to have it visible on the desktop. ATM I use stickies when I have something to do, but due to no lines or columns its a bit archaic in that sense.

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merystic

Feb. 3rd, 2010 03:32 pm (UTC)

I second this! Maybe some kind of advanced Stickies-esque widget that can sit on your desktop, but has columns, color coding, and filtering. I'd use that.

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lilenth

Feb. 3rd, 2010 02:56 pm (UTC)

I'd definitely want have to have some sort of timer in something like this for planned time to do commission work. (I'm easily distracted both by other things and by commission work, it's not healthy to spend eight hours straight painting)

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ambeebear

Feb. 17th, 2010 01:56 am (UTC)

Maybe it could be an app for yahoo widgets? That might make it desktop usable, or just a widget like program. I think it would be nice if it linked to files in the PC for reference pics. I don't know if programs can do this, but it would be a good feature.

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( 16 comments — Leave a comment )

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