Hi!
If you're reading this, you probably know who I am– I'm Scribbe, going-on-12-year MassiveCraft veteran, long-time staff member, longer-time skinner, and slightly-less-time digital artist. As an artist on MassiveCraft, I've handled a pretty substantial volume of commissions in the past two years; since the beginning of 2025 alone I've done 23 separate comms, mostly for Massive OCs, so I felt like I'm qualified enough to lay out a non-comprehensive guideline on commissioning and commission information.
I'm going to lay out these guidelines as a series of numbered rules, each with a little explanation of its relevance and importance. Still, all of these are broadly applicable to anything you're likely to commission on MassiveCraft, from a Figura animation to a whole piece of art. Have fun!
RULE #1: Know What You Want
RULE #2: Reference Reference Reference
RULE #3: Organise Your References
RULE #4: Communication Is Key
RULE #5: Be Timely
Payment & General Notes
Conclusion
Handling commissions on MassiveCraft is a dream. It's an incredible melting pot of artists of all kinds of styles and disciplines and of community members with vastly different tones and wants for their characters, and it's somewhere I want to keep providing my services for a long time to come. With this guide in hand, I hope I can give prospective commissioners some security and direction going through this process for the first time, and maybe refresh a few regulars on what the best way to help their artists create for their OCs on their next piece.
Of course, if you read this and find that there's a gap in the guidelines, a situation that these rules don't apply for, or just a question about how to handle specific topics with your artist, don't hesitate to leave it in the thread below and I'll try my best to give you an answer promptly, and if you've read all the way to here, thank you! I'll probably write something else in a similar vein for the forums another time; maybe how to get started? Yet to be seen.
If you're reading this, you probably know who I am– I'm Scribbe, going-on-12-year MassiveCraft veteran, long-time staff member, longer-time skinner, and slightly-less-time digital artist. As an artist on MassiveCraft, I've handled a pretty substantial volume of commissions in the past two years; since the beginning of 2025 alone I've done 23 separate comms, mostly for Massive OCs, so I felt like I'm qualified enough to lay out a non-comprehensive guideline on commissioning and commission information.
I'm going to lay out these guidelines as a series of numbered rules, each with a little explanation of its relevance and importance. Still, all of these are broadly applicable to anything you're likely to commission on MassiveCraft, from a Figura animation to a whole piece of art. Have fun!
RULE #1: Know What You Want
This rule is the most important and the most ephemeral. "Knowing what you want" isn't so much a direct statement of knowing every single particular of what you're buying, but the broad strokes of what you're after. Are you looking for a bust, a half-body, or a complete piece of your character? Do you know what themes and moods you're trying to invoke? Do you have a particular inspiration for them in another piece of media? All of this is highly important in working with your artist to produce something that's going to be easy to approach from the production standpoint, but also satisfying to receive as a customer.
RULE #2: Reference Reference Reference
Always have references. You don't need a reference for everything, but you should be able to provide your artist with a piece of visual inspiration at the very least. The more references you can give, the better. Facial inspiration, specific pieces of fashion, poses that offer a similar vibe to what you want even if they're not exactly the same, and even your character's existing Minecraft skin all offer very clear concepts to your artist of what you want them to create. It doesn't take much to get the creative spark going, but it's very difficult for an artist to create something from nothing. Additionally, be clear and concise about what specifically you like in a given reference, and where you want your artist to take creative liberties and add their twist on things.
RULE #3: Organise Your References
This one goes in a separate rule because of how genuinely important organisation is. Speaking from experience, the very best place you can store and organise the references you're providing your artist is in a Google Drive folder because of the variety of information a Drive folder can contain. Ideally, the folder should contain every image reference that you feel is going to be important to the piece, as well as a Google Doc containing only written information that can't be communicated through your images. This is because once images are placed onto a Doc, they can't be copied and pasted from it, so are impossible to place on a canvas for the most convenient use during drawing/skinning/animation. Imgur albums are also good, but the fact that the information is presented as a scrolling feed just makes them less convenient than a Drive folder.
RULE #4: Communication Is Key
Be clear and direct about how you feel about a piece. If you feel like the angle of an arm or a specific shade of a colour isn't what you want, don't be afraid to say that outright. The last thing an artist wants is to provide you something that's dissatisfactory; they are very often doing this for real money, so they'll want to make sure you're getting your money's worth. At the same time, be considerate of specifically when you're asking for a change. It's a lot easier to fix the shape of a face or the bend of an arm during the sketch phase than it is during the rendering.
RULE #5: Be Timely
Time is important! When commissioning, an artist is trading their time to you, so it's important on both ends that the process is handled in a manner that's respectful to both parties' availability. Be prepared to be able to answer questions an artist might have about what you want promptly, or to grab a reference that might have gone under your radar until it came time to draw that particular thing. You'll get your art sooner, and the artist will be able to dedicate themselves continuously to completing your piece, regardless of its kind.
Payment & General Notes
Payment is a big deal when it comes to the commission process- it's the backbone of the whole thing, after all- so it's important to immediately set expectations with your artist about payment, the nature of it, and the means you'll be using to pay them. Some artists (like myself) will request a flat rate per piece dependent on its type and complexity; others will charge a basic rate that might change based on your specific request. In either case, you should be able to begin the process knowing how much you're going to be paying and when to pay it.
Most artists on Massive will handle any real-money payment via PayPal, usually through an invoice that will be sent to your PayPal email. If you ever send money directly to an artist, remember to mark the payment as a 'Goods & Services' transaction. As noted earlier, be timely about payment! It's kind to handle these kinds of things as quickly as possible.
On that note, be kind to your artist! Many artists on Massive manage regular employment or full-time study alongside providing a service to the server's community, so being respectful of their time commitments, availability, and interest goes a long way in motivating them to keep commissions open and sustaining the wide diversity of styles and ideas native to the server.
Conclusion
Handling commissions on MassiveCraft is a dream. It's an incredible melting pot of artists of all kinds of styles and disciplines and of community members with vastly different tones and wants for their characters, and it's somewhere I want to keep providing my services for a long time to come. With this guide in hand, I hope I can give prospective commissioners some security and direction going through this process for the first time, and maybe refresh a few regulars on what the best way to help their artists create for their OCs on their next piece.
Of course, if you read this and find that there's a gap in the guidelines, a situation that these rules don't apply for, or just a question about how to handle specific topics with your artist, don't hesitate to leave it in the thread below and I'll try my best to give you an answer promptly, and if you've read all the way to here, thank you! I'll probably write something else in a similar vein for the forums another time; maybe how to get started? Yet to be seen.
