Commissions Workflow (Current)

This document describes the current workflow for commissioning art or accepting commissions on ImageHex.

Accepting Commissions

Verify your info

The user goes to /stripe/authorize, which takes them to the Stripe page. They enter their info, and it sends it back to ImageHex. We then store the returned token in the DB so we can make charges on the users' behalf.

Create products

The user creates one or more commission products, at /commission_products/new. These products include information about:

• Allowed number of subjects
• Background pricing
• Subject pricing
• A general description
• One or more example images

Wait and advertise

The user now has to wait for somebody to make them an offer. They can advertise themselves by putting stuff in descriptions or what have you. Maybe we should display descriptions on the front page for this purpose? I dunno.

Accept offers

Eventually, a user sends an offer to an artist. They can view this offer at /commission_offers/:id. If they like the offer, they can accept it, and the offer is sent back to the user to pay.

Draw Stuff

Or sculpt, or paint, or model, or whatever

Fill offer

The artist uploads the image to ImageHex, and selects it as the filled offer of the user.

Buying Commissions

(Optional) Find a Suitable Product

A user can start by figuring out who they want to buy a commission from, and what product to buy. There is a link on product pages (/commission_products/:id) to "purchase" the product, which takes you to a commission form.

Fill out an offer

The user now fills out an offer, at /commission_offers/:id This includes:

• General description
• (Optional) background information
  • Description
  • Reference images
• Subject information
  • Description
  • Tags
  • Reference images

This form is done in React, and will display a continually updating price.

(Optional) chose a product

If the user isn't commissioning a specific artist, or changes their mind, they can change the product from within the commission offer page. This will display a list of products, so they can select a new one.

Confirm Offer

You can save your offer and come back to it at any time. Once you're finished, you just hit the confirm button on the page, and the offer is sent to the artist for review.

Pay

When an artist has accepted an offer, the user gets the option to pay. They enter their credit card info, and payment is sent to the artist. Eventually, we'll have to do half-and-half, or (ideally) figure out the clusterfuck that is escrow.

Enjoy Art

When the artist fulfills the commission, you get notified. Your artwork is now existent and ready to be enjoyed by you.

Features We Should Add

This system definitely needs some kind of "demo mode", so people can play around with our forms without an actual account. This goes for artists and users.

Currently, we don't really have a dispute system. I'm still thinking about engineering requirements for that.