An illustration commission Terms of Service should plainly state what's included, how many revision rounds are covered, who owns the resulting image and for what use, the turnaround window, and what happens if either side backs out. Posting it on the same link-in-bio page where the follower pays keeps it visible before checkout, not discovered after a dispute starts. Custom Work lets you offer clearly scoped commissions and services: you set the price, the scope and the delivery time, and followers submit a brief and pay before you start.
Scope note: the legal examples in this guide are U.S.-focused — federal copyright law plus state and city freelance-contract statutes. Copyright transfer, consumer refund rights, and contract-formation rules differ by country and by state, so treat this as general information for structuring a policy, not legal advice for your jurisdiction.
A short, visible TOS solves a normal commission problem: the client thought something was included, and the artist priced the work as if it was not. This is a practical observation from creator pages, not a measured statistic — we have not found a published survey that quantifies the causes of art-commission disputes. The point is to close the assumption gap before payment, not after the third extra request.
What should a commission TOS actually cover?
An illustration commission TOS should cover six things: what the price includes, whether any changes are included, what usage rights the client receives, when you will deliver, when the client pays, and what happens if either side cancels. Style notes, reference requirements, and content restrictions are useful additions, but they come after those basics.
| Section | What to state | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Exact deliverable, such as one bust-up illustration of one character | Prevents extra work from being added mid-commission |
| Changes | Whether changes are included, and at what stage | Removes a common source of disagreement |
| Usage rights | Personal use vs. commercial use, plus credit requirements | Tells the client what they can legally do with the file |
| Delivery time | When you expect to send the finished work | Sets expectations without pretending every project is identical |
| Payment | When payment is due and what happens if the request is declined | Helps you avoid starting unpaid work |
| Refunds | What is refundable at each stage of progress | Protects both sides if the commission is canceled |
Professional design contracts are built the same way. AIGA's Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services, updated in 2020, separates a per-project schedule of services from a fixed block of standard terms, so variables such as changes and usage rights are set for each engagement instead of assumed (AIGA).
Keep the wording short enough that a client will actually read it before paying. A multi-page legal document in a separate PDF may feel safer, but the useful version is the one attached to the commission they are about to order.
Does an artist automatically own a commissioned illustration's copyright?
Under U.S. copyright law, the artist who draws a commissioned illustration owns the copyright by default. Paying for the piece does not automatically transfer it. Section 204(a) of the Copyright Act says a transfer of copyright ownership is not valid unless it appears in a written instrument signed by the copyright owner (U.S. Copyright Office, Title 17, Chapter 2).
The U.S. Copyright Office's Circular 30 explains when a work made for hire exception applies:
A copyrightable work is made for hire in two situations: when it is created by an employee as part of the employee's regular duties, or when a certain type of work is created as a result of an express written agreement between the creator and a party specially ordering or commissioning it.
The commissioned work-made-for-hire route is narrower than many clients assume. Section 101 of the Copyright Act limits commissioned works made for hire to nine listed categories — a contribution to a collective work, a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, a translation, a supplementary work, a compilation, an instructional text, a test, answer material for a test, or an atlas — and requires a written agreement signed by both parties (U.S. Copyright Office, Title 17, Chapter 1, § 101). A standalone character illustration ordered through a link-in-bio page generally fits none of those nine categories, so the default usually remains: the artist keeps the copyright and the client receives a license.
Ownership and registration are separate. Copyright exists from the moment the illustration is fixed in a tangible form. Registering it with the U.S. Copyright Office costs $45 for one work by a single author, same claimant, not made for hire, filed through the Single Application. The Copyright Office proposed a revised fee schedule in a notice of proposed rulemaking and has said it seeks to implement the new fees in fall 2026, so an illustrator budgeting for registration should check the published schedule before filing.
Write the license in plain English. A line like “Includes personal use only. Commercial use, resale, or NFT minting requires a separate license” is much clearer than leaving rights unstated. Whether that term binds a given client depends on jurisdiction, how visibly the terms were shown, whether the client agreed before paying, and the facts of the transaction. Visibility before payment is the part the artist controls.
How many changes should a commission include?
State a specific number of included changes rather than promising unlimited or reasonable changes. No published industry survey establishes a standard count for illustration commissions, so treat any figure you see — including the familiar one or two rounds — as common practice rather than a benchmark. Pick the number your own pricing can support.
In independent commission listings, one or two defined stages is the pattern many artists use, but that is observed practice, not measured data. For negotiated norms with an actual editorial basis behind them, the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines, now in its 17th edition, is the field's standing reference for illustration pricing and contract terms.
Attach changes to a stage. “One sketch check before color” is easier to enforce than “reasonable changes” with no timing. Extra work beyond the stated scope works better as a paid add-on than as goodwill folded into the base price. On Brillay, a custom request has a fixed price and one final delivery; if the follower wants something different afterward, they place a new order.
What refund and cancellation terms are fair to both sides?
A fair refund policy usually follows the amount of work already done: full refund before the artist starts, partial refund after rough work exists, and no refund once the final file has been delivered. Writing that ladder upfront keeps the cancellation conversation from turning into a debate over what fair means.
A simple three-stage structure covers the usual cases:
- Before work begins: full refund if the artist has not started.
- Sketch or rough stage: partial refund that reflects time already spent.
- Final delivery: no refund, since the agreed deliverable has been completed and sent.
With Custom Work, followers pay upfront and you deliver later in one final package.
If a U.S. client disputes a delivered commission through their card issuer instead of contacting the artist, the process runs on a fixed statutory clock: the cardholder must dispute a billing error in writing so the letter reaches the issuer within 60 days after the first bill containing the error was sent, the issuer must acknowledge the dispute within 30 days, and the issuer must resolve it within 90 days of receiving the complaint (U.S. Federal Trade Commission, "Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges"). Those deadlines come from U.S. consumer-protection law; a client outside the United States is covered by their own country's card rules instead. Stripe's published pricing lists a $15.00 fee for disputed payments, plus a $15.00 dispute-countered fee for each dispute a business responds to manually (Stripe pricing). A clear, visible refund policy gives the client a documented way to resolve a problem before turning to a card dispute.
Does a commission TOS need to be a formal written contract?
For a small commission, a short, plainly worded policy can set expectations, but whether you need a signed contract depends on your jurisdiction and the details of the job. The answer changes when the price gets larger, because some U.S. jurisdictions require a written contract once freelance work passes a dollar threshold. These are one-time payments, not memberships, with nothing to publish on a schedule and no subscription for either side to maintain.
Three U.S. freelance-contract regimes are worth knowing, each described here from the state or city agency that enforces it:
| Jurisdiction | Written contract required at | Payment deadline if the contract sets no date | In force since |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York City | $800 or more, one project or aggregated across any 120-day period | Within 30 days after the work is completed | May 15, 2017 |
| Illinois | $500 or more, one contract or aggregated across a 120-day period | Within 30 days of completing the services | July 1, 2024 |
| New York State | Written-contract and timely-payment protections under General Business Law Article 44-A | Varies — check current New York State Department of Labor guidance | August 28, 2024 |
New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection requires a written contract once freelance work totals $800 or more on one project or in the aggregate across any 120-day period, and requires the hiring party to pay within 30 days after the work is completed when the contract names no payment date (NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Freelance Worker Rights). New York City's Freelance Isn't Free Act, Local Law 140 of 2016, took effect on May 15, 2017.
The Illinois Freelance Worker Protection Act covers work valued at $500 or more in a single contract or in the aggregate over a 120-day period, requires full payment by the contract due date or within 30 days of completing the services if no date is specified, and applies to contracts taking effect on or after July 1, 2024 (Illinois Department of Labor). New York State's Freelance Isn't Free Act added Article 44-A to the General Business Law effective August 28, 2024, extending written-contract and timely-payment protections statewide.
Enforcement is not theoretical. New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection reported that since the Freelance Isn't Free Act took effect in 2017 the agency had received nearly 4,300 complaints about potential violations, closed more than 3,500 cases, and helped freelancers recover over $3,470,000.
New York City's agency states the written-contract rule in one line:
All contracts worth $800 or more must be in writing. This includes all agreements between you and the hiring party that total $800 in any 120-day period. (NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection)
The New York City, New York State, and Illinois freelance statutes are local and state laws aimed at the hiring party, not universal rules for every commission everywhere. An artist outside those places is governed by their own country's or state's contract law. The thresholds are still a useful reminder: once a piece is priced high enough to matter, keep a written record — even a saved copy of the paid listing and its terms.
Where should the TOS actually live?
A commission TOS works best on the listing the client is about to pay for, not on a separate page they can skip. Terms a client never saw before paying are weaker in every practical sense, so the goal is not fancy wording. The goal is that the client can see the scope, rights, delivery time, and refund terms before ordering.
On your Brillay page, the Custom Work setup states what followers get, what you need from them and what is not included, along with your fixed price and delivery time. Followers can pay without an account, and the commission is one time, no membership. One link can hold all your offers. Brillay supports payouts in 41 countries.
If commission requests are scattered across Discord, a spreadsheet, and DMs, put the terms beside the order button instead. You can start with only a few followers, without an application gate, and offer one clear paid option without turning every post into a sales pitch. Brillay gives the people already asking you a way to pay. One link that carries every offer, with nothing to moderate.
What if a request doesn't match what the follower paid for?
A request outside the agreed scope — a second character added to a single-character commission, a style change mid-sketch, or a content type the page does not offer — should be declined instead of absorbed as free extra work. Naming the boundary in the TOS ahead of time makes the decline easier to explain.
Common out-of-scope triggers to name explicitly in the policy:
- Additional characters, props, or backgrounds not itemized in the listing
- A style or medium different from the one advertised
- Content categories the artist does not accept
- Requests for the source file, such as PSD or CLIP, when only a flattened export was sold
When those triggers are visible before payment, declining a request reads less like a personal judgment and more like enforcing the policy the client already had a chance to read.
What's the difference between commission terms and a general pricing guide?
A commission TOS governs the rules of a single transaction: scope, usage rights, included changes, delivery time, and refunds. A pricing guide explains what different deliverables cost and why. They answer different questions, and combining them usually makes both harder to read.
If you are worried about undercharging, start with the time the piece actually takes, the complexity you are agreeing to, and the amount of back-and-forth your price can support. If people are already asking to pay for your work, that is useful signal, but it is not a reason to price the first order so low that every request feels impossible to finish well.
For the pricing side of the decision — base rates, add-on pricing, and rush fees — see how much to charge for an art commission. For the day-to-day side of opening commissions through a paid-request link instead of a marketplace listing, see how to take paid commissions. Illustrators who take support in more than one way may also want separate one-time options, such as tips for helpful free work or a named goal for a print run.
Frequently asked questions
Can I write my own commission TOS, or do I need a lawyer?
Most illustrators can write a plain-language commission TOS themselves: scope, changes, usage rights, delivery time, payment, and refunds. A lawyer becomes more useful for high-value commercial licensing, work in a place with a statutory contract requirement, or a dispute that has moved beyond a simple cancellation. This article is general information, not legal advice.
Who owns the copyright to a commissioned illustration?
Under U.S. law, the artist usually keeps copyright by default, and a transfer is not valid unless it is in a written instrument signed by the copyright owner (U.S. Copyright Office). The commissioned work-made-for-hire path is limited to nine statutory categories that a standalone illustration usually does not fit (U.S. Copyright Office), so the TOS should spell out the client's usage rights instead.
How many changes should I include in the price?
There is no cited industry survey that sets a standard, so choose a number your price can actually support. One or two defined stages — such as sketch approval and color approval — is a common pattern in commission listings, with extra work billed separately. Avoid “reasonable changes,” because that phrase becomes hard to apply when someone is unhappy.
Does registering the copyright cost anything?
Registration is optional and separate from ownership. The U.S. Copyright Office fee schedule lists $45 to register one work by a single author, same claimant, not made for hire, through the Single Application (U.S. Copyright Office fee schedule). The Office proposed a revised fee schedule on March 20, 2026 that it seeks to implement in fall 2026, so check the published schedule before filing (U.S. Copyright Office).
Do these legal rules apply outside the United States?
No. The copyright, card-dispute, and written-contract rules cited here are U.S. federal, state, and city rules. Creators elsewhere are governed by their own country's copyright law, consumer-payment rules, and freelance-contract statutes. The structure still travels well: state scope, included changes, rights, delivery time, payment, and refunds before someone pays.
Can I decline a commission after the client pays?
Yes. Followers pay upfront; you can decline a request. Listing your out-of-scope triggers in advance makes a decline easier to explain and less likely to feel arbitrary.
What does Brillay charge if I sell illustration commissions there?
According to Brillay pricing: No monthly fee, you only pay a small platform fee when you get paid. 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, 5% platform fee on tips and goals. Card processing is separate. There is no follower minimum and nothing to apply for, and Custom Work lets you set a fixed price and a delivery time of up to 5 days.
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