Amusingly enough, my first book commission (in 1996 or so?) required an eyepopping FIFTY, pen & ink portraits of North Carolina authors. As I recall, I was promised (which is a radically different thing from actually being paid, particularly when you're dealing with small publishers) $1,000 for the job. I ended up being paid in furniture (which I didn't mind...and all of which I still have). After that?...I found myself being commissioned by a lot of newspapers, book reviews (we still had them back then), and magazines for portraits....and I went from continuously writing about authors to continuously drawing them (which is easier and, frankly, pays better). These days, I do a lot of commissioned portraits...and many of my friends and family. Among my favorite works are the privately commissioned montages of family photographs. Generally these large pictures are organized around a theme, articulated by the client. If nothing else, they solve the problem of who-has-great-grandmother's-wedding-picture-nowadays. I do provide prints of these when requested to do so.

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