“Skeb Artwork Commissioning Website: Review: Commission Your Favorite Japanese Artists With Auto-Translation”, 2020-08-18 (; backlinks; similar):
…if an idea comes to mind of artwork I would like to see which doesn’t exist yet, I need to pay real money to commission an artist to do so. In the English-language market, there are quite a few options. These range from art websites such as DeviantArt and FurAffinity, to services which provide you with YCH (Your Character Here) artwork to bid for such as YCH.commishes.
But if you have favorite Japanese artists on services such as Pixiv, then the language barrier may prevent you from outright enquiring whether an artist is taking a commission. This is where Skeb.jp comes in, a Japanese artwork and voice-over commissioning service, which to date has received over 100,000 requests and has thousands of artists taking requests from the public. Like a small but growing number of Japanese artwork sites, English-language support is incorporated into the website. But even more substantial, is the ability for English-writing users to submit requests of their own through the DeepL Translator service.
…Each artist profile provides a direct Yes/No answer around whether they are taking requests, a sample of their public works, approximate rates (minimum and recommended), and the time it takes them to deliver the requested artwork typically. Doing this saves much unreasonable back-and-forth between client and artist about simple information. Instead, the website has you fill out a request form (example below) which allows you to provide specifics and payment. The simple one-page form allows you to enter an overview of the artwork you want to be commissioned (which is translated into English), provide a sum you are happy to pay, determine whether or not you want the artwork to be SFW (Safe for Work) or NSFW (Not Safe for Work) and a few other specifications. Some components of this form (eg. whether NSFW requests are acceptable) can be dictated directly by the artist. Otherwise whichever the client dictates cannot be switched by either party after being submitted. The application is then sent off to the artist, which they have the exclusive right to accept or decline. Depending on the deadline selected, the artist either has 30 days to accept with a delivery deadline of 60 days after submission, or 7 days to take with a delivery deadline of 90 days after submission.
…DeepL is a fantastic machine-learning translator service which I use regularly. But adding to the game of chance, translations can on the odd occasion come out with surreal interpretations. These include instances of こんばんは [“good evening”] being complemented with a dozen exclamation points, to things which don’t match what you wrote at all. Not only do you have the occasional translation issue to deal with, but character limits. Artists can dictate whether they want requests which are 140 characters in length or 1,000 characters in length. In theory, this is great, as it allows artists to dictate whether they want brief requests which will enable them to use their creativity or extended requests that use more of the client’s creativity. But with the 140 character limit, it can get tough to write more than a small sentence or two in English within the count, before they are shortened considerably into Japanese.