Over the past 10 years in the business, I've really got to understand what a lot of vendors and art dealers/sellers do with original art. That is taking a piece of art (sketch, Sketch Coloring™ or whatever) they paid cheap for and marking it up so they can make get back what they paid for the item and make a little extra. In MY opinion, there's NOTHING wrong with that. This has been going on since the beginning of time. Really when that piece leaves the hands of the seller (in this case artist), the buyer can do pretty much whatever they want with it. Now I know that's not a popular answer, BUT, there are times when the artist can feel like they are getting taken advantage of.
For instance when an artist has a full list of commissions to finish by the end of day of the show, someone runs up to you and pretty much praises you and your work. Basically just saying they've followed you for years and have loved your work since you started. But they are only at the show for another hour and have to leave. They ran out of money, they can't pay for anything, but they want a quick sketch of their favorite character (usually quick sketches are free). Now even though that artist has a full commission list, they are human and most of them love their fans. So at times that artist will push all the other commissions aside for this one time for you (since you also said you weren't going to sell it and you love their work so much). At the end of the day, you get word that that sketch you did is now up on eBay or some selling site for hundreds when you did it for free for that "fan" who loved your work and won't sell it. Unfortunately, this is very common now a days and I understand why artists get upset at that and WON'T do sketches anymore at conventions or really anywhere. This is just one case I've heard of, but there are hundreds out there I've heard of and also have NOT heard of. I've even been a victim of something like this.
In a nutshell, someone I've done a lot of commissions for in the past 2 years sent me 11 covers to color up (wrap around covers most of them) at one time. I did Sketch Color™ them up, but for way less that I would normally charge. He's been a great supporter for mine and he can only do so much money at that time, so I wanted to do him a favor. He gets them back then turns around and sends me a not so nice email pretty much saying that "the covers are horrible, he's not going to send me any more to do and he's not going to refer anyone to me." Be that as it may. He never had issues with my coloring in the past, just all of a sudden these ones. However, the next day, I did a search on eBay for the covers (since I know he sells the Sketch Colorings™), and there they are. The ones he talked down my price to me about are now selling for WAY more then if I were to have charged him full price. AND, the same ones he didn't like and sent me a scolding email about. So he wanted them quicker and cheaper so he can make a much higher profit.
Now this is not the first time something like this has happened. Lets face it, I've been creating Sketch Colorings™ for 10 years. But this was the last time I was going to have this happen. I've changed up my pricing a little bit to people I know who flip my Sketch Colorings™ on eBay or any selling site.
All in all. Yes, you can do whatever you want with the commissions when you get them back. The artist has no say after they've been paid. But, don't cheat them or flat out lie to them. The artist community is small, and we all know one another. If you get that commission from your favorite artist. AWESOME! Keep it. It should mean something to YOU. Not just a paycheck.
