Well, Guild Wars 2 is coming out this year, which means of course that I have to preorder the Collector's Edition. Oh, how my heart sank when I heard today that the Collector's Edition will be 150 USD! Of course, I am still determined to get it because I am just THAT MUCH of a nerd. *cringe*

Also, I've decided to get a conure. It will probably be a while before I can save up so many hundreds of dollars to get one and its cage/toys, but I figure I might as well start saving little by little as soon as I can. I'm in no rush for this, however, as much more research has to be done before I am ready to bring my new little friend home.

So in short, instead of mooching off my parents for money, I'm going to earn this shizzle by myself.

I have a few things to do before I actually open commissions.

1.) Open my own bank account along with my own paypal account. (I had been using my mom's paypal account, with her permission, up until now - I'm nearly 18 and I want to get an account that is under my own name and attached to my own bank account.)

2.) Figure out how my pricing will work. I figure I will charge 10 dollars per hour on average. Meaning if I typically take two hours to completely line a sketch, I would charge 20 dollars for line art. If it usually takes me 4 hours for fully colored and shaded, I would charge 40 dollars, possibly 50 if the character is very very detailed or complicated. (--NOTE-- I will NOT be offering backgrounds this time around. Sorry guys, but I will offer backgrounds again when I believe they are worth of actually selling. I only want to be selling quality stuff, here!) Does this sound reasonable? Should I charge more than this?

3.) I need to figure out exactly what kind of commissions I will be offering. I'm thinking sketches/lineart/color flats/fully shaded. Dragons and other mythical creatures only, no humans or humanoids (Unless the humanoid is incredibly feral, as I have a hard time drawing human shapes in general). What do you guys think?

Tell me your thoughts on all this, please.