One of the things that has been bothering me as of late has been the prevelance of asking for things. Some of you may know where this is going, but others not so much. This is in regards to requests. A favor, a plea, an inquiry into the act of receiving a desire in the form of something tangible. Everywhere you go, you will see what will ultimately be some offset of a 'request'. From charity to art, it's everywhere. It's described often an act of kindness or gratuitous feedback. On dA there is a wide selection of all of this. Why anyone does it is really up to them. Me, I have my own standing.

On dA there are requesters and requestees. A requester is a fascinating breed that exists in several forms. In general terms, there are two main types. To one end is the whining, self indulgent child. To the other end is the infeebled old man. Removed from art terms, the child is the tantrum toddler in a toy store, and the elderly gentleman meerely hopes to be sustained. From an art perspective most of us are well aware of the child.

The child is in of itself, a sprawling category of various types of requesters. While not the most common, the most annoying has to definitely be the spoiled brat. This is a person who will randomly coast around until they find some unwitting victim to do their request. Hardly challenging to identify, their behavior ranges from blatant demands to the downright threatening. Often they will jump onto someone's gallery, asking, without a sense of how burdensome they are, for something specific. The worse case is one who will ask for something completely unrelated to an artist's own work, and then swear at them for refusing the "polite" inquiry. The smarter ones will first compliment, then promptly demand of something for themselves. To them an artist is like Santa Claus with free time a plenty and the ability to create art as one does pee. Some of these childlike requesters will do a more crafty approach. Over time they will warm up to their intended artistic fufiller, supplying flattery and compliments before sliding in the request.

Those of the more mature requesting variety can at times go about their requests as the child does, with a sort of shooting fish-in-a-barrel approach. Both will sift through people, asking for requests. The one difference with the latter of this group is that they ask. They do not demand, scream or cry, but will politely ask for a request. If the answer is 'yes', then they proceed to engage delicately in conversation and ask for really anything, as long as it follows a basic guideline. Time is of no object, and they are grateful to have an artist at their disposal to create for them. On the other hand if one refuses them, then be prepared for a guilt trip. The shear meakness of existence they execute, coupled with apologies for wasting ones time is often pathetic, and ultimately makes the people who rejected them look bad. Where the child can be upright blatant, this is the sneaky evil that those more mature can weild.

If one is to fill the request of a child, they often estactically receive an image with a comment about as vaguely unappreciative as the acceptant speech to a politician in one of the most contested countries in the world. If not then, it is full of hollow 'thank-you's' and absurdly large amounts of emoticons. Honestly, how does a winky face really garner the sense of gratitude? Those of the infeebled often are considerably more gracious in regards to their requests, and while they make vague and impartial demands, they are considerably the most humbled and appreciative.

Outside of the two extremes there are clusters of people who will do what is known as trades. Usually an agreement is made (not always of the receiver's will) to exchange one image for another image. The guidelines are usually basic, and often approached with a free-for-all mentality. Then there are several other groups who earn a request as part of contests or achievements, while others have either mutual friendships or understandings. Such clusters, despite being middle ground in nature are also not the primary groups.

A requestee is not always a victim, some are just bluntly as corrupt as the requesters. The general thing to keep in mind though, is that a solicitor is always far more unwelcomed in contrast. Of the requestee group there are several varities of people involved. Of them there are people who welcome requests. You name it, they will do it. The thing to keep in mind is that with anything free, and relatively abundant is that it is going to be of poorer quality. On the far end of abdundant and free are the high quality commissioners. If you can pay out their sometimes ridiculous fees, expect work that is impecable to the greatest degree. The one other category that is also within the chunk of extremes are those artists who simply don't. For whatever reason they choose, annoyed, time constraints, they refuse to do anything for anybody, period. At times it is questionable if even bribing them will work. These are of course not the only ones existent within the artistic world.

Requestees supply themselves to people based on their preferences. There are ones that do contests, and give a request as a reward. Some do what are known as favors and gifts. Often a reward system setup for those they think deserve their art or their respect. Another group that also is common are traders, people who do a request on the guise that they will get something in return. The last one in this cluster are ones who simply do them when they feel like it, and refuse all requests when they don't. The one thing with these four is that unlike the other requestees, their ability to fill requests is completely on their own whim, without consistency. The trick for getting anything from them is either appealing to their fancies, their schedules or somehow managing to be incredibly talented at groveling. This is also the group that can be the most rude, as their ability to humor a requester is entirely based on their mood. Appeasing them on a foul or busy day may be enough for a hopeful requester to lose a chance on receiving an image they desire.

I am probably an incredible hypocrit when it comes to taking requests. While I can proudly say I've never asked for anything, I can't quite say that I have either proudly rejected everything or accepted everything. My personal classification goes under favortism. In that cluster it's all about fufilling requests based on someone's outward behaviors. Like most artists, we have these systems to allow us time to self improve and ultimately work on things that make us passionate. There are those lucky artists who know the balance for self improvement, making people happy, and themselves. Although as it is the way with requesters, not all requests are designed with such intention either.

For those who do make requests, often prolificly: the best way to ever both be proud of yourself and get what you want is really to explore art yourself. At the very least no one thinks that the requester in the end is talentless and annoying. That isn't to say that the requestee should never do requests. A little idea here and there always helps a person broaden horizons. And to the old adages, no question is too stupid, and no idea is ever bad in concept. Despite the dislike towards one and another, to draw and be drawn for does offer mutual benefits.