Dear Jacky:
What is your New Year's resolution for 2026?

This morning I woke up as I usually do. Silently making the aspiration that whatever I end up doing, no matter how dumb or good, may it be for the benefit of all sentient beings. Then grabbing my phone and immediately doomscrolling.

I've read pretty much every article and opinion piece prognosticating about the future of AI and usually remain unmoved, but something about this recent piece in the Times (hat tip to Garbage Day) just lit a fire in my belly and the following words just came tumbling out of me into my notes app.

If you are a creative person of any kind (by my definition, just liking or respecting creative work qualifies you as a said creative person), the best and most urgent resolution you can make for 2026 and beyond is to commission a piece of original art. Ideally illustration of some sort but it can be anything really. This will be good for your soul on many levels. It will probably benefit many other people. It will definitely endear you to potential mates and lovers.

There is no way to fully understand the limitations and promise of AI if you have not commissioned a piece of original artwork of some kind. For every tweet and post that encourages artists to use and experiment with AI tools, there is approximately zero posts that encourages people to actually commission an artist, so I’m hoping to try and correct this.

If you are a creative yourself conflicted about AI and feel powerless or unsure of what to do, commissioning a piece of artwork is the safest and easiest action you can take to better understand where you stand and why.

The thrill of trawling through pages of artists on instagram, following a breadcrumb trail until you find the one that is just right. Bookmarking or pinning their work. Working up the courage to reach out to them. The vulnerability of actually putting your idea into words and digging up references. The anticipation of waiting for the sketches to come through. The amazing feeling when they do come through and you open the attachments. That pure rush of seeing the first sketches where your mind just stops for a split second because you have two realities meeting. The reality of your words and what you imagined you would get, meeting the reality of how the artist interpreted it. You had something in your head, and now here it is! Was it what you imagined? It's probably something quite different, yes? Now what? Now you work together and you co-parent this sketch and nurture it until it becomes a grown-up piece of final art. It smells just like a brand new car.

On top of that, this thing, it was made for you. Just for you! In this age of fractured attention and distraction, this person single pointedly was thinking of you and your brief as they made this thing and they poured a bit of themselves (and sure, whatever podcast or show was on in the background) into it. This person who maybe was a stranger before, but if it was a friend it makes it all the more sweeter.

As we realise that most of our current problems stem from a growing culture of individualism, many are wondering how to take steps into collective action or forming communities. Commissioning original artwork is a novel and interesting way to create the first node of a larger network. Again, you should do this.

You may think you have no need to commission a piece of original artwork to which I would say you are absolutely wrong. Here are some ideas of things you can commission to get you started:

• —•A new avatar for your various online accounts
• —•A portrait of you, your family, a loved one, a pet, etc.
• —•A mascot for your recreational ice hockey team
• —•A mural to paint on your garage door
• —•A special image to get tattooed
• —•A repeating pattern you can make actual wallpaper out of
• —•A cover for your annual greeting card
• —•A soft vinyl toy or embroidered puppet.
• —•A map of your garden
• —•Initials of your children so you remember which is which
• —•A design you can print on shirt that your entire family wears on their adult Disney trip
• —•A hand-lettered rendition of your favourite poem that you can read every time you go to the loo.

I have personally commissioned nine of these things, but I will not say which nine.

One of the best parts of working at the giant magic machine is that we can commission our own artists. Some of that work we've scattered throughout this post. Now to be clear, these aren't strictly personal commissions… there's some subtle and some very not-subtle differences between personal and commercial work, but they were made for the love of it rather than a client brief, which feels close enough. For the purposes of this piece though, I really want to focus on the personal kind.

Most every working artist accepts personal commissions of some sort. Many don't of course but finding this out this is all part of THE MESS. There is so much good stuff that will come from this, but you have to be willing to embrace the mess and friction* that is part of it. This also happens to be the core theme of Twin Peaks, I think.

(That is the last time I will mention friction, I think it’s already overdone, sorry.)

Commissioning work is like getting into a mini relationship, with all its ups and downs. But because it costs money, this actually eases the friction. This is a feature, as it makes you value and treasure it more. Maybe capital5ozism does get a few things right.

The artist could say no of course. The sketch could be totally wrong or maybe not in the right style. The artist could be hard to deal with or miss deadlines. Again, the stakes are a bit lower compared to commercial commissions, but just like IRL, if you do it enough, you get good at it. Commissioning is a great skill to have for many reasons.

If you are a creator yourself, or someone who has to service clients, there is no better experience to have than being a client yourself. It will make you a million times better at your job I guarantee it. It’s like listening to your own voice. Yes, you really do sound like that. Most of the systems we developed at Jacky Winter are a result of being a client, seeing our own blind spots and fixing them, or straight up lifting a great technique to provide unreasonable hospitality.

Also if you commission enough work for a long enough time, you can actually level up to become a bona fide PATRON. This is so much more than chucking in a few bucks a month or buying a print, which are both great - but patronage really can exist at any scale. This is also why I love illustration so much as it really is one of the most democratic and accessible mediums. Don't let the obscenely wealthy folks have all the fun - Patronage is still alive and well and requires no prerequisites other than your own taste (and money of course). Commissioning original artwork may be the final, yet greatest and most accessible luxury that we can afford ourselves.

If the money bit is holding you back, I get it, it can be awkward. Discussing money is a skill like any other that just gets easier with practice. Most artists who do personal commissions as a regular part of their practice will have set rates, so just ask! If they don't, name a fee and don't be scared. Personal commissions exist on a totally different plane than commercial commissions. I personally promise you will not be shamed if you have a limited budget, but don't let that stop you from doing some research. It will literally take you 5-10 minutes of research online to get an initial handle on this. There is so much transparency around costs right now, especially in the creative community, that it won't take long.

The negotiation is all part of the Big Beautiful Mess, and a good artist will work with you at this stage to come up with something that is workable for your budget. All artists want their work to be made and realised, mostly.

Most illustration agencies (including us) do not handle personal commissions, this is good news as agents can be really annoying to deal with and make everything more expensive (I jest, of course, we're all perfect).

If you can, commission from a smaller creator. There are so many amazing artists and illustrators out there, especially at the moment. Every day I see dozens of new artists sprouting with amazingly creative work that I look at and I have no idea how they are going to bridge the gap to commercial success, but the seeds are there. These are the artists you should seek out and water like small saplings. In this current climate, who knows how long they will be around for.

At the same time. On the internet, nobody knows you are a dog, so be fearless in your approach. Even if someone is more on the fine art spectrum, or if you think they are too famous or big for you, you should still slide into those DMs. The worst thing that can happen is that you actually make another human being happy by validating and appreciating their work. You would honestly be shocked at how little this happens, and how long of a ways it goes. It also just adds another feather in your cap to put you on your way to be an expert commissioner.

Tomorrow morning I'll wake up, make my aspiration, and inevitably grab my phone. But somewhere between the doomscrolling and the discourse, I'll remember that I get to work inside a giant magic machine. And that machine only runs because mostly regular people decide to reach out to us and say: "I have this idea." That's it. That's the spell. Now go cast one.