Commissions: Compromise or Collaborate?

Commissions are so often deeply dreaded by artists. I, for one, have travelled a long and and very humbling journey in this area, where money, survival and creative compromise come together to cause heated arguments with egos bashing each other about the head in idealistic wrath and scorn.
                         I know. *sigh*. The drama, the drama. But it's honestly what commissions do to us as creatives. We run. Or we want to run - but mimic indifference. Or we pretend we don't want to run. Or we stay because we need the cash. Perhaps, there are those that learn that 'creative compromise' can, in fact, be developed into 'creative colloboration' with the client? I am stuck between a couple of those reactions at this very moment with the various commissions I have on the go.(NB: Not the with the commission below!)

{This is a commission-in-progress: a graphite portrait for a software-design guru's website.}

Look for Part 2 on commissions and the psychological theories behind this oft-felt 'artistic prostitution'! Coming soon!