Unpaid commission. (NSFW)

[furinari.livejournal.com]

My artist friends have all spoken to me about this guy. He has a humanoid character that has a habit of sleeping with some "unique" women. One of which he "commissioned" me to draw. Granted I took about a few weeks more than I'd like to finish it to "satisfactory" so that I could show him and so that he could approve it... so i sent him a copy in a fairly small resolution.

He approved of it and said he would send the money order in the mail (he lives in the united states). I trusted him with my home address.

A month passes, we exchange emails about it, I get nothing in the mail. He keeps making excuses blaming it on the post office, blaming it on everything else. He promises to send the money order again.

Three months later, still no money. I put the commission away on the back burner. I close commissions because I'm just too angry to be interested in it.

Comments

[acrimonius.livejournal.com]

Uh, posting the picture to this community wasn't necessary, just a warning about that guy and that he's a flake. x_x

[hellebore.livejournal.com]

why post the image??

[thornwolf.livejournal.com]

I can't unsee it :(

[felisepia.livejournal.com]

Me neither :'(

[acrimonius.livejournal.com]

Thirded :(

[susandeer.livejournal.com]

FOURTHED.

[dazen-cobalt.livejournal.com]

oh sweet jesus @_@ fithed

[lildobe.livejournal.com]

Sixthed x.x

[oolong.livejournal.com]

1. do you really think someone that posts pictures of alien dickgirls all over their own gallery is going to be embarrassed by you revealing their kink to the internet
2. professional behavior demands professional behavior in return - in the real world, being a couple of weeks late with a commission would almost certainly mean you wouldn't get paid, and if your mature reaction to things not working out is to stop doing commissions entirely, fume about it and 'out' your client on livejournal, maybe this serves as more of a warning to clients who would be interested in working with you

[furinari.livejournal.com]

It has been like, four months. And I completed it even before then.

You can make all the calls and judgements you like about my behavior. It does not change the fact that he has been tardy on his payment.

Look, this is the last person I would want to call out for nonpayment. But money is tight and I don't enjoy getting screwed by people I don't know, contrary to what you may have heard.

[theangienator.livejournal.com]

Live and learn. Recieve payment first. Thought it was just common sense?=\

[raygirlrol.livejournal.com]

Surely in the reverse of things that just leaves you open to having your money taken with nothing to show for it? What is the artist is the unscrupulous one?

'Common sence', IMHO, would be to go half and half both ways. Half the work = half the cash, and when the work is complete you get the rest of the money. That way you don't waste all your energy on a finished final piece only to find you get no money. at the same time the comissioner only looses half the money if they get duped, if any, not the full amount.

[theangienator.livejournal.com]

True but it depends on the person. For me full payment would be better if I were to do commissions for someone because I know I'll get the work done.

But I understand what you mean. A lesson the be learnt on this person part in the future then. Don't send full payment until the works done.

[theangienator.livejournal.com]

Or I get paid half first before this person does the commission, like you said. I just jumbled up what I said. Lol!XD; You get me right?

[raygirlrol.livejournal.com]

No worries ^0^ I diggit :)

I just think with the half/half thing then everyone wins. Even if you never get your full payment/comission, you at least have a WIP sketch or half your payment at the end of the day

Of course i agree, it depends on the artist. I've only done comissions for close friends/family who i can trust enough to pay me without having to do the half/half thing

[aaaamory.livejournal.com]

Getting duped only half instead of the whole is still not a win.

[raygirlrol.livejournal.com]

True, better not to get duped at all, but you can never be sure. Sometimes even the most ligitimate of artists/commisioners with perfect records screw up

But then again i'd never pay any amount of money for something that I wasn't prepared to loose ;) On the art side, yes it's bad when you don't get paid for your work especially when you have bills to pay, which is why i suggested the half half thing. That way you have some small security if not complete security

and if i couldn't 'win' i'd rather be half duped than completely fucked over :D wouldn't you?

but this is all IMHO, not speaking from experiences that this artist has gone through

[thaily.livejournal.com]

The difference between an unscrupulous customer and an unscrupulous artist is that the artist has a reputation to uphold or else their potential customer base shrinks down to barely anyone, and it's hard to make a living off a handful of customers.
So professional artists have extra incentive to keep up their end of the bargain.

Not to say that there isn't a slough of unprofessional thieving hacks, but most established artists with reputation are fairly safe to pay up front.

[raygirlrol.livejournal.com]

Oh of course, the more well known and well practiced the artist the more liklely they are to give you the good without problems, because it reflects well on them

[aerospiritual.livejournal.com]

Just a related, yet unrelated thing to point out, but sometimes a late payment[via mail] can be late due to bad postage; I once waited four months for my commission money to arrive and I wanted to assume that my commissioner had just gipped me, but I got the payment, the postal date matching when the commissioner had told me he sent the payment. =/

On topic: It sucks that the guy didn't pay you, but did you really have to post the image?

[skulldog.livejournal.com]

I want to second this. This has happened to me both for payment AND mailed original art.

[erewhile.livejournal.com]

why did you post it.

i was eating.

[growing-rose.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* I'm still eating. XD Very little phases me now and I'm grateful for it.

[raygirlrol.livejournal.com]

seconded

[cassu-bean.livejournal.com]

Well I no longer want breakfast now.
D:

[dazen-cobalt.livejournal.com]

I can have it? nothing phases me

[niiku.livejournal.com]

D:

[blondefoxy.livejournal.com]

lol cyclops.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

I think this is my favourite artists_beware post ever.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Haha, I'm totally not seeing the image. Win :D

[dazen-cobalt.livejournal.com]

Lucky XD

[furinari.livejournal.com]

I deleted it. Although in retro I should have reuploaded it in full resolution.