EDIT: Refunding

[muffin-mama.livejournal.com]

EDIT: The artist contacted me today and said they will refund half the price, as well as send me the SAI file due to the fact that their health issues are becoming bad (apparently they are doing this for a lot of their other commissions). I've agreed to this and I'm happy I didn't have to take this further :) Thanks for all the great comments!!

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FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE ARTIST, FOR NOW, I WILL JUST SAY "ARTIST" BECAUSE I'M NOT SURE IF I WANT TO POST A BEWARE OR NOT.

Okay...so there is an artist that I've adored since I started getting into online art-looking...and said artist recently came back after years of absence, so of course I started stalking that artist! I have been struggling with a ref sketch I did of my fursona and had been watching the artist on a livestream type site. I asked for their opinion of anatomy and coloring, because I have always been IN LOVE with the coloring style of this artist. That being said, the artist offered to color and touch up on the anatomy of my picture for $15!! It was like a dream come freaking true!! And maybe I should have realized that from the start.

So, knowing that
1) it is a $15 commission
2) the artist has a lot of health issues
3) I know it takes awhile to do great art in general
4) did I mention it was only a $15 commission?

I knew it would take awhile. But the thing is, I paid the artist on Dec 9, 2012. We kept up for awhile, I'd go and watch the artist draw when I was able, and all was honkey dory. To make things easier, I was even willing to change my character's hair design because, despite the fact that I wanted it a certain way, I had waited so long on things to progress (and they progressed quickly at first, then came to a screeching hault) that I was willing to do whatever just to get things moving along. Even though I really really didn't want to have to change my character design for a commission I paid for ($15 or not). So whatever, we decided on that....then apparently the artist flattened the image??? I get that. I understand things happen. But the artist did that 3 months ago...and I haven't seen any progress since. I haven't heard from the artist in 3 months. And I've sent numerous messages on both the artist's FA and tumblr. And I know they've been on it since then...but still no answer. All I want is a screen shot, or to be told they can't do it and refund. But how long do I need to wait before getting more upset?? I've been very patient, understanding, and tried not to be too pushy. But today I finally asked if there would be any update, or if we should talk about a refund.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY don't want to have to post an artist-beware, but I saw on their FA where someone else had noted that their lack of correspondence was becoming a worry. I love this artist, and I always have, and I'd hate to be the one to be targeted for calling them out...but when do I say enough is enough?

Comments

[intj-reflection.livejournal.com]

Post a beware.

Low cost artwork and being an artist that is well liked do not excuse poor communication or lack of product. Quite frankly I've gotten tired of seeing commissioners or artists with honest gripes fail to say anything bad because they don't want to be the one to rock the boat.

That is how people like the worst serial reportees here get away with what they do for so long.

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

Agreeing with the above. Pricing is not a factor in what makes a beware valid. As this is an advice post however, please continue to keep the artist nameless and only identify them in the beware post if you choose to make one.

A helpful template can be found here http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/432731.html and if you have any questions, feel free to PM a member of the mod team.

[frisket17.livejournal.com]

I'm a little confused:

"So whatever, we decided on that....then apparently the artist flattened the image??? "

You mean didn't hand you the full unflattened PDF image file?
If that's the case, I'm not really surprised. Those can be massive sizes.

[sableantelope.livejournal.com]

I think they meant that in the course of progress of working on the piece they accidentally flattened this image and that caused a delay/trouble for the artist in completing the piece?

Not sure on that, but I believe that it was an excuse/reason for some delay finishing the art.

[0acorn0.livejournal.com]

I believe that's it as well. I don't get how other artists manage to do that, is there an option to automatically flatten an image irreversibly?

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

Depends on the layers set up. Hard to believe flattening an entire image, but I've flattened the sketch and inks together before, and didn't notice until I couldn't undo anymore. I do stuff to prevent it now, but that's not the habit for most. So it's possible it's something like that.

[0acorn0.livejournal.com]

I guess it's because I never flatten layers down unless the file size gets excessive, and I'm usually very careful and use clipping layers so I know what can flatten into what. It must really suck to have that happen.

[nambroth.livejournal.com]

I know I am not the norm, but I usually work on three layers or less (usually just two-- a sketch and the painting itself), and have flattened them before without realizing and then worked well past the point of undoing it! Or have saved the file once I did this and then there was no going back. This has caused me no little disgruntlement in the past, though I try to be careful.

[varethane.livejournal.com]

A few factors can lead to it... Until a couple of years ago, whenever I wanted to show a preview of a work-in-progress to someone I would merge all the visible layers in PS, copy it into a new file, and then resize that way; after on two separate occasions I accidentally closed the file without remembering it had been flattened, I started using a different method to capture images for previewing.

There's all sorts of ways for human error to creep into a workflow. In Photoshop it takes only a few keystrokes to flatten, save, and close an image, and all the relevent hotkeys (E, S, and W) are right beside each other. If someone's hand slipped when they were tired, all it'd take is hitting two in the wrong order for it to close without a dialogue box.

[breakspire.livejournal.com]

did you agree on a deadline at the beginning? some people are quick, some are slow, so I think setting a deadline before money is exchanged is important so both parties know what to expect

personally I would wait and see if they respond to your last message before naming them here, it sounds like a more serious message than the ones you sent prior (because of the mention of a possible refund) so perhaps they will get back to you about it more quickly

also try sending them an email? tumblr sometimes will eat messages and FA's note system isn't great either