artists_beware | Beware: Silverdeni

WHO: Silverdeni

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/silverdeni
Journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3238797/

WHAT: $30 full body coloured sketch

WHEN: March 5th 2012

PROOF: Original journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3238797 (screenshot)
Paypal payment screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/yNI6wUO.jpg

EXPLAIN: I ordered a full body coloured sketch commission from Silverdeni on March 5th 2012. Details were discussed and payment was sent on the same day.

After that I did not receive any communication from her. I sent a note on September 23rd asking if there had been any progress. I received a prompt reply stating that there had not.

I heard nothing more after this so I sent another note on March 12th 2013, more than a year after ordering the sketch. Deni had continued to take on new commissions during this time. The lists were extensive so I decided to go through and count how many had been taken since I had paid her; the total came to 126 with 68 listed as completed. These numbers do not include any further commissions that were taken on her DeviantArt. I sent her a polite note stating my concerns to which I again received a very prompt reply. My reply was that she needn't worry about sending me a WIP as it was a sketch in the first place, and that she did not have to rush to get it done that day.

May 15th rolled around without any further communication so I decided to check the original journal... in which my image was listed as completed! I hadn't had any note informing me of it being completed so I left a comment on the journal. She noted me soon after with the image in question and an explanation as to why she hadn't sent it to me. She was very apologetic and even offered to do another image, which I told her she definitely did not have to do. The art is lovely but unfortunately not what I was looking for. She'd drawn my character in her alternate summer coat (this and this were the reference images provided) however, as stated in my reply to her, I should have been clearer stating that I wanted her regular dark coat so not to worry about it. The ref hosted on my website had been deleted around eight months after I commissioned her, but I thought nothing of it as my main ref is still up on FA along with an updated version (nsfw) posted in September 2012. I have since reposted the original ref on my website. Aside from that though her two defining characteristics - facial scars and a tip missing from her ear - had been left out which honestly made me feel as though the image had been rushed. As seen in the note I asked that if she still had the layered file could she possibly change the coat colour, but if not don't worry and to just fix the scars and ear. The latter would have been a simple fix, even on a .jpeg file. I never received a reply.

I sent a further note on August 20th 2013 and got this reply.

All in all it's been a ridiculously frustrating and disappointing process. :/ She has always been polite and apologetic but it doesn't excuse the fact that it's been almost 18 months and I still don't have what I paid for, and I certainly don't seem to be the only one in this situation.