Beware: Starfinder/Kannos

[utunu.livejournal.com]

WHO: Kannos, Starfinder, Astray, etc.

WHERE: https://www.weasyl.com/~kannos, https://inkbunny.net/Kannos, although this commission was not initiated in either of those places.

WHAT: An extensive traditional painting with full background of a tribal wolf character in a forest/jungle by a waterfall.

WHEN: July of 2005.  That is not a typo.  2005.  A brief timeline follows.

• Commission initiated in 2005.  Had found Starfinder's work online, really liked it, decided I'd commission her.  This was my first real commission attempt in the fandom, back when I was apparently a bit too trusting.  Agreed on large traditional piece, full background, agreed upon price of $900.


• Initial payment of $450 paid on July 15, 2005.


• Soon thereafter, Starfinder expressed concern that she had a car insurance expense.  Since, at that point, the commission had been going well, along with her stating that it would be done very soon (in a matter of a week or two), I decided to be kind and help out, giving her the remaining amount due of $450 in the assumption I would not have long to wait.  And I guess that was my mistake; now that she had her money, she had no reason to ever finish the piece.


• Image of the paypal (thanks to Starfinder, actually - she sent this to me because, in the AB post from May regarding the petition to get her back on FA I had finally come out and mentioned my commission experience with her, and she didn't care for me saying 'almost $1000' therein).  http://imgur.com/IuxYuPN


• Communication continued, for a while... I would ping her regularly on IM and email, she would respond with the 'really soon', or comment about the reasons she hadn't had chance yet.  It became harder and harder to get in touch with her over time, and eventually she stopped responding altogether.  I continued to ping, as the years went by, every 6 months or so.


• Now the AB post in May of 2013 came about (http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/679851.html).  Finally I decided to say something.  I hadn't posted before, because of the (foolish) hope that maybe she'd come round and my associated fear that if I posted something she'd take offense and I'd lose that 1% chance of ever getting my piece.  Please feel free to read that AB post and see my (much abridged) story there.  Any proof required of the existence and acknowledgement of this particular commission is contained within Starfinder's own responses there.


• Starfinder says she will make good on it.  Of course, it's not going to be what I originally wanted - she doesn't want to do traditional any more.  But at this point, I figured anything would be better than nothing.


• And then the Starfinder Past-Due Shout-Out (http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/679971.html).  Further acknowledgement, and she actually started doing preliminary sketches.  Perhaps something would finally come of this!


• And.... no.  I immediately offered feedback on said sketches, was communicating via email with her, and then... silence.  It seems to coincide with the failure of the petition to get her back on FA.  I have sent emails asking for just a response, but have gotten nothing.  The last email I received from her was Oct 5, 2013.  I have sent successive ones since, but nothing.

EXPLAIN: Most of it's up there in 'WHEN'.  All I can say is, this has caused me a LOT of grief and heartache over the years.  I would have been happier throwing that money in a fire, because then at least it was over and done with, rather than being strung along for so many years, coupled with the feeling of being scammed.  I have been completely polite and courteous throughout the ENTIRE situation, and bent over backwards to accommodate all her crises and excuses.  I'm thoroughly fed up.  This was my first commission attempt, and soured me on the whole thing for several years afterwards.  For those who know me and my character, I get a lot of art done these days, and usually from really awesome artists.  And I'm happy that I finally was able to make the attempt at commissioning again.  Thank you to ALL those other artists who made the commissioning process a wonderful one; you've made me a happier Utunu, and I made it so I did not completely lose my faith in the process. :)
Please feel free, in the comments, if any of you would like me to speak further on any aspects of this rather sordid tale. :) I'd be happy to answer.  Right now, what I really want?  I want a refund.  I wanted traditional, she doesn't want to do that.  And you know what?  Anything I did get, after almost 9 years, would feel tainted anyhow.  I had better sign off here, before I start ranting too much. :)
And mods, please let me know if you need anything further for this AB post.  I haven't done this before, so hopefully this is sufficient.

Comments

[sand-ninja07.livejournal.com]

The journal entry on weasyl may be deleted, but her patreon page is still up and running as of this post. http://www.patreon.com/Kannos

-A-chan

[hidden-kyuubi.livejournal.com]

She claims she doesn't have the stuff to draw in traditional/do traditional paintings anymore... but you think that'd be cheaper than a refund and after all this time she really SHOULD be trying to make her client happy.

[utunu.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. I get the impression she lives bill to bill; she says she can't refund because then she can't pay rent, etc.
And yes, I would think she is legally obligated to refund, but the issue for me would be forcing that to occur.

I know it may disappoint many in here, but I am giving her the chance to make good on making some art for me. I don't need the additional stress and worry right now over the legal action possibilities, although I am keeping my options open. She has been in frequent contact with me, and seems intent on making something high quality; yes, unfortunately the parameters have changed and I am not pleased by that, but I would prefer to 'move on' in some way from 9 years of bullshit. That being said, I expressed that I expected to get very frequent updates and that this needed to be high priority for her; if she does not fulfill this, or does not produce something I'm happy with, then yes I will look into legal options. I know some of you will be disappointed that I'm settling for less, or taking the path of least resistance - it's just I don't know whether I can handle the extra stress right now. :(

[epiceternity.livejournal.com]

Don't be sorry, going down the route of taking legal action is very unappealing. I know I wouldn't want to do that, both in terms of the time/stress involved and the bad feelings around it. I hope you finally get something of the value you paid so you can final be done with it all.

[deejthistle.livejournal.com]

There's nothing wrong with taking the path of least resistance, and I'm sure very few (if any!) people here will look down on you for that.

I think what you're seeing is a lot of frustration, because this has been going on for years, right down to demonizing anyone who criticizes her business practices (ex: "mob mentality" in this post).

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

You can only do what you feel is right. I think the parameters you gave her are more than fair. Do not give her a single inch more wiggle room than that. Let us know how (if) it works out. Starfinder will never have my respect or trust, but I'll be relieved that at least one of her major debts has finally been repayed.

[marus-puppy.livejournal.com]

At one point, she was trying to set up an account on a professional wildlife illustrators' site and got SUPER PISSED at someone for emailing the site's mod team with her work history here. She got banned from the site or some such and blamed all of us for screwing her over. lol

[marus-puppy.livejournal.com]

Give her a date to complete it by if you haven't already. Let her know that this is firm and you'll accept nothing short of the art or a full and complete refund by that time or you WILL follow through with legal action. Otherwise you're opening yourself up to the chance to get strung along again and you're already being soooo generous, don't give her that extra wiggle room.

Good luck, buddy!

[silverwolf877.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with this. If it were me, I'd actually demand to have the original art (the traditional painting) OR the digital version with a partial refund, but that's just me. I hope you set a deadline either way.

Good luck with it Utunu and keep us posted. You have been incredibly patient with her but one day she is really going to p*ss off the wrong person.

[zackfig.livejournal.com]

Just don't forget to keep us updated, cuz man... this totally blows =|

[ithinkdirt.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Admittedly it may not be the best thing to be assuming off of, but I do know that in regards to like, credit score and owed debts and such that discussing what you owe/admitting that you owe to a company "restarts" the clock, so to speak.

[ithinkdirt.livejournal.com]

Yeah. There were a LOT of people basically having the mentality of "you go, girl!" and being hopeful for her to turn around. There was a real minimum of negativity... because I mean, I'd say that even the people most put out with her shenanigans would rather see her make good than fail.

[silverwolf877.livejournal.com]

Ugh she's obviously never going to change her ways. And people will keep paying her for art despite her ongoing scamming.

[metallik-hasse.livejournal.com]

I am in complete agreement. Give her an inch, she'll take 50 miles.

EDIT:(fixed grammar)

[utunu.livejournal.com]

I will give occasional updates on how all this is going, for those interested.

She has been in email contact with me, somewhat regularly. I have suggested two possible poses/scenarios, and she had stated she would sketch them out. I had suggested thumbnails, so that we can narrow down a pose that works, but Starfinder says she doesn't do the thumbnail method, so am waiting to see what she comes up with for the two poses. She has not yet gotten to me with initial sketches; I will post when she has done so.

[hidden-kyuubi.livejournal.com]

Good luck with it all. I hope it works out. Just don't let her take advantage of your kindness again, and I hope this gets resolved for you in a way that gives you as little stress, and the best outcome possible for you.

[utunu.livejournal.com]

Update #2

Have not heard from Starfinder since March 23rd. Have email-pinged three times, no responses. Getting frustrated again!

[norsepaw.livejournal.com]

Can understand you are frustrated.
she clearly is better writing "I am going to change for the better" then to finish what she owes.

MOD COMMENT

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

That isn't really anyone's business but her's, and if I were her I would be furious that a friend of mine was airing my personal problems publicly this way. A simple 'She's having problems right now, she'll get back to you shortly' would be better than trying to guilt trip people into being quiet and violating her privacy at the same time.

EDIT: After a little thought I'm actually going to screen this. This is some really personal stuff you're airing on her behalf. If she wants to mention it, she can, but I don't think it's your place to do it for her. Don't mention it in AB again.

[utunu.livejournal.com]

I saw your messages were screened (referring to the poster that kayla_la has screened). However, it almost seems like you think I have no right to be frustrated at the (again) lack of communication. My emails were short, succinct, and polite, asking for a response. All it would have taken was a 'Hang on, there's shit going on.' So don't try to make ME feel bad for wondering why the hell no one is responding to my perfectly courteous emails.

[fenrir posorski (from livejournal.com)]

It was not my intent to guilt, and I apologize if it seemed so. My intent was to tell you that she is currently dealing with issues as an explanation of why she hasn't responded back.

As an affirmation of this, I do intend to bring it up with her directly. To ask her to respond back to you, even if her personal issues are acting as a bit if a barrier.

Though I feel I should point out that I specifically said this was a travesty, that is hardly saying you have no right to be frustrated. YOu have every right to be.

(frozen comment) Re: MOD COMMENT

[fenrir posorski (from livejournal.com)]

She already made a journal about it some time ago
https://inkbunny.net/journalview.php?id=128125

I would not have mentioned it, if it were not already publicly available knowledge. So thus it is not a violation of privacy.

That being said, my intention was not to guilt, and I apologized to the OP for my intent not being more clear.

(frozen comment) Re: MOD COMMENT

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

People who don't have inkbunny accounts can't see that, as a head's up. She specifically marked it to not be available to people without an account (which is why I didn't see it when I looked at her page). That said, it's still quite personal and was still unnecessary for you to mention on her behalf. I'm going to freeze this because her issues aren't really a point of discussion, so please stop bringing it up.

[silverwolf877.livejournal.com]

This is a joke, she's still posting artwork and making money, even if she is apparently 'on hiatus' yet Utunu has heard nothing :\ It's obvious she's not serious in completing her owed artwork.

[fenrir posorski (from livejournal.com)]

This is a large piece, if she tried to power through it all at once she could make serious errors, not to mention the fact that the smaller pieces pay for where she lives, her food, her internet... how do you think she will finish this piece without shelter, food, or internet?

Look, I get the outrage, but flinging half-baked accusations like "It's obvious she's not serious in completing her owed artwork." only serves to make you look both ill-informed, and does not do anything to actually push her to get it done, since she needs to do the very pieces you complain about so that she can have the things she needs to do this piece.

And before you call me a white knight, apologist, or what have you. I have been pressuring her to make sure she remembers and gets it done. I am backing my words with action.