Artist Beware: LoserDoge/Demonic-Fag

[zielomizu.livejournal.com]

WHO: LoserDoge on DA, Demonic-Fag on FA, lozerdoge on tumblr

WHERE: They seem to do most of their commissions through LoserDoge on DA

WHAT: $8 for a digital flatcolor, and a digital 'journal doll'

WHEN: First note sent + replied to on April 25th 2014, payment sent same day, first sign of trouble May 3rd

PROOF: 1st Note, Payment Date, Personal Work Since Payment, Proof of Personal Work Date, 2nd Note, 3rd Note, 1st Submission Date, 4th Note, Dispute Date

EXPLAIN: I found LoserDoge on DA and had a little extra money, so I decided to commission them. I sent the first note on April 25th which was quickly replied to, and I sent the payment the same day.

I waited around through the week waiting for my commission, while watching them draw and post a lot of personal artwork. I sent my second note on May 3rd to ask why they hadn't worked on either of my commissions yet. They said that they would be gone for the weekend and that they might work on my commissions the next week, saying they were "just a very slow worker". This set off alarm bells for me, considering they obviously weren't slow when it came to drawing for themselves.
(The passive-aggressive comment was me offering to make them free minecraft skins if they finished my commissions, since they posted a journal looking for them. I realized after I posted it how it could have come off, and as seen in the note, promptly apologized.)

I waited for the next week and continued to see them post personal artwork. It was the end of the week they said they'd be working on them, and I was feeling extremely uncomfortable watching them post multiple submissions for themselves every day after they told me they were a slow worker. I sent my third note on May 8th stating this fact, and warning that if both weren't finished that weekend, I'd be sending in a claim.

Finally, after giving warning, they finished ONE of my commissions on May 9th. I had asked for both to be finished by/before the weekend, but gave them the benefit of the doubt. I waited another week, and sent my last note on May 15th.

I would never have had an issue if they had given me a different reason for being slow, or if they had been posting commission work, but 90% of what they had been posting after I had paid them was personal work. They posted multiple flatcolors and other types of works within the same day, so they could have easily finished both of my commissions in a day.
Here is a link to a screenshot showing all of the personal artwork they did between me paying them and the submission date: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ltcr6whxvdncs5c/PersonalWorkSincePayment.PNG
And proof of personal work date: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s95efs4p203uyku/ProofOfPersonalDate.PNG

With no response but continuing activity on their DeviantArt account, I sent in a paypal dispute. I had escalated it to a claim a week or so later after receiving no response there, either. They never responded to the dispute/claim or my last note, and the claim closes tomorrow.

Comments

[zielomizu.livejournal.com]

Considering the quality of their other art VS the quality of the commission they did finish, I don't think it would have taken much longer, if any longer, than their other work.

Here is the journal showing that their commissions are on hold: http://loserdoge.deviantart.com/journal/Commissions-ON-HOLD-377306257

They never informed me, I had to find it on my own. It was an edited journal, so no one was informed of the changes.

The two weeks timeframe is the timeframe between payment date and submission date - 14 days. Unless you were asking proof of something else?

The notes they didn't reply to was the third and fourth note. They didn't actually tell me they had finished the commission - I was following them at the time.

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

That's the thing though, you never actually know. An artist I know has a faster art style they d0, which to me looks as polished as their finished work but because of their personal methods and how they view their art, it's totally different.

That actually doesn't prove much, the journal was submitted last year, so there's no way to know when she wrote that, she could even have wrote it a while ago and forgot to update it, I do that sometimes. It also doesn't say current commissions are on hold and not being worked on, usually this means they aren't taking on more work, to finish their current load.

[zielomizu.livejournal.com]

That could be the case, but I doubt it, in both regards.

None the less, crummy situation I got myself into. I feel all bleh and sickly. Think I'm going to take a break from looking at and replying to the comments here for a while.

[hidden-kyuubi.livejournal.com]

If you look in the comments it says on page 16 when people were asking for comms they responded May 7th that commissions were closed. Then started accepting a few icons and cancelling on the people within 3 days of accepting.
He closed it before April 1st, it seems yet was on and off in the comments after still accepting commissions(page 14 and 15 show that he was saying "sorry comms closed" to some but accepting others.)

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

Ah, then that shows commission openings were on hold, not doing the commissions themselves like the OP assumed.

[hidden-kyuubi.livejournal.com]

But also they were turning some down, yet accepting and saying they could do some others, too.

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

But that doesn't really add anything to the beware? I mean, it's not a bad thing for an artist to turn some down and accept others. Sorry, I don't mean to be snarky if it comes out that way (text sucks).

[hidden-kyuubi.livejournal.com]

I personally just saw it as odd when they say that commissions are closed and do that, but it's just me. :P