Handling a blacklist situation?

[thecreativepen.livejournal.com]

Hi all,

So I recently moved over to FA to start doing commission work over there. I mostly do YCH auctions at this moment, but will be moving over to commissions and YCH auctions in the near future.

I had a recent incident with a client; I do not want to name names yet, since I am hoping this won't escalate to a beware situation. I have never dealt with this before, so I am hoping for some input and advice for my situation.

Essentially, an individual bid on an auction, and won a full body, fully shaded image. They requested I draw their partner's character, and sent me their reference. I completely finished shading/mapping out the skin, when they notified me that they had broken up, and requested I change the coloring. I had been sending regular updates throughout the line/coloring process, and the individual waited until one of the last stages to tell me this (apparently the breakup happened during this process, and I never received notification to stop working).

I told them that there would be an additional fee, since I was throwing out 3 hours of work, and would have to scrap the entire image to fit their character's color palette. They opted not to pay the fee, and we came to an agreement that they could have the lines, I would keep the full YCH auction price, and that they could recolor the image themselves. I also told them to link it back to me when they posted the piece.

I visited the image a month later today, and not only is there no credit to me, but they had someone else recolor the image; they did not recolor it themselves.

I personally do not want this person bidding on any of my future auctions, and I do not want to work with them in the future because of this. I have already sent them an email explaining that they need to give me credit for the work I did (they gave credit to the recoloring artist), and also quoted our previous conversation in my note as well. I do not know how to approach the subject of not wishing to work with them in the future, and gently putting it that they are blacklisted from any further auctions or commission pieces.

Also, if they do not give me credit for my work, what options should I take from here on out?

Thank you very much in advance.

Comments

[ramthedragon.livejournal.com]

I think if you do not want to work with this person anymore you should be blunt and either ignore them from here on out, blocking them from commenting or bidding or giving them a short word about how they disrespected you as an artist and you won't tolerate it.

You don't always need to explain why you don't want to work with someone anymore.

Edited for spelling.

[nisaetus.livejournal.com]

You don't have to tell them that you don't want to work for them anymore. If they try to commission you again, you can always say "I'll have to decline, thanks!" and give no further reason.

[alisea.livejournal.com]

Agreed! Don't address it if it's not an issue at the moment.
If they are using you're art without credit you can ask fa to take it down.

[mazz.livejournal.com]

Report them to FA for not crediting you for your work and ask that FA have them remove the image since it was colored by a 3rd party without your consent.

I'd add them to your block list so they have the inability to contact you or bid on your work on FA.

[wolf-goat.livejournal.com]

This - if they don't co-operate in giving you appropriate credit, don't bother arguing. Just report them to FA with quotes from your conversations and have them remove the image, same with any other sites they've uploaded it.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

If they refuse to amend and give credit you should definitely DMCA them. You gave them terms and they broke them, hell they broke them by having someone else colour the image. You're already being lenient in allowing that, credit is the bare minimum they -should- do.

As for telling him you don't want to work with him "I'm sorry, but you break your promises and I can't work with people who can't keep a promise. Good luck in finding another artist to work with."

I don't know if it's gentle, but it is clear? He ruined it for himself, he is why he can't have nice things.

[thecreativepen.livejournal.com]

Thank you all for the advice so far. This is just such a frustrating experience for me. I wish I had an "Angry Dome" like Professor Farnsworth from Futurama.

Well, the situation has taken another turn. It's a bit off topic,. ,but now the person is in the hospital, and their sister is posting on their behalf on the account (I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt). Their account has made a submission saying that all adopts and YCH are on sale for 50% this weekend.

I don't think they will try to sell my piece, since it was work of their OC. But thankfully I'm covered in my TOS just in case.

I think I am going to opt to not push the blacklist conversation right now, and just say "I am unable to work with you" if a request for future collaboration comes up.

Thank you all again! If anyone has further input, please post it.

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

As it's been said, open a TT for them to credit you. If you are very upset about someone else coloring them image, you can opt to have the mods remove the image as well.

I worked with a user that would refuse to credit artists if they viewed the artist did 'something wrong', myself and multiple artists opened TT's and all our names were added to the works, and were told if the commissioner removed them, they would get in trouble.
Contacting the mods is likely the best way to handle this for the credit at least.

Just refuse to work with them, or outright ban them.

[metallik-hasse.livejournal.com]

I feel saying something like "I'm sorry, but you break your promises and I can't work with people who can't keep a promise. Good luck in finding another artist to work with." is a bit too accusatory and will most likely put them on the defensive causing more issues.
Remember, first and foremost you're acting as a representative for your business. It's wise to be firm, but not ruffle any feathers if you can avoid it. For folks I don't want to do business with I simply say something like "I apologize, but I don't feel I am the right artist for your project."
For this particular person, since you've had issues already, I'd tailor it to them directly. Not saying this is perfect, but personally I'd write them something like this:
"I'm not comfortable with the way our previous commission concluded; my work was altered by a third party without my explicit permission and then posted without credit to me as the original artist. I apologize, but I'll have to decline your offers for future projects."

Hope that makes sense and might help a bit in the future. :)