Artist Beware: Dogbone - Iron Artists

[williamca.livejournal.com]

WHO: Dogbone, Dogboneartwork, Leachymonster, Rainbowjokerhound
WHERE: www.weasyl.com/profile/dogbone and www.inkbunny.net/dogboneartwork


WHAT: 20$ Iron Artist Commission back in February

WHEN:  February 12, 2014
Payment was sent same day
Trouble started recently, after she blocked me on twitter cutting off a line of communication. She had responded to me on Inkbunny before this. Along with when I questioned her about blocking me after this

PROOF:
Weasyl Journal (archived incase of deletion) https://archive.today/ROnfW showing I had obtained a slot. I was requested to send money to her email.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/ss%2B%282014-09-01%2Bat%2B10.36.54%29.png PayPal transaction of 20$ on the same date.
Contact requesting update on the IA sketches http://puu.sh/bhPlI/adefcb24b2.png
Shortly after I noticed she had blocked me I contacted her again, and received a snappy response just wondering if the situation had changed since she was cutting off a line of communication suddenly. http://puu.sh/bhPvp/d26a58a8b5.png

EXPLAIN:
I had contacted her on Inkbunny in regards to this. Shortly after she blocked me on twitter which signaled to me she had no desire to finish my sketch. Mind you this was commissioned over half a year ago now. As of current none of the Inkbunny or Weasyl IA sketches have been posted. She has claimed a few times in streams they are being worked on.

I feel I have been more than lenient, but half a year is not acceptable. Not when she continues to take on more new work continuously.

9/7/2014 UPDATE Dogbone insists the Iron Artists are being worked on. Stating it was a lack of communication on Weasyl... Except it was on Inkbunny and I think she blocked me there after the second request of an update. http://puu.sh/boTlh/081aea240c.png

Comments

[sableantelope.livejournal.com]

Well, it's actually not justified.
Like it or lump it even if your tablet or laptop breaks, or you loose internet access, you are still on the hook for what you were contracted to do.
[I looked up the reasonable wait time for similar custom work like digital artwork (I had to use a custom logo/mascot design as the approximation), one time and precedent had set it at approx. 6 months here in my country. It's longer for custom costume work]

You're always expected to be actively mitigating your chance of loss. For a digital artist that means things like having a plan for a backup way to get online to contact clients(library, or friend, or cell phone, etc.) and also saving refs to an offline available source- as well as backup separate from your main machine.

Loosing internet is not an excuse to not get work done.

Very few things do allow you to have leeway on fulfilling a contract in a timely manner.
Really injury of your eyes, hands, etc, or brain injury are some of the few. Death of immediate family gives you a few days.
Say you're a fursuit builder who has a house fire and loose all your fur stock and workshop space. It may seem harsh, but legally you are still on the hook to delivery the product you were contracted to make. Even if you have to eat the loss of buying fur again and renting workshop space.
(since it's assumed you'll be insured to be able to recoup most of that loss, but that's another story)

I think most people are sympathetic enough to give more leeway than the law- especially if someone is sick or hurt, or looses a loved one(for example most people are pretty horrified by the only three days leeway you get if one of your children dies!), or has a major traumatic experience like a house fire.
Legally though there's very little wiggle room.
And, I admit, that personally not having the foresight to say the refs of at least the ten oldest and most pressing commissions you owe is not something I'd be very sympathetic over. It's not like they lost internet and the queue built up during that time, the queue was plenty long before the losst of internet.

I also think many people waiting on commissions don't realise that there is a time limit even if no deadline is set. It's worth checking out specifics for your are on what reasonable wait time is. I know with digital art being legally new, some places haven't nailed down a reasonable wait time yet in court action, but I have a feeling most will end up setting it in the 4 months to 8 months range. Basically what the court does to decide on reasonable wait length is, when a case comes up, to call experts in the field in question. So, registered businesses in the field who have been successfully in business for several years; and they look at the time it takes the expert business delivery similar work.

[sableantelope.livejournal.com]

*SAVE not say the work.
Whoops.