Help...? Possible beware?

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Hello there friends! Please forgive me if I do something wrong... I have only posted to this site once before but never regarding a Beware/possible beware.

Back in February I posted a YCH auction. The winner was prompt to pay and sent over his references. I have never drawn a character of this species before so I was excited but scared as well! I did not want to deny him though because it was a rare opportunity to draw something non furry.

Time passes and I continue to work on things. I send him a WIP of the image to make sure that he liked it. Then he redline all the errors that he sees and I proclaim "Wow! Okay thats a lot! Ill fix him up and have him done by next week!". Sadly next week came but I did not yet have him finished. I was leaving for Japan for three weeks so all art had to be put on hold. I made sure to contact all my clients and let them know. The person in question never replied to my note.

I finally return home from Japan on March 25th. I take some time off from art due to jetlag, trying to get back into the right schedule, and also a few other stressful issues. I finish his image on April 2nd and send it to him. He thanks me for the art and my efforts.

He posts the image to his gallery and also posts it to Facebook(uses it as an icon also) and adds me as a friend on there.

Today I was scrolling down through Facebook and came across him and the picture. Someone had commented saying how they wanted to get an image from me. The person in question said that they "Would not suggest doing that"
and that I "Had a bit of an attitude when it came to edits". He also said I was "Unresponsive"??? He also said that I kept putting other YCHs ahead of his. This i have no proof of but I will admit I most likely did. I will admit my faults and apologize!

After reading this I was in shock! I commented to him apologizing and trying to figure out exactly when he felt I got an "attitude" with him. I had no intention to upset him! I was just hoping we could discuss the situation like adults so I could better understand.

He never replied. Instead he deleted my comments(If you can do that on facebook? Either way the comments are gone!),removed me from his friends list, and HEAVILY edited his previous comment.

I have screencapped everything! From the facebook comments to our notes through FA. I feel bad that he is upset with me. But I am confused as to WHY he keeps using the image if he had such a bad experience with me?

is this warrant to a Beware? Am I just being silly!? What should I do...

Comments

[zackfig.livejournal.com]

I believe it does because who is to say that the client wont do it again to other people even if the artist does nothing wrong.

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Yeah I would definitely hate for him to do that to someone else. Ive never had such an issue like this before and I don't like false accusations. I would have gladly apologized to him or tried to remedy the issue further it he had talked to me.

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

Is this bewareable? This isn't something we can definitely answer without seeing it in the queue, but from what you've explained? Probably not.

This could be chalked up to incompatible client and artist. He should have voiced his concerns to you instead of acting like everything is okay, but you will probably run into this more than once when working with people. Some folks are not good about getting into confrontation.

One thing I see is that you told him you would have the image 'done by next week'. Did you note him back when the image wasn't done? The thing about self-imposed deadlines is that they're still deadlines. It's best to always respond to a client with a WIP if you are going to miss a deadline that you told them the work would be done by. "Hey I didn't quite get done, but here's a WIP of where it's at!" It helps keep the faith up between you and your client.

I can kind of see from his perspective on this. I would be slightly miffed too if an artist promised me something, heard nothing, and then the next time I hear from them is a form letter that they're going to be gone.

[chronidu.livejournal.com]

Im going to have to agree with this. While his words may have hurt and things didn't go as smoothly as one would like, this just sounds like the client was somewhat picky and disagreeable, but not to the extent of having a beware put out against them.

Chalk it up as a learning experience that sometimes clients won't be pleased and continue on doing your best to serve the clients you still have.

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Thank you also for your reply! This is why i wanted to post for a possible beware before a full one ^_^.

And thank you! I will! I know I cannot please everyone but I just want to do the best I can for them. When his words of "Unresponsive" came up I think thats one thing that bothered me the most? Because I ALWAYS reply to clients when the message me. He never did though? And also the part of me not wanting to draw other species... I never said such a thing! I welcome new species!

But thank you for your wise words. I will treat it as a learning experience :).

[chronidu.livejournal.com]

The only other tip I can give is when you give your customer a deadline, make sure you stick to it, and if not make sure you keep contact with them and let them know whats up. Keep up with that and it should be smooth sailing.

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

I generally do try to keep them all up to date ; ;. I send notes if commissions are running over two weeks or so. Do you think it would be better to send notes weekly? Or post more journal updates? I always thought contacting directly felt a little more special though.

[sableantelope.livejournal.com]

I would never say it'll be done by X unless it will be done by X. Keeping them up to date is one thing, but to cover yourself from bad feelings/demand for refund if you miss the date don't give a date if you can't keep it. Your trip to Japan is not the client's problem and to be fair you were unresponsive for several weeks- even if you had 'stressful issues', again that's not the client's issue. You're doing business so soon as you had access to your communications you should be able to set aside stress to respond. He may be being unsympathetic to not give you time to reset your internal clock from travelling but the client doesn't have to be sympathetic, just not abusive in communications.

Honestly, I can see why this client wouldn't recommend you. From his point of view you missed a deadline, then blew off the work to take a trip. Again the client really could have been more understanding, but has no obligation to be. If you knew you had the trip approaching best thing to do would have been to finish all active commissions before that trip. I see where the client is coming from.

I don't think it's beware worry at all, they have the right not to recommend you even if you see the transaction differently, but I'd suggest you just put them on your 'not do business with' list. It seems they've already done the same to you and it's probably for the best.

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your comment!
I am learning from this to better myself and yes the client I will not work with again and as you said he will be the same :)

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your reply!

I have been doing commission work for about 6 years and I have never had an issue like this so it just irked me. I have it in my TOS that if my clients have any questions or concerns I want them to contact me! I want to them to be able to have trust in me and have an easy transaction.

And yes I told him that it would be done by next week. This was after I sent him a WIP image and he redlined 5 or so issues I needed to fix. I replied with "Wow thats a lot! Ill fix him up and have him done by next week!" This was on February 26th and I was leaving on March 7th.

I had full intentions to finish all commissions but failed. So on March 6th I sent him and my other few clients a note that stated: "Hello! I will be away from March 7th-24th. I tried to finish commissions this week but I got caught up in a lot of things. This trip is very big for me and I have been packing and running around like crazy LMAO! I just wanted to let you know. I will finish the image once I return! I hope this is okay! Thank you!"

I can understand what youre sayiing completely though! I want to keep trust with me and my clients.

And yes I can understand that too! I hope I did better at explaining further. Thank you!

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

He probably just misunderstood your "that's a lot to fix!" as a complaint when it probably wasn't. Some clients will misunderstand you like that. I've had some clients who've misinterpreted things from me as well, which has led to them feeling like I wasn't up to working with them or feeling intimidated by me. The best you can do is just try your best on the next one.

Edit: And I know it's tough to get that kind of negative feedback "publicly". I think in all my years of freelancing I've had two people tell me personally that they didn't like their experience. It's not fun to hear when you try your 110% best, but sometimes that's just how it rolls. Don't take it overly personally unless you've made a major flub.

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Ahhh Yes that could be possible! But I honestly meant nothing by it Lmao!

And Thank you!! You guys are a huge help. I guess in the end I just needed to talk to other artist and with that Im glad I came here!

[poizenkat.livejournal.com]

"But I am confused as to WHY he keeps using the image if he had such a bad experience with me?"

to respond to this, ive commissioned artists and had bad experiences but i still like the art and will still use it. it was still money spent. it could be something like that?

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

ahhh! Yes you are right! I can see this as well! When posting the beware I was still in shock. I have also still kept art from artist I had a bad experience with.

You are probably most likely right!

[poto-heart.livejournal.com]

Personally I don't think there needs to be a beware for this. The way you wrote this and your typing style are throwing up some red flags for me - I may be off base on that, but if you find yourself in situations like this often where you can't understand why an interaction with someone went wrong and they dislike you now and in your opinion you were nothing but polite to them - there's no shame in having a friend you trust double-check or even take over interactions with clients for you. You can pay them for their time. They could help you keep things in order as well if you do want to keep to a first-come first-serve in terms of whose YCH and commissions get done when; that way you can just focus on drawing.

Either way - try not to worry too much. Even if I am totally off base here and he's twigged at you for absolutely no reason, that happens to all artists and really anybody selling something eventually. The occasional whiny customer is not something to get overly concerned about or to make a beware about.

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Understood! As the others said it is a learning experience.

I will definitely let one of my friends look over all my notes for me. Most likely one of them who commissions folks a lot. I will also go back through and make sure I didnt miss anything.

And I will try not to worry! I just get nervous because I dont want to be someone who seems unapproachable.

Thank you for your words! I will do my best :)

[armaina.livejournal.com]

just to add in here, I wonder if your enthusiasm was read as 'sarcasm' by the client. Unfortunately that can happen a lot, and sometimes you have to be a little more.. tempered in the way you respond to things. There is of course, always going to be problems in communication no matter how well you word things.

It's really a shame that it happens but people have different experiences and sometimes it can be hard to tell what tone works best for what people.

[spartanwerewolf.livejournal.com]

Definitely agree with having someone look it over. I have a friend who asks me to look over emails and other business things for him, and I get him to look over things for me. Sometimes a second set of eyes can really help you pick up things you've missed.

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Yes! Thank you!

I have a few friends who are very good with pinpointing things :).

[mazzy techna (from livejournal.com)]

No beware is really needed , Id just brush it off , he likes the art but is a little upset with how things went but I wouldn't let it bother you

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Okay! Thank you! You guys are making me feel much better now, ahhh!

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go at this from another perspective: whether or not it's worthy of a beware post, you should let it go. You cannot please everyone all the time, and no matter how you go about your business you're always going to have the odd unsatisfied customer. Clients aren't required to recommend you or give you a good review if they weren't satisfied, and your reflection here shows why they might be unsatisfied. If you want to be serious as a freelancer, you need to be thick-skinned and accept not everyone is going to be happy with your work. It's not worth your time to do more than take your lessons learned, draw a line under it and move on.

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Yes! Thank you! As the others have said it is a learning experience.

I just get very nervous haha! but I need to learn.. I really do! Its just as I said above I dont want to be one of those "Unapproachable" artist that so many talk about.

And I agree! They arent required to do that at all!

I think honestly though... The part that got me the most was him telling others that I "Got an attitude" and also that "I was unresponsive". But as you stated I need to get more thick-skinned and deal with it.

Thank you for your words as well! I am glad to have all of your opinions.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

I've been freelancing for a long time, and you know, it is hard to just let that kind of feedback pass you by. I try to keep some distance between me and clients (no shared social media except through professional accounts, for starters) exactly because if this. Reviews like that hurt even if you acknowledge it's justified. So I'm not saying you shouldn't feel the way you do - just, it's probably not worth stewing over long enough to format a beware, you know?

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

I can totally agree with you and I should probably consider the same. I have just been fortunate to make several friends through commission work. I guess he didnt know he added me or something LOL! But its okay! Ill still learn!

I want to thank you again though! You and the others really helping me! I think sometimes people can get a better understanding when hearing it from others. So thank you!

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

To a degree you don't need to write up anything. However, if the person slanders your work and makes false claims or attempts to make more edits without your consent, an A_B could be in order then.

[naparum.livejournal.com]

Does it not count as slander to warn someone else against commissioning them like he did, though? (not asking to be contentious, just genuinely curious!)

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

He's have to say something untrue and hurt the artist's business. From what we can read he's just giving his opinion on his transaction. It's no more slander than leaving a yelp review.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

What is presented here, no. I'd have to be something really dramatic like, "The artist is such an awful person because they didn't listen to my directions, they did the whole thing wrong and refused to give me a full refund for the product!"

I don't approve the posts but this is generally what would speak as a bad customer to me. I just had an artist do this to me for a fursuit, when they have never built one before, and I warned them about it.

Again, even that may not warrant a beware. Just imagine a really horrible scenario and there you go (my imagination cannot expand that far).

Edit: Hit "send" too soon.

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your input! As I have said I am glad I came here ;u;. All the information you and the others have provided to me is helping me to learn what is really warranted.

I am so sorry to hear about your fursuit :C. Thats very sad...

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

I have taken the advice of the others and am treating it as a learning experience :).

The false information he commented, before I commented to him apologizing and such, went along the lines of:

"...Was unresponsive" - I always reply to notes! he never sent me notes D=

"...Had a bit of an attitude when it came to corrections" - As stated above all I said was "Wow okay thats a lot!". As a commenter said above he could have taken this the wrong way but I NEVER meant any harm! Its why I sent a WIP... To make sure it was okay. He redlined 4 issues for me to fix and I did! I kept his redlines open when I finally got to work on his image.

"...Just wants to do quick and simple pieces. Nothing that can challenge her artistry" - This one struck me HA! His character is a rare species in the fandom but I never said I didnt want to draw it! If I didnt want to attempt such a creature I would have respectfully declined him.

In the end though... After coming here and receiving more thorough help. I dont think there is enough further information to warrant a beware on my part... At least for the time being. I think I jumped the gun a little to quick! Im just glad I came here because it is helping me to learn more :). Live and learn! ha!

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

Even though I'm not anywhere involved in this transaction, it is a learning experience! If you know that you tried your hardest and put out your best work then you still get a pat on the back at the end of the day. The world's not ending and you're going to get more positive situations. I'm dealing with the same thing right now, just need to know you did the right thing and stand your ground.

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Ahhh thank you ;-;!!!
That was honestly very uplifting!

I have and will indeed have more positive situations! I've had a few since posting this and those clients warm my heart hotter than Robert Downey Jr. Covered in the finest chocolate.

I'm going to let this all be in the past now but still hold onto everything everyone has said here n u n.

And oh no... I really hope things work out for you :(.

[laughsatthunder.livejournal.com]

... Hot men covered in chocolate...

You're welcome and like I said, I wish you the best from here on out! That's what these LiveJournals are for, getting help and working for a new way to make easier, happier transactions.

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

Thank you so very much :)

[tyrano-tiggs.livejournal.com]

I just want to say both your imagery and upbeat responses are utterly awesome :)

It's been iterated already so I won't drag on but learning experience, learn from it and move on :)

[slushiesenpai.livejournal.com]

AhhhhHHH... Thank you ;____;. Thats so nice!

and YES! Done and done n u n

[galagya.livejournal.com]

I guess I don't come around here often enough to be able to tell you what is considered "post worthy" or not on this particular community. However, I am going to go ahead and let you know that I, personally, completely understand the upset you feel.

While others may feel it is something to be brushed off, I look at it this way: someone seemed interested in commissioning you, and they literally decided to keep that from happening. I view that as blatantly wrong, period - opinions aside, they literally did not recommend you for no legitimate reason, and I would not be happy with it whatsoever either.

At the same time, I understand that different sites have their own rules, so if it's not meant to be on here, then it's not. Still, though - in my opinion, what they did was wrong. It's fine to have your own opinion, of course. Everyone is entitled to theirs, and should be allowed to express themselves. But there is also a time and a place, and a way to /properly convey/ your opinions(in a way that is respectful enough not to harm others)... not to mention a little something called basic ethics. They were wrong. They know they were, as shown in their dramatic response to you noticing what they did.

Doesn't change anything, I know. But I just wanted to state /my/ opinion, for the record. (: You're not overreacting. You are allowed to feel however you want. You were right to not name names, and to ask for help. I hope you can move beyond this and learn from it, as you and others have said. At this point, I'm also sure that it's the best thing you can probably do. Kudos, & good luck in the future!