Diana Wilson- get the money first.

[aazhie.livejournal.com]

A complaint about Diana Wilson, email addy: golden_maia@yahoo.com   Incident occurred in march-may this summer.

  I was hashing out a plan with her for free use art (stuff she could reproduce and sell that had my drawing on them).  I did a sketch of a female impala as a personal exercise.  About a month later she said she couldn't afford the whole project but was willing to try and compensate me for the work I had already done.  I said the time I had spent was worth about $20-30, but if she was hard pressed, she could paypal me whatever she could afford.  This was in May and I haven't heard a peep.  Sent two or three more emails, nothing. 

I am not concerned over the money, rather the rudeness of not replying to my emails was what irked me.  If she wanted to lie about some "issue" that prevented her from making a payment or even send a quick note in the offhand chance that she actually was having problems I would easily accept the flimsiest of excuses.  I'm not hard to please and I really don't mind a charity sketch or two.  But ignoring my emails and not  bothering to  write back a quick- "the IRS has a price on my head" note is just annoying. 

So if this person commissions you, get the money first.  Don't bother doing any work that isn't going to be appreciated. 

I repeat once again, I'm not concerned with myself getting ripped off, in this case I had fun drawing the sketch.  I normally wait for payment before starting anything but when a subject sounds cool I do draw it if it inspires me (even before getting paid).  But I  said I would post a warning about her if she didn't respond to my emails and I'd feel bad if someone else had to deal with the frustration of a disappearing act.  I wasn't even asking for money at that point, just contact of some kind.

Comments

[kriscynical.livejournal.com]

Always always ALWAYS get some money up front before you touch pencil to paper. I always take 50% up front to get the job started. When I do commissions at cons they have to pay in full up front or it's a no-go (if it's a commission that is to be done AT the con... if it's one I take home, then it's 50%).

[thaily.livejournal.com]

You can draw the art, just don't /send/ it to them before you get money.

[kriscynical.livejournal.com]

Whenever I send a client a progress shot of the image for approval (thumbnail, tight sketch, when the final is finished, etc), it's always low res with "SAMPLE" written across it. The client doesn't get a clean version of the image until the last penny of the remaining 50% is paid.

[aazhie.livejournal.com]

nice. i'll have to do the SAMPLE thing. However, as I've stated above i wasn't really requiring compensation for the sketch. i do free sketches all the time.

Rather the fact that the "commissioner" immediately stopped writing me and didn't bother trying to compensate me or provide and excuse for not compensating me made me think I should warn other artists to be sure and get payment up front from this individual.
I have done many free sketches that I thought MIGHT turn into commissions but the person had unexpected expenses come up. However, they had the decency to at least email/call me about it which is my book is fine. I don't live off my art like some do, so i don't have a problem doing free stuff as long as it's fun for me to draw.

[kriscynical.livejournal.com]

I'm a freelance illustrator for a living, so yeah I live off of my stuff. I can't afford to do freebies. :P

[teahound.livejournal.com]

I've never understood how to get the resolution down or put 'Sample' across the front. But then I'm new to digital art so my stuff is primarily traditional, and I've only really used oC for my digital stuff.

[kriscynical.livejournal.com]

You don't have to reduce dpi to write Sample on an image.

I write Sample on top of it on a new layer while it's zoomed out and then use a screen capping program to take the progress shot for the client. The screen shot is automatically 72 dpi or whatever you set the program to shoot at. HyperSnap is a great capping program that I've been using for years.

[teahound.livejournal.com]

Ah, ok. Thanks. :3

[dreamaria.livejournal.com]

Or watermark the hell out of it.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

I always do that with my sketches anyway.

[badkittyamy.livejournal.com]

i wouldn't even start, time is money even if they never get the art it was still time wasted i could have spent on something else.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

You obviously don't start if you have other work ;P
But otherwise it's good practice and you can change some things and sell it to someone else.

[aazhie.livejournal.com]

That's usually what i end up doing with these kinds of things. ^^