artists_beware | FA Artist heads up

Entry tags:

FA Artist heads up

First time posting here, but after stumbling onto this user's journal I thought a heads up to this community might not be a bad idea.

User is JinDragonWolf (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jindragowolf/) - they posted a journal about how they may cancel their current commissions since they have been taking so long and "not feeling up to them", and then start over with higher prices to get a Wacom. Oh, and they can't afford to give refunds at this time either.

Journal : http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1357331/

Screencap of the journal under the cut :

If I made any errors in posting this, please let me know! I checked the community info and don't think I broke any rules...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's my policy not to actually spend the money I get from commissions until the commission itself is finished.

I realize that not everyone has that luxury, I don't live on commissions, but when you get down to the cold, hard truth of it all? The fact that you run out of money to refund is not the buyer's problem. They completed their end of the bargain. Now, it's polite for them to give you some time to collect money to refund them, but they're not obligated to be polite. Especially when you can't even give a window in which they can expect to refunded.

I hate to say it, but in the furry community artists get MUCH more slack than they really should sometimes.

"I hate to say it, but in the furry community artists get MUCH more slack than they really should sometimes."

They also often work for less than minimum wage. You get what you pay for. Not to say that excuses some of the antics... after all you set your own prices, but it's like the difference between getting McDonald's and going to a fancy resturant. If these people were to pay actual industry prices then I'm sure there would be far less of these issues, because teh people that produce the art would be professionals- literally- and would be able to be taken to small claims if they DIDN'T produce the work they wished. But if you're out 25 bucks, then it's kind of like "oh well better luck next time".

Eh, when I say slack I'm not even saying in comparison to a pro artist.

Artists, especially popular ones, are put on a bit of a pedestal in the furry community. People will continiously forgive them for things they really shouldn't. We have so many cases on this community of people waiting patiently years for simple art, for example.

This is true. The big problem I have with that, whether I sound mean right now or not, I don't care, is that they aren't even good. Most of these furry artists can draw one subject well because they have done it over and over and over again, but will fail at most anything else. They have no idea of the foundation of what they are drawing, just the shape of that one thing they do well.

But they do one thing passingly, get a niche, and people dig their nails in. It's alot of "pr" too...

I should also add- If you are going to do art for money, you damn well better start considering yourself a pro (not directed at you mind you, just in general). After all, you become a professional at something the moment money changes hands, and if you are not going to complete work, or put it off so long because you have a "day job" or "it's a hobby", then don't be taking money for it at all.

Here's the thing with art, and with most products in my view: It's only worth what someone will pay for it. Therefore, form and foundation really don't mean anything. If someone wants it, it's worth what they'll pay for it. If someone is interested in improvement to benefit themselves, it's all well and good for personal enrichment, but for me it's hard to fault someone for turning out something that sells.

And yes, even though commission work is a hobby for me, I certainly aim for professionalism at the very least in my business practices. It's what brings repeat customers, for one thing.

It's more of a slap in the face, though, to those of us who work so hard to improve our skill, and get passed up for someone who can't draw for shit, but just so happens to be able to draw dicks big and 'well'. I simply don't think it should be supported, because whether you want to believe it or not, furry art is techinchally an industry. There's a local animation studio that got a lot of flack for basically the same thing- causing damage to the industry as a whole by having lower expectations and being cheaper, rather than having some pride and professionallism in their work. Granted, that's not to say that all the animators working there were crap- I know many, and they are very skilled, but the overall quality became slack due to this whole thing.

Yeah, I have always felt the same way, and now am going into it professionally, as an animator. It really bothers me to see the aformentioned situation, however.

Unfortunately, art is subjective. It's not like, say, shoddy repair work where the buyer ends up finding out LATER they were ripped off. They see what they're getting, and are buying it because they like what they see. Often folks buying the work haven't any artistic leanings themselves, hence they can't really notice things like poor anatomy or perspective -- so to them it doesn't really matter. You can't control what people like. Telling them that one person's art was made with better skill does not change which aesthetic they prefer.

Except it isn't subjective at the bare bones. It's like lipstick on a dead pig, as a classmate of mine says.

Can I personally go to furry cons and punch every single person in the face who makes a living (LITERALLY) off of horribly done work, without even WANTING to improve (god forbid someone critiques!)

I joke, of course, but ugh.

(no subject)

pandemic-panic.livejournal.com - 2010-04-23 21:10 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

lastres0rt.livejournal.com - 2010-04-23 21:15 (UTC) - Expand

What animation studio is this?

Kurenai is permabanned, she won't be able to reply to you here, you should PM her instead.

(no subject)

pkbitchgirl.livejournal.com - 2010-10-15 02:52 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

kayla-la.livejournal.com - 2010-10-15 02:57 (UTC) - Expand

in McDonalds you still get the hamburger that you paid for. And actually, you get it really damn fast.

In fact, even if they're cheap McDonalds makes REALLY heavy demands on its staff in terms of speed and service. The food itself is a bit crap, sure, but the service is by necessity extremely good.

A cheap price can legitimately compensate for lower quality product, but it is not an excuse for poor quality service.

And your colon pays, your heart pays, etc etc., and you don't know if you have a 15 year old spitting in your burger. I have heard many a story -_-''

you're pulling the straws...
who cares if the picture falls apart 2 years ago, they already gave you the service you asked.
(in the same way they gave you what you wanted.. a hamburguer!)

Wait what? Your WORDS fell apart 2 years ago... ._.

typoo, I tried to say "after".

xDD

Dude, even pricey artists can pull this shit. I've seen artists who charge pro-prices but who wouldn't know what professionalism meant if it jumped up and took a bite out of them.

And they deserve to be taken to small claims.

Of course they do deserve to be, my point was merely that price does not necessarily reflect the service. Nataya was relatively expensive as far as furry artists go and is about to be sued for thousands because of her lack of professionalism.

We've had artists posted about in here who have high prices and not a shred of ethics.

There are in-expensive artists whose professionalism is astounding after all. I don't quite charge industry standard prices myself but I do my best to provide the most professional service I can manage. I know artists who charge two or three times what I do for work that isn't as good as mine and who swear at their commissioners.

Price isn't always an indicator, you'd expect better service if you're paying $500 for a commission but it's no guarantee you're going to get even average service.

The fact is, the price PROTECTS the customers. If you pay 200 bucks for a character peice and you dont get it, or have any issue and dont get a refund, then you can take them to small claims. If you pay 25 bucks for something and dont get what you wanted, you're pretty fucked.

I don't dispute that, my only point of contention is that a high price does not necessarily represent good service.

And I didn't suggest that either.

Pretty sure you CAN technically take someone to small claims court over as little as 25 dollars.

Just as example, years ago my mother was watching a Judge Judy case where the guy was taken to court over a case of YuGiOh cards which cost something like twenty bucks and to file the case, it was 35. When he won, he got his 35 back as well as the judgement.

So at least in the States, it is definitely possibly and from what I recall of law class, the States and Canada's basic lower courts are very similar.

Aka starfinder

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only