**RESOLVED** FA Artist - FancyMissLady - missing commission

[cerari.livejournal.com]

*EDIT 8-18-2010 7:19 AM EST - Ms Fancy has emailed me my art (which is very good) and I feel all is resolved now**

Much as I hate to do a "bad artist" post, I am VERY frustrated with this artist. After waiting 7 months for a ref sheet commission and asking for a refund, she said the piece was finished so she would not give me a full refund (which I could understand) but she would like to email me the piece instead. Ok, fine. I should have stuck to my guns and said "no, money plz" but I am a bit too nice to people so I said that was fine. Still no art. I have no proof the art is/was finished. I got a sketch to approve in March and that has been the only thing I have seen indicating she was working on my art. She is now taking a "hiatus" from FA, so I have no idea if she saw my last note to her or not.

http://www.furaffinity.net/user/fancymisslady

I am sending an email to her paypal email as well to see if she can get my art to me, but this seemed to warrant an artist_beware post.

**Side note** She did complete a badge I asked for after the ref sheet commission, so I was hoping ALL experiences with her would be positive.

Screencaps are linked at the bottom.

Story : On January 19, 2010 I asked this artist (at the time her FA username was 0ka - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/0ka/) to do a 3-pose ref sheet. Her price was $25.

I managed to forget to paypal her the money until Jan 25, so I consider that the "start date". We agreed on a mid-Feburary completion date, as I had no real rush on getting the ref sheet.

At the end of Feb, I asked if there was any update as I had not heard from her. She has the sketch for me to approve. Should have been finished, but I didn't *NEED* the art for any particular reason, so I let it slide. I cannot find the sketch anywhere now so I don't even have THAT now :\ But it was ok except for the tail, so I let her know.

Beginning of April - I asked for status. She said she was going to mail me the sketch. I still have yet to receive that.

May 13th, she noted me apologizing for the delays but she left my art at her fiancee's house. I asked again in June and it was NOT at her fiancee's house, but a friend of his somewhere far away.

August 12th. She has it! She will have it uploaded the next day!

August 16th - still nothing uploaded. Only a new journal saying she is taking a hiatus, sorry if people are waiting for stuff. Um...what??

SS of FA journal : http://cerari.com/Fancy_FAJournal.jpg

So I noted her saying the delays had reached the unacceptable point and I would like a refund.
She said she'd really like to get me my art, but wouldn't be able to refund the whole thing since it was finished.

I agreed to have her email me the art. Surprise surprise, still nothing.

Screencaps of the notes between us (super big image)

http://cerari.com/fancy_ref_notes.gif

So....I have no art still. No proof that it is done except "she said so". She is AWOL. At this point, I'm almost at the point of writing her off all together and not caring if I get money or art from her...but I want her to complete SOMETHING for me - either refund my money (ALL of it since there is no proof it is done) or give me the art I paid for 7 months ago.

If anyone is thinking about commissioning her, please do not. I have since heard this is an ongoing issue of people not getting work she has been paid for. I wish the situation was different, but it is what it is.

Comments

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Aww man. I'm sorry to hear you're getting jerked around like that.

[dinobutt.livejournal.com]

Am I going crazy, or does that .gif have a violently flickering background?

[armaina.livejournal.com]

it.. it shouldn't D:

[teahound.livejournal.com]

It just looks like that because it's a gif. Not a good quality to save these kinds of pictures in. D=

[teahound.livejournal.com]

No, that's just how .gifs look when they're big. Not a good quality to save images in.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

*random*
I do think gif can be better for large files with solid colors, because jpgs tend to make solid colors all muzzy unless you save them at a super high quality level (and then the file's huge)
But the color matching on that particular gif seems a bit off. All those dots to make one background color (especially when we only care about text) is unnecessary!
(not saying the OP ought to fix it just sayin in general)

[cerari.livejournal.com]

I used .gif because of the size - it's a big enough image as is :) I can change it to a .jpg if it's a huge issue :)

[dinobutt.livejournal.com]

I've seen plenty of big .gifs before but that one is... actually flickering. Maybe it's my monitor. o_o

[cerari.livejournal.com]

I have the same image uploaded as a .jpg as well (just change the end to .jpg instead of .gif) - I just knew it would take awhile to load as it was a big image, and was using a .gif to try and keep people from having to wait...but it shouldn't be flickering :\

[wyngaed.livejournal.com]

What a shame! I'm sorry to hear that... I really like Fancy's work, and was planning on commissioning her in the future. Now I'm not so sure... :(

[neoscottie.livejournal.com]

I think she's stated that she will no longer be taking commissions. Like, ever.
As it is, she's got a lot on her plate with the commissions she already has. I'm waiting on a badge I commissioned in Feb. :/

[mrst4nkr.livejournal.com]

Noted.

[mrst4nkr.livejournal.com]

:) I think my days as a commission artist are short lived.

I am just trying to get rid of what I have on my plate. I might take a limited number of badges or something at a con, but otherwise, I'm not really up to all of this anymore. Too much can go wrong!

[wyngaed.livejournal.com]

That is a really big shame and makes me sad, but I totally understand. Even though I am not as talented an I get a far smaller work load, I can feel really overwhelmed or sometimes even harassed by customers. It can leave a bad taste in your mouth and become a very stressful thing. But a job is a job, and it can't always be happy I suppose. Art is my only source of personal income!

[mrst4nkr.livejournal.com]

I have the luxury of a well-paying job. I did not have this when I took some of my commissions. 2010 has just been a bad year for me, and 2009 wasn't much better.

I like making gifts for people, and doing things on my own time better than I like making commissions. I can afford to like that, now.

<3 Just gotta clean off this plate, first.

[teahound.livejournal.com]

I'll be perfectly honest - she is very slow. The art is always excellent quality, but I'm afraid I have to agree on the slow part. However! She has kept me up to date on mine every time I ask about it. I commissioned her for a badge, and it's done, so now I just have to wait for it to be mailed.

So sadly if you're not prepared for a wait I'd have to agree not to commission her. =( (I will say my badge came out wonderfully though.)

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

I've got to wonder in what kind of situation she could have the art already done, and yet be unable to e-mail it though? That sounds a lot less like just being slow and a lot more like lying, to me.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean, though it seems like it may be a traditional media work that has to be located and scanned first (else I don't know how it could be left at one's boyfriend's house!)

[teahound.livejournal.com]

Maybe she did it on his computer? (Not sure, throwing out ideas. xD) Even still, having him email it to her shouldn't exactly be a problem either.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Not saying it's not possible, just saying her gallery (first page is all traditional) + the story makes it sound like she made it a traditional piece that's supposed to be scanned and emailed.

And it's still a crappy excuse, but it's a tad more... not crazy? than if it's just a file sitting around waiting for her to bother to send XD

[mrst4nkr.livejournal.com]

Thought I had it. Went to grab my portfolio to scan it and was unable to locate it.

Discovered later that another artist had grabbed my portfolio at a con, thinking it was hers. That is how it became " LOST ."

The artist mailed my portfolio back and all was well with the world.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Well, there is that, but given she said she had it in hand, and would upload it the next day, it can hardly be lost. Unless she's lost it again, and frankly being that careless with people's commission pieces is horrible business practice, and if she has lost it she should replace it or give a full refund.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Oh of course.
OP totally deserves a refund if the artist can't deliver the goods. Doesn't matter if they've "done the work" if the customer can't get it through no fault of their own!
Not sure if the sketch counts as part of the work... personally I'd say no because of being jerked around so much, but eh, I'm harsher than some.

[mrst4nkr.livejournal.com]

Thought I had it. Went to grab my portfolio to scan it and was unable to locate it.

Discovered later that another artist had grabbed my portfolio at a con, thinking it was hers. That is how it became " LOST ."

The artist mailed my portfolio back and all was well with the world.

[teahound.livejournal.com]

Well mine's a traditional badge. There have been moments where I wondered, but she's always been pretty up-front with me. I did ask if it'd be possible to have it for a con I was attending in July (I'd ordered it January and I did specifically say no rush at that time), and that didn't happen. But I had asked that on somewhat short notice, so I can't really hold that against her.

[teahound.livejournal.com]

Oh you mean the OP. xD (Sorry, I mentioned waiting for mine to be mailed too lol.)

[mrst4nkr.livejournal.com]

In which instance would this be?

:) Cerari's ref sheet has been emailed just as quickly as it was scanned.


Another artist picked up my portfolio by mistake at a con, and did not mail it to me until significantly later in the year.

Not lying, I'm afraid.

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

There was a post made on here about her around a month ago. As far as I know it got resolved so hopefully your situation can be too.

[zareonianwolf.livejournal.com]

I'm still waiting on a couple of pieces for an art trade from her. I did my two halves 4-5 months ago, according to the dates on the FA submissions, and while I understand life happens, I'm getting a bit annoyed myself. She's lovely to talk to, and I never bother people if they owe me art, which might be part of the issue.

Here's hoping you get your reference sheet or money soon.

[mrst4nkr.livejournal.com]

Noting you.

[mrst4nkr.livejournal.com]

This post is legitimate and all, but I can't help but feel a little unnerved.

I said I'd email it if you gave me your email.

I didn't email it "fast enough" for you, I guess? ( I didn't exactly state that I was going to email it that second. )


That ref sheet is sitting in your inbox, and I didn't even see this entry until I was in the process of letting gmail download the image to mail it over.



As frustrated as you are with me, I didn't get a warning of this post or anything. If you wanted the money, you should have taken it when I offered it to you. I'm not sure if a couple of hours made you rethink your whole situation with me, or what. I was really surprised by your sudden 180 in attitude regarding this situation, to be honest.

[cerari.livejournal.com]

Hello :) First, thank you for the responses and for emailing my ref sheet - it does look great (as all your art does).

I would like to explain how things looked to me with this situation (DISCLAIMIER! These are my observations and what I was assuming and may or may not be what was really going on!!)

When you finally advised that you had gotten your portfolio back and would be getting things uploaded, that was cool...but then you uploaded one batch that was a mix of commissioned work and personal work (according to your journal about it at least). My initial thought was "if I had a bunch of art people paid me for, I will set those aside so I can get them uploaded first"

But you did one batch and then it was 'I'm going away for awhile, if you are waiting for something from me, sorry". That was astounding to me to be perfectly honest. You knew I was waiting for my piece, and I am sure other people were noting you as well looking for their work.

Not that I am trying to say I know your personal life/situation, but if I were in your position, I would have at the very least either noted people or journaled that you would get 2-3 pieces uploaded a day, so everyone should have their work by "X date". That way, you are not at the computer for hours uploading art, but your commissioners don't feel like they are being left in the dark and that they might never get the art they paid you for.

So, I noted you asking for the refund. Instead of seeing my note and looking for my art, scanning it and uploading it to scraps or wherever to show me it was ready, you instead sent a semi-long note about how it was done and you think I'll like it, etc. It was one of those "well, ok, hopefully this will all be taken care of now" situations.

I will say I did not wait very long for you to email, but at the same time, I had been told by you before it would be either sent to me or uploaded to FA and wasn't - I was gunshy and think I had a right to be.

You do great work, there is no question about that. But I think the way you handled your commissions (not just mine) over the last month or so is a pretty poor way to deal with people who paid you for art.

Thank you for the quick response and for the ref sheet - I hope you get everything else (home and art life) settled down soon as well :) No hard feelings from my end, just a very frustrating end situation that is now resolved.

[mrst4nkr.livejournal.com]

I have been having the ongoing struggle of the whole " I am not an art machine, and I like to share my personal artwork, too. "

Another problem I seem to be having is THINKING that I have sent notes when I have not. I was fairly sure I asked for your email address prior when I absolutely did not, and I apologize.

And, yes! I would love to do the whole 2-3 pieces a day thing. I was hoping to start that trend, but I have some personal tragedy going on at the moment.

But yeah, I was just remarking on how you seemed happy to see it in your inbox. I was happy to mail it, and I mailed it as early as I could. Then I turned around to find this and I was a tiny bit surprised.

Fear not. I don't plan on taking commissions again for a very long time, until I can take care of everything at home and in my workplace.

<3 Glad you liked the ref sheet. It was my favorite one I have ever made, by far!

[torikonero.livejournal.com]

I'm glad she's stopping commissions, because it seems like her slowness is an issue for a lot of people. While I do not have any large issues with her, I seemed to have commissioned her at a time in which every possible life situation has brought her into a funk in which she does not "have the energy" to scan art she says is done. The sheer volume of personal art that goes up between single sketch commissions does bother me somewhat, but I suppose that's what happens when you have a large pile of art and decide to scan it willy-nilly, instead of sorting it by what is owed to people and what is personal art. I'm not chomping at the bit to have my sketch, but if she hadn't decided herself to stop commissions I definitely would have suggested it until she is at a better point in her life, in which she can be more organized and thoughtful.