A warning about Jasperwolf

[fierycatthing.livejournal.com]

A few months ago, I accepted a pet portrait commission from Jasperwolf (aka Shaun S. if I recall right). Everything seemed to flow just fine, with one minor hurdle from the hurricane taking out his internet for a week or so. But because it was a minor commission and something I could do in my free time, I didn't ask for payment upfront like I usually do.

I finished the piece just a little while ago, and have tried contacting him for payment. After no response I wondered what had happen, so I trailed onto his deviantART account to find he has left the country.
Qoute from his journal: "Well folks, this is my farewell. After tonight I will no longer have regular internet access as I prepare to leave the country."

I'm honestly very disappointed, as with FurCon coming up, I needed that payment to get my printer online so that my print binder would be ready. And now, being short the 25$ to get my color ink cartridge because of the lack of payment for a commission that I put a lot of time and effort into, I risk being unprepared for FC06 in which I already paid my dues for.

Anyways, along with the warning about him, I was wondering what I should do with the finished piece. It looks like I will get no payment from him for a long time, if at all, and I need the money now. I'm fairly confident the piece would sell well on its own(as it is a simple husky portrait) so I'm wondering if I should just try to sell it?

Comments

[drake-anaya.livejournal.com]

Sell it. Jasperwolf obviously doesn't intend to pay for it, so it'd be silly to be sitting on it as a loss because of "ethics". Ethics went out the window when he left the country. Your time, your effort, your money, and not any specific trademarked character? - sell it.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Did he leave the country because he was displaced from his home? I know some people ended up in the Netherlands even! Though mostly musicians because a local music academy had offered to take them in so they could continue to study.
Still, if he could post to DA he could drop you a message. You could sell it yes, it's certainly not his since he hasn't paid a cent.

[drake-anaya.livejournal.com]

his DA journal shows him posting on December 14th about joining the Navy - it may be that he took that option because of displacement, but he also indicated that he wasn't going to be back for at least 5 or so years.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Err, yeah...
He should have tied up loose ends before he went.

[kcravenyote.livejournal.com]

I'd sell it if I were in your shoes. He should have contacted you, honestly..and he didn't and is now gone. :\

[kitschyduck.livejournal.com]

something similar has happened to me recently, for £40 and I finished the image before payment because that was the only chance I would have had the free time to do it. Guess we just have to learn from our mistakes. GAH

[wolf-nymph.livejournal.com]

I'm with everyone else, go ahead and sell it. Even if he has good reason's to not pay you or even to not contact you, he has made it obvious that he no longer desires the piece. Now it's yours, and you can do whatever you want with it! ^^

[ironbadger.livejournal.com]

This is why experienced artists take payment up front before drawing a commission.
There is also the problem of those who want a "commission", but will not pay for it if you send them a scan of the finished artwork.


If there is no possibility of him paying for it, sell the original- until its paid for, you are under no obligation to hold onto it.
As someone with decades of experience in the fandom and who is currently a pro artist, (as in I make my living doing this,) I advise you in future to get payment up front for any commissioned pic.
If they pay for it without quibble, you know they are serious and not playing games- if they balk and won't pay for it up front- you know they were cruising for someone to scam for free art.

-Badger-

[fierycatthing.livejournal.com]

I usually always take payment up front, or after the sketch, but for some reason or another, I didn't this time. I've normally had no problems with people paying for pet portraits. Definitely learned my lesson there, though. I got lucky this time, I can easily sell this on my own.

~RedFeather

[ironbadger.livejournal.com]

Okay.
I did not intend to sound overbearing in my previous post.
The intent really was simple advice; and I wanted it to be clear I had enough time in the fandom that my advice is sound and based on experience.

Sounds like you already know about the legions of art leaches that lurk in the shadows, sniffing for easy meat to prey on, and just got caught out the odd time.

Just for the record, I advise all artists to take payment up front, and to avoid paypal or other methods that are easy to scam by cancelling after sending.
I also advise people to charge more if they do good work-
Most furry art is badly undervalued, and the real buyers will pay realistic rates for good art.


I make several thousand dollars a year on furry art- I'd like to think my advice is reasonably good....most of the time.;)

-Badger-

[thaily.livejournal.com]

"This is why experienced artists take payment up front before drawing a commission."

Wow, with all due respect, that sounded really condescending O_o
Judging from Redfeather's gallery (s)he(?) is MORE than experienced, and though Redfeather may or may not be experienced with commissions it's kind of, not appropriate to assume as much. And even if Redfeather is experienced at offering commissions, things like this can happen to everyone, even to "someone with decades of experience in the fandom and who is currently a pro artist". You can still be stiffed with half a payment, or the customer can complain to Paypal and get their money back, or they can cancel a check.

Seriously.

[ironbadger.livejournal.com]

Condescension was not the intent.
The intent was simple advice.
I am not familiar with redfeatherhusky, and when I see a problem like this one, the usual reason is that the artist in question is relatively new and has not been stiffed yet.

I also get full payment up front and by money order, so I don't tend to have the problems with creative ripoffs like you mention here.

Seriously.

-Badger-

[martes.livejournal.com]

Payment up front can be a double-edged sword, because there's plenty of customers that get stiffed by flakey artists running off with their pre-payment. Just look at some of the posts in this group! Because I myself have been stiffed by a number of artists when trying to commission them, I will not pre-pay unless I know and trust the artist very well.

I generally do not take pre-payment as an artist either, mainly because if something comes up and I cannot do the picture, I don't want to be stuck refunding hundreds of dollars that I've already spent.

On the other hand, despite my not asking for prepayment, I have not been stiffed on a comission in well over 10 years (and the one I did get stiffed for I just sold at profit). And I absolutely will not send any scans of the finished work before getting the $$. Someone tried that on me once, but finally coughed up the money when I refused to send a scan.

[xianjaguar.livejournal.com]

Agreed! Sell it! It's your work, and it sounds like it isn't very character-specific. Matte it, put it in the FC art show! If he wants it later, you can always take payment up front and draw it again. =)

[mirsathia.livejournal.com]

Sell it! You snooze, you lose is my motto. ;)

[latifah27.livejournal.com]

Sell it girl! You need the money, and you've got to face the facts that he's not gonna be around to be able to pay for the commission. Sad, innit?