artists_beware | I really could use some help.

I commissioned someone over a month ago. Granted it was a little bit of a complex commission, but she seemed fast and reliable. It’s a acrylic painting of one of my characters. So I can understand the bit of wait. It’s just…I’m getting frustrated at this person (no going to state any names). I was SECOND on her commission list and the first one was already done by the time of me commissioning her. And after 3 weeks of waiting I dropped her a nice note just asking how it was coming along. She replayed saying “I was going to start on that really soon btw!” I’ve done some more waiting. And still I have gotten nothing. And I know she is active because she some how managed to make two masks, like rubber prosthetic masks, at lest 3 molds for soap and several bars of soap all in one month. She had announced she was going to start making soap the same time I had commissioned her, so they’re not old projects.

So I sent here another not asking for another update and she reply’s with “I’ll submit it Monday maybe.” But yesterday I checked FA many times, no art was posted from her.

The main reason why I am so frustrated is because she is submitting oodles of personal work and is giving little to no communication. And I am not sure what I should do. Should I wait a week? Should I just demand my 40$ back now? Or am I just to impationt?

And if you think I SHOULD refund my money how should I word it with out sounding like a jerk? This so far is my only "failed" commission thus far, and I just dunno what to do.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I had to jump in on this...

Changing ones art style to hide from bad press is like trying to remove your finger prints...it's so ingrained in you, the way you draw, that trying to change it WILL result in poorer art work. While there are some characters out there that are easily recognized there are TONS of generic ones. All you need to do to scam is have a very plain character. A husky, a fox, etc. then change your name when you're ready to bounce...lather, rinse, repeat.

For building a fan base? It IS hard. I had to give away over 45 free pics to build up a reputation and trust in my customers before they can trust me with their money since they don't know me from Adam no matter how pretty my art may have been to them.

As for popufurs with tons of bewares? Remember white knights? No matter how badly a repeat offender gets the knights will come and always do. It's hard to decide whose lying when knights outnumber complaints 100 to 1. Also, to note is the immense size of the fandom. Unless you know about this site or saw complaints before the party involved deleted everything you may not know you're dealing with a crook.

I've been fortunate enough to never have been ripped off. I take money, usually, when I'm finished only because if "life happens" (many complaints revolve around this universal force) I don't have to worry about the money because I never had it. Then again I don't touch the cash until everything is said and done. While this puts me at risk since they could use the 45 day dispute AFTER receiving art I am willing to assume the risk. Commissioners are so much calmer and easier to work with when they're not looking at that 45 day count down or have money tied up with no product to hold.

I never said artists could change their style to hide from bad reputation. I understand that they can't. I just said that it's not easy for buyers to do that, either.
As a general rule, furries are very emotionally invested in their characters. They're not going to deliberately create a generic one just to repeatedly "hide", or create new ones and drop the old every time they need a new name, because most furries aren't wired that way. Their characters are their preciouses. And while furry is large-ish fandom, it's also a pretty small world. Even fairly generic characters will be recognized - look at Allen, who is basically just a plain black wolf in a doo-rag.

White knights kind of prove my point. Public complaints are the only recourse a buyer has when a commission goes badly and the 45 days are past, and public complaining is really pretty useless. Popular artists will draw a ton of defenders and whiteknights, every letter the buyer ever typed will be scrutinized while the knights make a ton of excuses for the artist, etc etc etc.

That's why people get so twitchy about the 45-day window. Because if it passes they are basically just screwed.

To reply to your comment below, I'll repeat that I never buyers shouldn't be expected to pay until the work is done - just that the "pay in the full upfront" system does kind of screw buyers over and leave them without any protection, and a split system (i.e half upfront half on sketch approval) is much fairer and doesn't put the artist at any additional risk (because even if the second half of payment never shows up, the first half is enough to cover work done on the sketch).

I really could use some help.

no subject

no subject