Artist in need of advice

[mercae-killar.livejournal.com]

*edit*
I have emailed the person offering to do either my own characters in place of the capcom characters, or some original characters for him, or if he does not like these options, I am still prepared to send him a refund. I explained to him my knowldge of copyrighted chracters has expanded, and I know better about what is and isnt allowed. (I have been learning for a while).
His is the first and only commission I have ever even considered which was not of either original chracters, or ones i had permission to draw.
I think I need to quit being so afraid of making people mad at me, I will get into less trouble.


*end edit*
Hi all,
I just might have been mentioned in here as a slow artist, not sure though.
Anyway, I have an issue I'm not quite sure how to handle.
About 6 months ago I took a commission which I think was $30. It was for any number of characters, full color.
THe guy who won paid and then asked me questions.
I was fine with the fetish, however he wanted 7 people total in the picture, again, not a problem, I said any number of characters.
However he wanted capcom characters (originaly wanted sonic characters)
well i was in despret need of the cash, and said ok (my internet was about to be turned off, and I need it to conduct business). Well then alot of other things hit me.
The commissioner has been extreamly patient. Even when I told him I wasnt sure I could quite pull off the situation he wanted.
Then I had to move, twice.
I offered him a refund, but he did not want it.
Now I am to the point, I absolutly do not want to draw this picture, I hate capcom characters, and really don't feel right anymore about drawing copyrighted characters as part of a commission (outside of a con)
Since he does not want a refund, am I moraly, and legaly obligated to do this picture? I'll still give him his money back, I just cannot get this picture done.

Thank you for your advice.

Comments

[frisket17.livejournal.com]

Tell him that you do not wish to do the image. He can accept the refund or not. But tell him the truth that you are not comfortable and it isn't a good time for you to do the image. You thank him for his patience and tell him flat out you will -not- do the work and are more than willing to refund the money.

And ... 7 characters for $30? C_c; Glutton for punishment, hon. That's a lot of work. XD

Good luck to you :)

[mercae-killar.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice. I looked back at my paypal and the actual cost of the commisison was $20, $5 shipping.
I do think it will be best to give him the refund, I honestly don't think I could do my best on it.
Thanks again.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

That's a tricky one. On the one hand, copyrighted characters are dangerous legal ground, but on the other, you agreed to do the picture, and you do have a certain obligation to fulfill your word.

In your place, I'd probably just go ahead with it and get it over with, but if you really feel you can't do it, then you can't do it, and you'll have to refund the guy.

[mercae-killar.livejournal.com]

thank you for the advice.

[mercae-killar.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the advice.

[makichi.livejournal.com]

If it's just the subject matter bothering you, offer to do something else for him?

[mercae-killar.livejournal.com]

I have thought of that. I have my own characters I would gladly put in the picture, or just do some random chicks "worshiping" his character as he wants.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that legally you're allowed to draw Capcom characters for money, though a lot of Japanese companies are tolerant of "fan interpretations" and I do believe there's official Capcom hentai... So...

Personally I have a rule that I need permission from the characters' owner(s) before I draw the characters, I wouldn't want other artists to draw Thaily for other people either, paid or not, so.

7 chars for 30 bucks though? Yikes!
Talk about selling yourself short!

[mercae-killar.livejournal.com]

I have a rules section on my webpage saying i will not draw a character without written permission from the owner. I honestly don't know why I agreed to do the chracters in the first place. Maybe if I explaine to him that my knowldge of the laws about copyrighted chracters has improved, and offer to do other characters, even some of my own, if not just some hot looking generic girls.

My art isnt in very high demand, i can barely sell a full color 2 character for $10. I feel terrible when I can't keep the very few people who like my art happy.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

I took a look through your gallery. Your art is quite as good as many furry artists'! There are some just so-so things in there, but there are some that are very nice too! Perhaps the problem isn't with your skill level, maybe you just haven't managed to get enough traffic and publicity? I know that for a lot of furries somebody's reputation is just as important as their skill, when they want to commission, so perhaps it's just that you're not as much out in the public eye as some furs are.

[mercae-killar.livejournal.com]

I have been doing exchange communities here recently to try and get my name out there, as well as practice on deadlines. I have to take a month off though to get cought up with commisions, I don't have many customers, but the one i do have loves me, hes so far added 48 pictures to my list, full well knowing I hadnt gotten the others done. but i shall soon hopefully get those done for him.
As for the guy I wrote about, i emailed him offering to put my own characters in place of the capcom ones, or just random girls.
I told him i had discussed things with some other people, and realised it wasn't quite right for me to do the characters, which is the truth. I had spoken to people a while ago as to whether it was legal or not, just kinda drug my feet on what to do.
I did offer him a refund if he did not like my options.

[fareme.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.. maybe ask him if he would like something else instead, and let him know you've given it lots of thought, and just aren't comfortable drawing the Capcom characters? Best of luck.

[mercae-killar.livejournal.com]

thanks, I did goahead and offer him the smae picture just with diffrent characters, such as some of my own, or just generic "random" ones. This is the first time Iv'e ever had such a problem.

[martes.livejournal.com]

I would suck it up and do it. All artists have to do stuff they're not excited about at one point or another. The ability to plow ahead and do it regardless of how you feel about it is what seperates the pro artists from the flakey fan artists.

[theassassinnox.livejournal.com]

I personally would not have taken the commission in the first place. Copywritten characters are a huge no no in my books. That being said, I would offer a refund, or an alternative.

I see people at cons selling pictures of X men and all sorts of other copywritten characters. It always makes me cringe.

~S

[martes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, piracy is pretty rampant everywhere. I see it at the biggest cons all the way down to small furry cons. I do find some difference in drawing a single picture for a fan and mass-producing Tshirts or prints, the latter of which I see all the time too, but I suppose in the letter of the law there's no difference.

[mercae-killar.livejournal.com]

In my rules on my webpage it states "No copyrighted characters without written permission from the owner." unfortuantly this was written not too long ago, after I learned the laws better.

I was actuly researching the legality of X-men fanart, which led ot me learn more.

[kitsuken.livejournal.com]

wasn't there a con raided recently over copyright infringement? I think it might have been an anime con though

[shimmerhawk.livejournal.com]

No commissioner has the right to force an artist to violate copyright law. He's trying to coerce you into doing something illegal. Tell him this and return his money. Also write up some terms and conditions for your commissions and state that you will not reproduce copyrighted material without permission.

"The ability to plow ahead and do it regardless of how you feel about it is what seperates the pro artists from the flakey fan artists."
Pro artist are generally careful to follow copyright laws and don't spit out commissions of copyrighted cartoon characters for people. Flakey fan artists, on the other hand...

[martes.livejournal.com]

see comment above. It's a circular arguement-- if the artist agrees to do something, it looks bad professionally if they back out later, so the question is wether the artist should have agreed to it in the first place, which they did, so it's back to it being bad if they back out later. The artist's dilemma as stated isn't so much the copywrite problem, but the fact they just don't want to draw it because they hate the characters, which is not a good reason to cancel a commission.

[mercae-killar.livejournal.com]

actuly I do state that I'm uncomfortable drawing them for money. The fact I hate them adds to the fact I know nothing of them, and could not portray them accuratly.

[mercae-killar.livejournal.com]

Back when I accepted the commisison, I was under the impression (thanks gaiaonline.com) that Japanese chrarcters were not covered by US copyright. after some learning on my part I started to realise it wasn't so (I was researching the legality of fanart at conventions)
Before that I had not even allowed people to request copyrighted characters. I had drawn some for a convention I attended, but really I still don't know if that was all legal, even though every other artist had fanart (and mine was all my own creation, no tracing or "eyeballing")
I should have been smarter and realised it's all bad if I don't have permission.
I don't even draw fanart on a regular basis, one x-men piece, but thats it.
I let him know I could do the picture without the copyrighted characters, replacing them with some of my own, or maybe just some random hot chicks.
I told him I was very sorry I had not quite learned the laws quite well back when i accepted.

[martes.livejournal.com]

There's two different items here-- not doing it due to copyright, and not doing it because you don't want to, hate and/or can't draw the characters. You did say in the inital post you didn't want to do it and hate the characters, with the copyright reasons being listed last.

Completely disregarding the copyright issue, cancelling a commission because you don't feel like doing it, hate the characters, or can't draw them well is bad business, because such should have been taken into account BEFORE you ever said yes.

Of course, returning the money and telling the person you're not going to do it, for whatever reason, is far better than just running off with the money and refusing to answer emails, which plenty of other people do.

[vulgaris.livejournal.com]

You aren't obligated to do anything except for "return the money" or "do the commission". The nice part about that is, you get to make the final decision. Seems you already have. So get with the part where you return the money, and write the whole ordeal off as a learning experience.

[dirtylittlelie.livejournal.com]

"I think I need to quit being so afraid of making people mad at me, I will get into less trouble."

You sound like me. :3

[sugandya.livejournal.com]

Hm...
Capcom characters...
Big group picture...
A fetish...
...this sounds itchingly familiar.

If it's who I'm thinking it is, and one of the characters in the picture is their original character, you don't have anything to worry about. He's a nice commissioner and will understand and should accept the refund.

This is assuming I know who you're talking about. I'm not going to ask names.