Commission woes
Sep. 14th, 2006 06:52 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
razzek.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
artists_bewareI'm not sure if this is entirely appropriate. If it's not, please feel free to delete the entry, I just didn't know where else to ask this question.
At AnthroCon 2005, as the 'con was coming to a close, I happily accepted a $40 commission from a friend. Since I had a bunch of other work to finish before the weekend was over, my friend was content to let me take his work home with me and I would send it to him (shipping free) when I was done. This commission also included a $15 con badge which I took home to laminate and was going to send with the finished commission.
The problem started when I realized I wanted a better idea of what the three characters he wanted drawn looked like. I tried to e-mail him for some refs, but I could never get through to him. I asked his wife to forward my message and we exchanged a few comments along the lines of "I've been trying to get a hold of you guys forever :P" to which she confirmed that they had been meaning to e-mail me but just haven't had the chance. I must make it clear that there have never been any harsh words or misunderstandings between myself or my friend, we just haven't been able to get ahold of each other.
Recently, I've concluded that, since I've had his money for over a year with no work being done, I'd like to refund it and give finishing the commission a try. But my friend and his wife are no where to be found on the 'net.
Neither of these people are bad commissioners. I daresay they have the patience of saints. But I still feel really bad for running off with his money and not being able to even give it back to him or give the commission a try.
I suppose my main questions are: is there anything I should/can do about any of this? Is it wrong of me to think about taking up commissions despite having this one "on the burner"? I sort of need an extra $15 so I can send another commissioner his refund along with his overdue badge (and some "I love you for being so patient" extra art). :P
(For the record, I'm completely re-working the way I do commissions over the 'net. It appears that I'm a decent artist to commission when at a con because I draw energy from the crowds and the quick feedback from my patrons really fires me up to work. But as soon as I have to bring a piece home, things fall apart. (I've now learned that much of this is related to the ADD I was recently diagnosed with.) I'm still tinkering with the way I want to do on-line commissioning, but it's not going to be the way I've done it in the past, because I've proven that that just doesn't work.)
At AnthroCon 2005, as the 'con was coming to a close, I happily accepted a $40 commission from a friend. Since I had a bunch of other work to finish before the weekend was over, my friend was content to let me take his work home with me and I would send it to him (shipping free) when I was done. This commission also included a $15 con badge which I took home to laminate and was going to send with the finished commission.
The problem started when I realized I wanted a better idea of what the three characters he wanted drawn looked like. I tried to e-mail him for some refs, but I could never get through to him. I asked his wife to forward my message and we exchanged a few comments along the lines of "I've been trying to get a hold of you guys forever :P" to which she confirmed that they had been meaning to e-mail me but just haven't had the chance. I must make it clear that there have never been any harsh words or misunderstandings between myself or my friend, we just haven't been able to get ahold of each other.
Recently, I've concluded that, since I've had his money for over a year with no work being done, I'd like to refund it and give finishing the commission a try. But my friend and his wife are no where to be found on the 'net.
Neither of these people are bad commissioners. I daresay they have the patience of saints. But I still feel really bad for running off with his money and not being able to even give it back to him or give the commission a try.
I suppose my main questions are: is there anything I should/can do about any of this? Is it wrong of me to think about taking up commissions despite having this one "on the burner"? I sort of need an extra $15 so I can send another commissioner his refund along with his overdue badge (and some "I love you for being so patient" extra art). :P
(For the record, I'm completely re-working the way I do commissions over the 'net. It appears that I'm a decent artist to commission when at a con because I draw energy from the crowds and the quick feedback from my patrons really fires me up to work. But as soon as I have to bring a piece home, things fall apart. (I've now learned that much of this is related to the ADD I was recently diagnosed with.) I'm still tinkering with the way I want to do on-line commissioning, but it's not going to be the way I've done it in the past, because I've proven that that just doesn't work.)
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