Guys, call me crazy but I think it's absurd that some artists/makers can take 100 percent up front payment and then just say "oh you'll get it when you get it." Like can somebody explain how this is the norm? It makes me upset to hear how people get ghosted when all they want is art of their own.
The furry economy is quintessentially broken. Commissions in “The Real World” do not function like this AT ALL. The absence of contracts and fee schedules is hilariously absurd and dangerous. But people, especially younger, are still willing to be stupid and fork over money without a second thought.
It boils down to naivety and inexperience, a total lack of business acumen. And it’s reinforced by a lack of consequences—on both ends of the transaction.
It’s been like that for YEARS/DECADES in this fandom. Not to mention it’s also why some of the more popular/OG artists sit at the top. They were always respectful and handled business which got them the popularity. But stick around long enough and everyone gets burned at some point. Sucks shit.
It's really unprofessional behavior. We as commission artists should be as professional as any other service. Communication is the most important part of doing this business.
Have had this happen to me once. Paid the artist 2 years ago and they disappeared. Shortly after payment, they went on about mental issues on Twitter, but ignored my DM's. Like, bruh, I know we all struggle with it at some point but be open and honest. If you can't do it then refund me.
The worst I had was getting in on "very limited badges" from a huge artist at the time, excited as hell...then I had the audacity to ask 6-8 months later, and received a tantrum scribble of that didn't resemble anything shortly after with a thank you note.
I've had this same thing happen to me as well. I've started learning to pay more attention to the social behavior of some artists before commissioning one.
Most reputable artists, even those just taking commissions online, will give some form of invoice as part of their process. Asking for one whenever money is involved is a good and reasonable act that can help ensure accountability and give the commissioner something to serve as proof of the deal.
These invoices can often come with a terms of service agreement that can include information that can set expectations going forward. Most artists will discuss these beforehand, and it never hurts to ask up-front before any money is on the table or changes hands.
Some artists even offer to take half up-front as insurance, then have the rest paid of receipt of the commission. It serves as a way to open and close the deal.
Yeah I know how that is, had to bug an artist once a week to see if they were working on it, took over a year but I finally got what I paid for
It's the norm because most of the time artists open up their commission queue they've already run out of money. They need the money to regain stability & purchase necessities or to cover some kind of emergency. When I commission I just assume I'm helping them with something. Been burned a few times
I got ghosted and then harassed for cancelling my fursuit commission. And I waited 3 YEARS before doing so. Like I legit thought everything was fine until I decided to cancel the commission
Thankfully I am getting myself one from someone who I know is far better than my previous maker.
😭
It's not crazy at all, it's basic business sense and respect. But I feel like people need to hear this from more artists to understand that they actually don't need to eat that shit. There's a reason why we have Google Reviews etc and it's not because we want people to do badly
Even worse “artists” like that motivate people who hate artists in general ammunition and an example to push stuff like AI and the like. Once burnt never again incarnate.
There's virtually no artwork of my chr because only one artist had ever completed anything I had asked for. He would not take any money until it was completed. Otherwise, I've been stolen from every single time. I have commissioned no one for any artwork since. I refuse to let it happen again.
This is why im the annoying client asking what the turnaround time is before I commission someone, then asl for updates when it’s a month in and/or pass their given turnaround time. The amount of scamming is insane. Intentional or not.
Yeah, I think it’s important to call it accidental scamming. It’s unfortunate, but if someone pays you for something and you don’t deliver, you scammed them, and any explanation has to become an excuse.
I actively avoid artists that do that still. It never should have been normalized and was a negative effect of a ton of independent artists not knowing good ways to manage stuff. If someone's ToS isn't friendly for the commissioner, it's not a risk worth taking.
One way or another, there’s always some risk in the production of art
I've almost certainly lost 4 figures' worth of money to people who've straight-up never delivered a final product at this point. 🤷
My practice now after being burned: 1. Establish a time frame within a refund window by the payment processor. 2. Check in monthly 3. When the refund window is closing, if no meaningful work is done, issue a refund. If the artist has an issue, refer to point 1, then pay them when they do the work.
There’s alot of animosity around issuing a refund without talking to the artist, but no matter what that artist is not going to produce quality work if you tell them you will issue a refund if they don’t finish the art soon. At least this way you get your money.
I am unfortunately on the verge of this happening with one artist and I hate having uncomfy convos with ppl so it kinda sucks
I'm genuinely out a few hundred dollars over the years for this exact reason. It why now days I rarely commission except a handful og artists because I know they won't screw me over.
I had to start a note in my phone to keep track of owed art because it had gotten quite bad. 18 months for an already paid icon?! Tbh I’ve had artists swing the other way too where they sent lineart before collecting any sort of payment because they were excited about an idea and just started it.
Absolutely! Commission work is a business and I, as a customer, will not pay up front without a clear schedule of delivery. And if an artist gives me push back, I cancel the commission. I'm not giving my money for a "whenever." I want to see the WIP so the art can turn out in the manner I asked for.
I’m a smaller artist, I rarely take coms more than 100 bucks, what I do is we figure out the details, then I don’t take payment until I’m ready to work, and then I don’t withdraw the funds from my PayPal account until it’s done and they’re happy with it. I’m usually done within a day or two.
I don’t wanna get scammed, and I don’t want people to wait long for their art. If I was doing a bigger project that would take like several days or a week, I would probably figure something else out, like installments or something, but I hope that my punctuality and speed gives me a bit more leeway.
Also I am constantly updating clients on my progress, with pose sketches and rough details and coloring, so that if something needs to change we can catch it earlier in the process and fix it.
Yuuuuuuup. There's a real problem with artists in the fandom not taking the "professional" part of "professional artist" very seriously. They're eager to take payments, and then they basically drop off the face of the earth. I've all but stopped working with artists who take full payment upfront.
I'm a recent fan of the "if it's not done within 6 months, give me a refund or I'm taking a refund through PayPal" method. I refuse to financially support bad habits anymore.
That’s why im always cautious about paying for art because I feel like I might get played.
On the flip side I have seen: *artist delivers artwork (even if downsized)* *client takes artwork and shares it but doesn't pay* Have I lost money? Yes. Do I see or know a better solution? No. Even with delays, I just say as long as artist stays in contact with me and makes progress, it's fine
if you want, you could use an escrow service like artconomy. client pays 100% upfront but it's in escrow and isn't deposited into the artist's account until the work is complete
It's annoying as fuck that some* artists think this is something they should do and, from having been ghosted from some money and having one commission take years* when it was supposed to be just a few months, I just make sure there's a way I can refund to save my sanity.
I'm becoming more and more picky about the folks I comm now, and I am compiling my personal list of good and bad eggs based on my experience with their queue times and turn around. Trello never has seemed so pointless these days
I've commissioned a lot of art. More than I care to admit, lol. And over the years of commissioning all of this art, it's unfortunate to say I've run into some bad apples. I'd say roughly 15-20% of all the artists I've worked with, I'd never work with again because of their bad customer service.
"Bad customer service" refers to multiple things. Such as: - Waiting over 6 months for some kind of update or wip - Giving you the finished artwork without wips, and it has errors they refuse to fix - Outright taking the money and running and never heard from again. The list goes on.
Like, I totally understand, the artist has a life to. Shit happens to everyone. But would it kill ya to give me, your client, an update? I try to give artists the benefit of the doubt. But when I have paid you for a service, I expect that service to be fulfilled. Otherwise, give me my money back.
I've been taking commissions for 10 years and made a living with it. I've NEVER ghosted a client and NEVER failed to deliver a commission. I take pride in this. It pisses me off when artists don't respect the clients money or time.
I've bounced around different methods and I've settled on no payment until rough sketch approval. So there's time for both of us to get the sketch as close as possible to what the client wants, and that makes rendering super easy. It's nice when they pay to get it out of the way, but it's not pushed
Once the sketch is out of the way it also gives the client something to look forward to, and gives me something to flush out in my head. Having it already tangible I think helps a lot with quelling anxiety for both. But I still appreciate when clients check in with me or bounce around ideas
Have to be careful getting payment early though as it can 'blow the load' too early so I try to pretend it's not even there to motivate me. As nice as it is
I like to leave it in PayPal and not send it to my bank u til I feel comfortable that I’m fully committed to the project.
"You can look but you can't touch" 🫦💄 That's a great way to go about it tho
I feel the same way honestly. Getting rewarded after the work is done feels much more natural to me.
At the end of the day it's a transaction. I don't care how long it takes to get it as close to what the client wants (within reason). Every comm is much more than just the art. It pushes my skills and makes someone happy and those are the best feelings
Crazy. But based
This. I got burned twice by an artist before on it and it really killed my desire to commission art for years...
I do full payment up front, mainly because as I am an artist part-time and I can't easily book out the time without payment - it competes with other work. That said, I have to make sure I deliver for clients, have a quick turnaround time compared to many, and have yet to have a complaint.
I’ve had three commissions from an artist I’ve been waiting on for a year.
To add on to this, I really think yall should be proactive and hold artists accountable with buyers beware sites and social media if possible. You have so much trust in us and I appreciate that personally, but you cannot fathom how much I want to draw for people who have been messed with like this.
It had to be said, Ive never been ghosted in art fortunately, but hearing others stories really upsets me too, people are spending hard earned money for a product they want and someone lying/ghosting them upsets me a lot. Youre right too, we have to hold each other accountable on both sides of this
I dunno how some people can do it. I've been waiting on a piece almost a year and the artist finally contacted me last month saying to expect a wip soon. Still no sign of that. meanwhile I see them opening for coms & constantly posting them. :v
I had an artist do that to me once. Just keep politely inquiring about your commission status, especially when they open comms before even getting to yours. If they throw a fit or still don't start work on yours, then just take your evidence and post a warning on "Artists Beware"
I've had a few experiences where I paid a large sum up front, waited for several years, and then had to get a refund because work wouldn't get produced. At least I wasn't ghosted but it was a lot of time wasted.
I should really put out some posts on these sites. Been disappointed a few times already. But what really broke me is the fursuit.
We should have a yelp for furry creators.
I think artistsbeware.info might be the closest
I'm one of the folks that got scammed by Amwuff WAY back, I've long since given up on that. The other artists I commission are usually really good about it. But I have some commissions dating back a few years now, in hiatus, and when I go to message them, I get no replies anymore so, that sucks.
The other artists, two of'm. Have been really good about keeping in touch. They communicate when something gets in the way, and I'm completely cool with it taking a little longer. It's an art piece, not a life saving medicine, lol.
Aw someone who has been commissioning for nearly 15 years it comes to two things. The availability of commissions are usually low or gatekept so artists have more leverage on their clients. And two of an artist ghosts yiu their popularity will directly impact the severity of backlash they will get.
Luckily I've only had like.... 3 ghosts over 10 years but it still sucks because it was A) Fun styles I REALLY loved or B) me helping them out with rent and bills and stuff too. It's real easy to take advantage of me because like ... 8 years later and I still think they'll eventually do it
artistsbeware.info great resource btw
I'm not trying to be pushy, or rush anyone, but i'd really love if more basic communication was the norm. it feels bad to wait several months for something and have zero communication in between. and it definitely feels bad when you reach out, and they ignore you
hell, they dont even have to tell me directly that there's a hold up, they can just post a message on the social media pages in regards to that, and i'll be more than fine with that!
The last time I was proactive, the well-known artist that had been commissioned had blown way past any reasonable estimates for completion, and used her Twitter account to publicly bully us out of trying to hold her accountable. So people need to hold artists accountable for behavior like this too.
It seems that you get a mix of scammers and creators that don't manage money well in most of these cases. The types that keep taking more commissions to pay bills but never catch up... It's hard to hold people with no means to any meaningful level of account because they likely will just drown.
Absolutely! People need to stand up for themselves. When an artist is popular enough, people are willing to be total doormats. This goes double for fursuit makers. We all know a few who’ve kept clients waiting for a literal decade in some cases.
This is part of the reason why I stopped taking on commissions for the most part. fell behind on work and didn’t feel right taking on new clients when I was falling behind stopped all advertising and only take in a client if I have finished work for one already.
That’s because you’re a nice person with a conscience ^.^ Some makers I won’t name but we all know don’t seem to care. Pocket the money, eventually produce a mid quality suit after 10 years, and that’s assuming the commissioner brings it up once in a while. Oh and act like they’re doing them a favor
I'm thankful the one time I had a commission like this they gave me a refund after I waited 1.5 years. XD
I've lost over $2k to fursuit makers that disappeared. Stupid part is that I got WIP pics from both of the ones before they disappeared so I know they're either staring at my characters unfinished pieces every day for the past 9 years or they just threw it away.
I don't mind not getting my art right away or even loose deadlines lapping, but being ghosted by an artist crosses a line. Still waiting on a commission that was £100+.
Imo, Artists doing that is fine as long as theres a public queue where you can see them actually completing work. Makers on the otherhand, thats BS. Payment should only come when they start making it imo. Or at most, as the previous suit in the queue is being completed (so they can buy materials)
Not the whole ghosting part, thats always bad. But the payment up front part
Because artists have ALL of the power in furry fandom. They can dictate whatever they like, and people will still fall all over themselves to throw insane amounts of money at them.
This is why I want an invoice and will not hesitate to open a dispute. If I'm not getting a wip and getting ghosted, I'm not gonna put up with the theft of my money. Granted I've had maybe one artist out of the many I have commissioned over the last 14ish years the I had to do that.
Yeah I’ve stopped commissioning other than maybe like once a year at this point for this reason lol People using your payment as their own bank account and then ghosting for multiple years
My problem is I never want artists to rush. There’s an implied “within reason” there, but still. I am always afraid to keep poking for updates because I don’t want them to go “ok, fine” and just rush rush rush and neither of us ends up happy.
I've seen this happen a lot over the years and I'm lucky it's only happened to me about twice.
I do it all the time. I'm just always easy to contact, people are always welcome to come asking me for updates. If someone's uncomfortable, I offer a half up front, half when done, but most people are okay with it.
I guess I also don't take forever to finish pics though.
I wish this isn't the norm honestly. I'm always game to give leeway when necessary if I'm updated regularly. In one eg., an artist was going through some serious life situations, kept updating and delivered after 2.5 years. And then I have 2 owing me, 1 for 5 years, and another 8 years. Ghosted
Let’s see: got ghosted a couple times, but nothing beats paying for art, seeing people in the queue after you get theirs first, messaging them about it after a few months and being put on read for weeks or months before replying with no explanation and repeat before eventually getting my art.
Yeah, this is why I've been pretty much only commissioning over sites with escrow services, like @artconomy.bsky.social or Commiss.io for a few years now. Been burned one too many times to want to work any other way.
The funny thing is I've had such great experiences with the artists I've commissioned on these sites that it's not like I wouldn't trust them the normal way But there's always the peace of mind of having platforms that are built to ensure these transactions are always completed in full or not at all
A lot of people treating the community like their interest-free loan from their bank
It sucks. There's about 5-6 artists I've had issues with. Couple have straight up vanishes from the fandom. Couple are constantly posting new coms and bitching about how shitty their lives are. Sigh. Few have least given me some form of WIP so I got something.
Longest I've waited: over a decade. Now I'm waiting nearly 5 years for another piece. Personally I'm always reluctant to be pushy because i don't want a rushed piece just to get it done. Transparency on timelines would be nice.
I feel like a significant number of artists sadly don't realize that good service and communication are also part of the commission process. Creating trust between the client and making them feel heard and understood is important and professional.
This is the reason I charge after the commission is done. It helps me by creating incentive to finish the art, and also allows for the buyer not to get ripped off if I am unable to finish the art if life decides to throw a brick at me
It's the norm because people want horny art but are too afraid to complain as the artist might half-ass their commission to avoid the refund. Heck, I know of people who took up a loan to commission a fursuit, paid 100% upfront of course, only to wait over half a decade with zero progress in sight.
I have the opposite happen, I do photography more or less for free, and then have people demand it in a manner they find timely. Then again, I've also had artists get 100% up front and jerk me around for 15 years or just never do the job at all. It's kinda why I stopped commissioning at cons.
As a fellow photographer the entitlement people feel towards your photos that they aren't paying for is insane. If you didn't pay me for pics then you'll get them when you get them!
Exactly, I find booth shoots at a con, and the only promise was "after the con." But it seems me working on photos is suppose to take pre dense over life, and mental/health. Had folks even pressuring me to just give them the RAW files.
Needless to say, this crap is how you get people to opt for AI instead... X.X
There is definitely a discussion to be had about payment structure when it comes to commissioning, especially at higher price points. one thing is losing 20 bucks another is 200
Idk if it’s necessarily the norm, but i think it’s a bad practice. At least show *one* wip at some point so your commissioner doesn’t think you’ve run off with your money
Well oftentimes they don't even do just that for long long periods of time! I feel like it's just... SO disrespectful, even more so when they refuse to communicate.
Don’t I know it. I have one piece that took over a year to finish and I didn’t get any updates until it was suddenly done x_x it’s really frustrating
I let one commission slip through the cracks over the last couple of years and when the client reminded me of it I felt absolutely horrible that I let that happen. It bothers me that there are people that do that on purpose
Yeah I always thought doing 50% up front and 50% when it's done would work. I've had a lot of artists take my money, go silent for a year or longer, then when I finally hear from them it's "Oh sorry, I can work on something else for you" if you didn't do any work for a year why would I???
Granted I've had some that took over 4 years to get done, but that was a mix of poor places for communication, forgetfulness, and bad timing on both the artist and my part. So while it got frustrating, they were still good to me.
As opposed to when we do all the work then ghosted on payment. For the record, I only do all up front on small purchases, though most people pay all up front any though I give them the option of half.
Best friend Juiceps I send you 100k please make my art in 3 years ok thanks :)
Yeah, that's sadly something that happens a lot and most people try not to mention it, so as not to ruffle any feathers
WELL MAYBE THEY SHOULD 😤
Tbh there’s kinda layers to this, 1 is that a lot of people are typically too timid to call out the BS, 2 it could come across as being a dick against an innocent person, or 3, someone else commed a big name artist that streams and has been waiting for a year which could look like false accusations.
Someone else commented under the post that there should be a middle manager for things like this, and TBH with the amount of crazy smart CS wizard furries there are, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened yet. The need and demand is there. I’m sure those rich STEM furries paid for a few of your coms lol.
Artconomy basically does this, since it works via escrow.
I have never heard of this tbh
Give it a look sometime! I've used it before, and it was made by a fur so artconomy.com
I'm six years into waiting for a refund from a fursuit maker 😘👌💯
I haven’t gotten a comm back in over a year, and the person randomly comes back to open for more comms it’s actually crazy
Same here : /
😭😭😭
I hate this so much. Like 'DOOD!'
I think the worst part for the YCH I’ve given up on was that it was art I was really excited about, and now I’d feel kinda sour about it even if the artist came through. I’m not sure I’d be able to really enjoy it anymore.
There are about 3 artists who currently owe me and 2 of them stream regularly. 1 of which is pretty well known. I paid them at least a year ago
I have two people on my shit list because of this exact problem and one of them i called friend. Its really infuriating when you trust someone to get you what you ordered and they just fuck off and do other things. Thankfully i have some friends who keep their word that i getting art from.
One friend knows he owes me art and has had some serious life things impact him and the other i had just commissioned for a new png. These two are chill and love them. But i had someone who was ment to get me a christmas gift for my bestie and i and has done nothing. Another just lies about it...
I have three distinct bad experiences with commissions. One took 2 years and gave me the full piece with no progress updates, one completely ghosted me, and one kept promising me they had full intention on finishing It only to later get evicted from their apt 🙃
"You take all the risk, I'll get all the benefit." Ah .... what!?
I have 3 pieces I’m approaching the 2 year mark on with no updates…$300+ each too, lol
I have made MANY "donations" over the years I've been working with artists. Never feels great.
Tagg no! You are like so heckin sweet with the way you treat us. You don't deserve that =(
It really doesn't. I'm at a point that if it takes long enough, I'm just gonna ask for a refund, then do chargebacks.
Yeah I've had my fair share of write offs as well. It's even worse when I see friends waiting years for a piece and I am friends with the artist. Feels bad man.
I've also taken to calling my no-show commissions "donations." It helps ease the resentment I feel. I'm sorry you've found yourself in that situation, and more than once.🫂 Thankfully there are many artists who are good people, and I've loved working with them. I hope to commission more of them.🩵
I’ve lost around $1400 from being ghosted, YCH auction scams, and artists who bait and switch by farming out the piece to be done by someone else.
I’m not the quickest when it comes to getting stuff done but I make a point of keeping my few customers updated regularly. I’m owed stuff from over a year ago that’s paid for and don’t get any updates unless I ask, which is BS.
Unironically, your point is the reason why this all drives me nuts. As a fellow artist I feel like their crappy business practices just make it worse for the rest of us. It should be standard practice to update customers on anything (ie: timeframe, delays, changes, etc)
Ironically I’m waiting on feedback from a customer for a final pic that I sent almost a fortnight ago…
I do agree that a lot of artists do not take their side of the transaction seriously while the client has all of the risk on their side, which is quite frankly not okay. Transparency on both sides is key.
I am generally very upfront about how long my art takes especially when I have bad mental health days. I do keep clients up to date on a regular basis + Trello board and offer split payments options/deposits.
Wow. I've commissioned some $375 US pieces and bought resale rights for a product they're in and I was never asked ever to pay up front. Is that the norm these days? I'm not happy with that. I might start selling commissions done by me and no, pay on delvlivery only.
The issue with that becomes collecting the money. If you've already delivered, you have no leverage to get the money from a bad actor. I kind of split the difference and take payment once I've finished the sketch so they've got some idea what they're getting and proof I'm actually working on it.
Yeah this is what I like to do as well. It shows accountability and it's respectful for both parties!
This is also reasonable. I'm talking about like 8 years ago as well. Often the artists did thumbnails or watermarked partials as proof then I paid them.
I think the biggest reason this happens is because furries are seemingly allergic to contracts. I feel the same way about fursuits. There's no other industry where people just give someone hundreds to thousands of dollars with no legal guarantee that they'll get what they're paying for.
Especially since it's a luxury service. It's often hundreds of dollars changing hands for art, thousands for a suit. It makes me wish there was like, a furry escrow service. The buyer gives payment up front, but the artist/maker has to complete the project to get paid
There is. artconomy.com
Honestly it all boils down to communication. It is a two way street. Beyond that I get both parties get paranoid about people ripping them off but this is where research and asking questions really make the difference. This is why it is important to let people know how your experience went.
If I ever comm someone new, I always start from the understanding that the turnaround time must be less than 6 months from whenever money is exchanged, because that's the duration of buyer's protection. 5 months is where I'll start asking for a refund if reasonable progress hasn't yet been made.
i take about 3-4 months to work through my queue usually, but i will not take money until after i've done roughs and get approval, then i pretty well guarantee it within a week. this really should be the more common way
The amount of $$$ in commissions I'll never see is pretty infuriating tbh Can we also talk about how (some) artists will do free art raffles to build follows/engagement and then NOT deliver on the actual raffle win to whomever gets it? Sure it's free no loss, but it's disingenuous af
Yeah, that was pretty much how I lost $100 xD never even got what I wanted cause the artist got bored of the original idea. Destroyed a friendship and his business in one go that way.
It's wild because this does not happen in literally any other industry
I find it hilarious that a lot of artists do not treat them taking commmisions (especially the ones doing it full-time) as the BUSINESS it actually is. Made me become very picky with commissioning art (either only order from people I have experience with or ones that provide an actual invoice)
What the heck I'm rare to make commissions open because when I take one, it becomes mission #1. How jaded do you have to be to accept someone's money and then ghost them? ._.
It’s a lack of accountability unfortunately. I’ve been doing comms for a couple years and try my damn to keep them updated on the process. Gives me anxiety if I feel I haven’t updated them properly on the process
Going through this now. I hadn’t received a sketch in almost 6 months and then almost right at 6 months I receive a sketch. I wanted the art so I let them keep going. They then added Elon Musk to my commission as a way to “avoid AI” and posted it on twitter. I hate this commission now.
The craziest thing related to this is when you commission an artist when they open, get in their queue with upfront, then they open two to three more times before finishing your piece. Don’t really call it out, but I make a mental note not to commission them again. It feels like playing roulette.
Yeah, if I'm working with a new artist and it's like under $100, I might risk it. But for a few hundred dollars I'm going to insist on a payment structure. Art takes time, and the process can be documented. Why not pay for it over time as you see the process? Hell it makes it more fun.
That is incredibly unprofessional. I can't imagine they get many return customers. It matters a lot how one treats people.
There's artists doing that shit? Ugh... People really gotta get their names out so people know who to avoid. I just had a piece done and the artist was fantastic-she kept me updated the whole time and didn't take payment until the sketch was all sorted.
She also has a TOS (more artists gotta do this) and says in there how long she typically will take to complete a piece. We need more like her-just upfront communication about everything and taking payment only after the sketch is approved.
Payment before the sketch now makes me a bit wary-seen far too many people pay upfront without any of the work done and the artist just up and vanishes, leaving the customer in the lurch.
I had an artist friend who really wanted a switch back when they were hard to get. I had a BotW bundle one I didn’t want so I offered to sell it at a discount. We agreed to trade for a comm. I hand delivered it. Fast forward 8 years, I never heard from them again. I haven’t pursued a comm since.
I have a lot of “pending” commissions, but that one stung the most since it was someone I knew more personally than just someone on the other side of the internet.
i've only been in the fandom for a short couple of years and fortunately only been burned once. i don't honestly i don't hold a grudge with that artist. their life literally collapsed and have been struggling to survive since.
but honestly we need middlemen infrastructure. a website where the artists posts the slot or ych. client claims it, price negotiated. client pays into an escow account, artist posts wips. client aproves wips to release funds. lowers charge back risk for artist because of signed aprovals sme fr clien
Furries and trans people control the internet, there has to be SOMEONE that can make infrastructure like this if only for furry comms.
this already exists!
That actually happens? I always thought it was half up front and rest when done, it definitely shows the importance of calling these bad artist out tho if you gave multiple attempts to get in contact so others won't be scammed
tbh that is how i do it. the commissioner is paying for my time, and if it hasn't yet elapsed, i don't charge.
For sure, I swear every mutual I have who is a frequent commissioner has a horror story like this.
Oh gesh, hopefully it wasn't too much money for your moots. Yee my friends got a couple too, it sucks when people take advantage of others
I'm a full upfront artist, but make sure to talk to my clients and keep em updated. And I apologise when stuff is running late, and thats at the few weeks mark. But this is what "I" want to be as an artist. I think its despicable when an artist takes money for work... and then doesn't do said work.
And with that, PLEASE RESEARCH the artists you wanna comm! See how they are eith updates and posting and "how they are active"!
My maker “doesn’t do deadlines” and my fursuit head has already had its fur removed and I’m now stuck with them
Would it be possible to get a list of really good artists that won't do this. And have people back up the claim with proof or something like that? Not necessarily need to do a list of the fakes just a list of good artists.
I've tried so so so hard to convince my comm'ers to do 50% deposit instead of paying in full up front. They still think it's more convenient / "nice", tho. Even well meaning artists have things happen or get overwhelmed, that much $$$ owed is often stressful. Especially w/ up-front tips.
PayPal has me on a 10 transaction per month limit. Paying in full once means a) I don't accidentally run out of transactions and can't pay the remainder until the following month. And b) don't needlessly use up an extra transaction for the month
I haven't heard of that before! Phrased poorly, I don't put any blame on commissioners. Artists just need to manage expectations and timelines better, down payments have helped me but it's not a "normal" thing so very few folks take me up on it. I never want to screw someone over on owed work.
I'm out around $600 so far from 4 different artists who never delivered. The sad thing is I don't try new artists now. I stick with a couple reliable ones only.
It's so upsetting since new artists are the ones that are looking to make their footprint. The scammers just make it worse for everyone.
We have so many creative tech furs that it'd be awesome if someone could create an artists' website like Angies' List where the artists are verified to fulfill work and are booted or flagged if they do not. Lots of ways to structure it so artists don't need to pay fees for such.
Artists&Clients is a fantastic website that does exactly this. Artists begin work and post updates to the client. Payment is only released to the artist when the client is satisfied with the work.
Good to know!
I’ve only had one bad experience where an artist ghosted me twice. I paid half up front for a sketch that appeared when they briefly resurfaced a year and a half after taking my commission. I was wanting to get a piece done by them but I really should have paid attention to the red flag.
Recently dealt with this! Haven't commissioned art in almost a year and it was a sad reminder why
I've been ghosted by 4 different artists in the past year (a couple are more widely known), and one got snippy with me when I requested a status for the year-old comm.😔 I always make my gratitude known to the professional artists. I want good relationships with them so I can commission them again.🩵
Even better when it's something like a YCH where the groundwork is already done.
I have at least 7 pieces I've been waiting over a year for, and many of them are ones where I've been ghosted. A few of them have been several years of waiting :')