Forums » Smalltalk » Art commission woes

I just haven't had any luck with the last couple of artists I have commissioned on a different site. The first one failed to deliver even a rough sketch after three months and several statements of "I'm going to work on tonight." I ended up getting a refund from them, but it's still irritating.

Now this current one I commissioned back on the 6th of December. Well 5 days from xmas, they said they were aiming to get it done before xmas. Xmas came and went and no words. So about a week ago, I sent a little PM nudge asking if there was any progress. Well no word and I checked their profile and they haven't been on in over 2 weeks making me think I might not get either my art or my money back. X.X

I get that IRL comes first and art can take time, but all I ask is for an update every so often, I don't mind waiting for art as long as I can tell it's actually being worked on...I just want nice art for my roleplay characters. T.T

Btw I am not talking about anyone on here, unless they are on this site without my knowledge. It's a different site that I'm not going to name.

I'm sorry this happened to you! There are lots of potential reasons for artists flaking out, including being very stressed. (It's a stressful job!)

Not getting your money back is not okay though. If you paid with Paypal, I'd check the transaction and see if Paypal will let you get a refund. If the artist can't prove they delivered the art to you, Paypal will return the money to you instead. I think you usually have 45 days or so to do that, but I'm not sure.

It's not real life money. It's virtual game currency on a pet site.

As someone who does a lot of commissions, especially as of recent, there are a lot of times where I don't want to deal with a lot of the load that I accepted. Yes, I know that's something that people usually reply to with 'well, if you didn't want that load, why'd you accept it?' I get that it doesn't make sense, but to us, sometimes we have to in order to do several things:

Make money to get that thing we want (either with virtual cash, or in order to pay for real world stuff!)
Get the art done in order to expand upon our portfolio.
Make us feel a sense of self-accomplishment.

I can't really speak for all artists, though the those three things are pretty commonly seen. Another thing I can't really say for other artists is how I personally feel when I do commissions. How I personally feel sometimes starts off with excitement, but slowly dwindles into a feeling of being overburdened. I personally start losing steam after a while because with all these commissions I get, sometimes I feel like I don't have enough time to draw for myself, and usually I don't! When I'm done working on a commission, or decide to take a break, I literally don't have the drive to draw my own characters and concepts, and sometimes that's really depressing. ; 3 ;

Sometimes there will be those scummy artists that take the money and run. Most sites that do virtual cash don't have a mod team that will do anything about it because they do not police money transactions, and will even say so in their guidelines. It sucks for sure! If you can find a support group, or something similar in the community, sometimes you'll find people who are sympathetic and will give you neat stuff to help you feel better.

Overall, though, if you want to confront them, don't start off aggressive or even passive aggressive with us. Some of us suffer terrible anxiety and don't want to read more than the first couple sentences (why do you think we chose art? A lot of artists are the kids in class who sit alone and draw in their journals!). Just send a message that's like, "Just checking in to make sure that you're okay. I haven't heard from you in a while, and I just want to know how you're doing."

Something like that! If you show that you're concerned more about the artist (which you honestly should be), they'll usually be more willing to talk and let you know how things are and why they haven't been able to get to work. C:

I never get aggressive or even passive aggressive with artists. If I don't think they are up for the task, I will ask if they are still up for it and if not, I understand, but I would like a refund if that is the case. I keep any irritation out of my interactions with artists as I know that they are only human.

Often when I send a little nudge, I'll just ask if there are irl issues going on. I don't get accusatory, I just simply inquire.