Forums » Art & Creativity » Need some art commission advice

Ok I need some advice regarding a commission I ordered and I figure the best people to get said advice from would be actual artists. That being said, I want to be clear that was a commission made on another site.

Anyway I made an ad on another site seeking art for one of my characters on here and offering that site's currency for payment. One person replied and after testing the waters a bit more, I offered them the job. The terms of payment were that they would receive half payment when I received the first rough sketch and the other half on completion. I choose this payment model after being giving the run around too many times by artists who claimed they were working on my commission for months, but I would never actually see anything.

Moving on, I gave them the references I had and answered every question they asked. Then I waited a week and asked if there was any progress. I want to be clear that my intention was not to hurry them along, but basically make sure I wasn't forgotten and just basically asking for any updates. I then waited another week to get a reply back asking what commission I was. So that same day, I linked them to the thread where my wanted ad had been. Then they said that they had personal problems and could work on it now. Ok that's perfectly fair, real life always comes first and I respect that. So then I waited another week and a half with no reply. So I sent them another message asking if there had been any progress and it has been 6 days with no reply to that message. In fact I just checked their activity on the site and they have been on several times since my last message and have posted at several different times today alone

As of yesterday, it has been one month and I haven't see anything from them yet. So I wanted to know at what point would it be reasonable to cancel the commission if I continue to see nothing? I do want to mention that they never mentioned any commissions ahead of me so for all I know, I am either their only commission or at least their oldest one.

So can any artists advise me about about this? The last thing I want to do is be an unreasonable art customer which is why I want an artist's view on this.

Opps didn't mean to post again, can a mod delete this?

I personally wait longer than a month.

Even for real money I'm quite happy to wait more than a month and I certainly don't hold onsite currency to the same standards as money. There's so many real life priorities that come before onsite currency, and some artists who accept it are very new to commissioning.

On the other side of the fence, I've also done a handful of low-pressure commissions on a pet-site and while I can usually get art done in a fairly reasonable time, there was one I was so fundamentally unhappy with, I procrastinated/laboured over it for months (I never posted the result to Deviantart/Tumblr or whatnot. Don't bother going looking for it ) I'm just so glad that the commissioner was patient and forgiving of me.

Thaaat being said...

I have lost my onsite currency / items more than once. Sometimes they quit the site or sometimes they just flake on the obligations.

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for your money back if you feel the artist won't keep up their obligation. But as I said, I don't think a month is long enough for panic.

Thanks for your advice and I haven't lost any money since they haven't delivered a rough sketch yet so I still have all of their payment on hand. Anyway I guess I will give them a bit longer.