sorry to add to the string of pet peeve threads OTL. i just thought this would be a good place for people who buy commissions and who sell commissions to vent their frustrations. ill go first to break the ice.
when artists make you pay through friends and family, its soooo sketch. also when artist say theyll have your stuff done in one week...and never get back to you or do it way after a week. like its happened so many times and i feel like its a 'give me five minutes' type of thing. like just give me your real time frame, no need got give yourself a week if you know its not going to happen.
you all have very valid points! im going to add another complaint of mine since no one has said it yet.
when people whitewash my ocs. sidif thats the main thing that annoys me. like their skin color is very clear in the ref, why make their skin lighter?
edit: nvm someone already said it lol
new rules: please dont be transphobic or racist, i cant believe i have to say this but seriously, what the heck
@strwbeary
Just read through your comment and oh lord I agree so badly on the "not even a thank you". I've had this happen a lot and also feel like the person don't even liked it at all ?! It just kinda makes me very uncomfortable. Especially when it's about a relatively big commission / more expensive ones. I wanna make sure people love the result when they pay me to draw for them :''')
Emergency commissions, I absolutely despise them. I should preface this by saying there are genuine reasons for having emergency comms and I support artists who take them responsibly. It's far too often that I see emergency commissions opened for non-emergencies, then the artist is overwhelmed by the sudden workload and starts to ghost everyone. I've honestly only had one or two emergency commissions NOT end with me having to harass the artist to refund me months after they blew the funds I gave them. I'm so over it tbh :')
listen
if you tell me that my commission is going to be one specific price after looking at my character and i agree to it
and then tell me a month later after you finish your commission queue that you ''took a closer look'' at my oc and have suddenly decided they're a lot ''more complex than you thought'' (despite having LOOKED at it a month before!!) so you want to kick the price up almost 50% to feel ''motivated/comfy'' to do it
im finding someone else to commission lol
tbf i wouldnt care as much if i was told before that the price wasnt final or something (and maybe its just me) , but otherwise it seems sorta skeevy
maybe its not even skeevy, its just something that severely irks me for a lot of reasons
One of the things that annoy me a bit is actually when the client is sending me info on what they'd like for their commission, and they describe their character as a comparison to another character I don't know of.
I ask for potential commissioners to send me:
1) ref[s] of the character they want drawn, and
2) a brief description of their personality (so I can get a good feel of the character)
(among other things)
Every so often I get someone who instead of sending a ref, says "Like [Character Name] but this this and this are different." That wouldn't be too bad if they included actual pics of the character and the changes, but a lot of times they don't. So I have to google who that character is, and if that character has different appearances then I have to figure out which they're referring too and whatnot. Along with figuring out what the changes look like too if they could be interpreted different ways.
Or too for personality, they'll say "Their personality is just like [Character]! But maybe with this difference!" or something. But I have no clue who the heck that character is, so I have to tell them that and to again please just describe their personality.
I know these are small things, but it just is a bit frustrating because it takes up my time figuring this stuff out. I might not even mind it if they were comparing the characters to characters they know I would know of, like characters from series I've drawn art of/expressed interest in before. But each time it's of a character I've never heard of from a series I've never seen. ; w ;
Lack of communication. I paid for two commissions from someone offsite at the end of December with the agreement they'd be down within two months and I would get previews... nothing since. I'm starting to prod them to see if I'll get anything but it's annoying to wait so long, especially considering how much I paid them.
On the other hand, people who expect instant + constant communication. "It's been x hours since i messaged you where are you" like... I'm at work? I have a job so that I can pay for the art I'm buying? Just had someone do this to me on YCH and they apologized but it was so annoying being "reminded" less than a day later that I almost said nevermind. :/
Third thing, when I commission a character and the artist argues with me on their physical traits. Esp. when I'm commissioning trans characters and the artist wants to change their bodytype. If you wanna draw boobs so bad go draw boobs but don't force them on my trans man chars lol.
I always hate it when someone commissions me for a portrait of a loved or pet, but never shows me a reference. Also when someone wants an artistic liberty oc, but then they turn down everything you make. If you have a clear idea in mind just tell me and save us both some time and energy.
More for art trades because I haven't worked out prices, but. Vague instructions or a lack of references to work off of! If you want the best possible product, please be specific while I'm still at the sketch stage!
I have a couple more myself that I've discovered while trying to find people to commission. One thing that I'm finding extremely annoying is artists not listing what they can or can't draw, especially when their galleries show only one thing, such as humanoids or furries. I'm not going to DM every single artist I'm interested in just to see if they'll draw a simple robot, not when 9 times out of 10 they'll say no. Please give me a general idea of what you're comfortable drawing to make this process a bit easier
Another thing I'm finding to be annoying is sudden PayPal fees. Instead of using an invoice, some artists will just send you a link where you have to specify how much you're gonna send over. This is fine and all, until I notice that I have to pay almost $3 in fees. Not really a nice thing to see when you're just paying $5 for something small. Why wouldn't you just include whatever fees you need to pay in the price of the commission, and why am I having to cover the fees so you don't have to use invoices
I hope requests/free drawings count?
This is specifically a DA thing since I havent had this problem on here at all (luckily), but When people completely ignore what im specifically asking for in means of requests (when I’m asking for specific species n such), even if it’s in the title. It happens every single time I open pacapillar requests or other CS requests and it’s at the point where I’ve literally placed what I want to draw everywhere, but people still ignore that and ask for me to draw their other characters like I’m going to give them an exception. It’s the reason why I stopped making requests, too many ignorent people on DA
- when someone asks me to change something after i’ve completed the piece, especially because it SPECIFICALLY states in my tos that I will not make any changes after the lineart stage. Also because before someone commissions me, I have them state that they have read my tos and agreed to them. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it still irks me.
- asking for extreme kink/fetish art. like??? no??? i’m not drawing your oc pissing in someone’s mouth or anything like that shit. that’s just gross
- GHOSTING!! on both the artist and the buyer’s end. don’t ghost a buyer when they ask for updates, and don’t ghost the artist if they ask you to pay. just stuff like that
As a buyer it’s pretty frustrating when an artist skips around my commission when I paid first, and this resulting in me waiting so much longer than everyone else. Like, I get it, sometimes inspiration doesn’t come super quick with certain commissions and I don’t mind you doing 2-3 art pieces before mine because I want you in a comfortable and motivated mindset for my art piece, it makes the quality better usually, but do not do all 6 slots on your queue and just skip mine when I was before them and paid first x.X
As a seller I don’t understand how people think I can go off a written reference or they think they can just give me someone else’s character (which I don’t accept either but still, people give them to me) as a guideline if it’s not a custom reference commission, I’m not designing you a character icon off of what you have written for me or essentially stolen, I need a visual reference that you own.
This one is a newer one I've been experiencing as a seller, but asking for commissions of a character you haven't secured yet,, you may be paying them off, but I'm not about to get into some drama about cancellations, late fees etc. Please for the love of god, give me a character you own, unless it's a gift.
As a buyer, when people don't,, list their examples as images in their posts? I know you want to keep it clean, but at least have thumbnails,, to me it always seems lazy or uncaring to just say "look at my deviantart" or "heres an imgur list", just,, put?? the?? examples?? in the post?? As a seller who has the perspective of buyers, people are usually not willing to click through a million links to get examples. Hell, just put one good example and a list beneath it- at least then people have a good idea of your style instead of it being a wildcard.
As a customer,
when the artist doesnt give out the same quality as their personal/example art. Happened to me with professional artists, with "idol artists" of mine, happened even when I commissioned a good friend. So I dont really know. The worst it gets when I see the commissions the artist had done for others and this problem does not occur, even if we paid the same price.
As an artist,
when the customer demands "why does my character cost extra, it is not complex". I dont know, but I am pretty sure that I am the one drawing it, I am the one who decides whether the character is or is not complex. Oh, and when friends demand discounts. "That is too much can't you give me a discount, pretty please?" is not only saying you dont believe the artist's skills are worth their own pricing, which is pretty rude, but it also makes no sense. If you dont have the money then dont buy art...