commision pet peeves?

Artists who just, refuse to communicate with me. I shouldn't be the one to have to hunt you down for updates because you haven't messaged me once in over a month.

I have 5 ongoing commissions right now, and I'm only in regular contact with 2 of them. One I'm 90% sure is ghosting me and another I basically gave up on.

If you can't finish the commission, just tell me, I'll be more than understanding. We can do a refund, or figure something out. Just don't ghost your clients. I'm really starting to get put off from commissioning new artists, which is such a shame because there's so many people with lovely styles, but this has happened so many times now that it's become much more trouble than it's worth.

2 things that probably are not written:

-me and the commissioner/customer having very different timezones so either of us are asleep. i don't blame them at all, it just becomes annoying especially when %99 of the furries are in usa and i'm not. and i don't want to make them wait for too long because i'm either asleep or in school

-twitter moment but bots invading your commission requests!!! i can tell who's a scam bot??

I believe I posted this here before...

When you send the most clear ref in existence and the person you commission/do an art trade with still somehow fucks it up or doesn't follow it! PLEASE, if something is unclear just goddamn send a message! It doesn't cost you money to just...clarify something.

Small ramble in the spoiler.

A THOUSAND TIMES ON THE ABOVE ABOUT REFERENCES AND GHOSTING CLIENTS

If it's not clear by any means, just talk to me about it?? Especially if it's a key component of my OC, I'd like for it to be shown. But if it is not clear by any means, JUST ASK ME T^T. I don't draw blobs for no reason lmao, chances are those 'blobs' are markings! Detailed Rant beneath the spoiler tags...

Also ghosting is just rude. Someone is paying money and while I understand things happen, but do NOT leave people in the dark.

A trend I've been seeing also, is some artists saying something along the lines of; "I know every OC is different, but I will change their colors and patterns to fit my style best." I'm...I'm not too sure how I feel about that to be honest??

Also people who put more work in others comms as opposed to yours just because they know them...just why?

Big one for me and part of the reason I don't do coms anymore:

Declining someone due to not liking to draw uber complex designs or the design just won't look good with whatever I'm doing(this was more common when I was doing tiny pixel art) and having the potential customer either argue with me or keep suggesting designs that are way too complex. Like, please, your sparkle dog with a million markings will not look good on a tiny 25px25p pixel art. At all.

Once I read thru someone's commission info and then all the way at the bottom in their 'will not draw' section they said they wouldn't draw any characters that didn't have a hairstyle with bangs. Like....... that cuts out like 80% of your customer base, you should put it at the top above all your prices and rules........

Oh god I've only had this problem with one artist, but like, when you order a comm from someone you expect sketches or wips, right? Like everyone and their mother sends those without being prompted, especially if you're ordering a custom!!

Well not them. They send me the full pic, color and everything. And then when I asked for edits they really badly erased the linework a little bit. Like, there was color outside the lines. And I was like, dude, that's not what I wanted, can you send me a wip next time? 

And they lost their shit saying how they sketch on paper and then color digitally and they usually just send the full piece without any response from the person whose commissioning them because of that and how I'm such a bad person for expecting all artists to do things the same way all the time!

*screams into the void* HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?!

An artist delivered the sketch, i paid 50% of the fee, the communication was smooth. 

 then they ghosted/deleted me with no explanation.

it was when i didn't hear back from them way after their stated maximum turnaround work time, I went to ask and found that I've been blocked.

 apparently they deleted all their other clients too. (for more than 2 weeks already. the artist still have their comm thread up, but not replying to anyone.)

idk what happened to them but if they can spend that much time blocking all their clients, i can't see why they won't give an explanation. 

this just feels strange to me and i hope nothing bad has happened to them.

Natasha

There's no non-sketch reason as to why they would block and ghost all of their current clients after receiving half the payment. If they decline all forms of communication (dm, public post, email, etc)... I'd highly suggest you set a reasonable time limit, and once it elapses with no contact or update, file a dispute. Because that's scammy.

inkH I paid them on the 9th, the first group of people to notice that they had been blocked was on the 13th. (I didn't message the artist until the 26th) There's still no reply til this day but I think I'm going to give them til around mid of april.

- No communication

- Missing Deadlines

- Refusing Refunds on work that hasn’t been started / they obviously never plan to do (after a year+)

- Long wait times for a simple work like a bust sketch (1 year+)

- Constantly taking new commissions and ignoring the incomplete orders and the commissioners 

- Missing important details on the reference images, and refusing to fix them when asked about it (wouldn’t be an issue if they’d just explain if it was too complex or what have you)

- Whitewashing characters that are obviously not white

I’m sure there’s more but man… this is all I can think of right off 

Listen, there are some awesome animal artists that specialize with canines that I would love to commission/do an art trade with, but then I see they don’t draw/don’t have any examples of floppy-eared dogs or various ear shapes and I’m just like 🧍🏼‍♀️

Now, it wouldn’t be much of an issue if they had examples and simply preferred drawing pointy ears, but many of these artists don’t know how to draw other ear shapes, don’t like drawing them, or refuse to for other reasons. Which again isn’t an issue outside of commission work but if you are an animal artist who is known for drawing canines especially and who is opening up commissions/art trades/anything that isn’t free I feel like knowing how to draw more than one ear shape is literally… one of the basic skills in drawing any animal with ears. Lmfao. So I’m stuck loving said artist’s work and wanting to work with them in the future but also fighting the fact that they can only draw pointy German shepherd or cropped doberman-type ears. Sigh.

Some of my characters, for example Keegan, would probably turn out decent in their style because his ears stick up but I don’t know if I would blindly commission someone who only draws them pointy ears and cropped ears and ask them to do a portrait or fullbody or whatever with a character like Eli, Reece, Max, Weld, Ethan, etc you get the memo. Because either I wouldn’t be happy with the result OR they’d chop-chop the ears and make them pointy or cropped. And if people can do things like blatantly whitewash human poc characters or draw a blonde girl as a brunette or slim a chubby character I have no doubt they can draw Eli’s ears all cropped and stylistic. Which I would not feel comfortable with.

I feel like this is why people think canines are generic or boring to draw. And no, it isn’t just the ears. I hear commissioners say they feel relieved when the person they pay knows how to draw something that isn’t a wolf or husky for once. I think dogs are some of the most diverse, awesome creatures but they are always pushed into a “generic, same-face” stereotype and I’m honestly kind of tired of it! Of course if you draw a chihuahua the same way you’d draw a collie it’s going to look samey, or if you claim you drew a pug only for it to look like a husky slapped with  pug colors.

Some breeds may be harder to draw, but come on animal artists! If you wouldn’t make somebody’s tiger oc look like a housecat with stripes, or a rabbit look like a Guinea pig with ears strapped on, why draw a Rottweiler the way you would draw a wolfdog. It’s going to look funky and it doesn’t scream professional.

One of my pet peeves are artists who act unprofessional towards their customers.
I don't mean in a way where it has to be formal -- I am definitely not a formal artist and will not make it a strictly customer and artist relationship. It's good to have fun and relaxed when communicating.

But for some reason, I've been coming across artists who are WAY too relaxed with their customers that it's just rude.
- I DM'd an artist to buy a commission and the first thing they said was "calm down, I was sleeping". I...only sent them one message?
Didn't end up commissioning them because it felt rude and strange.
- I recently commissioned an artist for a sketch commission and they were extremely pushy on trying to get the product out to me and done before I could approve it. I also felt like the quality was lesser than they usually put out, especially it's a $70 commission. They then said "Should've told me all this when you first commissioned" when I asked for changes. They were so frustrating that I just took the sketch how it was and closed off all communication with them. They're a new artist, but that doesn't mean they can treat me like that. I'm not happy with the commission.
- And also artists who use their social media as a place to vent their anger towards their customers. This is self explanatory. Not only were they things that were completely the fault of the artist, using your large platform to show your dislike for your customers is a quick way to lose support.

when they forget to turn on the tips on the invoice. let me tip you, dang it!!

As a commissioner:

 - I think people have said this a lot, but having to DM someone for prices. If I don’t see them, I can’t budget—and it’s just rather annoying ^_^”

 - Outdated examples. Darn it, please let me see your best work!

 - People who put their “Can’t/Won’t Draw” lists after their commission prices and examples. I get it may be easier for them to organize it that way, but I don’t want to fall in love with your style then find out you can’t draw what I was hoping you could draw (ToT)

As an artist:

 - Please respond to my messages when I send art! I never know if people get it otherwise—and I want to make sure you receive what you paid for!!