I'd also probably recommend posting this to https://artistsbeware.info/
They shouldn't be spending the money without finishing the work, 3 year wait is ridiculous. If you can't handle customer service, you shouldn't be taking commissions.
Heyo! I wasn't intending to post a PSA at first but matters have forced my hand, and I find it now prudent to let the community know how unwise it may be to work with Quillcoil. I left a comment on her journal and was blocked in turn. As someone who Quillcoil actually owes art to, this is very unprofessional and concerning and I felt I now needed to make a PSA to let others know.
The artist in question: Quillcoil (DA) (Patreon) (Twitter) (Ko-fi) / Qulll (TH)
In July 2017 I ordered a chibi commission and two customs:
I've contacted her a few times in the intervening period, and eventually got the chibi in 2018:
april 2018 - dragon chibi received
dragon chibi in gallery
It is now August 2020 and today, Quillcoil posted this status, which has since been deleted:
https://www.deviantart.com/quillcoil/journal/Do-Not-Note-Me-853152907
(screenshot)
I posted two (admittedly) irate comments owing to the frustration of my own situation as a customer who has been owed work for 3 years now and have little to no updates, and was blocked:
As a related aside, a fellow commissioner awaiting art since about 2015 posted a beware on this artist in 2018:
As you can see, Quillcoil has owed a lot of people artwork, and today, blocked one of the customers. The artist does not have a public work list, and their work ethic and communication concerning owed artworks is questionable and concerning. I recommend that people do not commission this artist and to be wary of transactions with them.
The artist left an indirect response to the commenters on the journal nearly an hour later with their reasoning for their lack of communication and poor work ethic, as can be seen in this screenshot:
Thanks be to Vespisia, who rewrote this nicely and took my rage out of it! Chuus ❤ ❤ ❤
Update 29/08/2020
Yesterday Quillcoil sent me a note containing a list of clients and a statement on her intent to refund me. I sent this response. A few hours later I got this enigmatic note back, which I didn't respond to given its apparent lack of relevance.
As of now I'm respecting Quillcoil's wishes to keep the client list private, but a rough breakdown is: 60+ names on the list, and of those 15+ have been completed or refunded. The rest are either active, awaiting refund, or needs more info.
Update 19/04/2021
Quillcoil made a post explaining their side here.
There's also a journal on their DA, containing a google form for refunds/etc.
To anyone else Quillcoil owes art to:
zim is making a public list of the artwork owed by Quillcoil, please contact them if you'd like to be added to the list!
NaughtySavage Ah yes, I should do that . . . I was gonna wait to see if they make any effort to address the issue, but apparently not.
216th I legit would say to post it on artists beware, they are clearly not gonna fix their issue and seems like other people are suffering from their unprofessionalism. They made no effort and have been trying to block people or etc. ;;!
Donno if anyone has made one yet, but I saw everyone in cinna's journal commenting on having similar issues, so I made a list of all the owed commissions I saw there. It is depressingly long.
I know this isn't even everyone (bc quill blocks/deletes comments), but that's still quite a bit as it stands.
zim Yeah . . . I definitely feel like I've been forgotten before, and a friend of mine who I've spoken to about this artist has also been, though at least they received the work in the end. Mind you, they felt the work was rushed and not up to standard, but at this point, well . . . anyone getting anything is surprising enough.
I'll post a link to your list on the PSA and a note to have them contact you to be added then, in case any others see this and decide to come forward?
216th There seem to be quite a few people who were disappointed with their commission(s) and felt it was rushed and not comparable to their usual work. It sucks bc it seems a lot of these people who commissioned Quill to help them out or bc they really love their work.
And yes! I would appreciate that, thank you. I'm still wading through their accounts for any other people waiting for art
I can understand being in an abusive relationship and having to start from the ground up afterwords is a difficult situation to go through and recover from, however that has no bearings on the situation and i dont see why they have this need to keep mentioning it in confrontations. I noticed this in the comment section of their latest journal where someone called them out for owing art. It's almost as if they are using this event in their life to be an excuse as to why they cant even give a basic update or have a public to-do list. I dont think people would be as mad or even inquire about their commissions as much if they had just put in the extra effort to make their progress public as they obviously have everything all documented in private.
They're putting themselves in a worse situation by being cold and unprofessional to the people they owe and are just unintentionally making themselves look like a scammer who uses their personal trauma as a pity card to make people stop asking about the work they payed for years ago. I do wish them the best as recovering from a relationship like that can take time and patience but it's not a scapegoat for being unprofessional.
EDIT: Now with paying for rent and the like, that's a whole different issue and everyone is having trouble paying for the bare necessities so im sure that everyone understands that we all need to be patient in this time of global crisis with the pandemic. im pretty sure even the people who bought commissions from years back would probably understand that and be willing to wait until everything went back to normal but with the lack of updates or a to-do list it would make anyone feel like they were forgotten or scammed.
In light of the note they sent you, I'm hoping they are actually finishing due work/sending refunds (they still posting adopts though, so who knows, maybe trying to make money to refund?). Wish they would release the list so people they owe can see what the heck is going on and when they can expect refunds/art. From cinna's journal, it looks like some people have even given up on expecting anything from them and was a lost cause.
The victimization in that note is manipulative and gross. You still owe thousands of dollars and this has been going on for 5+ years, with you still accepting commissions knowing you were already overwhelmed.
btw if you want me to delete the list, i will. i personally still think its important as we still dont have their own list, and these are commissioners publicly complaining about it.