Creative Corner

So as an artist, I agree that the artist should have rights, because we do have lives, and we do often run into situations that make completing commissions difficult. As a result of such difficult times, despite the fact that I would LOVE to offer commissions in order to expand and practice my style, and also make some coin on the side because goodness knows I could use it, either fake or real money...I really know better than to do anything of the sort.

I'm too busy to commit.

So that brings me to point ALPHA in this tirade. What do you guys think is the socially acceptable time to poke an artist respectfully. As a buyer, I tend not to bother anyone, and I think that to a degree, that's detrimental. I went almost 4 months without a commission, and that's happened beforehand with close friends in the past, or they've just forgotten about me/written me off because I withheld payment until I saw at least a WIP. To dissect...the 4 month wait was paid in advance, and I communicated. I tried anyway, to communicate. This person I knew, and I would rather have personable conversation than say HEY WHERE'S MY ART, so that's what I did! Naturally, as they were going through some rough patches, I let it go, and hoped that they'd just get back to me as soon as they had time. Instead, there was a convention that they profited quite well off doing other small commissions and selling other artistic swag at, which again, I was happy for them! They're in between jobs and stuff!

But...being in between jobs, I thought hey, I paid you about $30 a whiiiile back for art. So I did bring it up, and they mentioned they were having art block, but they'd try to hammer it out. So I let it go for a whiiiile longer. But when it apprached nearly 4 months, I started getting antsy and sent a message prefaced more or less with "no pressure, but...it's been a while, and I'm okay with you finishing that really intricate lineart you just posted for your rp game, but...how's about my art? Can I have a WIP or ETA or something?" to which they remessaged me and started...I hate to say it, but self-flagellating about how much they sucked, and they'd get it to me, and so I was a little honest, the piece I ordered was going to lose a little meaning due to the amount of time it had taken to get to me. I'm not a shiny-orderer, just...4 months after is a long time, one can lose interest in the subject matter. Either way, they finished my art in a few days, and I was super psyched!

It's just...and I won't show the art here...because I feel really bad about saying this stuff cuz I'm grateful for art. But. I feel like the quality could have been better? I've seen this person grow into a wonderful artist for years, and I just...feel...like comparing previous work side to side, you can tell when something is improved or not.

As I said, I won't show the pieces here. I don't want to bash publicly, and I love this person to pieces.

I just want to know. I feel I need objective opinion.

What do you think about this situation, FR?

I've had to deal with this, and also getting art that doesn't match the samples before, and that's really frustrating, depending on how much you dole out on the art. For me, the most I did was $40 and it didn't match, and once it was on, heaven forbid we consider, Gaia, upon which that happened. |D

I know exactly how you feel and I've definitely been on the buyer's end of that situation before, and the artist's end of that situation for trades and such T_T;

The thing is for this particular situation, I would let it go; it's understandable that your friend was going through some rough patches and did procrastinate. I am sure that they definitely didn't want to give you a product that was not up to their standards, but at the same time the old adage goes: Better sloppily finished and (relatively) on time than never done at all. It's a sad truth but for contract work/commissions like that, posting the best examples never really helped anyone, because:

1) the artist feels like they're constantly striving to hit their best and feel awful if they don't/can't
2) the buyers have a rose-tinted view of the artist's commission art.

It also pays to keep in mind that each artist has something that they're the most comfortable with drawing, too! If you commissioned a furry artist to draw humans, or a person who mostly draws cute girls and young boys to draw a manly man, then it's definitely not going to be as good as what they usually draw! It's great for the artist to be able to handle anything but everyone has a strength. If your friend was uncomfortable with the subject matter, that might also have been a reason for why they put your commission off. Which isn't to say that it's an acceptable thing to do (4 months! D: ) but it is understandable and I would empathize with them, especially since they are your friend.

In other cases, if you commission anyone (including friends) it doesn't hurt to poke them! I would personally poke them a week or two after the fact and once every couple of weeks after that. If it takes way longer than that to finish a commission, they should have posted something like, "if I'm not done by X date, then you can have a refund" or should have discussed with you more, because waiting longer than a month or two without notice is pretty tough.