About Us

Artists Beware started as a LiveJournal Community in 2003.  Its original inception was meant to be a hub for artists and clients to seek advice and warn others of individuals who displayed bad business practices.  The original mission of the community has not changed, but our standards for what we accept into our archives have changed over the years.

In 2011 the submission template that we use today was introduced to the community.

In 2018 the "caution" category was added to warn others of Artists or Clients that would otherwise not fit into a "Beware" category.

And finally, in 2019, we officially moved off of LiveJournal and have established this website.

We are a highly moderated community, and believe very strongly in keeping interactions here as professional as possible.  Before participating users are to make themselves familiar with our Rules for Participation.

What We Do

While our primary focus is to remain a database for erroneous business practices, in addition to that we are a community and resource hub aimed at the business side of the art and illustration world. This includes all manner of media and subjects, as do not exclusively cater to only one type of artistic community. Additionally we work with both artist and clients alike, so that clients may also find resources and ways to protect themselves when entering into contracts with artists. We're all in this together, and we seek to provide assistance to all.

The intent of our forum is to be a means of accountability for when a creator mishandles or misrepresents their work or when a client is abusive or refuses payment, and any other manner of misconduct on either the artist or client's part. It is also a means of providing positive feedback for good transactions and reliable clients. Because we are business focused this means all submissions provided must be honest and thorough. Accuracy and authenticity are things we value highly, as such we take all accusations very seriously. All records are reviewed by our team of moderators, this means each record submitted will be reviewed by at least 2 or 3 different moderators to eliminate the chances of personal bias or rogue action. We fact-check all the information we receive, including exact dates, artist and client pages, exact advertisements provided, even client/artist history and comments that are publicly available. We strive to ensure all records provided are honest, and will do what is within our means to ensure what we allow through is as legitimate as possible.

Likewise, we are just as thorough with community interaction and comments as we are with record submissions. We are a place of respect and consideration, and thus all comments are moderated and all antagonistic or insulting behavior is not permitted. All personal or private information is to be kept to a minimum or not at all, and leave petty interactions not related to business, out of the discussion.

If you are looking for a place to air out personal grievances that are business related, to be petty, to get back at ex friends, previous clients, old artists, you will not find a place for that here as that behavior will absolutely not be tolerated in our community. We are a place of professionalism, we are not a drama forum.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to:

1. Serve as a resource hub for both artists and clients to seek advice concerning business transactions.
2. Maintain an archive of both good and bad artist and client transactions so that individuals may make informed decisions when working with an individual.
3. Review incoming posts for accuracy and relevance to our community.

• Our moderation staff consists of individuals who have experience as either artists, fursuit builders, or both.

To see a full view of what we do and don't accept please review the Submission Guidelines.