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Artists Beware
The namesake database. Submissions are categorized by "Bewares" and "Cautions".
I had commissioned the artist Climbdraws for a drawing of my puppy when I first got him, sent the payment and never heard from them again after asking several times about the status of the commission. It’s been nearly a year and a half which wouldn’t even be a problem if I had gotten some sort of update (even though all of their commissions seem to be completed within a few days or weeks generally.) Here’s some screenshots of the convo between me and the artist who goes by climbdraws on tumblr. On other social media they go by climbstudio or climbtothestars but I believe they’re most well known as being half of the YouTube animator team, noodlers. This isn’t the first time they’ve been kinda sketchy with me, first I ordered a leafpool sticker from their storenvy which never arrived so after several months I contacted storenvy (which was after trying to contact them directly for months) and they claimed I gave them a bad address and the sticker was sent back to them months ago. Which made me think ‘okay... kinda weird considering that’s my address and why didn’t they tell me?’ They then ‘resent’ the sticker without asking for a new address and it arrived this time leading me to believe they just never sent it the first time. After that the first time I tried to commission them we planned it all out but I stopped hearing from them completely before I even sent the payment. Which wasn’t too big of a deal just weird I never heard anything one way or the other. Then what you see in the photos happened and unfortunately I never received my refund or my commission/: since they’re a pretty popular face in the wc community I wasn’t sure what to do about it, and at this point it’s too late to dispute on PayPal/:
Artist sells regular monthly YCH auctions, purchased a spot at significant auto-buy price and paid promptly. Item was completed and no further contact from artist. This weekend the artist posted their latest batch of finished commissions and I noted that mine was posted - as well as another near duplicate piece featuring another character from the same base sketch. The artist resold the same sketch to a second regular commissioner without notification to the auction winner/original buyer. No mention that this was a possibility was in the auction terms, nor in any terms of service the artist provides. For the significant price paid, I feel it is reasonable to assume the exact sketch would not be reused as a base for additional work. Evidence below:
Original YCH Auction Posting: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31055673/ (NSFW)
My completed commission: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31414530/ (NSFW)
Second piece from same base: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31414687/ (NSFW)
I did contact the artist and they did confirm that they sold the piece twice. All that was offered was an apology and statement they would avoid doing it in the future. However, I did note a second set of identical pieces in the recent postings - I cannot speak to the situation of those and will not link them here, but it gives evidence that this may be a recurring pattern and makes me doubt changes will be made to their practices.
While I don't expect any resolution from the artist (they did deliver a completed piece as commissioned), I did want to warn the community about the incident given the high profile of the artist and high cost of their work. Buyers beware.
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Beware: Mixideer
By Lavisca, in Artist Bewares,
Summary:
Mixi accepted a commission, delayed it multiple times for over a year while providing countless excuses, and has since began to ignore messages, outright refusing to communicate. She is not inactive, still streaming and posting new works.
March 9th, 2018
I emailed Mixi with the details of my commission. It was to have two characters, with a large amount of variant versions of the image. Mixi agreed to the request as stated, and placed a rather high price tag on it, which we the commissioners agreed to, specifically stating it was reasonable due to the amount of work requested.
March 10th, 2018
After some difficulty on her part, in regards to the invoice being done correctly, it was finally sent. The invoice was split between the two commissioners - $200 each. This amount was paid in full, along with an additional $20 tip.
April 12th, 2018
Mixi sends an email excusing her delays.
April 28th, 2018
Mixi finally provides the first sketch of the piece.
We have a short conversation back and forth regarding needed changes.
May 31st, 2018
I message Mixi as I have not heard from her in a month.
June 6th, 2018
Mixi messages back an excuse.
Sept 10th, 2018
I message Mixi as there has been no further communication or updates. She replies with further excuses.
Sept 19th, 2018
Mixi sends an image with more work put into it. This is the last update we have received, though the piece is still not completed as per the original specifications. The artist was requested to make some changes to their coloring as they did not reflect the character accurately, and to move forward with the variant versions. This final provided image is unsatisfactory even as a stand-alone, due to the inaccurate depiction of the character, and Mixi agrees to make adjustments.
Dec 2nd, 2018
I message Mixi asking if there was an update. This message was never responded to.
April 22nd, 2019
I message Mixi further stating my dissatisfaction. She replies, stating she is willing to offer a partial refund. I request that she offer specifics on what she is willing to do. She has not replied since.
April 26th, 28th, May 2nd, 2019
I have sent emails on these dates that have gone unreplied to, requesting that she provide specific terms for what she was offering.
Update from comments:
No contact from Mixi in 8 days. Mixi has not clarified on what she is offering in a manner which I can take as a sincere offer.
No contact from Mixi in 8 days. Mixi has not clarified on what she is offering.
Her original "offer" is as follows:
I clarified further what we are asking for, but have not received a response.
It has been 8 days, we are still waiting.
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So initially I commissioned them in April for a head base to be finished. It needed a nose, eyes, ears, and fur.
We moved to telegram from here on and that’s when problems began to arise.
They didn’t contact me at all until June when I asked about ventilation Bc of my health issues.
I had to initiate the conversation.
She promised me Tomu would be done in time for megaplex since she had since April. And it was a Premade base.
Little did I know I was a ‘weekend’ project. Which I wasn’t told until I looked at their Trello.
I began to text more frequently since, as you can see, I got little to no communication until July.
And they hadn’t done a thing.
This was when I realized Tomu would not be done. And I would have to wait.
So eventually I decided to ask about a refund. Little did I know their financial issues were of their own doing. They used my commission money for non-commission related things.
So In the span of 4 months all she had for me was a nose.
They told me they didn’t even have the fur for my fursuit. Which I don’t understand as I paid them in April and this is in August. So where did my money go?
I got rather upset when I saw her posting about me.
So I finally set my foot down.
After six months of torturous waiting and run around.
I
They began to ‘warn’ people about me.
And that’s when I blocked and moved on when I got my money back.
I got $700 out of the $800 I paid.
Anyway we came to somewhat of an agreement.
Until I finally began reading people who are to this day still awaiting refunds. Years of waiting.
So I did a chargeback.
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I was approached in-game by someone offering art commissions, and given that I didn't have many done of my characters and didn't have much money, I spoke with them a little bit about it.
The price was decent and so I agreed to talk about it over discord messages.
I got information from them, and provided references as well as what I was looking for, which also included the only commissioned art piece I had of the character in question.
The payment was sent, but there was some issues over how it was to be sent to them. I originally used the payment option but was told to resend it as a friend after he refunded the prior payment.
In the end, the payment issue was fixed and the agreed upon amount was received. There was a little more discussion on available times as well as an ETA on seeing the linework.
Past that point, the next time I contacted them was a little over a week later, on April 5th, to check on the progress given what they had told me about their usual turn-around times.
They messaged me a week later on the 13th that they were finished with the prior line work for a previous commission (the draenei in the screenshot) and that they were going to be starting on mine next.
Three days later on the 16th I received a message saying that we needed to discuss pricing.
I told them that we had already negotiated and agreed on the price, and that I had paid them in full and up front and that I wanted to see the line art to see if there were any changes I would like made.
There were a few things that I had an issue with and voiced them, as well as restating that I would not be paying anything further since the agreed upon price for the digital color portrait had already been paid.
They attempted to pass blame off on me for not working with them, despite during negotiations a few weeks prior on the 19th when I stated I would be more than happy to provide further assistance should they need more references or clarification from me.
They continued to attempt to re-negotiate further payment on a transaction that was already concluded and payment rendered. When I declined, and told them that I would simply take the incomplete product, they agreed. After that, they messaged me that they would probably go ahead and finish the coloring of the art piece anyway or possibly use it as practice for shading and that I should keep an eye out for it.
When I attempted to confront them on this, Discord's bot informed me my message could not be sent because I had been blocked/unfriended by them. I attempted to go to their Instagram page where they had posted the work and reply to their work. The post was rapidly deleted and my Instagram account blocked from viewing their page.
As the payment was changed from a business transaction to a gift, I know I cannot be refunded. I wouldn't have minded being out the money for this commission, but when I was told that they were essentially going to finish the drawing anyway -after- I had told them I was done, I wanted to make others aware of this artist.
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Explain; Prepaid for a YCH commission posted via her gallery. (YCH attached).
She originally mentioned that she had a queue and it would be a wait, I had no problem with that.
I paid for it right away as she needed the money for an electric bill she stated in the post.
I sent in the info to her via note and she confirmed it as well ok. Stated it would be at LEAST a month before it was complete. Again, I was fine with that.
I commented back on the same post for an update about a month and a half later, because I realized her trello never updated to show my commission on her to-do list.
She replied promptly and gave me an update.
December I noted again, right before Christmas, asking if there was any updates, as I had heard nothing from her but continued to see postings of art, YCH's for sale and journals. She stated she was almost done with a wip and apologized for the delay.
That was the last I heard from her directly.
I noted again in February, she read the note but never responded.
Again I noted for an update at the end of March. This note has still sat unread.
So currently I am still down $50 or the YCH paid for.
Obviously it is too late for me to go through Paypal and dispute the charge for a refund, but I am hoping this helps others avoid what I am not dealing with, maybe it will end with me getting either the YCh I paid for or a refund.
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TLDR: I Paid for a commission I never received
Back in mid 2017 I came across a post on Furry Amino from CanineVomit offering animated icon commissions. Interested, I contact them and we work out the details, with the payment being made on July 16, 2017. Fast forward maybe a few months and the end up announcing that they were leaving Furry Amino and tell their commissioners to email them (I don't have any screenshots from Amino as when they deleted their account their portion of the chat dialog was deleted as well). I do so and never get a response. After some time passes, I ended up finding them on Instagram and re-establishing contact there. After a bit of panic due to lost contact everything seems fine. More time passes and I hear nothing further from them again, and the same thing happens. They respond, everything's fine, but THIS time this is the last I hear back from them. I attempt a few more times to message them on Instagram after a while of not hearing anything but they never respond. Eventually they also end leaving Instagram like they did Furry Amino but without leaving any contact info for commissioners (They did leave their account up with the name "doggydeadd" for a bit but completely deleted it shortly after). I find them on DeviantArt and, like with Instagram, I attempt to contact them again. After a few attempts, they deactivate their account without even responding.
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This issue has been RESOLVED as I have received a refund, but I would still like to WARN others about this artist and their TOS.
On 7/05/18 I commissioned BluntGypsy for a YCH pinup slot that they had put up for sale. The pinup YCH's were offered in this journal:
And came from this DA listing:
I wanted a $20 colored sketch and here is the conversation had with the Artist to confirm the commission:
I paid them that day and added a $5 tip in advance since this was for a 'Fund Raiser' and it sounded like they were going through a rough time. Here is the proof of the Paypal transaction:
As you can see in the messages above she said she'd have it done in about a week or so, so I waited.
She did not reach out to me personally for months and I waited patiently until she began to post some pretty concerning journals. The first came in August.
I am not a part of her Discord so this was the only update I had seen since I commissioned her, but as it said something may be done by the end of September, I decided to try to wait. The next journal, however, raised some red flags for me.
I had not had any communication with the artist directly before seeing this journal, so it came as a surprise to me that they were trying to sell their tablet (which they would need to finish my commission). So, I sent them an email.
On the bottom is the email I sent to her and above it is her reply to me which came about a month later. I will point out she said she understood if a refund is desired, or to let her know if I still wanted the commission. At this point, with the selling of her tablet and the lack of communication, along with me not playing that character much at the time, I just wanted a refund and knew it may take a little while to get one back but asked for one anyway.
After sending this email I received no further replies through email from her. The only thing I saw of her was another journal posted at the end of December.
It states that her house burnt down at the end of November but also asks for people to file refund requests through her emails, which I had already done, and clearly offers said refunds for clients who do not wish to wait until she can get a new tablet and get to work on art again. I decided to wait a couple of weeks before reaching out to her and sent her a message in January to see if she had ever gotten my email about wanting a refund and to simply check up on things.
Please note that she said she'd put me 'at the top of her list' BECAUSE I'd reached out to her again. I waited another month or so but was concerned when I saw her offering money to those who would get her a tablet and talking about YCH's or designs she had bought in other servers so I contacted her for an update.
I admit that I was getting a bit impatient as I had been nice and had tried to be understanding throughout all of this since I know she had been dealing with a lot of stuff.
Two weeks later she reached out to me for the FIRST time since I had commissioned her.
On that day she said she'd send a refund THAT DAY or the next. I checked my paypal for the next couple of days and had received nothing. I decided to give her even more time and waited a month before contacting her again.
The reply I received was that I had been bumped down on the list due to a rather 'impatient and rash client' who received priority, likely because of their attitude. I was rather unhappy with this considering how patient and civil I had been trying so hard to be. She said she'd get it to me by Friday (which would have been the 5th). I waited until Friday, received nothing, let Saturday pass by and still did not see my refund so I messaged her on Sunday.
At this point I was -done- waiting and receiving nothing but excuses, but as it had long passed Paypal's refund policy I could do nothing but continue to ask and wait. I finally received a refund on Monday the 8th.
Firstly, I'd paid $25, not $20, but because the $5 was a tip of sorts, which I never should have given, I'll call the refund good. However, she chose to mention her TOS to me, which I was rather unhappy about considering she does not have this TOS listed on the front page of her DeviantArt, nor did I see it when I first commissioned her (turns out it was linked in a random journal). I WISH I would have read the TOS BEFORE commissioning her because I would have never done so otherwise. Here is a copy of it:
First of all, she has a 'Pay Upfront' policy along with a 'No Refunds' policy, which Paypal will not even back (which is how she takes most of her payments). Secondly, it states she will finish commissions in no later than 8-weeks, so the fact that I asked for a refund on an 'Overdue Commission', one that she OFFERED to me first, does not seem so wild, to me.
After this I did send her a message on Discord letting her know that I was unhappy with the entire process and why. She sent me a message back, defending herself, her policies, and then promptly blocked me.
As stated before, I count this as RESOLVED because she did finally get a refund back to me, however with the TOS that she has (with the 'absolutely no refund policy') and with how hard I had to try to reach out to her, I am wanting to warn others before they commission her so they know the potential of what they may be dealing with.
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I commissioned this artist in February 2018. This one is pretty cut and dry. We exchanged notes on the animated commission I wanted and then there was a pause in communication since I was busy with work and the artist was ill. After May, I didn't hear anything back from the artist. I exceeded the PayPal chargeback time frame so I was not able to get my money back. I also did not receive any E-Mails back from Ricardo from the address he uses for PayPal. However, there were plenty of instances where he was posting on his Twitter account throughout 2018 so essentially, he took my money and ignored me. Buyers beware!
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Beware: psy101
By ValtyKeaton, in Artist Bewares,
In June of 2018 I requested a commission from a fairly popular artist on Furaffinity called Psy101. The artist asked for a full up-front payment from the get-go which I am usually quite wary of so I decided to first ask for an estimated time schedule for when it would be completed, which he said would be around 3+ months so I chanced it.
The artist would post both commissioned and trade/gift artwork to their gallery respectively. Images provided show gift and trade artworks which were posted after my commission request and payment was sent. As a former commissioner myself and one who knows other artists that do commissions, the thought of putting free art before paid artwork seems very unprofessional and distasteful. But I chose to give him the benefit of the doubt, on the grounds that perhaps these were artworks he'd made before my commission request and the fact he had posted journals about experiencing real life problems which would explain delays to the commission.
On approach to 7 months I decided that I'd just rather take my request elsewhere and politely requested a refund which was met with no response, this request was made on Janurary 4th 2019. I knew inactivity couldn't be an excuse for not responding to my refund request since the artist was still continuing to post content to his gallery. The crux was when yet another 'gift' drawing was posted to his gallery with my refund request still being ignored, which got me to message him a second time in a much more informal and direct response, demanding a refund since I am owed it. This second request was made on Feburary 19th, 2019 and, yet again was ignored and has still not been responded to.
I've put reason in my refund requests, referencing his journals and sympathizing with his situation but ultimately the ignoring of my messages has lead me to conclude he is not professional in how he conducts his business and I would highly advise against supporting him.
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