I've attached picture proof.
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Artists Beware
The namesake database. Submissions are categorized by "Bewares" and "Cautions".
On July 13 I had paid Cody for a base fill of my Sona as a raptor... They said they'd get started right away. I sent proof of payment an kept in contact... Poking in so often to see what was going on... Well they kept feeding me lies, oh its done I'll post it later tonight, I'm working on it now... An it's been a month since they last even looked at my messages.
I've attached picture proof.
Some images may contain NSFW materials, as this is about a NSFW artbook produced by inkedfur. Most Proof is correspondence but a picture of the cover which could be NSFW is shown at more than one point.
In short, I worked on this project with many other artists, 41 total. The book was produced by inkedfur, and we only ever got one payment of 7.30 The book was to be a limited run, but has been printed multiple times with out our consent and the company and owner has not been forthcoming with any information and infact has replied in very unprofessional ways. This is still an ongoing case and nothing has been resolved. This is something that started about a year ago, so I will do my best to break down the information and the context as I have it.
I have not blocked out the name of the owner, because this information is available publicly and as his email signature. If staff would like me to edit that I can.
For context, here is a link to the guidelines that all artists who worked on the book were to agree to. Kei, who was working as a partner with Inkedfur at the time, was the book lead and put this together for us. As being an employee of inkedfur and book lead, Kei was our middle man.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NjG7YIzK_F-482hajwZ5znTzvyj_-heQMPnlhcTzUAM/edit#heading=h.26re1e8okgjn
Important note, this link has a link to the second document as well as the first. Deadlines changed and more information was added. So the first one you see is older and there is a link at the top for the 'newer' version. Both contain alot of the same info.
Here are some important bits of the FAQ we were all given to review. The Timetable and payment.
https://imgur.com/7yUf3P9 https://imgur.com/CnBgEi4
Later on we got an email with a breakdown of how the profits would work:
Profits:
https://imgur.com/XO0WBGC
March 12th we get an email explaining there was a print delay and requesting info for payments.
https://imgur.com/CjxG4Z9
March 18tth we have a break down of sales and book orders. Though now there is the mention of the costs for the artists books.
https://imgur.com/tZbc9eT
May 24th: We are in the black! First profits to be paid out will be soon. 606.90 total profits as of may 2018 to be paid in royalties! 12.91! This was less than I thought it would be, but the email states we -STILL- had books for sale at that point, and the pdf sales had not yet happened.
https://imgur.com/1j7dE10
June 20th
I admit this was a bit of a slap in the face, it was a bit less than I was expecting given the email and I personally took the tone of the note poorly.
https://imgur.com/El6YfrA
June 29th
PDF is finally up! Apparently, the delay was because the new website they were working on didnt have support for digital products yet. So, it has been hosted on the OLD website, and we have links to it to post to.
https://imgur.com/8MnLQzU https://imgur.com/5zigF7h
And that was it. That was the last we ever heard on the matter, and the last payment anyone ever got. I confirmed this with several artists, I was a bit worried because I had -left- inkedfur (as no longer allowing them to sell my work) and I thought perhaps my royalties had been lost in the system somewhere. But turns out, no one else had gotten paid either.
That brings us to Feb 2019. I contacted Kei after hearing back that no one else was being paid or getting royalties from the knottyboys book. Oddly Kei said that two payments of royalties were made and they had sold out of all the books. And that only 4 sales of the PDF were done. Checking the website, the Book is for sale, but the pdf is not.
https://imgur.com/22CZ5e5 https://imgur.com/n1eR1Ll
I was directed to contact inkedfur directly. And I did so on Feb 22nd. Knowing they were at a con and figured by the way Kei responded they knew I, and possibly other concerned artists would be getting in touch, i waited.
https://imgur.com/1WqUXVG
That brings us to march 3rd, 9 days later. And this is the responce, and our exchange.
https://imgur.com/D4U1lmc https://1drv.ms/u/s!As3pUy5MCJSahc0ZPWLzK2skEHaszA <-- larger resolution
This is my most recent reply from James. I can see we are going to have to go through math and I will now for a third time be requesting sales records. Im beginning to wonder if anyone actually reads the request because I was pretty clear on what I am wanting. You are a business, this should be pretty easy, No?
https://imgur.com/pHJK4pc
I'd just been taking some time to dig into things as I wait for James to get back to me with the requested sales figures. Some interesting things had happened in this time. The Inkedfur twitter account had made a public post, and Kei also replied.
https://imgur.com/AD1z46w https://imgur.com/yB1ytO2
I would also like to quickly point out that both james and Inkedfurs twitter have referenced a 30% sale royalties, but in the telegram chat used by artists for the book, Kei, the book lead and someone who works at inkedfur, tells us its been upped to 35%
https://imgur.com/VVQkjBA
So, Inkedfur sold copies of the book to (two?) 3rd party places. This was never mentioned as possible in our FAQ/Guidlines which in this instance acts as our contract.
https://imgur.com/einwivC https://imgur.com/qU8F1Ln
Another artist has heard back from James and gotten a statment:
https://imgur.com/sltejyN https://imgur.com/M03FYya
Interesting things to note here, are the mention of additional bundles of books. James only mentioning one payment, the one we have been able to find and confirm vs the two payments that were previously quoted by Kei. Lastly, the fact that nearly a year later the site still doesnt have digital sales enabled, of which most of our profits were to come from. None of us were told this.
As for the additional books, this is news to pretty much every artist I have spoken with. We were all under the impression this was a limited run. As proof we have these:
https://imgur.com/cETHUSa https://imgur.com/gKvZFAC https://imgur.com/xmoLTZE
After waiting several days and knowing he was responding to others, I emailed him directly to the email at the bottom of his signature.
https://imgur.com/5QvwFdI https://imgur.com/j5QuzWd
His reply:
https://imgur.com/uu9w0vp
my reply back:
https://imgur.com/NXpJV6V
And that's where we stand right now. Requests for numbers are going ignored or denied and the responses we are getting are very unprofessional. There are other grievances I have with this company ( daki promised to the client for free never delivered, problems with my final payout when I left, ect) But I am limiting this to information that is public and my own personal involvement with the book.
I know this seems like super small amounts, but if you spread those nickels and dimes over 41 people, thats alot of money. We dont know how much we are really owed, because a second batch of books was produced, and no math is adding up because the numbers keep changing.
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I was victim from an internet fraud scheme. Philipe Mathäus, resident of Brazil asked me to work 3 commissioned artworks for him.
I charged $250.00 for each illustration making it $750.00 in total.
One on December 17, 2018
The second on January 2, 2019And the third on January 8,2019
The transaction was made through Paypal, AUTHORIZED and paid on FULL by mister Cardozo on the dates before mentioned. The artwork was delivered digitally a few days later. So this was a full and complete sale.
On February 1 2019, Mister Cardozo files a false claim to his bank or card issuer, claiming that these transactions were done without his knowledge. By default, his bank withdraws the money from my bank account!
After some research I found that is customary from Mister Cradozo to file malicious complaints to his bank to other artists as well.
The problem is that Paypal doesn't have coverage for paid services since there's not a tangible object involved, so hey can't solve the matter.
I don't feel secure since this person already found a way to cyber-steal money from my bank.
His malicious procedure provoked the blocking of my Paypal account, the cancelation of my credit card for
fraudulkent robbery and an outstanding overdrive of $535.00, leaving me and my family without access to our funds for a week. Damages sum $1,285.00.
This person is commiting credit card frauds all over the world and needs to be stopped.I can provide evidence of transactions and other people's testimonials.
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I've tagged this as NSFW because of the mature theme (strip-tease), but if it is SFW enough please let me know and I will change it ♥
Below is the product in question.
I recently decided to make my first ever P2U base (above) and I was contacted by Nekolover24 who requested to purchase a copy from me on the 6th February.
The next day, on the 7th, I responded and promptly sent them an invoice for £20.
They replied very quickly to let me know that they had paid the invoice, and once I had confirmed the payment had been recieved I went straight ahead and sent them a message that included links to the files for the base (I will censor the end of the link).
Below is the complete invoice + details of the transaction.
Later that same day they responded confirming that they had saved both of the files.
There is more to the conversation, but it's about brushes and them planning on using it soon etc. and so not relevant I think. If I should still add it then I am happy to.
However, on the 4th of March I discovered that I had an outstanding case that this same person had filed against me on the 28th of February. It was my mistake that I had not checked my emails or Paypal itself between the claim opening and when I noticed, but thankfully I realised within the deadline to respond (I had until the 10th) and was able to phone PayPal in time to find out what was going on and try to sort it.
Nekoloveart24 didn't contact me or notify me in any way that they had issued a chargeback, and so this was a complete surprise to me. The only clue they provided was a vague journal prompting artists that they have commissioned to message them if they have been affected by "this" because they didn't want to explain the reason publicly.
This of course was an instant red flag to me, as I would hope that if some genuine hiccup had caused a chargeback then they would try to at least notify about it and try to make things right. I am very suspicious and sceptical due to their lack of action and the continuation of their claim despite their vague acknowledgement of it. I can confirm that I'm not the only one affected by this person, but of course I know that I cannot provide evidence on their behalf so all I can do is suggest that they also come forward and write their own beware to help warn others of this person. I have already contacted PayPal and they are sending off my evidence to this person's bank/financial institution (unfortunately they chargebacked via their bank directly and so there's only so much PayPal can do to help me here, and so now I am waiting to see what is decided). The reasoning was apparently an "unauthorised transaction", which as you can see in my screenshots (and their journal acknowledging "this"), they appear to have every knowledge that they were purchasing something from me.
I have been told to wait 10 days (as of 4th March) before contacting PayPal again for the status of the case, so hopefully then I will be able to update this with more info on if I will be able to have my money returned to me. Once I had made sure that I'd done all I could in countering their claim I reached out to them on FA via note, but as of right now they haven't replied or seemingly even looked at the message itself.
Now we're all up to current date (7th March), so I will update this as things continue to unfold. I hope that this will end in my favour and that this person does not get away with both what they bought from me AND the money ?
I think that's everything? As my first beware I hope I did everything ok, but of course if not please feel free to let me know so I can make changes!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read, and I hope this can help others ♥
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Sticker Tracer
By AuroraOtter, in Artist Bewares,
This is my first post on this site so i'm not sure if I did this right.
A while back I discovered that my stickers have been traced.
I went to the artist to confirm that they did indeed trace here is the conversation
I don't see it right to sell traced art to someone
It isn't fair to the artist who spent time making the art or the original commissioner who bought the art. I can't do anything about it here so I'll just post this here so someone will see this and think twice about this person.
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Beware: RyunWoofie
By jarmenj, in Artist Bewares,
In February 2015, I commissioned RyunWoofie for a $25.00 USD colored sketch. She accepted my payment on February 26, 2015 and several months passed. I try to be gentle with my reminders, not poke and prod every week or month...just a reminder every few months / some chit chat about what could be causing the delay. During these months, I change my mind on which character to feature. She delivers a work-in progress in November 2015. I request some fixes to fit my character Syldria's proportions more accurately and she says OK sure.
Some more time passes, artist mentions they'd like to use my WIP sketch as a YCH instead while allowing me to consider another idea. Idea is pitched, many more months pass and I remind her again in 2016. Okay sure, life grabs you by the horns sometimes...I let it slide. Several months pass again. I sent my occasional friendly inquiry/reminder and more excuses are given, with assurance that my picture will be done "soon". Concrete estimations of time, mind you, for a picture that's already a year late. Work isn't delivered, meanwhile she's been streaming commissions on demand to other clients within her picarto channel.
She posts a journal update somewhere between 2015 and now with a whole bunch of clients waiting for their work, and upgrades the quality for those who have been waiting the longest. If you're promised a Shaded picture from a colored sketch, over 1000 days pass without an updated, upgraded picture, while hundreds of stream commissions have been done, how would that make you feel? Here is the Trello queue: https://trello.com/b/qZzbxjGv/commissions-in-progress-refunds
I get it, Art is income. Income comes from new commissions, but what about my owed artwork? Note after note, she tells me she'll finish by X date, and there has been no WIPs or anything sent since the initial WIP turned YCH. You can't just sweep your past clients under the rug and under a mountain of new artwork done ON DEMAND in a livestream. I've remained neutral with my interactions with Ryun, and she has with me...I'm not a dick, but this sort of client treatment reeks of being taken advantage of due to my chill demeanor. It may be only a $25 commission, but you can't treat other people like this.
Attached is the payment record on PayPal and our conversations spanning from 2015-2018, the last of which being July of last year. There has been countless posts of art from her since then and the majority of them from stream clients on demand, being done in short order. Also attached is the WIP sent to me November 2015, dated in my email with today's date and the original watermarked rough sketch stage of the only work she's sent me since February 2015. It is now March 2019.
A disappointed client,
Jarmenj
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I had contacted the artist on September 18th by commenting on their journal regarding their open mlp commissions. I apologize for the 'hidden by owner' status on some of the comments in the following journal screenshot. The owner had hidden the commission details between the time that they had refunded me and the time of the final message.
On September 18th 2018 I sent them the payment
On December 12th 2018 I receive a note explaining that they are having trouble and wish to cancel the commission. It was at this time that I received a partial refund for what I had paid them.
Jump to January 23rd 2019 I still hadn't received the owed amount of 1,720 points and so I contacted them to request that the pending refund be sent
They replied on February 17th 2019 claiming that it would take them longer to issue me a refund and that they wanted to re-start my commission and asked me to send them back what they initially refunded me. In addition they also asked me to re-send them the commission information. I promptly declined this offer and reiterated that I would like the refund as this was now 2 months after the initial cancellation date and the note remained unread by them (as indicated by the yellow sticky note on the right side of the page in the second screenshot below).
On March 4th 2019 I sent a follow-up note to the one above as they still hadn't read it. I indicated, again, that I would like the remaining 1,720 points to be refunded. I also explained that if they did not have my points still on their account that they were responsible for finding another way of paying me, one of which was to purchase the owed amount of points from the DeviantArt store directly and then send them to me.
On March 5th 2019 I received their response which was an excuse as well as their indication that they were going to leave DeviantArt and that they were sorry they couldn't issue the remaining refund, leaving me out 1,720 points (converted into dollars this is $17USD as 100 points is the equivalent to $1USD). I promptly responded, albeit a little hastily and angrily and informed them of my displeasure in losing my points without having gotten what I had paid for, as well as informing them that I was going to report / make this public.
When I first started working with them they seemed like a sweet user and I appreciated getting the notice of cancellation and the partial refund. It was that which led me to trust that they would eventually refund my remaining points and instead of pressing further I waited patiently. The responses after that as well as the request to send the partial refund back so they could continue working on a commission that had been cancelled was where I began to have doubts about being refunded. I do admit my final response to them could have been worded a lot better but I was angry, frustrated, and so anxious that I went on auto pilot and wrote everything I was thinking then sent it without having a chance to proofread it. This was my final response to them and I do not intend to engage in further contact unless it is to transfer the remaining funds of 1,720. For that reason I have chosen to leave the user unblocked but I have high doubts I'll ever see the rest of my refund.
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Beware: Yajuuu
By WanNya, in Artist Bewares,
Had commissioned this artist back in July of 2018; the piece was a 3 character Studio Ghibli themed pic of my character as well as two of my friends.
Here are screen caps of payment:
At first I was super ecstatic about getting this piece because I really adored this artist and at the time,
they were seeking funds to help them out via a journal (which they conveniently deleted before I could take screenshots of it).
After payment was sent, I noted them asking if they had gotten the funds in which they replied yes and a WIP would be sent shortly (1 to 2 weeks). I figured at the time all was good:
Some time goes by so I send them a reminder note and they state that, yet again, they will have a WIP for me soon:
More time goes by and still no WIP and no reply from the artist. I get a little worried but don't think too much on it because, as an artist myself, I know how commissions can sometimes take a bit more time and personal life can throw some unexpected loops.
I send another reminder note, this time letting them know that this is a shared piece and others did pay for it as well and if things are going to be too much for them to handle, they can just cancel the piece and we'd be fine with a refund:
They quickly reply that they will get it done by Dec. or so:
... and yet I wait more:
Still did not get a reply. My note is ignored and I figure, they are busy yet again. I myself get a bit distracted with my own commissions and personal life. When I catch back up on things, I still haven't received a reply from the artist but I do seem them uploading art.
At this point, it's already well past 6 months and so I tell my friend that we may never get the piece and should each note them letting the artist know that we would like to get a refund. Soon after my friend notes them, I get this note from Yajuuu:
I was shocked at this reply, especially since my friend told me that the artist told them how they were going through medical issues and such at the time and etc. (which they not once mentioned to me this whole time mind you).
My reply to they're outlash:
I was actually hoping that things would be different and give them another chance, but after being informed and seeing another artist post a beware on them, a few weeks before I had put in a commission with them, I changed my mind. I told them I would like a full refund on the $110 but as you can see, they tried to talk me out of it:
I replied again:
After this, they then agree to refund me but I have to wait another 3 months before they can send the payment. They also pretty much black list me then and there from commissioning them ever again:
I acknowledge this and also take note of the date.
Soon after this note was sent. They leave FA and later block me on their twitter account; I wasn't talking to them there. I managed to screen cap this before the block:
So irritating that they make it sound as if they left because people were being "mean to them" and not the fact that they failed to keep their commissioners up to date, failed to give updates on works and pretty much played around with others money.
Yajuuu even went as far as to also block anyone who was in association with me after informing them of a negative outcome with them (wanting to push for a refund). If they were watching me or I watching them on the site, they were automatically blocked.
Now I'm afraid that I may never get my money back for there is no way for me to contact them when the date comes and there may be a possibility of them not keep their prommis of them refunding me at this specific date.
Edit:
Additional screencaps added on behalf of the OP by moderation staff.
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[ This article contains uncensored NSFW imagery (nudity). ]
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I initially got into contact with Strype on the 3rd of November, 2018.
One day later, on Nov 4th, we came to an agreement on a single character thigh-up commission for $220,- USD.
I subsequently provided them with my PayPal address and paid their invoice in full that same day (Nov 4th, 2018).
They confirmed my payment as completed, and informed me that I'd have linework to look at later that week.
On the 16th of November, 2018 (~12 days following the 4th), I received the linework along with a brief apology for the wait.
I approved of the linework some hours later, on the same day.
After this point, a long period of silence and no updates would occur.
This is where I want to bring one's attention to the fact that the artist does not have a ToS.
Below is a collection of screengrabs from their primary sites (FA and Twitter), both having no ToS to speak of whatsoever.
Furaffinity Account Page
Furaffinity "Commissions Available" Post 1/2 + 2/2
Twitter Page
(Additional screengrabs from other sites such as Furry Network (https://furrynetwork.com/strype/) and Weasyl have also been collected, but will not be included here as they are not in use by the artist at the time of writing this article.)
In short; the artist has no rules, no commitments, and no incentive to adhere to any sense of professionalism with commissions that start off at over 200 USD.
I should obviously have considered this a red flag prior, but I did not. That was a mistake.
Reiterating; November the 16th, 2018 was when I received and approved of the linework for my commission.
I waited until December the 17th, roughly one month later, before I sent them a note asking for an update.
No progress had been made - but they had added me to their 'priority list'. I thanked them for the update and continued waiting.
Following Christmas and New Years, on the 12th of January, 2019, I sent them a new note asking for an update if possible.
(The mentioning of 'three weeks' below here on my part is referring to me inquiring about some lighting conditions in the commission, as they had not yet started, three weeks ago.)
Understanding their reasonings, I wished them the best and continued waiting, hoping for an update.
On the 1st of February, 2019, I ended up sending them a new note, asking for an update.
Still no progress - but understanding their situation (they have been open about these issues on their public Twitter, no censoring necessary), I remained patient, hoping for an update soon.
It was during this phase of waiting I came to realize that getting put on a 'priority list' since the middle of December last year actually doesn't mean anything at all.
Strype had been taking on multiple commissions between late December in 2018 and up till early February in 2019 - all while my commission was supposedly a priority.
December 30th, 2018 - Multiple Slots
January 21st, 2019 - One Slot
January 26th, 2019 - Multiple Slots > (This one is especially interesting and will be referred to shortly)
February 10th, 2019 - Multiple Slots
The most alarming about these openings is the fact that these commissions were not prioritized behind my commission.
One of them was actually taken in late January, (Jan. 26th opening), but ended up being completed less than a month later, before my commisson had even been started.
I know this due to getting in contact with the commissioner in question.
[See mod note above]
Following these discouraging news, I wrote up a note asking for a reply in direct response to what I had learned, confronting them with my concerns on the 19th of February, 2019:
This is how my message looked:
This is the reply I received:
Reading this reply, the troublesome lack of any ToS the artist would've had to abide by, became clear to see.
I thanked them for the update and expected results to show up soon.
Three days later, on February the 22nd, 2019, the artist finally delivered my finished commission, thanking me for my patience.
Credit where credit is due, I was satisfied with the finished results, but they had arrived 3-4 months after I had paid my commission in full.
My commission had arrived roughly one week before my PayPal refund (March the 3rd) opportunity would've been rendered forfeit; not a reassuring fact.
Wanting to give them a second chance however, I inquired with them if they would be interested in taking on a second commission, granted that another uncertain 3-4 month waiting period was not to repeat itself, put in a polite of a manner as possible. Their response was simple, and sounded as follows...
There was nothing extraordinary about my experience with them, and 3-4 month waiting period.
If I wanted another commission, I should expect another 3-4 months of the exact same treatment, over again.
...
I urge you to stay away from this artist at all costs, at the very least until they possess a ToS to prevent what happened to me, from happening to you.
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Commissioned Bubbles at BLFC 2018 for a Colored Badge. I paid at the convention in cash. They emailed back very quickly to confirm the commission and get references. (They CC'ed everyone who had gotten a commission at the con).
Their Trello was updated with a sketch of the badge.
I didn't hear back from them though, and in November I sent a follow up message. They replied the badge was completed and being shipped out. Their Trello still only shows the sketch and I have no proof of its completion. I also did not get any tracking number or shipment details.
I gave my address at the convention, but just to be sure, In December I sent my address once more. In January I sent a follow up.
I also messaged them on Telegram - it is still not read.
Finally in January I CC'ed everyone asking if they had heard from the artist.
The artist also replied.
I replied I'm happy to wait. Then in February I asked for an update. And then finally in February I asked for a refund.
At this point it is not looking like I'll get either the commission or the Refund. This artist is not communicative, lied about the status of the badge and the shipping, missed multiple deadlines, and in all failed to deliver.
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