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Artists Beware
The namesake database. Submissions are categorized by "Bewares" and "Cautions".
On August 1st I saw an adverstiment posted in the Megaplex 2018 artist chat for Tiki Badges. I contacted Nya and asked to be added and paid $25 for one. They said that mine might not get done until later after the convention which I was fine with. After this is was harder and harder to get a hold of them. The last time I heard from them was October of 2018. After they dropped out of contact I searched for their twitter and found it hadn’t been touched since late 2018. I now am at a loss on how to find them but seeing as Telegram reports them as active within the last week, I’m assuming they’re ghosting me.
WHO: Kylestudios
WHERE: Discord
WHAT: 35$ Commission, 2 characters with background. Flat colors
WHEN: June 11th the talk and pay. Lost contact until October 11th, then lost contact again, then re-contacted on January 11th and March 20th 2019
EXPLAIN: In June 11th The user was in need of money due to some problems mentioned in the screenshots below.
Though we rarely chatted i wanted to help him out with the condition to have a commission with the quality avaliable for the price he asked.
2 Characters, Flat Colors and a Background. Details shown in the screenshots.
I've sent him the money on the very same day and told him to "Take Your Time", that i wouldn't push him etc, but to please do a reference sketch for what i asked to see if it comes out more or less the way i asked for.
Lost contact until i talked to him on October 11th asking if there was any issues but he said he haven't started yet (I am aware that he might be slow due to IRL situations or whatever mood he might be... But 4 months...?)
I even told him that if there was any reason for him not being able to do it that he should tell me about it, and if he had even a small WIP , like i told him on June, that he could send it to me..
On January 11th 2019 i asked him for status.. Told me "Next week"..
On Wednesday 20th of March i asked again for the commission status and all i got was the same kind of answer, "Soon"..If he's not going to do much about it i'm going to send him an ultimatum, wich's a Time Limit... And if that doesn't happens then i'll ask for a refund, but for now i wanted to show my status of the problem here..
....And there was nothing else after that. Half year waiting and still nothing... However, in some other places where he posts his drawings (Not sure if i can link those), you can see him post art for himself many many times, but for himself!...NOT the commissions he owers to a total of 21 persons since a journal post on an art site for over 6 months!
I mean, when you got a commission, you don't want to make the client wait THAT LONG.. People understands he might have IRL things to do (like a job, life, etc).. But you don't make a client wait nearly 1 year to get a drawing done, something he can make up quick and correctly (WIPs etc)..And even more making him look like "Hey look at my new drawing(s)!, but you'll have to wait for your pic even more because of this!"
...You don't do that to a client.. Whenever "I" get asked for a commission i put everything from my "To Do" list and focus on the commission at that moment (Unless i have to go to the doc etc)
All the details below (Sorry if there's a bit of a chat but you guys want proof?, so have it..
PROOF:
Refund Need https://prnt.sc/lw9upx
Commission asking for the 35$ https://prnt.sc/lw9usm
Paypal link https://prntscr.com/lw9xt4 (Censored)
Commission Details:
1. https://prnt.sc/lw9uty
2. https://prnt.sc/lw9uus
3. https://prnt.sc/lw9uvj
4. https://prnt.sc/lw9uwg
5. https://prnt.sc/lw9uxe
6. https://prnt.sc/lw9uy4
Telling him to not rush things but please show a Sketch WIP in certain ways https://prnt.sc/lw9uz1
Asking if there's problems with the commission https://prnt.sc/lw9uzw
Paypal Invoice thingy
Commission status asking on January 11th 2019 https://prnt.sc/n25fdw
Commission status asking, again, on March 20th https://prnt.sc/n25frp
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sailorpawz is a deviantart creator that frequently hosts contests where users can draw her characters for money, da points, or custom pieces. In Feburary 2018, I decided to enter one of these contests, after seeing her advertise it on Furry Amino. It was a contest to see who could design her a brand new character, after she gave a few examples of breeds, colors and aesthetics she'd like incorporated.
After a month after the due-date and origionally listed 'judging day', I contacted her via Furry Amino to discuss the situation, as she had deactivated her deviantart account for a few days at this point. She explained she was going to reactivate and announce the winners, which she did soon after. She then mentioned that she couldn't pay up, then redacted and instead said she would need to wait to pay the winners, which I said I would be willing to wait after she mentioned she wanted to choose my design as the top pick. It was a few back-and-forths between us before she was gone for good. I would check in on her from time to time, asking her about how things were going, talking about life, etc. so we could remain on good terms. However, one day she had suddenly deleted her furry amino account, and I have not heard from her since July of 2018. It has been over a year since the announcement of the design contest.
Do not participate in her contests unless you want to get nothing in return if you win.
Our Furry Amino chats have been posted below, I am redacting any personal information for the sake of the both of us. There were two separate chats--the first one in December, she suddenly left, but still had her account live. The second one, she left when she ultimately terminated her account for some reason. She has not attempted to reach out to me on any platforms, nor respond to my several invoices on paypal.
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On the 9th of April, 2018. I ordered a commission from an Artist who was in need of money. The piece ordered was a $115 character reference sheet. The first payment was in the form of a donation taken and in return I was getting a paid commission from him, the second payment was when the commission was changed to a character reference sheet. In the first couple of weeks, he had finished the linework of the character’s body and first outfit. During that time he took on a number of other commissions from other people and worked on their linework too, but there was no progression of colour at all. He’d work on his own artwork every now and then, even colouring his own stuff but my commission still remained in linework stage. Months pass and I got the same “Yes, yes, I’m just going to finish some more linework from these other commissions and then colour them all together.” Well, it came to December where I was told I had to be bumped back in line because he had to deal with another commissioner’s art. So he began putting that commission in front of everyone else's. At the end of December, I had told him that I wished for a refund. Fast forward three months to this day and I just received my refund after badgering for him for so long about it. This man lacks the communication skills necessary to run a business as an artist, uses the “Send to friends/family” as a PayPal option and continuously makes excuses for refunds.
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(My original advice post is located here.)
NOTE: Her real name and email haven't been omitted, as they are readily available on her websites.
Unfortunately, because the artist and I were on friendly terms, much of the communication for this commission was done verbally at Phoenix Comic Con (PHXCC). However, I'm providing screenshots of the correspondence we had online.
I originally discussed a pencil drawn commission with Goldenwolf at PHXCC back in 2017. She told me that She'd have it done by May 2018 (the next PHXCC), but would get it to me sooner if requested. I told her I'd be selling some things after the con, and if I had enough after obligations, I'd confirm the commission and send payment. (Email Discussion) As agreed, I sent payment for the piece with extra for shipping via Paypal on July 7th 2017. I didn't receive confirmation she had gotten the payment, so I nudged her on August 4th. She replied on the 7th with confirmation, making mention that she thought she had already replied to me.
When I saw her commission queue posted to FurAffinity (FA) on Feb 5th 2018, I asked why my name appeared to be missing from it (the screenshot was taken recently, after my name had been added). After I pointed this out, she assured me that mine would be finished "this month", which I took to mean February.
During February, she also attended Texas Furry Fiesta, where she advertised accepting more commissions on FA and Twitter.
On April 16th 2018, I sent an email over with my updated reference (no big design changes, just more examples of his different forms were added on it). On the 17th, she said I was on the "short list" and she'd be getting to mine after a couple of other things.
May passed, and on June 10th 2018, I asked for a progress update. On June 26th she emailed over a rough sketch for my approval. She mentioned in the same email that she was suffering from severe depression. I responded requesting a few edits, but because she was my friend and I wanted to be supportive, I tried not make her feel pressured.
After I didn't hear back from her on social media, I sent her another email on October 26th 2018. I offered her the option of just refunding me if she was unable to produce my commission in a timely manner, and her response to this is just better just read from her email directly.
I waited to post on Artists Beware for advice until after December, because she mentioned in the email that she was hoping to have the piece done by then.
Following advice from A_B, I sent an email on February 15th 2018 asking for a refund using the outline provided to me in my advice thread. As of the writing on this, I haven't heard anything back from her.
While collecting screenshots for this post, I found her current Terms of Service. (She has never directed me to it, so I'm unsure how it may have changed over time.) I do know, that if I seen this TOS before commissioning her, I wouldn't have, friend or not. (It features an "A**hole Clause", which in and of itself would be a huge nope.) Notable Sections: 1 2 3
I also found that she has a Patreon, which despite her huge backlog, offers sketches to certain tiers. I'm unsure, however, if she's actually provided them. 1 2
I'm not sure what else to add, really. It doesn't currently look like I'll be receiving my commission or a refund. ?
04.14.20 update:
UPDATE: 4.18.2020
On 4.14.2020, just hours after the update was added to the post, Goldenwolf sent the client this refund and statement:
She had not done work beyond the sketch provided back in June of 2018
The client responded with this invoice and statement
Goldenwolf then refunded the client on the 16th of April for the remainder of the commission payment.
This issue has now been marked as Resolved.
- commission
- artist
- beware
- goldenwolfen
- golden wolf art
- 2019
- christy grandjean
- christie goldenwulfe
- wolfsisters creations
- kierrn moon
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I met Finley at AnthroCon while they were running a booth in the Dealer's Den. There were suiters attending the con in suits that Finley had made, and the tails they had on display were of good quality. We talked for a while about pricing a fullsuit, how long delivery dates were, how deep the queue was. At that point, I decided to commission a Full Digitigrade suit from them for $1600. Communication was great until December, at which basically all communication ceased.
The only reason that Finley responded here was because I had 2 emails:
I am open to marking this Beware as "resolved" if and when the refund has been processed on PayPal.
New information as of 7/1/2019. I was promised a refund (partial in June, the rest in July). Finley has not been in contact since those promises were made. I've attached the email conversation below, and you can see comments for more info.
At this point I'm forced to raise this to Beware status from it's current Caution status.
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Badge Blues: BluHuny
By baja, in Artist Bewares,
I attended Further Confusion back in January of this year, and with every year attended so far, I am always keen on getting commissions from artists within the Dealer's Den & AA's.
BluHuny's work was shown to me by a mutual friend and I sought to commission them for a badge of my fursona. I didn't find them on their advertised day of the convention (Saturday, the 19th), and instead found them on Sunday, the 20th.
I met BluHuny in person and discussed their terms and turnaround time for a Badge Commission, which was going to be around a month-- this is also mentioned within their TOS, which is not linked to a commissioner directly, nor were the terms presented to me by other means when discussing the commission at their table. I paid for my slot then and there, and was told I'd be contacted later that evening.
I was not given a receipt for this transaction, for some reason? But my payment registered on my card's mobile app.
This was the only contact I got from BluHuny directly after the convention, which gave my slot a number in their queue, but their public queue channel does not actually show how many people are waiting for a commission, and all the details on how many badges, non-badge commission etc are on deck in total.
As of 3/14, this is the amount of people subscribed to the queue channel.
I never got a response from BluHuny to my inquiry, and I just let it go. They said they had a backlog from MFF, and that was fine, I was made aware of that from the get-go, but he was adamant that the FC commissions would be started in January. This did not happen.
Updates and some delays are noted in this update channel, but as far as I am aware, there's no direct contact with any of his commissioners, and finished commission previews are just posted in short bursts as they work.
However, as they are still working through their MFF queue in February, they open up for more commissions.
This is where I begin to get a little wary of their work ethic and the validity of their strict, personal deadlines for paid commissions; BluHuny still hasn't touched base with me at all.
On the 18th of February, they are still getting through the MFF queue.
In this time, they have mentioned attending other events such as Galactic Camp, GSFC and more recently, FurTheMore in Baltimore.
This causes me to worry even more, as they stated to myself and other prospective clients in person that they do not take commissions outside of the convention circuit.
I have my own personal issues that prevented me from putting the commission at the top of the list, but as we entered the month of March and BluHuny still made no effort to speak to me, and their preferred way of working with a queue wasn't sitting well with me, I was on the fence as to what to do with this slot I still held.
Several non-convention commissions were put before the FurtherConfusion queue, and I finally decided to just outright cancel this commission.
It is only when I want to cancel my commission, that BluHuny is keen on speaking to me, below is our correspondence via DMs in Telegram.
[1]
[2] - Note, I had to prod him multiple times to get to the refund, in spite of him saying he'd take care of it "soon".
[3] - The screencap in this log corresponds to my proof of payment posted above in the opening of my post.
[4] - I felt like they were blaming me for not 'getting in first'? But, they weren't officially tabling at FC at all. They were under someone else's table?
Speaking to him one-on-one was harrowing for me, as with my previous beware experience, I want to be considerate to the artist I'm working with even if I'm canceling or the commission is otherwise void.
His tone just came off very flippant to me, and while I made my problems with his process known, none of it was acknowledged by him. Not even when I brought up that he ignored me when he says that Telegram makes it easier to speak to his clients. It just comes off arrogant and leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.
As of 3/14, I am still waiting for my refund to be processed.
I was willing to consider commissioning him again when I initially requested my refund, but after dealing with him like this? I'm taking my business elsewhere and I wouldn't recommend working with him at all.
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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.
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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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