To start this post off, I have never posted my email publically, nor have I ever given any indication that the character (or any character) in question was for sale. I do not know how this person got my email, nor who they got it from, and I have no clue who he even is. I have zero sales posts for the resale of my ocs, and I have very little desire to sell them, let alone give them away. I believe this is a case of character theft.
When they first emailed me, they were very polite. They asked if I could give them the rights to the character, as I no longer get art of her. Eventually they do mention some form of compensation being given, however they still imply they want me to just give them the character.
I'll admit, my response was probably rude, however this was in no way a wanted business transaction and personally, I find it extremely rude to randomly email someone and ask them to give you their oc simply because they want it. They questioned my decision, and I informed them that it was none of their business as to why I would like to keep that particular character. At this point, they attempt to bring in an artist beware post that was made against me (rightfull) years ago, which was resolved between myself and the artist to try to guilt me or intimidate me. After that they get very aggressive, telling me that he will be using the character anyway, claiming I lost rights to the character the moment the issue with the artist occured, which apparently means he has the rights to take her and use her how he wants.
I inform him that if he does use the character, I'll be contacting the artists to remove the pieces from their gallery as there was no permission given to use the character and I have proof that I've owned it since 2016. He then threatened me once again, saying that all it would lead to is him or others posting Artist Bewares against me for informing artists that I won the character. Again, he brings up an artist beware that was solved, at this point I believe he's trying to scare me into relenting and giving him the character.
I blocked him after this.
I do believe they will try to go through with the character theft. If anyone orders a commission with the character below and claims they own it or they have permission, they absolutely do not have either. Below is the original piece of artwork from the artist I commissioned to design her, as well as the general details showing the time the image was made.
The character's name is Ventress. She is a batpony with a distinctive tied tail and mane, and no cutiemark .
*Due do me deleting the conversation on Twitter, I do not have my messages to the artist.*
On Nov. 9th 2018, I commissioned this artist for a $60-65 slot, including paypal tax, I was charged $70.
I didnt care at the time so I accepted and waited for my commission. About a month went by and I asked if any progress was made, they said no, but would start up after the holidays. I accepted their statement and continued to wait. 1-going-on-2 months later I asked again, no reply, I believe I asked more than once if any progress was made, which I got no reply. So I decided to reach out to my bank and PayPal. When I sent out that claim I finally got a reply, about their dog passing, which NO UPDATE POST was made about this on their picarto, trello, twitter, and telegram chats, not even on their relationship partner’s social media. Its been going on three months with just one complaint about making a claim to paypal and my bank (which was closed so now I cannot make another claim to get my money back) and its about to hit four months, and I still havent gotten a sketch.
I wanted to commission this guy for a custom 3d modell of a character. He did work on many interesting pieces before, just view his 3d gallary for proof. So i wrote to him on Discord that i was interested in getting a commission from him.
It started out pretty casual.
I told him what i was looking for.
It went pretty much good until payment as we quickly came to the terms on what i wanted.
I think the last picture says a lot about my patients at that point. Its been 1 year since i commissioned him and i still had not gotten anything besides wips, also most of them only because i keeped bugging. This was my first 3d thing i wanted to get and i usually commission 2d stuff and wanted to try something new. I feel betrayed and scammed by now. There is no way paypal could assist me as the transaction was already from last year and they only gurantee you for 6 months. if i had known that i would have presured him with pulling my money back, but i never was such a person so i gave him time and casually ask from time to time.
By this day i have written him on Twitter, Deviantart and as you can tell countless times on discord. But maybe posting a beware here could help my soul to find some peace at least.
I bought a reference sheet from an artist, and King21 traced it to fill orders and sell them as original pieces.
My reference sheet
The reference sheet they sold the first person
The reference sheet they sold the second person
Proof that they actually uploaded it, meaning that someone had bought the art from them. (paid $$$).
On Patreon, too (1)
On Patreon, too (2)
On Patreon, too (3)
Patreon post 1
Patreon post 2
Proof that it's almost a carbon copy:
Superimpose (front)
Superimpose (back)
Superimpose (second sheet)
I put them on top of each other and decreased the opacity. Surely you'd agree that they traced my bought work, right? Sure, they changed some proportions like the ears, hand/paw, eyes, etc but that's very easy to do as an artist once you have the base. Hell, I could do it, and I have zero experience in art.While they aren't scamming me directly, I feel like they're scamming other people who are expecting original works, so that should be enough?
At the beginning of 2018 I took Codeine up on a deal. She was to do me a couple's sketch page with flat colour for a grand total of $200. As of now, it is still ongoing and I have two basic sketches (not-coloured) which was shown to me at the end of April 2018. (I'll come back to this later.)
Proof of Purchases
From the initial purchasing of the commission to the first sketch update, I always had difficulty communicating with her, whether it was due to no replies on Discord or her emails. This is a long running trend that is still happening today. She has said multiple times that she has personal issues going on, some to do with mental health and some to do with money. I have tried my best to be cordial and to respect the time she may take as I can understand is can be difficult. But even after a year there really has been no progress on my end all the while she still accepts more and more commissions without ever really seeing them be uploaded. (Of course, these people may have very well gotten their work done, but Codeine told me something herself which makes me doubt that.)
Large and Unmoving Backlog
She told me once that she had a backlog of near 100 people but only works on those that continue to pester her (like myself). Obviously at the time of hearing it, I thought it was a little peculiar and borderline scam-like but I tried to stay positive and said at least it lets her focus down on 'urgent' ones and such.
I'm fully aware I could considered mean or inconsiderate to go back on my word of not outing her, but at this stage I feel like I want to get the word out. With all the hubbub of Jailbird working up a backlog and constantly taking more made me think of it, and if I can stop people from falling into this pit like me, then good. From the horse's mouth the artist has a fairly dodgy work ethic / professionalism since it seems a lot of people's money has sunk into the void.
Potential Attempts at using my wallet more
I would take this one with a grain of salt, but it also showcases the long periods of time I would often have to wait for any kind of communication. She once drew to my attention an adopt for a character going and she started out by saying how much they liked drawing my character, and if I were to buy this adopt for her, I'd get a steady flow of art with them together. To her credit she said it was quite a selfish ask and didn't seem bothered by me declining. However it was followed by a particularly long period of time without any word from her after having finally just been in regular contact with her.
Her initial proposition on Jan 17th.
A period of time without contact from the 17th of Jan to the 20th of Feb. (Now, I personally feel this was because she failed to get the character out of me BUT I am happy to be proven wrong and to state that as more my opinion than anything else.) This further shows poor communication on her end, creating a frustrating time on my end.
Combinations
As time went on, I foolishly continued buying smaller things from her which also were never completed HOWEVER she did offer to combine them into the price of the sketch page. With everything said and done, she dropped a few patreon rewards and sketch slots I purchased completely in order to put more detail into the page. This included a piece of work that she left as flat colours instead of finishing, saying that would go into the page as well. We ended up basically having her owe me the same full sketch page but fully coloured, fully shaded instead of just flats like we originally settled upon. (Which I was happy to accept, of course.)
Recent Endeavours and Attempting Refunds
Lately I've been asking her for refunds on the page. Since its been so long since I've had an update, and trying to get into contact with her was a trial within itself, I started talking more about simply putting it to rest and getting me my money back. There are many things I'm still due from her but have stated I'm perfectly happy to just focus on the very original $200 and forget about the extras added on and the little sketches I bought on the side. Just the other day she responded and tried to say that the amount of work she's already done is worth $260. Even though she had this to say about the original.
This was the picture in question that I asked for price on.
This image, flat coloured would be worth $200 in her own words, that we settled upon and I paid.
Compare that with what she had managed to do for me in one evening that she is saying is worth $260.
We since moved to Twitter to speak, since I generally found better success getting her there, and I could see whether she read my messages or not. She said it was worth $260 because she has apparently done more work on it since (That I have not seen so I haven't been able to even approve it.) though I can't help but imagine she will quickly draw something up or colour a part of it to show me when she next gets back into contact with me. (Which to be honest, if she does then fine. I won't want money back for work that has been done, that's the whole point.) But as it stands, that's all I have to show for my money.
Conclusion and where I am now
4 days ago Codeine explained to me she was away from home for personal reasons and assured me she'd be away for 3 days max and would be home to talk with me further about all of this. Obviously, she has not but has read a post I sent to her earlier today. (Still past the 3 day limit she set.) I have essentially been left on read at this point in time.
The blue tick means someone has seen your post. Grey is the opposite. These were from today. 8 hours ago and 52 minutes ago respectively.
I ultimately didn't want to make this as I hoped we could come to an agreement and I could let it all go. But after constant delays to periods of time she comes up with herself, I promised to myself I would write this up and be done with it if she failed to meet the next deadline. (Yesterday.)
Even if my own issue never gets resolved I hope this might at least make a few more people aware that it might be best to steer clear from this one until her backlog seems to be more under control.
Before I begin, let me reinstate that I wish no ill will or harm towards DaskerLizard or their business. I am simply posting my experience about my time with Dasker so that others my avoid the negative experience that I have had.
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I contacted Dasker/BlueFoxFursuits the morning of June 16th, 2016 via email asking if it was okay for me to order being 17 (turning 18 within the next few weeks) and what their payment plans looked like. I was responded to 4 days later with both my questions answered. Given the okay to order, I then submitted a application via their google docs quote form. I was responded to almost immediately with the approximate due date and how much my suit (which was/will be a partial) would cost. I responded back within a few minutes saying I would like to go ahead and reserve my spot within their queue. After a few hiccups, (me paying in the wrong currency), I finally had paid off my deposit and had a reserved slot for May 2017. I paid £190 ( $287.16 ).
A few emails from me about what furs they will use for my suit were exchanged so I could order a bodysuit to match with no problems. I have since received my bodysuit from another maker.
The real problems started when it finally reached the due date for my commission. I was struggling for with money due to unforeseen car problems, so I emailed them on the 15th of May, 2017 and asked for an update on when I would be up so I could prepare on when I needed to pay/how much to put aside. They replied telling me they had to "do a lot of shifting around in my queue due to confuzzled suits overrunning" and how they had injured their back moving fur supply boxes and that they will be "starting up the queue again towards the end of june when I'm back from confuzzled, and also back from visiting family for a late birthday meetup". I was both upset and relieved on how I would have time to save up further and put aside my money problems, but also a little sad considering they had taken more con crunch commissions and put them ahead of other preexisting commissions.
The next time I contacted Dasker was 5 months (October 9th, 2017) past the given completion date of end of June 2017. I simply stated how I had not received an email from the regarding my commission and how the queue was looking/when I would be up. I was then informed unknowingly that I had been once more pushed back to February of 2018. At this point I was rather upset, so I did not reply.
I emailed them ONCE MORE on July 21st, 2018 (another 5 months after the due date they had given me had past), asking what the wait time is looking like since my slot had been missed once more. They responded a week later on July 28th, 2018 saying they had moved and had eurofurence deadlines to focus on. Again, putting convention crunch commissions ahead of regular commissions. I was told that I would have my commission and "all older orders out by jan-feb next year". Again, moved another year back. I did not reply.
After waiting so long, I then took it upon myself to contact Dasker one more time on January 8th, 2019. They replied saying that it "should be february". Seeing as it was the beginning of the month, I was VERY excited to finally get around to getting my suit. That is until as of late.
On February 17th, I contacted Dasker after finding out that they had once more opened for more commissions. This has had me extremely worried that my commission from 2016 would be pushed back once more to make room for other, newer orders. I asked them if there was a problem with my character and asked that if they did not like the character given, that they would tell me and refund me my deposit instead of pushing me back over and over. They then confessed to me that I am not the only person who has been waiting since 2016 for their suit and that I should have my suit by March. I was upset by this information considering how I am 1) not the only one going through such an experience and 2) my slot had once again been pushed back.
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To reiterate, I am a very patient person. I from the above evidence, it is obvious I have only emailed one to two times a year asking for updates, often waiting months after the date I was told to contact them. To put it into perspective, I ordered when I was 17 years of age, I am now not too far off from turning 21. I have given Dasker the benefit of the doubt one too many times, and I can say that I am very unhappy and disappointed with my experience so far. I only paid the deposit needed to reserve my spot, but I have had the rest of the money needed within my Paypal for up to 2 years now. They do not email/contact commissioners when they come upon hard times, leaving one to basically chase them to get a vague answer on when your commission will be started. Dasker seems like a nice person, they not once seemed rude and often replied in a very professional manner. However, it seems their queue is VERY disorganized and unprofessional. At the moment of writing this, I still do not know what spot I am in their queue and do not recommend working with DaskerLizard/BlueFoxFursuits. I will update further when/if I receive what I have paid for or if anything else unfolds.
If you see any inconsistencies within my writing, please let me know and I will fix them!
July 4 2018
Tolwulf posts an advertisement on a unofficial Anthrocon Telegram page for badges to be completed and picked up on Friday, July 6 2018
Following this advertisement, I replied asking for a badge upon landing at the airport in Pittsburgh. Payment email had been sent, and they received the amount of 30 USD. An invite link was provided to a group chat where progress on the badges would be delivered to those who commissioned him.
July 7-8, 2018
An update on badge progress was requested. He replies that it will be completed by Sunday at the latest.
July 9, 2018
No progress had been made in regards to the badge. In a face-to-face conversation, he mentions the badges will be shipped out post-con. This was later confirmed in the aforementioned group chat.
August 7, 2018
TolWulf sends some messages explaining how he's been busy and is currently working on the badges. I reply back. There was no reply for several more weeks.
October 15, 2018
The artist reiterates that he's busy, and adds that line work has been done for the badge. I ask for WIP pics to see if there is any truth to this statement.
November 2, 2018
After asking once again for an update, and mentioning the possibility of requesting a refund, TolWulf replies once again, and no WIP has been provided, claiming they are currently busy with other work. I inquire about a potential deadline.
November 28, 2018
Following a brief conversation regarding MFF, TolWulf replies saying he currently has completed the badge and mailed it and the other incomplete badges to the Hyatt (no idea why he did this). He says he will send pics of the completed work upon arrival to the hotel.
He continues by saying he will ship the badge from MFF. I mention I will send him my Canadian home address when I see the completed badge.
January 15 2018
No updates have been given. I give a final warning. As of today (February 16. 2019), the message has still been left unread.
To sum all of this up, there has been a lack of prompt communication with the artist. If at any point there was a reply, TolWulf would continuously claim that work had been done, but not provide any evidence to show for it. A dispute has been filed with PayPal, but was instantly denied, given the claim was made 180 days past the transaction date, leaving me short of a refund and no foreseeable badge in sight. I will post any updates when and if I hear back from the artist.
**THIS BEWARE CONTAINS NSFW CONTENT**
Commissioning Lenex
I have commissioned Lenex in the past and was very happy with his work. His work is high quality and he’s very reasonably priced. I bought my slot in May of 2017, Lenex was very fast responding to my emails and after I paid Lenex told me the slot was mine.
Proof of Lenex confirming my slot: https://i.gyazo.com/8146060f8528ebf0b5d6b23f0c4b3777.png
Proof me paying Lenex: https://i.gyazo.com/b8870641506f235efbda00f96d828201.png
No Contact and few FA updates.
After this...Uploads on Lenex’s FA began to slow to a crawl. I would see maybe one finished commission a month posted. This was often backlog from 2016. The only updates I ever saw from Lenex were him often opening his queue again. Explaining he needed rent, understandable. But after taking another bulk of comic commissions, Lenex would seemingly vanish for another month. He did this every month. Open the queue, vanish, open the queue vanish. And so on. This behaviour started to concern me, but I tried to stay positive.
One of Lenex’s last major updates was him asking if anybody would be willing to ‘float’ their commission. This meant they would be willing to wait an undisclosed amount of time for their product. I opted for this, as I felt sorry for Lenex’s heavy workload beginning to get on top of him. I'm afraid I've no proof of this beyond an email I sent to Lenex confirming I am willing to wait. At one point, Lenex even asked some people to opt for refunds rather than getting their work. He admits both will be timely processes though.
Lenex taking on more commissions via journals every month: https://i.gyazo.com/9959aaf4e22c36efa121511417e829ea.png
Lenex asking people to be refunded instead.: https://i.gyazo.com/7f8fa0b5aab76a24c961aaab0634c0c0.png
My email to Lenexwants: https://i.gyazo.com/72dd9e553fb0b9f6412b5d0bfc8ba864.png
Lenex cancels all Commissions
In June of 2018 Lenex posted an update informing everybody he would be transforming all commissions into artistic freedom, or receive a refund. This was due to Lenex no longer wishing to draw graphic artwork featuring non consensual acts. This upset many people who expressed their frustration at this sudden change. Nobody had been given any notice nor would their old commissions from 2016/17 be honoured despite being commissioned before this sudden change of ToS.
At this point I was tempted to get a refund. Even though my commission would not be affected by this new change of ToS as it did not contain noncon/gore. I decided against this as judging by the few updates Lenex posted to FA were money worries, I felt a refund would be more tedious than waiting for my product. I filled in lenex’s new commission form and sent my email. I was put back into his queue. After this update, Lenex ceased to post all together.
Lenex's new commission form (warning: contains NSFW imagery and mentions of fetish): http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27543789/
Lenex apologises and retracts his new rule.
3 Months ago, after 5 months of further silence on his FA. Lenex posted a journal apologising for his lack of organisation and handling of commissions. Lenex at this point had responded to a note I had sent him asking for a previous commission to be removed for personal reasons. This was the first time Lenex had spoken to me since first buying the slot in 2017.
Lenex disabled comments on this journal admitting in the journal he didn't wish to get any kind of backlash.
A link to the journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8933648/ (in case of deletion, a screencap) https://i.gyazo.com/e143de4d13d211b43d5eec992b3aaf4d.png
I cannot provide proof of the note as the account I noted Lenex on is disabled and I've since lost my credentials to it I'm afraid. If Ican break into it I will post it if mods deem it relevant.
No contact still
On 20/1/2019 I sent Lenex an email asking for an ATA on my two year standing commission. As of 12/2/2019 I have still had no response from him.
My email to Lenex: https://i.gyazo.com/c50b3b3eaa404ff98ff8467b62af06ea.png
Final comments
I feel saddened it has come to this as I have been a fan of Lenex’s work since 2014. I do not like writing complaints. I feel I've been more than patient with Lenex but now I feel myself and many of Lenex’s customers have simply been used as loans to pay for rent and put onto uncertain waiting lists with no communication and now Lenex has taken on far too much to handle. While I do feel for Lenex who clearly has had some hardships the last year or so, the complete lack of communication between both myself and all his other custom has pushed me to write this as a warning for anybody interested in this kind of artwork.
I didn't really want to post a beware, but after 8 months, I've come to hate the piece I got, and remember how horribly I was treated when I asked for a refund regarding it. So, here it goes.
Also if I leave anything out, my web browser ate my first typing of this post due to a misclick, so I shall attempt to properly add all the information once again.
So back in June I saw the artist hosting a YCH, and given prior business transactions went by smoothly and with great turnaround times, I quickly grabbed a slot.
NSFW YCH: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27646358/
Proof of Payment: https://prnt.sc/mjumqe
So payment was sent, and then began the wait time.
Eventually after some time had passed without a WIP, I poked the artist asking if they had started one, and if not, I wanted a refund. This was after 2 months without a single update. When I did so, I was soon met with a rather rude, defensive approach and the artist claiming they did "no refunds" and that I should have known given it was in their ToS (mind you not once during any of the prior transactions did the artist provide their ToS, and had I known this was a part of it, I would have never commissioned them). They also blamed personal matters for the delay, and blamed my lack of knowing they were away (apparently they made a journal which I didn't see/missed in the mess of 200+ other journal notifications) as the reason for the delay. The artist also claims I had been pestering them since I got the art for updates, which is a blatant lie.
I had asked for an ETA for the completion of the artwork, seen here:
The next time I asked where I was listed in their que, which was 1 month later:
Finally I asked for a WiP after 2 months without a single update and if one wasn't provided, that I wanted a refund (I cannot find if I told them if I didn't get one I'd open a PayPal claim), this is where the hostility happened:
The one thing that should have been my red flag was that first they said they hadn't started, then suddenly they had a WiP to show once I asked for a refund. I was provided the WiP, asked for updates, and approved the WiPs then after:
Eventually I got my art, but not in the professional manner I should have gotten it
Unknown to me, the artist finished the art, uploaded it, and I went a week or longer without knowing. The only way I found out it was even done is when I saw the uploaded finished piece in my submission notifications. The artist failed to note me the link, and I had to ask for the finished file to be sent to me:
Now 8 months down the road, I'm looking at the piece, and finding compared to other artwork done by the artist of the same style, my piece is lacking. it clearly was rushed, the quality is poor, and the more I look at the piece, the more I come to find myself wishing I had just pushed the refund via a PayPal claim and not accepted such a terrible finished product.
This is what I received:
NSFW: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28596438/
I should have posted a beware back when this first happened, but given I got my art, I didn't think it would be approved. Back then too I was just glad to have even gotten the piece. However, I'm wanting to now warn others of this artist and their means of conducting business.
I just want to warn people of my experience with this artist, in hopes that no one else ends up treated like I was or in the same situation I am in now.
