I came across SpiritOfStars's YCH through someone else I Watch on DA and have commissioned before, I had a bit of extra money and it looked like a nice style so I commented on the YCH letting them know I'd be sending a note.
I sent the note that day, 20th of August 2021, and things progressed quickly after that. Note: All communication was via deviantart Notes, and the reading order is from bottom to top.
I was also added to her queue on the original post.
Things started off well; I received and paid the invoice on the 23rd/24th of August 2021 and at the same time I received a lined WIP.
A few months later, in December, I was organising my folders of commissioned art and realised I only had this WIP, I had it in my head that this was already finished so I went looking through my notes for the link, and upon finding none I sent a note asking after it. Spirit replied pretty quickly with an update on the progress. I apologised for my mistake and was happy with this update.
A bit over a month later on the 30th of January 2022, I decided to check in again. Once again I got a fast response, though this time I was advised that she had injured her finger, which had/would cause delays.
While I wish she had reached out about this herself rather than me having to ask, I wasn't too bothered and was happy to wait as so far she was really responsive whenever I reached out (something I mentioned to her). I requested a pic of the updated WIP though, as I had just discovered this site and thought it best to make sure I wasn't being fobbed off.
A couple days later I hadn't heard back yet so I sent another message just in case she had forgotten. A few days later I got a response with the new WIP.
I was really happy to get this response and this WIP, little did I know this was to be the last message I ever received from her. I sent my response thanking her for the update, but to this day it remains unread.
In March I sent a message checking in, but it was not responded to, though it shows as Read.
I followed up again in April, this note was Read as well, asking if she preferred a different contact method, since I figured maybe she just wasn't logging in to dA much anymore (I had not noticed that the Notes were Read until prepping for this Beware).
I didn't send another Note until this month (September 2022), but in the mean time I continued to see artists I follow posting Patreon rewards for SpiritOfStars, meaning she was clearly active online in some capacity, which made me feel ignored and was very frustrating. (I am not including screenshots because these artist's do not deserve their names associated with a Beware in any way).
My next Note I decided to send a more harsh message conveying my frustration and requesting a response. This of course remains Unread.
With no communication and it being over a year since the original commission, I sent one last message an hour ago (1/10/2022) letting them know I was making this Beware, and then set to work on it.
I'm really sad that I had to do this, as again since it wasn't THAT expensive (even if I do always get fucked by the conversion rate to USD) I don't mind waiting if someone is having trouble, but all I ask is for is to be TOLD about delays and have my messages responded to.
Quick note: The early parts are my fault as I forgot about the comm for a little while and so did not follow up for some time, and thus missed the PayPal chargeback window. That said I probably wouldn't have used it or threatened it as I don't want to cause that kind of harm to the artist. I even held off on this beware for a long time because I really wanted to resolve things, as this artist is clearly a Patreon of a lot of artists I know and I didn't want to make things awkward with them. That said, enough is enough.
This commission was initiated via Toyhouse, as such, some screenshots may need to be read from bottom to top with the way the PM system works with this site.
In mid-September 2021, I reached out to DaziKidoT to create a reference sheet for a Final Fantasy XIV character of mine.
After discussing the additions required for my piece, I provided their form and they took payment after presenting base sketches for the character's pose.
After agreeing to one of the poses, they sent me an invoice and it was paid the same day.
I received my first drafts of potential design concepts 10 days later, I selected the concept I preferred the most and confirmed that I was fine with giving them artistic liberties when it came down to the overall color scheme/design work of the clothing.
This is the sketch draft I approved to move forward.
I did not hear from them until October, where they informed of personal matters that cropped up.
This was not a bother at all, up to this point DaziKidoT had been very commutative with me, and it's only been a month since we initiated the process.
After this, I did not hear from them until November, another personal matter happened, but they delivered colored concepts for the design up to this point.
I selected which elements I wished to move forward with, and later that day I received a WIP with the final draft of the design elements I wanted to keep.
All work that has been shown has been of the front-facing portion of the reference, I had not received a WIP of the back-view, nor the unclothed reference which was to show my character's body scars, etc.
A few days later, I received bad news regarding the commission overall. Everything was lost due to hardware issues.
Admittedly, this was gutting to hear, because of how well things had gone up to this point. However, DaziKidoT was still being transparent and communicative with me that I genuinely was willing to wait things out for them to complete the work.
At this point, I had no reason to believe we would run into communication issues, so I declined the offer of the partial refund.
I did not hear from them until January. There was no additional progress to show, but I inquired on January 11th if it was possible to make modifications to the original concept, as things needed to restart from square one regardless.
We did come to an agreement for the design updates for when they were able to resume working.
Another month passed and I had heard nothing from them. I was starting to get mildly concerned about their ability to remain in contact, especially as I was nearing my window for a claim via Paypal. Toyhouse experienced site-wide outage some time before I reached out to them in February, and wanted to have another way to contact them in the event the site went down.
We agreed to swap discord handles. However, I did not hear from them after we mutually added each other, I reached out to them in April to see if there were any updates, and I was informed of another personal matter, and due to limitations with accessing the site, I was willing to try and help them with at least getting the word out regarding the delay as I was not the only individual waiting for work from Dazi.
This is what I posted in their thread, I have since revised my message as I have not had contact with the artist since April.
On April 10th, I received a WIP of the anatomical revisions I was requesting.
We agreed to little details and April 11th was the last time I ever heard from Dazi.
I reached out to them in May to check in, but I received no response.
At this point, I am far beyond my window with claims via Paypal, and I have no options left for recourse.
I provided them an ultimatum, and later delivered the same message to them on Toyhouse in August, it has gone unread.
Only this time being firmer in stating that I do not wish to continue if they do end up returning.
A follow-up was sent in October to be transparent about my side of things, there has still been no response.
As of September 2022, I have reached a full year of waiting for this piece, and I have not heard from them in nearly six months.
In hindsight, I should have taken the partial refund offer when I initially received it.
Started on the 21st of July 2021 when I claimed an YCH from the artist.
Delay for the completion was two months at max, with the artist promising a sketch in-between
One month after, no sketch was provided and I sent the artist a message on FA that remained unread
Waited more months until contacting the artist through their e-mail adress ; Received an answer clarifying supposed health problems and a Discord handle.
Artist was added but never accepted friend request, then did not answer to another mail sent a month later, then deactivated their FurAffinity account.
My communication with Skellri began on the 17th of August 2021. I commissioned her for three headshots.
I sent them my paypal address and then tipped them, as I thought that 30$ for a single headshot at her skill level was too low.
Some days went past and I realised that I hadn't asked for an estimate on when the commissions would be done, so I approached the artist.
However, I did not hear from her at the time they had stated, and then had to approach them twice before they replied. I got a new date for an estimate delivery on the commissions.
I did not hear from them on the 9th of October, and waited until December to contact them again. They answered over a month later in January 2022.
The next day, they did post wips of the three headshots I had requested.
I've not received a message from them since. I approached them again in March, then months later now, in September, eventually telling them that I would have to take some action due to the lack of communication and delivered goods.
She has been promoting her commissions as recently as yesterday (19th of Sep 2022) on their Twitter profile, proving that she is active on Twitter.
Obviously it's far too late for me to get the money refunded through Paypal, and so it stands to this day that I've not received anything but mere WIPs for the 60$ + 20$ tip. I hope that by doing this other people will not go through the same.
update - 10/24/2022
Originally inquired about a commission for dakimakura designs, agreed to the price and splitting it into 2 orders and 2 payments. She never showed me any Terms of Service, I have tried to locate them on her dropbox or FA page but have found nothing.
All conversation was in polish, the screenshots contain my translations and the original messages, the dates are in MM/DD/YYYY.
The first order was put in on 10th of December 2020, the second was on 2nd January 2021, she did not contact me even once between putting in the first order and the second order.
She did not contact me even once between the first and the second order.
(admin note, this was the ref the OP supplied the artist with, the reference has since changed but it needs to be added to the post.)
After putting in the second order she did not contact me with any updates FOR ALMOST A YEAR, her trello had barely any progress happen on it, she did not make any announcements about any delaying events affecting the commissions.
After a brief talk about personal life in December (a year after the order) there was a 4 day silence, she said she will start my order before the year was over however that did not happen.
After another week of silence I sent my new ref sheet to her and received the first WiP.
After asking for a small change on the sketch she starts arguing to not do it and ignores my input on it.
After pointing out a few areas that I wanted a few more spots on (cheetahs have spots) she gave a sarcastic rude response.
After another few months of no progress updates I ask for one and get none.
After another 5 months I receive a another WiP with minimal progress.
It has been 3 months and I have received no further communication or updates, the second order has not even been started by her. She is active and draws but never any commissions from her trello.
At this point I have given up on these orders, I know she will never finish them, I have accepted this financial loss. It has been almost 2 years so PayPal wont help me about this.
First interaction was when Lundukeo claimed an YCH slot on Furaffinity.
DMs proceeded as follows:
(The message order in each screenshot goes from bottom and up)
YCH premade sketch after edited to fit their character:
New sketch after making the edits they wanted:
After Lundukeo approved of the second sketch, they stopped answering. I got worried as others were waiting for me to work on this YCH.
Invoice had been sent but was left unpaid.
I realized I wasn't going to get paid in a reasonable time so I re-opened their slot:
About a month later I got a reply from Lundukeo:
I made it clear that they were banned from working with me in the future, but decided not to block them. Afterwards I forgot about this situation and moved on, not planning on making a beware over this.
Fast forward to June 23rd 2022, I opened for a batch of commissions:
This is one of the forms that got sent in:
I accepted the commission as I loved their character. This is the reference they sent:
I was unable to contact them through their Twitter, as DMs was off, so I was suspicious if the Twitter user was the rightful owner, and contacted the character owner on Furaffinity:
Looking back I realize how much of a red flag this message is. The twitter profile was at the time and still is completely empty, with DMs off. Yet they proclaim to use it for "artists artwork, announcements, game stuff and a way to DM". I ignored the red flag and decided to work with them as the Furaffinity profile seemed legit and they had worked with other artists in the past.
I told them I would get back to them when their slot came up, and in the meantime they wrote me this:
The "mate of theirs" was the person with the blue deer who ghosted me in 2021. I accepted the commission anyway as I was under the understanding that ToughKumquats, a different person, would pay.
On August 17th I sent them a wip of their commission.
ToughKumquats was happy with the sketch but said they were unable to pay right away.
On September 8th, almost 3 weeks after the last message, invoice was still not paid.
I asked them if there were issues with paying, a message which was left unread.
At this point I put two and two together and believed Lundukeo and ToughKumquats was the same person. First of all because ToughKumquats wanted me to draw a character from a person who had been banned. Secondly because their profile had been made around the exact time they ghosted me in October of last year. Third because this pattern of being ghosted after getting a free sketch was similar to Lundukeo. And lastly because someone else on Furaffinity referred to both character owners as their boyfriend. (I will not name them as they have nothing to do with the situation.)
Being 99% sure I had been lied to, I sent this message to both ToughKumquats and Lundukeo:
30 minutes later, Lundukeo replied and my suspicion was proven correct
Admitting to lying and refusing to to pay for the work done for a second time. At this point I believe a beware is warranted.
Lundukeo admitted to ban evading by pretending to be someone else, and falling into the same pattern like last time. Honestly whether or not they planned to scam me doesn't matter, they purposefully lied to me to get around a ban and get me to work for them again.
On April 21st, 2022, I noticed Naiifu advertising a YCH reminder in the submissions on FurAffinity. The YCH isn't the main focus of this post as it was completed but is relevant regarding why they might not be answering. I looked through their profile and their website and wanted to buy a chibi as well. I sent them a note on my personal FurAffinity account after asking on my art one. They responded on April 22nd, 2022 confirming my commission was accepted.
Once the invoice was sent, Naiifu went silent and I heard nothing about my commission for two months. Their FurAffinity went inactive but their Trello was active. I was on their list, but they were completing commissions before mine. This is fine! I know artists may or may not complete commissions in order. On June 22nd, 2022, I sent them a message asking for an update. On June 24th, 2022, Naiifu apologized, saying they had no excuse for why haven't updated me within the two months and sent me a link to a sketch of the first commission.
Naiffu quickly finished the YCH and sent it to me by July 4th, 2022 with changes I requested, saying their workplace had been busy but was finally settling down. With the YCH finished, I asked the same day about my second commission, the chibi, and when it'll be started. The mail icon doesn't appear next to my message, indicating that it was read.
Naiifu went silent and I didn't hear anything back from them. Their Trello stopped updating on June 24th, 2022 and their FurAffinity went inactive. On August 4th, 2022, I sent them another message. I didn't need a paragraph, but something about the status would've satisfied me. The mail icon appears next to my message, indicating that it has not been opened.
With no answer, I sent another message on September 4th, 2022. Because the chibi was $15 and was simple, I asked about a refund or completion of the work. Their website was down, so I couldn't skim through their TOS. Currently, I am outside of the chargeback window and cannot initiate one. I had the intention of sending them the $35 back for completing the YCH, just wanted my $15. The mail icon appears next to my message, indicating that it has not been opened.
The same day, I found Naiifu's Twitter with the most recent activity being from September 1st, 2022 with them posting a sketch. Throughout the months I was waiting, they were active on their Twitter. It wasn't linked in their FurAffinity, so I didn't think to reach out on other platforms. The only sites that were on their profile were their Ko-fi and CuriousCat. I sent them a message, requesting the same.
As of September 7th, 2022, I have not been given a response or answer with Naiifu either having read receipts off or not opening my message. Naiifu has shown activity by retweeting tweets with the most recent being from September 6th, 2022.
I apologize in advance for this mess of screenshots and censoring, but I have been having trouble getting in touch with this artist again after he went silent on me for over a year for a commission I paid quite a good amount for.
These next images are of us coming to an agreement of what we want, not including the excessive details I went into for the idea as I don't find it all too necessary here.
After contacting on that New Year's Eve, he had finally sent a WIP sketch (attached below) and sent another on February.
Then, after February 15 of 2021, he went silent with only the second and last WIP he sent me. Ever since then, I had tried messaging and emailing him but to no avail.
I still have yet to hear back from him and I have even seen others also have the same issue from him, where he stopped replying completely, yet he also takes some other commissions on the side.
Also, something to note is that I have my phone set to Spanish, but I will help include context in the words here.
Buzón - Inbox
Enviado - Sent
Para: - To:
Pagada - Paid
All months should be similar to the English names besides Enero, which is January
Date formats are all MM/DD/YYYY except for the times it's DD/Month/YYYY in some emails and screenshots where the month is clearly in the middle.
In addition, I have shared my own IRL name plenty of times, so I had no need to censor mine, only my PayPal email which is a deadname and the artist's last name (and address/phone too, of course).
I am going to start at the beginning.
I had a lengthy discussions with Esferao about pricing for a animation commission, which includes storyboard, primary animation and finishing touches,
of which we agreed upon dividing up into 3 rounds of payment given my financial state for a full commission of the entire animation project.
Commission arrangements
For the storyboard, we settled on further dividing that up into 7 monthly payments for additional ease of budget management and if necessary,
postponed the work if i couldn’t pay one month.
I personally made sure to pay the agreed monthly amount on time when possible and Esferao finished each months work in a timely manner,
but we agreed on postponing payment during November and December because of Christmas.
Proof of payment for storyboard artwork:
June 2020:
July 2020:
August 2020:
September 2020:
October 2020 (This is when the issue with communication blackout and no storyboard frame artwork delivered within the usual timeframe began) :
January 2021:
February 2021:
The delays of receiving the artwork i paid for began in October 2020 when i paid for that month.
From then on, Esferao suddenly didn’t finish the work in the same rate as before and left all of their means of contact inactive,
despite my multiple attempts at getting a update.
Attempts at getting updates, with minor responses leading nowhere:
However, since then, Esferao has once again went without providing any updates
and appears to have cut off all of their online activity on all sites they are present.
Even despite my attempts to get a response once more from has proven difficult given the current status of their online activity
and i am genuinely getting tired of them disappearing like that.
At this point, i had settled upon giving Esferao a deadline until May 31st 2022 to finish the work if they come back online and if not,
try to get a full refund for the last payment i provided, regardless of how far they are with finishing the final piece of storyboard work
and possibly cut ties with them working on the animation project with me.
That is unless they return and finish the work i paid for.
However, due to Esferao temporarily returning to their FA account between April 20th and April 24th 2022, only to seemingly disable their account on their own accord,
followed by their Twitter account being set to private some time between April 27th and 28th. As such, i decided to revise and tighten the deadline offered to April 30th,
as it was clear Esferao deliberately were ignoring my attempts at getting any update.
Proof of Esferao´s Furaffinity disabled and Twitter set to private:
And as of May 1st, since Esferao did not respond in the revised timeframe i offered, i have informed them of the complete termination of the commission,
as well as made it clear i would take this issue to Artist Beware and demanded a refund for the 4 months
( which i discovered by reviewing Paypal transactions and dates of received storyboard artwork, concluding i am owed 4 months of what i paid for instead of 3 months ),
i never got the remaining fully paid storyboard artwork for, regardless of whatever progress there has been made on the remaining storyboard.
In the end, i feel like its not very likely i will be able to get the money refunded for the part of the storyboard commission that were left unfinished, so i can pretty much only warn others about Esferaosamael.
Hi there, I am making this post about BrokenVocaloid since I have been waiting on two commissions: one from October of 2020, and the other from February 16th, 2021. To be honest, I would be extremely surprised to ever see a finished piece or even a refund at this point, but I figured I may as well give a warning to other people.
There are also a few other problems with commissions that will be shown throughout the screenshots I will be providing, but I am only missing two commissions/refunds as of today.
These first two screenshots show the first (and oldest) commission that I am still waiting on, with proof of payment included. Also included is Broken requesting a $100 credit from me, nearly two months later, which I feel is at least somewhat odd and unprofessional.
This next screenshot shows how difficult it can be to communicate with this artist due to a total lack of response, which is all too common with her.
A month later, Broken asks for me to commission her again, even though I was still lacking the first commission that I talked about earlier. Fortunately for me, she dropped the price to $25 and I only purchased one. Unfortunately for me, I still never received the commission in question. I also included proof of payment below the discussion we had over it.
The stream that would show off this commission was supposedly moved to a later date, but it never happened at all.
Two months later and she DMs me with a request for me to commission her again. At that point I was very reluctant to commission her again, especially with two unfinished pieces, so I declined.
To me, her response seemed very guilt-trippy and manipulative as she tried to put the responsibility for her eviction on me, a customer of her art. I understand opening commissions for emergencies, but directly contacting a previous commissioner and asking for money under the threat of eviction does not seem even remotely fair or professional.
And, of course, you can see that I asked on the status of the commission over two months later to no response whatsoever.
Broken, of course, ignored my request for a status update altogether and invited me to her new server. I put in a refund request to the server after the commissions were not finished when she promised, and that request has been sitting in the refund channel ever since I put it in. The oldest refund request in the channel is from another commissioner posted on the 28th of July, 2021, with no indication of ever being fulfilled.
As you can see, I am far from the only person to have trouble getting commissions and/or refunds from her.
