Beware: Badcoyote / CritterCanvas

On October 6, 2017, I commissioned art fro Badcoyote during his Meatober Stream. It was a commission in which me and another person (known as Charrwolf) split the price for a two person image. Included is record of us discussing the piece, me paying my share on paypal, and a confirmation email from Badcoyote.

In the confirmation email, he states that the work would be completed in November. But then he reported publicly on twitter that he ended up in the hospital Nov 1, 2017 and was there through Nov 6, 2017. This news primed me to be forgiving of delays, because obviously it was a huge crisis.

It got to December, but then on Dec 5, 2017 Badcoyote (and his partner Lobo) publicly reported that their home was caught up in the California fires. Which was heart wrenching to hear and I knew it would mean that the piece would be in limbo for a while until they could get their lives settled. I mean, it would be insane to assume otherwise and I was alright with that. 

While I was aware he was streaming again by Jan 1, 2018, he later indicated on Jan 10th, 2018 that he was still homeless due to the fire.

On Feb 16, 2018, Badcoyote opened up for more commissions in a stream. I admit, I didn't see anything wrong with this at the time as I imagined he would surely still be in financial distress and honestly trusted him to get to my commission as soon as he was able to.

On Mar 14, 2018, Badcoyote opened up for more commissions in a stream again. During this stream, I had asked his partner Lobo about the commission in private chat and was told it was in the process of being worked on and I would hear more soon. (I had failed to screen capture this as I still trusted them and simply accepted the answer given).

Then on Apr 2, 2018, Badcoyote further revealed publicly that he had been dealing with further medical issues which had taken precedence. Public announcements revealed that these issues continued through much of April. Obliviously, I could not argue with this as health is important.

Finally, on May 1, 2018, Badcoyote provided the sketches for the commission and asked for feedback. Which I provided on May 2nd and he responded again on May 3rd. (note: the second picture also includes an email on May 4th, 2019, asking for an update, which he never responded to).

At this point, I thought "Awesome, he hasn't forgotten me and is still working on this. No worries then." And, regretfully, was content to give him the benefit of more time. So when he had another stream on May 22, 2018 where he took more commissions, I thought nothing of it because I "knew" he was working on it.

Then June comes around and more public announcements of medical emergencies. So, again, I give him leeway because like....that is terrible luck.

September comes along and Badcoyote is having a month of streaming. I will admit the commission had slipped my mind at this point between a busy summer, returning to grad school, and my birthday coming up (also in September). Towards the end of the month of streaming, I remember it though and ask his partner Lobo again about it in stream private chat. He insists it is almost done and will be released in the upcoming Meatober stream in October. Figuring it was just another month, I accepted this (but again didn't think to screen shot it).

On Oct 15, 2018, he publicly announces that due to medical issues with his dog and new jobs for both him and Lobo, the meatober fest would be delayed until after the election in November. Deciding that I would be able to wait till then, I said nothing (plus, like, his dog was hurt :( . I'm not a monster.)

In a late Nov 2018 stream (however, not the Meatober stream), I asked his partner Lobo again about the commission and again was told it would be ready soon and would come with the Meatober stream, but did not say when it would be. At this point, I was growing frustrated, but I did not know what options I had available as it was well past the 180 days for Paypal and I didn't really have any friends in the furry community who I could ask for advice. This was also the first time I was having an issue with an artist I commissioned. So I just bit my tongue and accepted it, hoping it would be "coming soon" as he promised. 

Through Dec 2018, he continued to pump out finished works from the streams throughout 2018 but gave no news regarding the 2017 commission in question. He even held another stream, taking more commissions, on Dec 15th 2018.

This continues into 2019 with another stream and taking more commissions on Mar 15, 2019. Again I asked his partner about the commission and was told it would be out by Apr or May. Not knowing what else to do, I again accept this answer.

On May 3rd, 2019, Badcoyote announces he will be slowing down to work on grinding out commissions. This brings us to May 4th, 2019 when I emailed him to check for an update (and hoping that the email would jog his memory about the piece I was told repeatedly was "almost ready")[previously included]. Getting no answer, I message him on twitter on May 6th as I was unsure if his email was still accurate. He responds promptly and promises it will be done around May 22nd (give or take 3 days). "Sounds great" I think and set my concern aside, especially since I noticed on Furaffinity that he stated he was taking no new commissions until he got caught up.

May 27th comes by and, getting home from work, it suddenly strikes me that I hadn't heard from him. So I ask for another update, unaware I was catching him in a stream.

Now this news disappointed me, but I interpreted it (I would later realize mistakenly) that it would be done sometime in June and I went to bed figuring I would consider what to do (if anything) in the morning. The next morning is when I remembered that he had claimed he would take no new commissions until he was caught up.

Frustrated and angry over the fact that again he was telling me it would be "coming soon" all while he was doing yet more streams. I asked some new friends in the furry community what to do and they told me to go to Paypal and try to get a refund, even if it resulted in shutting down both of our paypal accounts (due to the commission being a sexual piece in nature, which violates the Paypal terms of service). I was worried this was a bit extreme. At this point I remembered I had the discord info of Charrwolf (the person I shared the commission with) and asked for his advice on this issue. He advised a more moderate approach by publicly bringing it up in the next stream chat.

I stated exactly what Charrwolf advised in the stream that evening. But it was deleted before I could even screenshot it. His partner Lobo then chastised me in private chat. Which, ok, thinking back on it. maybe it was a bit out of line, given it was a charity stream. but the commission in question was part of a charity stream from over 1 year and a half ago, so it seemed reasonable. (Following is the conversation with Lobo)

Badcoyote then contacts me on Twitter and, in re-reading the messages, I realized (as stated earlier) that in my frustration I had misinterpreted what he said as meaning it would be "done sometime in june" when what he said was that he was putting off working on it till June (which isn't better, but means I was in the wrong to bring it up in stream). The following is the conversation we had.

During the conversation, he states that there are others ahead of me with older commissions. When I ask about it, he deflects saying he won't talk about them. Frustrated again, but feeling bad for my misunderstanding, I sit back to wait and see if he delivers.

Badcoyote holds another stream in June where he takes more commissions. 

So on June 20th, 2019, I ask for an update. 

In his refusal to provide an update on the commission, he does imply that he had at least 27 commissions from 2017 or older (based on his previous insistence that he could not prioritize me over older commissions). Again he states it is coming soon with a 2 week deadline if I leave him alone to work. I do so, though not entirely out of my free will as I had my own health crisis in July and August.

In August, he again publicly blames job issues for delays in commission completions for the previous month.

On Sept 6, 2019, he opens a stream to take free sketches.

With my own life back in order, I asked for another update today (Sept 14,2018 at 9:03 am CST), to which he has given no response at this time (11:33pm CST). My instincts told me to give him time to respond, but my friends have urged me to post this to warn others. Seeing as giving him time has earned me no results, I have followed their advice. I hope no one else will have to deal with this. Beware Badcoyote / CritterCanvas.

Note: I don't know if I'm out of line for commenting on what occurred throughout the 2 year time span especially since I didn't include images to prove that occurred. I have evidence of most of it (except where I specifically state I don't), but did not include it as I worried it would be regarded as violating the restriction against personal info, even though it was publicly posted. So I summarized it to give explanation to why I had nothing in evidence for such a long period of time and why I kept giving him time to work despite how long it was overdue.