Beware: breaking_spine

- Original agreement + Proof
Casual conversation about the Salt Queen ideas. We started Feb 23rd. They ended up sketching her out extensively.

- Proof of payment 

I asked for a paypal invoice, so that I could keep track of the transaction. They confirmed payment.

I received the gif immediately and was extremely pleased with it. I used it on my commission website as well as my curious.cat.

- Any relevant correspondence

Spine Breaker was friends with my partner first. I met them through their work on my partner's persona, Salt King.
Often described as Spine Breaker's muse, Salt King was a design they made based on my partner's likeness, rights to the character was always Spine Breakers. My partner has never claimed to own the design or want it. Salt King art was only used as discord profile pictures and steam profile pictures. 
Spine Breaker would send me random sketches or finished pieces of Salt King, and other finished works, but no Salt Queen progress. March 19th is the last I saw any related work of any kind on Salt Queen.
 

I liked their art so much.. I wouldn't have spent 300$ on their work if I didn't like it. I'd always message them about their newest Salt King works that they would send my partner!

- Refund Request 
Half a year of random conversations later, I asked for a refund on Sept 21st. I had started to doubt their desire to finish the commission long before this, but wanted to wait it out for as long as possible.. I was honestly so excited to see Salt Queen design finished by them. October 12th was our final correspondence.

Below is a message they sent to my partner the same day as my refund request.
My partner felt like he could do something about the situation and inquired on his own. Receiving this excuse below as the reason why they didn't work on my commission this year.
The fact that Spine Breaker tried to say I didn't like their work still baffles me. This whole thing was an insult... A slap to the face. I said nothing and waited on the refund.

Yes, I too am an artist, my income is 100% made from freelance artwork. But I commissioned THEM for the Salt Queen because of their amazing work! (Work I believe far surpasses my talents.) I didn't design Salt Queen myself because I wanted them to.. I'm still very confused by this logic... Or why this wasn't brought up to me long before we reached this point. 

I waited until November 1st for the 100$ refund, nothing was received, not even a message. With no communication at this point, things started to feel personal. I removed the artist from my socials November 1st.

Below is the inflammatory message they sent my partner a day later on November 2nd. Absolutely none of this can be explained by me. I was always honest with the artist, always excited to see their work, and honestly felt lucky to be so closely associated with them through my partner.

If they ever had any sort of ill feelings towards me, it was never brought up with me. And with 200$ spent, I wasn't really sure how to act around them.

After sending the message above to my partner, they blocked him, making this a very odd personal attack. I was never refunded anything. And he lost a good friend in his attempt to mediate.

Beware this artist.

6/27/2024 mod edit:

MazumaCat has received a partial refund and considers the matter resolved.