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  • Beware: shindidrawsthings


    Solarian87
    • Who: ShindiDrawsthings
      Where: https://www.instagram.com/shindidrawsthings/?hl=en
      https://www.deviantart.com/shindidrawsthings
      https://shindidrawsthings.tumblr.com/
      https://www.facebook.com/ShindiDrawsThings/
      https://www.patreon.com/ShindiDrawsThings
      When: 03/19/2019
      What: Commission

      Resolved

    I was approached in-game by someone offering art commissions, and given that I didn't have many done of my characters and didn't have much money, I spoke with them a little bit about it.

    editcap1.thumb.png.810ef3666f9b6d24e7998d83b8a996d2.png

    The price was decent and so I agreed to talk about it over discord messages.

    I got information from them, and provided references as well as what I was looking for, which also included the only commissioned art piece I had of the character in question.

    1704223546_proof1.thumb.JPG.5ef38cbd2ceeba12a8608a2db1433514.JPG540627305_proof2.thumb.JPG.c66bb35b91247199adb134664c7820be.JPG1127746053_proof3.thumb.JPG.0791c9e86e0c0a65dd9685cbe112c4b1.JPG420941753_proof4.thumb.JPG.aae7c52ef470cdba65d929e12d6e52de.JPG1266304855_proof5.thumb.JPG.98e5943e807324ce9a3be5c9b0c13ec5.JPG1458947665_proof6.thumb.JPG.6f3f7c464db238237b9b621bfd12ab7b.JPG

     

    The payment was sent, but there was some issues over how it was to be sent to them. I originally used the payment option but was told to resend it as a friend after he refunded the prior payment.

    2011297683_paymentproof.thumb.JPG.8d662e34bc46ad9bd26ae8b3a0bf5424.JPG1534334727_proof7.thumb.JPG.7473222a854f3f1004ecbd050d32cef8.JPG

    502082163_proof8.thumb.JPG.468d5cf750e4b4c4e2a15f4c714de835.JPG

    In the end, the payment issue was fixed and the agreed upon amount was received. There was a little more discussion on available times as well as an ETA on seeing the linework.

     

    editcap2.thumb.png.575c7a077dfb502252341551252261de.png

    Past that point, the next time I contacted them was a little over a week later, on April 5th, to check on the progress given what they had told me about their usual turn-around times.

    246758956_proof10.thumb.JPG.b76af0747fe7fd354bd93b755758a809.JPG

    They messaged me a week later on the 13th that they were finished with the prior line work for a previous commission (the draenei in the screenshot) and that they were going to be starting on mine next.

    Three days later on the 16th I received a message saying that we needed to discuss pricing.

    1112744990_proof11.thumb.JPG.8bce684156db8a3edcdfd4544a46afb9.JPG

    I told them that we had already negotiated and agreed on the price, and that I had paid them in full and up front and that I wanted to see the line art to see if there were any changes I would like made.

    1994022265_proof12.thumb.JPG.207b4f9c1ae4003f4cf4f779c5c3c437.JPG

    There were a few things that I had an issue with and voiced them, as well as restating that I would not be paying anything further since the agreed upon price for the digital color portrait had already been paid.

    845308339_proof13.thumb.JPG.e7f1bc97cffae2eda950796478d27d2e.JPG110393875_proof14.thumb.JPG.ac6a74f41b3821746cc5e89b3e7a117c.JPG

    They attempted to pass blame off on me for not working with them, despite during negotiations a few weeks prior on the 19th when I stated I would be more than happy to provide further assistance should they need more references or clarification from me.

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    They continued to attempt to re-negotiate further payment on a transaction that was already concluded and payment rendered. When I declined, and told them that I would simply take the incomplete product, they agreed. After that, they messaged me that they would probably go ahead and finish the coloring of the art piece anyway or possibly use it as practice for shading and that I should keep an eye out for it.

    489970826_proof17.thumb.JPG.2586bd66706fdcecb2bfacc5b376d37e.JPG

    When I attempted to confront them on this, Discord's bot informed me my message could not be sent because I had been blocked/unfriended by them. I attempted to go to their Instagram page where they had posted the work and reply to their work. The post was rapidly deleted and my Instagram account blocked from viewing their page.

    689646988_blockedfromtheirinstagram.thumb.JPG.6c5d3be191ca197ffa11023f8f0ad445.JPG

    As the payment was changed from a business transaction to a gift, I know I cannot be refunded. I wouldn't have minded being out the money for this commission, but when I was told that they were essentially going to finish the drawing anyway -after- I had told them I was done, I wanted to make others aware of this artist.




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    • Administrator

    Holy moly.  This one is intense.  Firstly, never send payment as Friends and Family.  Artists who insist clients only send via F&F can have Paypal restrict or even close their account if they're caught abusing it.  The fees are business operating fees and should never be shifted to the customer.

    Second, almost every commission artist has been in a situation where they realized they undercharged.  You bite the bullet and remember it for next time.

    Thank you for this.

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    Realizing they under charged after the agreement has already been made is a very poor business practice. That mistake should rest with the artist. On top of that, their attempts to accuse me of things I did not do or say in addition to stating they would go ahead and finish the piece -after- I had told them I was done with them and then blocking me is highly insulting.

    I will not be using the F&F option on Paypal ever again for any artist I commission.

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    Yeah, the moment they asked the payment to be sent as a gift I'd have nope'd on outta there. Doing that makes you both totally unprotected if something goes south.

    Beware well warranted

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    • Senior Staff

    You mention you've not had a lot of experience in getting commission work of your characters, but you seem to have a very good sense of what is or isn't good business as you were very spot on in every point you made. (also a little fistbump for sticking up for your previous commission work's artist) Almost nothing about this is appropriate for the artist to handle this commission. From the solicitation to the very end, every step was so poorly made on their part.

    Any artist that has been doing commission work for some time should be using invoices for everything. It helps the artist keep it organized, it gives the clients a much more reliable paper trail of what they commissioned. And that's before even getting into the matter that specifically requesting a client to pay for or avoid the transaction fee, is a direct violation of PayPal's policy. I'd highly suggest avoiding any artist in the future that insists on Friends and Family payment.

    I'm also floored that they blame you for the lack of updates. They could have at any point left you a message, Discord doesn't just reject messages for people that are offline, it even lets you know if a message didn't go through so it's not like there would be any ambiguity. They could have cut off the piece, asked you for clarification, anything, but they didn't put in any of their own due diligence in ensuring the work was accurate or that they judged their own time appropriately.

    "No artist wants to see what another artist drew in regards to a commission"

    This statement is the one that I just can't get my head around. This is clearly a person that has very little experience in doing commission work outside of video game characters. I assure you, everything about that statement is not true, so much of my work and other's work relies heavily on other artists' renditions of the characters and unique characters will have refsheets drawn by another artist. Knowing what you like about how another artist drew your character helps the next artist know what to shoot for in their piece, and even knowing what didn't turn out quite right, can help the next artist know what to avoid.

    All I can hope is that they learn from this in order to better conduct themselves and gauge their time in the future.

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    So many red flags throughout this entire transaction. But you handled it very well, you have a good grasp of how this sort of business works despite not having gotten much art. I applaud you.

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    You know, I've been doing commission  work for 17 years and I'm just amazed at the audacity of this artist. Good on you for sticking up for yourself. And obviously now you know, but the friends and family thing is a massive red flag. I won't do business with any artist who insists on taking payment this way.

    Hope your next commission experience goes better OP! 

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    you can possibly call paypal and tell them the seller asked you to send you the payment via friends and family and that you didnt know any better so you did. it'll possibly get them to keep an eye on their account so that they cant do this to anyone else.

    sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience. im absolutely disgusted by their conduct with insulting other art you gave them and trying to renegotiate the terms they themself set. wow.

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    A comment has been removed due to a violation of the Community Guidelines and Code of Conduct. A comment may be removed for one or more violations. If after reading the guidelines and code of conduct you feel this message was in error, please contact One (1) staff member.

    I am a Bot. My inbox is not monitored. Beep boop.

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    • Administrator

    Howdy.

    The artist has attempted to post to this beware, but their comments were reserved for rule violations. (Rule 5)  They have also been banned for legal threats against the OP and us.

    OP- spamming the link to this beware on the artist's pages is not condoned by us.  In addition, it is against the ToS of many sites.  While we understand that you want to spread the word about your experience, it isn't a good thing to harass others or get banned for harassment on other sites.

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