Artist Caution - ApoChi Studios/Chioro

Disclaimer: the screenshots I have are the best I can get from discord chats where I talked with others about the commission months ago. Commissioner blocked me (see attachment 1) immediately after my saying I wasn't content with my commission compared to others they've done, thus I cannot get any other screenshots than those I have here.

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Proper:

Our first contact about the commission was right after they posted they were open for commissions and (of I remember right) in need of help financially. I had talked with them previously, as they made a nice little $10 pinup of my lizard boy (Attachment 2), and I even made them a little art as thanks in return. They seemed nice, so why not help them out and see what they can do for a full piece?

April 7th, I paid the $140 (attachment 3) for a full shaded piece with a background and showed them all my references for my Y/veltal and U/mbreon characters performing missionary position and its supposed to be romantic. I will note that shaded characters is worth more than background (attachment 4), and the background ended up being the subject in the end piece.

After the start of our commission, they seemed to go pretty fast! They got me the first sketch within 3 days, which came in the form of just a fully lined "background". (attachment 5) Took me off-guard because that never happens, getting the background (lined) before even seeing a sketch of any sort, especially the subjects. Thought maybe the subjects would go on the couch or floor or something (since I didn't specify where, which was in retrospect may have been my first mistake, and they wouldn't tell me what they were about to do). I figured I would wait it out and see what they do.

Waited quite a while, a month went by, another month...I was beginning to wonder, so I asked if there was any progress. Each time I asked, they simply answered "no progress". Meanwhile on Twitter I had noticed them saying they were too depressed to work or some such thing, then it turned to them being in art school all of a sudden. And whenever they were in the mood, they'd spit out about 5 pinup commissions at a given time. By the time I even got an update (which I will touch on in a moment), there had to have been about 30 to 40 commissions finished by them. That is not an exaggeration. I confronted them about it and after a few times of trying, they did indeed confirm that they took many MANY commissions at once, and it's been piling up ever since. And yet they are still asking for commissions and taking over a year to finish what I assume to be most of them.

Moving on, the first update I got since the lined background was on February 11th, 2020 (attachment 6) I voiced my concern that the subjects weren't in the foreground and were instead in the background (attachment 7) while also trying to be nice because they were supposedly my friend, and the fact they'd been going through a lot (allegedly). Their only response was "this is what it looks like zoomed in" (attachment 8 ) which is a big yikes because, not only was it low res if you did zoom in, but it's also the fact it's not the focus, is a big no-no. I voiced my concerns again, and she left me on read. 

February 13th, another update. They only showed that they had colored and shaded the "background" which I thought looked pretty dang good, all things considered. (attachment 9) But no sign of whether Chio decided to move the characters anywhere else. Figured I would wait and see. 

Fast forward to APRIL 15TH with no prior WIPs, the characters were lined and flat colored already. I was so done and tired at this point and just wanted it done that I just couldn't bear to say anything. Other than just shade them, because obviously there was nothing I could do at this point. They had already got it set in stone without my permission. (attachment 10) 

Their reaction to "shading" the characters? (like I had bloody paid for) They darken the room. (attachment 11)

So I figure, well, if you're going to do that, maybe can shade it nice with some glow effects from the U/mbreon that bounce off the Y/veltal and the walls and all?

No. All that happens is that they add a glow around the markings. (attachment 12) Nothing spectacular. I paid full price for this. And the BACKGROUND is the FOREGROUND, and the characters aren't even shaded.

Full piece: (attachment 13)

Friend asking if full piece is a wip: (attachment 14)

Proof of talking with my friends about this even early on when I found out it was in the background: (attachment 15)

Other examples of art released at the same time that is better: (attachment 16)

I'm sorry, but that is a failure to do what you have to do. Failure to communicate and make sure. Failure to get things done. Failure on the level of taking on way too many commissions and getting none done for an eternity. And then screwing up a full piece, which should be considered having /more/ care and effort put into it than your average pinup.

Tl;dr 

-Takes too many commissions, and thus takes over a year to do your art

-Not good at communication on commissions to make sure its what the commissioner wants

-Overly sensitive if you say anything negative at all

There were no WIPs before this.