Artist accepted comission, then halfway through doubled price, then refused to finish? Please advise.

[Nimblebutt]

Hi, so recently I had comissioned an artist to make changes to a previous work. We'd agreed upon 20$. They started work and got about half done and complained it was worth more then 20$ work. (It had been approximately 50 minutes of work.)  The price raised to about 40. I said ok, but stated it was unprofessional. About 20 minutes later the job was 90 percent done. They refused to finish, ranted about me mistreating them as an artist (they now were texting me only in spanish and I had to google translate)

They gave me the finished work and said they won't do any more work and not to contact them again.. and no need to pay since it won't be finished. Went on a rant about me mistreating them. (in essence, they prefer total artistic freedom. I'm paying for specific changes, they claim I'm just being difficult.)

I asked them to finish so I could pay them. They then tell me I should pay them for their time.. after they gave me their progress and refused to finish. I asked them to crop out the unedited parts, and I'd pay them 25, a compromise between 20 and 40. They declined.  I offered to pay 60 to 100 dollars for them to finish (90 percent of the work was done. this is 3x to 5x what I was originally told I'd be paying.) They declined. Told them I was uncomfortable paying them after they went off on me in spanish, and already gave me the file, permission to use it. Because I have to pay another artist to either finish editing it, or crop the finished parts. (I have no software for arting.)

Any advice? Like, I offered more money, offered to have them literally crop it in the software they have for the payment, offered an apology.. and they just won't budge.. (but also state it's disrespectful of me not to pay for their time..)  They also made a tweet about how "if a customer is rude to me I AM allowed to be rude back."  I was in no way rude, we were discussing changes as they were being made and the artist became frustrated. I'm extremely upset and confused.  Should I just have another trusted artist finish the edits? Crop what can be used and get a new reference sheet?

[Eden]

Howdy!  Your post was in the wrong spot, so I went ahead and moved it.  All advice posts are to be anonymous, so the second post with the images in question was hidden.

[Bornes]

I'd screencap everything and submit a beware, honestly. Maybe they will come to their senses.

Otherwise, you already have the art right? I'd just use it without paying anything. Make sure I had screencapped the part where they said I didn't have to pay if anyone else brings it up. The end.

 

This is a loss, you won't be able to work with this artist again in the future. Just take it and move on.

edit:

Also depending on what work needs to be done, it could be done by anyone and there's free software to do such. Especially if it really is only cropping and nothing else. There are even art programs that are in the browser.
https://www.photopea.com/ is a really good one.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Bornes
added second half of post

[lunarhallow]

I find it strange they gave you the file but not wanting payment from you? I understand washing your hands of a situation, but I don't think I've ever seen any clause in a ToS where the artist gives you the unfinished file for free and refuses payment for work. I wonder how much language barrier is playing a part in this?

A caution is probably necessary. It's bad practice to agree on a price then turn around and ask for more money--unless, of course, there is an edit/additional work fee agreed on. This would usually be stated upfront/in the ToS/in the contract, though. Usually.

As for using the artwork...they gave you the file, but you didn't pay for it, and the artist isn't accepting payment.There isn't anything stopping you from using it. At the same time there isn't anything stopping the artist from filing a take down claim if they recognize it. They could also turn more unprofessional and take the problem to their fans. I'd tread carefully here.

Definitely post a caution/beware. 

Edited December 1, 2019 by lunarhallow
Added to a sentence

[lunarhallow]

7 minutes ago, lunarhallow said:

Definitely post a caution/beware. 

Adding on to this since I re-read it and noticed this at the bottom -- 

11 hours ago, Nimblebutt said:

 They also made a tweet about how "if a customer is rude to me I AM allowed to be rude back."

This alone has changed my mind from a caution to full on beware. This is super unprofessional, since as far as what's posted here, all you did was ask for edits. Seeing an artist tweet about being rude to their customers is a HUGE NOPE

[Leongon]

Hi!

 

I'm a little suspicious of your story because it makes the artist look unreasonable to a really fantastic degree. A degree where anyone dealing with them would have backed off long before reaching the point you did with them.

It sounds like it's a person with mental issues, or a little kid, instead of an unreasonable or unprofessional artist.

I think if we knew the story from the side of the artist this might make more sense. But until then, all I can say, based on your story, is that if you have proofs of the interactions happening as you describe them you should totally prepare them into a proper beware so people can avoid that artist.

In any case, if an artist agrees to a price for a job and decides to do more work on top of what was agreed, that's on them, you can send a tip after the fact if that's YOUR heart's desire. Any professional artist mischarging for their work will eat the "loss" and adjust on future works after learning to estimate the work a little better.

Any client should back off right away from working with an artist who raises the price after the job is approved and the details and price were agreed upon.

[Nimblebutt]

8 hours ago, Celestina said:

Howdy!  Your post was in the wrong spot, so I went ahead and moved it.  All advice posts are to be anonymous, so the second post with the images in question was hidden.

Thanks, and my apologies!

[Nimblebutt]

3 hours ago, lunarhallow said:

Adding on to this since I re-read it and noticed this at the bottom -- 

This alone has changed my mind from a caution to full on beware. This is super unprofessional, since as far as what's posted here, all you did was ask for edits. Seeing an artist tweet about being rude to their customers is a HUGE NOPE

Can I do a beware with no payment?

[Bornes]

1 hour ago, Nimblebutt said:

Can I do a beware with no payment?

Cel says you can do a caution.

[lunarhallow]

5 hours ago, Nimblebutt said:

Can I do a beware with no payment?

Looking back at the requirements, I may be in the wrong for suggesting a beware since money wasn't exchanged. 

[Nimblebutt]

7 hours ago, Bornes said:

Cel says you can do a caution.

Looking back at the screencaps I have about 80, in which artist admits during original comission (which I paid for ages ago) they'd forgotten to finish certain things (and were supposed to here.)

Should I submit all 80 screencaps or? XD

[Eden]

7 hours ago, Nimblebutt said:

Looking back at the screencaps I have about 80, in which artist admits during original comission (which I paid for ages ago) they'd forgotten to finish certain things (and were supposed to here.)

Should I submit all 80 screencaps or? XD

Submit what's relevant and remove idle chit chat.