Bad commission experience. Should I have been more specific?

[xandrasa]

Hello!

So, to make this long story short, I commissioned someone for 2 characters in 1 picture, they said it wouldn't look good according to their 'conscious', so they offered to do those 2 characters in 2 separate pieces. I offered to make it like a 2 part series and they said, 'i'll see what i can do'. 1st initial sketch came out great but end product was way off from what I even asked for. So it has me extremely upset because I ended up having to pay extra, because I wanted a specific type of background for this fanfic I'm writing. (I never mentioned this but still, I hoped they'd draw what I wanted drawn).

I ended up asking for a refund for the 2nd piece (1st piece was already done and completed and it's a great piece but it's not what I asked for), so, I kept it. It's fine, I needed more art for that OC anyways.

They refunded me (for the second piece) and uploaded the 1st one onto their DA but they got his name wrong and when I corrected them, they ended up hiding my comment and changing the name of the commission entirely.

But anyway, should I have been more specific? Should I have asked for a refund on the first image too? I feel like I could've handled this better... It's probably cuz I was so happy to commission them, only to be let down in the end. 😕

[Eden]

It depends on what you asked for.

Did you ask for a specific scene with two characters interacting:  "I'd like Jim and Rose to be on a roof top holding hands and looking at the stars"

Or did you ask for two characters and the artist interpreted it as you wanting two different things:

"I'd like Jim looking at the stars on a roof top. Rose is there too, but sitting in the chair."

If it was closer to the first one, then they shouldn't have pressured you into splitting your scene up. 

As for them not following your prompt, do you mean you asked for Jim on a rooftop looking at the stars and they drew Jim pole vaulting on the beach?

If so then yes, you would have been entitled to a do over or a refund. Unfortunately if you reluctantly accepted the commission the artist may not be entirely welcome to you coming back. But if they didn't follow your prompt then they didn't. It's always worth approaching them about it. A professional artist would admit their mistake and try and make it right by you.

[xandrasa]

I see what you mean.

I asked for 2 characters, monsters in this case, racing in a jungle-like background, with 1 monster ahead of the other.

I figured they could do it since they've drawn a lot of dragon stuff and m,y monsters were dragon-esque somewhat.

[sbneko]

1 hour ago, xandrasa said:

I see what you mean.

I asked for 2 characters, monsters in this case, racing in a jungle-like background, with 1 monster ahead of the other.

I figured they could do it since they've drawn a lot of dragon stuff and m,y monsters were dragon-esque somewhat.

What did they draw instead?

[Eden]

Yea, even if you worded it that way it still doesn't necessarily make pressuring you into two separate images the right thing to do.

[xandrasa]

On 5/8/2020 at 7:27 PM, sbneko said:

What did they draw instead?

They decided to draw my monster, one of them, in a stand alone image in a background I didn't even want/like. The 1st sketch they did looked like a forest but ended up completely different than what was initially done.

Well, that's done and done. I'm just upset cuz they are really talented but just didn't deliver. Anyways, thanks guys.