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So around last year September 1st 2021, I commissioned JayNator1 on picarto, I got my first commission seeing they were more then happy to at the time I commissioned another! That was almost a year ago, since then i tried contacting them, they always gave a new story, which I do understand things don't always go the way we want! But going radio silent and deleting comments was not a good sign. Spite that I gave them room to deal with their life issues. I get it some people need a break, but this has been almost a year of "hey sorry I'm sick" I want to believe they didn't intend to scam me, but this is not reasonable . So now i see them on twitter, and they saw my message two days ago with no reply. I'm assuming the worse. As why I was commenting on their page? They didn't respond for months to the note.

May 27, 2014 https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/769814.html Who: Porter Corgi aka Little~Bit Where: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/thecorgi/ What: a tradition bust badge When: I commissioned the badge in 2012, was supposed to be done right away (within the week) as it was advertised as an "emergency commission" (couldn't get screen caps of the journal she posted as she deletes them often) then I got excuse after excuse, "I'm so busy" "computer/tablet broken" "I work all day, then train horses and give lessons all day. I'm trying to get your badge to you", I was then sent this link to this unpleasant digital badge, the quality was bad, it looked messy, pixel-y, rushed and not her art style at all, I reminded her I asked for traditional, she apologized and said she'd fix it no problem. The excuses continued. I then had to leave FA for a while because my account was hacked, I looked for her often, and tried to contact her multiple times, for a while she was gone doing stuff in armed forces, and then she was "done with FA forever" as seen on her old account http://www.furaffinity.net/user/little~bit/ I finally joined FA again this year 2014, over 2 years later. Since I joined I've been contacting her, 3 months ago I noted her about the long overdue badge, with the warning I was thinking about posting on artists beware, she apologized a lot and said she'd get it to me asap. It's been 3 months since she's said this. Proof: I don't have screenshots from my old account but these are the conversations we've had since I re joined http://s1352.photobucket.com/user/mlpblah_/media/162C47C0-FCA0-4362-B493-F4B4BCA0D1CD_zps489xrvjh.png.html?sort=3&o=4 http://s1352.photobucket.com/user/mlpblah_/media/469ED320-CB6D-4224-B845-63869D0D2E50_zps7nxziwvl.png.html?sort=3&o=1 http://s1352.photobucket.com/user/mlpblah_/media/D6095F5B-86A1-4E31-B0C9-3DB138AC42A0_zpsn3jcovau.png.html?sort=3&o=2 http://s1352.photobucket.com/user/mlpblah_/media/F35A5704-3FDB-4B3E-97E4-76B24698748C_zpsu6llokgr.png.html?sort=3&o=3 http://s1352.photobucket.com/user/mlpblah_/media/F4C79565-D2A9-4C69-9AD9-B76550D2B744_zpspqvonhli.png.html?sort=3&o=0 Explain: I've been trying to get this badge from her for over 2 years now, I'm so upset because I used to look up to her, I loved her art so much now I just want my badge so I never have to talk to her again. Apparently I'm rude for asking for my overdue art because she's doing charitable things. But I paid her to do this, you need to take your job as an artist seriously. Since I've been complaining she's posted this journal http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5708600/ (sounds like I'm not the only one she's ripped off" saying "I have so much way overdue art I'm never doing commissions again unless I really want to" I hope she doesn't because I don't want someone else going through what I did from someone I used to think was so cool, and used to look up to. I'm very upset about this and I wish she'd see that. I don't think I'm ever going to get this badge, I'm going to talk to her about getting my money back. She's rarely on FA and always takes a few days to respond to me. I can't get screenshots of our notes in 2012 as my account was hacked and the password was changed.

Greetings! I'm here to inform you about this client and the ordeal that I had to endure since the last week. Honestly, it all started pretty good actually. The 4th of April I got contacted by this person saying that he had the idea of commissioning me a couple of OC's of its own (since he kept saying that he was a writer and that he wrote stories, fan fictions and so on) and I was like "Sure, tell me the details!". And everything went pretty smooth, he always payed me what I asked for and never complained. However, the big problems started to happened the 8th of July, Friday of last week. After waking up, I find three emails from PayPal, in which all of them says that the buyer has opened a claim against me because of unauthorized transactions made. Honestly speaking, I was baffled. Like, why in the first place? Also who was the one responsible for all of this? After tracking down who could've possibly be, I ended up finding the curlprit. Then I decided to confront him, ask him why he did such a thing, but to no avail. What he kept saying over and over like a broken record, was like "I didn't do it. My bank did it" or instead "PayPal did it, it wasn't my fault". Now, I might not be an expert on how PayPal works and neither how the Banks do, but I'm pretty sure that neither of the two without an explicit request from the one who sent the money, does everything automatically. PayPal definitely doesn't do it, and the Bank the least they can do is calling you if they see high transactions, but in here we were talking about 50/100€ at best. Every month. Then, afterwards, he contacted me saying the following After this, he blocked me. If the truth is on his side, then he wouldn't have blocked me, right? So honestly, I really don't get it. Afterwards I tried to reach him even on DeviantArt, since there I was still not blocked from him because I actually talked with the PayPal customer service myself. In the end they told me what I already knew: and that it was him who did everything on his end. And so far, he kept lying to my face. The sad part is that I'm not the only one who got this "little problem" with him. Many other artists had the same ordeal with him. I'll share afterwards the claims that he did (choosing even the wrong dates because he surely did everything so fast, in a blink of an eye, that he didn't even sat through everything and thought if the amount and date were exactly those - apologies in advance if you see another language) (For context, "Denaro ricevuto" translated is "Money Received") And the fact that the dates doesn't even match to begin with (aside from the first one, which the only wrong thing is the amount that he declared. He gave me 50€, but instead he wanted 56€ back, for some reason) (again, all three of them shows the "Money Received" word, translated from Italian) I'll also share some snippets of our conversation where, after I completed the render, I uploaded it and sent it to him. And he of course, received it. See it for yourself, all three of the claims. First one Second: (this one here was mostly a variation of the third one that I'll share in a bit) Third one: Proof of being blocked To this day, so far the problem hasn't been solved (and also currently, the claims got processed and now I'm wait for PayPal to actually talk with the bank of the client. Sadly, it will take approximatively 75 days to get an answer) and when it will, I'm afraid that this person will try again in getting his money back. I made assumptions as to why he did this, but really, I can't even believe it. Like I said, also another artist right now is undergoing the same treatment as I'm experiencing. Thank you for your attention.

In April I was asked to create artwork of two marvel characters dancing at prom, for $40, originally it was going to be $45 dollars but because I had known them from a previous server for months I trusted him enough to give him a discount. I hadn't done many commissions so because I wasn't very busy I finished it in about 4 days. This guy had pinged the second server we were on together every day asking how their day was and what they were doing, because it had few people in it, it was okay. Knowing he answered and dmed me frequently made me trust him to answer back in our dms. He was on Discord almost everyday so it was unlikely for him to not answer. When I told him I finished the commission he said that he was used to artists taking months to finish so he didn't have the money ready. I understood, and waited 4 more days while continuing to edit and revise the commission. Two more weeks pass, and he still cannot pay for the commission. I still understood that bills needed to be paid and continued to wait. After nearly a month and a half after I finished the commission, I still hadn't been paid. I asked him for a security deposit and he said he's been broke for the past two weeks. I was starting to get really frustrated. If he couldn't pay for the commission, I told him he could always back out and I'd delete the artwork. You need to understand that we had been talking for a while and even though I did not know him in real life, I trusted him to eventually pay it. He kept making excuses and saying he's broke until the next paycheck. It had been many, many weeks at that point where he must've been paid from a paycheck. Still, I kept trying to take the professional route and waited more. It's July 19th, almost 3 months since we last had contact. He has ghosted me entirely, I've pinged him in other servers, asked his friends if there was a family emergency and still no reply. I needed the money because of my chronic illness, I'm in pain every single day and he knew that, yet consisted to ghost me. This is my last resort. I hope nobody ever has to go through this with this guy ever again. I can't even say this is the worst experience I've had this month, because of how many times I've been in the hospital. Beware jdmarsh. P.S. Going through these messages to get screenshots make this even worse because I'm now seeing that he did say he was going to pay half at the start and pay the rest upon completion and then PLAYED DUMB AFTER I ASKED HIM TO FOLLOW THROUGH. Also the flag behind my avatar used to be the lesbian flag then currently is the queer flag.

Back on October 13th, Fen made a post for a YCH I was interested in, and messaged them to buy the spot on the same day. Here's proof that the payment was made on Paypal And proof that the original piece was claimed - as well as its $65 price I even gave them information that would've helped them draw the character as best as they could. I hadn't heard anything after that point, not even confirmation as to whether they had received anything (money or the images themselves). Fen also had a "commission updates" twitter account, FennecFiles, so I messaged that account at the beginning of December hoping to receive answers. I made special note toward the end that I was open to amending the scope of the commission, such as simplifying the character or narrowing how much of the scene to draw, since I know artists can have a lot on their plates. Unfortunately, still no message from either account. Now, December was a hectic month for them. They had a medical emergency with one their pet cats they had to take care of, but they were also dealing with taking care of their own art as well as art related to their partner's Twitch streams. (Mainly stream assets, such as themed backgrounds or vtuber rigs, such as when they were playing South Park [SP] and Paper Mario [PM]) Granted, their partner could've held back from asking for stream assets - which would explain why Fen was trying to recoup sunk time by offering rigs in a SP/PM style since the basics were done - but this shows Fen was at least aware they had paid commissions still to finish, but either had other priorities or more important commissions to take care of first. I sent another message to SuperNinfendo in January, but this time it was because I'd commissioned a headshot from another artist and felt that it would've been a simplification [as in based off of this image instead of combining bits of A and B], but sent a followup message a week later since I wasn't sure if my tone came off rude. Unfortunately, I still did not receive any direct messages. Despite this, while it could very well be just venting in general, the timing of this tweet felt like it was vaguely pointed at my request since it was just a few days after my later reply of those two. I was not mad at the lack of them posting art at all - I know they'd posted art and other things, and do not always join their partner's streams - it's that I haven't been communicated to about my [I assume impending] commission, but they'd posted art that had been both taken AND finished after claiming my spot. Here's a separate YCH that was posted in December: And while it may not have taken a month to complete, a post from a month later clearly shows that they are able to finish in a timely manner (bottom left): At the end of January, there was finally a "response" from FennecFiles, though in the form of an apology post explaining their delay Having a person help with your blog is not a problem, but I would've called out the person previously in charge if they were responsible for dismantling the queue, though I don't know how close that person was/is to Fen (nor if the claim was real, admittedly.) Since they mentioned at the end that FennecFiles could be messaged with "further questions or concerns", I messaged them a little over a week later since I didn't want to be lost in the shuffle of the first days of potential inquiries. I received no response from them either - whether from CorpseKiit or Fen - and as is shown from my prior FF message, the reference/commission reminder message was not even replied to in the meantime. Since CorpseKiit was also someone to message (I'm in a mutual Discord server with them and Fen), so I messaged Chuck [Corpsekiit's nickname] directly. (At the beginning of April, since they had their own life struggles through March. I received no direct messaging from them on the matter, and no followups on any of the other blogs Fen runs as to if it was the right spot to message, yet one of Fen's tweets from a few days afterwards makes me believe they were at least made aware of my message to Chuck. Again, it could be just general venting, but my issue was not with their pace of posting art in and of itself. It's that being left in the dark for months on end as to WHEN it could/would be worked on is an entirely different feeling from if I was told "I won't be able to work on this until next October", at least in the latter case, I'd have a timeline as to when to expect the piece. I was reminded of the issue from a mutual in another server who brought up their plights, so that's part of why I am writing this. I figured I'd message one last time - albeit recently - directly to Fen on Discord. I know it's a simple message, and while I hope to hear back at some point, I have my doubts as to whether any remedies would happen - the art itself or otherwise. Even nearly two weeks out, still no reply on Discord either. While I understand that life may be handing them difficult cards, and they may be handling them well enough all considered, it shouldn't excuse them effectively ghosting me for so long. I gave them so much room to amend the YCH and request, but to have legitimate questions ignored so long has left a sour taste in my mind. It should go without saying that I would not recommend SuperNinfendo if you are looking for commissions.

Originally posted on Jun. 6th, 2013 by animakitty Mod Note: The NSFW flag has been selected for content of some of the later conversation. Additionally, one sentence at the end with speculation how much Jace's health issues keep him from work has been removed as this would not be allowed if this were to be submitted today. Brian Harp (He uses his real name openly on his current place of business, http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jace/ ) aka Jace, owes me for ~300 dollars of money and goods paid for two multi-character full color commissions never delivered, one ordered in 2005 and the other in 2008. This year I offered him a final chance to do right by me, giving him four months to deliver what I was owed. That deadline passed May 31st, thus this account to warn potential commissioners of his inexcusable behavior. I approached Jace for a commission in 2005 when he still did business out of his website www.sharkie.net, requesting a piece of traditional art using one of his established characters and my personal character. I paid his rates at the time for a color piece, and though it's been so long I could have sworn it was more, the one reference I could find below indicates the first payment was $120.00 Jace insisted on being paid via check or money order instead of Paypal. (This of course prevented me from disputing the payment via Paypal. Small claims court is not an option for me, as {as I understand it} I would spend more than I've lost simply flying to California to attend the first court session.) (The mailing address is censored, as are a couple words to keep the rating down. This one-sided conversation was drawn from my web-mail account. My side is missing because apparently my web-mail doesn't retain the contents of my outbox nearly as long as the inbox.) Over the next two years I received nothing, not so much as a sketch, though Jace claimed he had gotten to work on my commission and had produced a sketch. I communicated with him every few months, not wanting to annoy him into giving up on my commission entirely. I had commissioned him expecting there to be delays, based on what I'd heard from some of his former customers, and I was prepared to wait months, even as much as a year. As the occasional pokes continued to produce no fruit, I grew increasingly frustrated. In 2008 Jace commented on a photo of some painted Nerf guns I had done and posted on Furaffinity, expressing enthusiastic interest in doing a trade for some Nerf work. I reminded him he still owed me art, and he said he'd finish the first piece and do a second for me if I would send him some guns...and some more money. I foolishly believed that now, having captured his attention, (I have personally witnessed that he is much more willing to actually deliver on his promises to people closer to him) that he would deliver on his promises. I boxed up several Nerf guns, some off-the-shelf, some personally modified, sent him another sum of money as well, and gave him the specifics on the second commission, another multi-character full-color traditional piece, which he showed every sign of being enthusiastic about. I had to go back through my notes on Furaffinity to find the details about the original commission for him, because he didn't have the faintest clue about what I had ordered from him. (Censored to keep it SFW.) Jace fell into exactly the same pattern. He told me he was working on it, then stopped communicating. I gave him a few months between reminder-pokes, and each time he had totally forgotten that he owed me anything, and made excuse after excuse about why he wasn't working on my commissions. These included medical complaints, 'I am moving,' 'I have a block on [that particular subject matter] right now,' and more. I watched with growing outrage as despite these excuses, he continued to draw for other people, taking their money and actually producing for them. January 2013 I finally emailed him and confronted him, kid-gloves off. I told him I'd been waiting eight years for one commission, five for the other, that I had been more than patient with him, and that I would give him one more chance to make things right between us. I gave him a deadline. I wanted my art by the end of May 2013. It was near the end of January when I contacted him, so realistically this gave him four months to deliver. I did not specify what would happen at the end of the deadline if he did not deliver; I made no threats. He opened the excuse floodgates again. Medical issues, moving... He insisted my deadline could not be met. I told him if he couldn't meet the deadline he could always refund my money. He said that was impossible, and claimed he was doing commissions for medication and food to live on at that point. To meet the deadline then, I told him he may have to put everyone else who was waiting on art on hold. I seriously doubted anyone on his current queue (that hadn't given up already) had a longer-standing claim than I did. I told him I would not yield on the deadline. Then he told me both commissions I had placed were impossible for him to complete. The character of his I'd wanted him to use was too personal and spiritually-linked to him for him to use at will, and the content of the second commission involved something he found repulsive. You can imagine how infuriating this was to hear. If these things had been true all along, he had never intended to do the work. If these things weren't true back when he took the commissions, it certainly looks like he's just inventing reasons not to do the work. He also insisted he could not do color work and still meet his deadline. I told him that if he wasn't able to produce the quality I had paid for, then the quantity must necessarily increase, so two color commissions should become three inked commissions. He stated he did not feel this was a fair exchange for me, and while I privately agreed, I told him *I* could decide that, and had. Literally having nothing to lose at this point but time and patience, I told him 'Fine, I'll come up with new commission ideas.' I came up with five new concepts. He rejected all of them. He suggested a sequence, using a new character. I set some parameters, and he told me he would create a concept sketch of this new character for me to approve. It was mid-March before that sketch appeared. (Given some of the things I suggested that he rejected for the character, it's possible he had already drawn this character and just pulled it out, claiming he'd just sketched it. I'll never know.) He even seemed excited about the character. I approved of it, and we agreed on the last details for the commission. Before that sketch, and since, he has streamed almost weekly, and submitted other art on FA. He is working steadily, just not on my pieces. I told him back in February I would not be hounding him. It hadn't worked in the past, and I didn't expect it would work this time around. As long as it was done by the end of May I didn't care what pace he worked at. He could do it all the day before for all I cared, as long as the work was up to snuff. But he delivered nothing, has probably forgotten about me again, and I am finished wasting my time trying to recover what he stole. I have other emails and IM logs available for anyone desiring further proof. Whatever his intentions were, Jace took my money and my goods while reneging on his side of the deals, exhibited extreme disrespect and callousness in how he dealt with me, and betrayed my trust. Even after being offered a chance to make things right, even being permitted to completely change the deals he had entered into with me to accommodate him, he failed to put things right. That's all his doing.

Originally posted on May. 1st, 2013 by friskecrisps WHO: Capt Rico Sakara WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/captricosakara/ WHAT: $30 digital art commission WHEN: From roughly October of 2012 to April of 2013 PROOF: Payment sent: Conversations on commission updates and attempts to contact: 1st refund attempt: 2nd refund attempt and Artist_Beware warning: EXPLAIN: Basically, I had paid for a commission back in October. His way of the business was the customer put down half the commission price as a pre-payment and then pay the rest for the approved sketch. So I made the payment and waited for him to get work on it. I had him added in my skype and asked them occasionally how the commissioning was going and he'd always said he'd get to it soon. However, during the whole 6 months, he had only uploaded 2 pictures from 2 year overdue commissions. After almost 7 months of waiting, I just asked for a refund. He hesitated at first, but I finally got my money back. My basis for this, DO NOT COMMISSION HIM! He'll take your money and make you wait for months on end. He keeps putting commissions off to write fan-fiction and play online games and when you try to ask for a refund, he'll try and manipulate things to make you seem like the bad guy. He is incredibly rude and I would not recommend him for artwork to anyone!

original: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/657806.html Alright, so, last summer somewhere around June/July of 2012, I started a fursuit trade with the user "KazeTorashi", also known as "LigercraftSuits" on FurAffinity. Things had been going well. She was always very polite and wonderful to talk to and quick to reply to any questions I had. The tail had been completed on July 23rd and can be seen here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8483241/ The initial deadline was to be September 19, on which day the suit should have been completed, already shipped, and in my posession as a birthday gift for myself. On September 5th, the paws to my suit and a picture of the foam base were posted. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8799803/ http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8800015/ This Sept. 19th deadline was missed, but I didn't mind too much seeing as she had other things on her plate that people had paid for that she had to to first and there was enough done on my fursuit for me to rest easy. There were a few more "deadlines" floating around after that, but they were all missed as well. I sat tight for the next update, and sure enough on January 4th of this year the pictures of my full partial had been posted. Hooray! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9615896/ I don't remember the exact date but not too long after that was posted up I got into a Skype conversation where we discussed shipping prices. It was decided that I would pay for shipping on the Thera partial and she would pay for shipping on my end of this trade, a black husky partial. She gave me a quote of 13$ and a few days after the Skype chat on January 17th I sent her 16$ to make sure it would cover any and all fees or extra charges. I wanted to be sure she had everything she needed of course! Screencap of the payment: http://i.imgur.com/EtZI1Nz.png On January 22nd I got my stuff together and mailed out my end of the trade. Receipt: http://i.imgur.com/aVxBWQR.jpg According to the tracking number and Canada Post website the suit arrived at the address I was given on January 28th. http://i.imgur.com/KuFmoZl.png On February 11th I asked for an update on their end of the trade via note on FA, which can be seen here: http://i.imgur.com/pnkdLRk.png That note, along with the one where I told her my end had been shipped, still haven't been read. Now I don't want to seem impatient here, but I'm starting to get a little frustrated. I have had NO contact with KazeTorashi since our Skype chat ~2 months ago and since then I've sent her a note, page shouts, an e-mail, another note to one of her roomates, and got a friend of mine with her cell number to send her a text. Still no replies at all to any of these attempts. http://imgur.com/a/cKKuK Now, I'm an EXTREMELY patient person when it comes to things like this, and I don't like pestering people, and I certainly don't want to bother or annoy the suit maker as she's always been the sweetest girl ever to deal with and I wish her the best in life and her fursuit endeavors, but I'm also not very pleased with how she's been handling this situation. The most important thing when you're running a business if to make yourself available to the people you're working with so that at least they know whether or not there's an issue. I've simply been stranded in the dust here with no idea as to what's going on with my suit and now I'm feeling like I have lost 52$ AND my black husky fursuit AND my Thera partial all at once. I'm really hoping for the best and for her to pull through on this, and it hasn't been TOO long since I last saw her around(she posted a journal on the 29th of January saying things would be shipped on her next day off work), but since she owes me my suit and some shipping money(which I don't mind letting go of if I get my fursuit!) and hasn't been in contact at all, it makes me worry that something might be wrong. At the same time I'm trying to be patient and remain calm about all this, but it's coming up on one whole month since the last time she's been active *anywhere* online and it's very worrisome behaviour. Hopefully I hear something from her soon, because her work is amazing and so is she, and I'd really hate to see something happen to her as she's a brilliant artist in many ways and deserves the best out of this fandom in my opinion.

original: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/651231.html pepechupuppy WHO: StrawberryPawz, Chronic Vil Megedagik, Corgifox http://www.strawberrypawz.com http://www.strawberrypawz.deviantart.com WHERE: He asked a friend on the skype if he could draw a commission him. WHAT: Ink Bedtime Bear holding Tails plush toy. 20$. WHEN: On September 8th 2012. Paid on September 8th 2012. PROOF: http://tmp.krypton.cz/PePek/beware/paypal.jpg Copy of Paypal receipt to [email protected]. This e-mail was on his webpage in the past. http://tmp.krypton.cz/PePek/beware/commissions_list.jpg Current list of Artist commissions, my friend's commision is on the list like paid for 4 months. http://tmp.krypton.cz/PePek/beware/log1.png Part of the IM log where was spoken about price and payments method. http://tmp.krypton.cz/PePek/beware/log2.png Part of the IM log where StrawberryPawz said that commision has been canceled. EXPLAIN: A friend who doesn't know English well ordered commission from StrawberryPawz and paid it more than 4 months ago. StrawberryPawz offered him this comission on skype. StrawberryPawz had always excuses about health issues or hacked accounts in last months when he was asked about commission. Friend asked about his commssion last on January 14th 2013 but he received this reply: "it was canceled because you keep pestering me i told you my health comes first don't even try getting a refund, I closed my paypal long ago". I don't believe that he has ever drawn something. Pay attention to this "artist" and don't order any commission from him.

original: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/652902.html am new to posting on livejournal so if there is anything wrong with my submission just let me know! Thanks~ WHO: That1cyclops/mii/Agenthooves/Deerknight WHERE http://www.furaffinity.net/user/that1cyclops http://deerknight.tumblr.com/ WHAT: Art Trade WHEN: Agreement was made in late September 2012 PROOF Initial Contact: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B Post/1Agreement.png https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B Post/2Agreement.png https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B Post/3Agreement.png Agreement: Deerknight (That1cyclops on FA) and I agreed to a trade approximately 4 months ago (it's going on 5 now that it's February). The agreement was a one character image each, I was to draw their character Pastel, and they were to draw my character Liam. As you can see I finished shortly after our agreement:http://www.furaffinity.net/full/8850846/ EXPLAIN: Firstly, I want to preface this by saying I work fast, and I believe in being timely. I take my trades as seriously as my commissions. I open trades and requests frequently and usually take 5-10 people and have always finished EVERYTHING within the span of a month. I have four people who currently owe me work and I have have been going around crossing them off the list, tying my loose ends if you will. Deerknight was one of them. I sent them thi https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B%20Post/Note1.png ote on January 23rd asking if they ever intended to finish their half. I checked to see if they had opened the note shortly after and found that they had, but did not give a response. When I went to their page I saw that they had unwatched me, and emptied their accoun https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B%20Post/Deadaccount.png. They also changed their tumblr url so I was unable to find them https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B%20Post/DeadTumblr.png ortunately, I had the foresight to screencap everything I thought may be important. I sent them a second note on FA with a warning that I would be posting them here if they did not respond to m https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B%20Post/Note2.png t has yet to be opened https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B%20Post/Note2Unopened.png Through luck a friend had their new url, which I might add was changed ONE day after I sent them the initial note about the trade https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B%20Post/NameChange.png hey claim that they changed it on a whim, and maybe that is true, but I think it's rather fishy they changed it the day after I sent out the first note. I then sent them a note on Tumblr, the same I had sent in the second note on FA https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B%20Post/TumblrNote1.png n their response they deny ever seeing the first note (though it was clearly opened https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B%20Post/Note1Opened.png nd say they unfollowed me because I unfollowed them on tumblr. For a time I was following them on tumblr, but unfollowed shortly after because they made too many personal posts, and I really just wanted to see their art. I did not unfollow them on FA though , and am in fact still watching them. I had also bookmarked their art tag on tumblr, so I could see anything they did not post to FA. Maybe when they saw I had unfollowed them they went about unwatching me everywhere, I cannot sa Anyways, I can't tell if in their response to my note on tumblr they are genuinely confused or not. Again, they had opened my first note before this so I think they are trying to cover themselves. They also proceeded to make THREE very passive-aggressive posts about me on their tumblr: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B Post/Post1.png https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B Post/Post2.png https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B Post/Post3.png Which were deleted by the next day. Now I was willing to let them go, again all I wanted was a simple reason, maybe even an apology. But this is just childish and rude. In my next note I tried to clear things up and explain what A_B was https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B%20Post/Final%20Note.png And then they sent me a second response that seems more genuine. I will excuse anyone who is having medical problems of course, a person's health must come first. However, I think that in all this time they could have at least contacted me and informed me that they were unable to finish their half. It is not my responsibility to keep tabs on another person's personal life. Not to mention they have been making plenty of personal art. That is why I waited to contact them until now, I figured one day I'd log in and it would be in my inbox. I don't think they ever got around to doing any of the art they owed though, and after awhile I realized that it wasn't going to happen and that's how all of this came about. I don't really want anything from them now, it's too little too late. But this will serve as a warning in case they ever do decide to open for trades or commissions again. Update 1: Deerknight contacted me last night, they sent me two messages: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B Post/Screencap Deerknight.png I sent them this in response (I answered privately so I was unable to screenshot it, though I also sent the message to a mod): All I wanted was for you to take the initiative to contact me and tell me whether you would do it or not. I should not have had to track you down, and I didn't deserve the response you gave me when I finally did find you. But you were rude, and you were sneaky, and I think you were just hoping I'd forget about it. I really would have let this go if you hadn't thrown a tantrum on your tumblr, but it's too late now. I can't remove the post from A_B because it's against the rules, but if you do your half I can get it marked as resolved. I like your style a lot, I enjoy your art, and I was really looking forward to getting a piece from you! But if not, let's just go our separate ways. Update 2: Deerknight sent me a followup message: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27734475/A_B Post/deerknightscreen2.png I sent them a link to my Character Hub which has several references and the following message: (Again, I answered privately so I was unable to screenshot it) And listen, I'm sorry that this escalated the way it did. I will mark it resolved when you send me the piece, and if you post it to tumblr I'll be sure to recommend to all of my followers that they go take a look at your art. You are really very talented! I look forward to seeing what you come up with~ Update 3: Deerknight has sent me their piece in a VERY timely manner and it's lovely http://deerknight.tumblr.com/post/42403878669/my-part-of-the-art-trade-with-dealgen-im-sorry Consider this resolved!

Foreword The Beware is labelled NSFW since some attached external links contain NSFW material, but no NSFW pictures will be directly embedded in the post itself. This Beware will be very long, so I decided to organize it into paragraphs to make it easier to understand what happened and how I uncovered the culprit since it's a crucial part of the required proof. Summary One of my Patrons has been re-uploading exclusive content from my Patreon page to the pirate site https://kemono.party/. He didn't have my consent, ne never asked for it nor did he ever tell me. When confronted he declared his act was deliberate. I am writing down this Beware to show, with all evidence I have, what happened to protect other artists like me from this user. Background I've been working with Castore93 for almost three years between Patreon rewards and commissions; I can say we've always been in good terms. He began supporting me through Patreon in November 2019 and as far as I know we never had any issue. (Proof screenshot below.) Kemono.party On January 13th, 2022 I came to know through a friend of mine the existance of kemono.party, an infamous pirate site collecting exclusive material from Patreon and other pay-to-view platforms like SubscribeStar. I sadly discovered my Patreon material was uploaded there too. I was determined to uncover who re-uploaded the material, but to do so I first needed to understand how kemono.party works and how they were able to get it in the first place. Kemono.party works by using a scraper, a piece of software which automatically parses webpages to collect data from them. In order to access protected content, the scraper needs some kind of access key. In the case of kemono.party, the scraper uses the session key from a Patreon account. This means that the user either volountarely gives the scraper access to their account's session key or the account is compromised. The upload happens automatically. Thus, the person responsible must have a Patreon account with access to my exclusive posts; either my account has been hacked or one of my Patrons has, volountarily or not, shared their session key. Finding the culprit My account couldn't have been hacked since I was able to see posts which weren't uploaded to kemono.party. I was fortunate enough to have exaclty three Patrons, all belonging to different tiers. The only way to identify the culprit would be posting a series of artworks limiting access to some specific tiers and seeing which of them would get reposted on kemono.party. I have three different tiers called "A precious gift", "Treasure" and "Jewel's waterfall". When posting a content on Patreon you can choose between some visibility options: You can make your post public so everyone can see it. You can make your post visible to "All patrons" regardless of their tier. You can make a post visible to one or more specific tiers. Selecting a lower tier only does not make the post visible to higher tiers. My three Patrons are Patron 1, Castore93 (Castore Devon on Patreon) and Patron 2. Patron 1 didn't join any tier, so they can only see "Public" and "All patrons" posts. Castore93 (Castore Devon) would be able to see "Public", "All patrons" and "Treasure" tier's posts. Patron 2 can see "Public", "All Patrons" and "Jewel's Waterfall" posts. After uploading each bait post I waited until I saw some of them appear on kemono.party. I made four bait posts: All Patron: it was a check to see if my content was stil being stolen. Selecting "A precious gift", "Treasure" and "Jewel's waterfall" tiers altogether. "Treasure" tier. "Jewel's waterfall" tier. Since nobody was part of the "A precious gift" tier it was no use testing it separately. Test no.1: all Patrons. It has been re-posted. My content was indeed still being stolen. Kemono.party post: https://kemono.party/patreon/user/14947257/post/60897241 Test no.2: All tiers altogether. It has been re-posted. This excludes Patron 1 since they weren't part of any tier, thus unable to see the post. Kemono.party post: https://kemono.party/patreon/user/14947257/post/61104826 Doublecheck. Kemono.party post: https://kemono.party/patreon/user/14947257/post/61286834 3. Selected tiers only: "Treasure" tier. It has been reposted. Kemono.party post: https://kemono.party/patreon/user/14947257/post/61287322 Doublecheck. Kemono.party post: https://kemono.party/patreon/user/14947257/post/61287443 4. Selected tiers only: "Jewel's waterfall". It hasn't been reposted. Check & doublecheck. This excludes Patron 2. Notice how the posts from the "Jewel's waterfall" tier were shared in between "Treasure" posts in order to exclude any time factor. The confrontation It was clear from all the data collected the culprit was the Patron from the "Treasure" tier, Catore93 aka Castore Devon. It was still possible his account had been hacked and he wasn't aware of the situation. So I opted for a neutral approach and he himself confirmed this wasn't the case... On January 20th, 2022 I confronted him. Translation from Italian: Me: Do you know this site? https://kemono.party/ Castore93: I go there sometimes. Me: You do realize this material comes from your account, right? Castore93: But theoretically I think the site uploads content only when you add it, not by itself. I did add some stuff in the past. Me: Do you knwo this is copyright infringment and illegal, right? Castore93: I am curious to understand how it shows it has taken the material without me uploading it. About uploading stuff from Patreon (when I did it some time ago) about that I would have a certain personal point of view, you're not wrong obviously. (SIC) Me: The site connects to your account's session cookie, uploading does not depend from you. In any case you can keep whatever point of view you want as long as my pay-to-view material remains visible only to those who paid for it. Castore93: Ok so one time is all it takes. Later that day I posted a public Patreon journal explaining the situation and how I will be sharing my contents from now on to avoid similar theft. This post too appeared on kemono.party (as you can see from the previous screenshots), meaning Castore93's session cookie was still active on kemono.party. Taking down the material I wish to add this part to show what kind of assholes arise from such events. After contacting Patreon to ask for advice, they suggested me to send a DMCA takedown request to the site which is the typical course of action. However, the criminals running the site ever so smugly responded with... excuses... even if the site has a "DMCA" page with instructios on how to send a DMCA takedown notice. I don't feel like letting them win. I am now in the process of researching my options to deal with the situation. I will try to give updates in the comments about this if I find anything which might be useful to everyone. Conclusion I lost a considerable amout of time dealing with the whole situation, which is amounted to a lot of frustration not to mention the damage of having copyrighted material posted around without authorization. Please be aware of this user.

I commissioned Fen for a Vtuber bust model with Live2D rigging and 4 "emotions." I was originally quoted for $350, but I tipped enough to make it $500 because they'd just raised their prices after my initial sketch and I was impressed. After I paid the $100 deposit, it took more than the one week promised to get a sketch back, but progress was coming along in a relatively timely manner. Fen was initially good at getting back to me on Discord with WIPs and letting me know they were working on my model. The turnaround from sketch to full-color was surprisingly quick, but I was extremely happy with how everything was looking. My commission was essentially ready for Live2D rigging by the end of May, so I figured the whole thing could be ready at some point later that summer. Unfortunately, that quick pace did not carry over to the rest of the commission. After that May 31st WIP, I didn't get a single update for nearly 5 months. I knew they took commissions on other types of art and streaming assets, so I didn't mind at first. Eventually though, things just didn't seem right. I'd check their Trello regularly to see if gears were turning in the commission queue, and while there'd be new sketched here and there, the Finished Rigs list went stagnant through this whole time. The next update I got from Fen was at the end of October. I was afraid to ask for updates through Discord because their status was always Do Not Disturb, but I decided it had been more than long enough and I sucked it up. About a week and a half after I sent my message, I got WIPs back of the expressions I asked for. I actually hadn't noticed that the expression designs hadn't been done yet, but I was still pleased to get an update and know that my commission was still on the table. After that, it was back to radio silence for a month. By then, it had been 6 months since I paid off my invoice and I was still in "Ready to Rig" status. Especially being a Twitch streamer trying to plan overlays et al to fit with the model, I was growing even more impatient. I consulted a few friends on the matter and decided to ask for an estimated completion date. I was told December 15th at the latest. That didn't happen. In the meantime, it was apparent that Fen was doing Live2D work, just on other "quick completion" commissions that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. What added insult to injury was that they were promoting these simpler rigs with very little wait while I was still actively waiting for what I paid off in June. Then, when December 15th rolled around, they tweeted out that they were finishing a rig in just 24 hours. The next day, they were showing off a brand new rig for their partner. I lost my patience and asked to just take their PSD/CSP file so I could get someone else to rig it. No response. What happened after was a sticky situation. On December 21st, Fen's cat suddenly got sick and they had to take him to the emergency vet. The bill was steep and they said they couldn't afford it, so they needed donations and emergency commissions to cover the necessary treatments. Between this and the holidays, I knew I was in no position to ask for a refund, full or partial, even if I was still out $500 with nothing to show on my end. I again offered to just take my file as it was and go, eating my extra cost, but still no reply. Around New Year's, while all this was going on, Fen suddenly announced on Twitter that they'd finished two standard rigs that had been in the queue behind me. If it wasn't already, the writing was on the wall that I was being ghosted, so I gave them an ultimatum. As much as I didn't want to be the villain, if I couldn't get at least a basic reply, I threatened to file a chargeback. Within hours that same day, I finally got the CSP file with a lengthy apology. I thanked them and that was the last contact we've had with each other. I've since been in contact with a different artist who does Live2D rigging and I commissioned them to finish the model. They've been able to work the the Clip Studio file just fine. While I'm still happy with the design Fen was able to make for me, but between the uneven progress, lack of communication, confusing management of the commission queue, broken promises, and uncertainty that I'd get what I paid for, I certainly won't be working with them again and I can't recommend them to another streamer in good faith.

I'm a writer who is commissioned to write mostly growth/macro stories, and have been at it since 2013. In this time I've taken over 60 jobs which have all been read, approved and paid by every single client. My DeviantArt ToS: https://www.deviantart.com/blackspyro33/journal/Official-Terms-of-Service-for-Commissions-2021-485184088 I have always operated on an honor system with every single client. I don't set completion dates, I don't take advance payments. People read the final product, they tell me if they're happy with it or if they require alterations/additions, and then I get paid. I was first approached by Darkgai on September 10th, 2021, as the third slot in a queue of public commissions. Our correspondence was civil and well-mannered for the most part. Since Darkgai was the third in a queue of three and I don't work on multiple commissions at once, he was made to wait until I was done with the two before him. Unfortunately, circumstances forced me into my full-time job earlier in the year than I expected. All commissions were worked at at a slower pace. This led me to unusually higher waiting times, including Darkgai, who asked me about his commission. I decided to give him an update about why I was taking so long, since it's unusual for me to make a customer wait so long. Finally, at about 00:15 on December 31st, I sent the finished story to the client as explained in the ToS he had agreed to. Instructions were given, and I received critique and engaged in a minor dispute that I believed had reached a positive conclusion for us both. Thinking the issue resolved, I waited for three hours and found no evidence of the guy sending payment, and he has yet to reply to my last inquiry. As the (current) DeviantArt correspondence from earlier shows, visiting Darkgai's dA will show it as disabled. When I first saw it like that after 3 hours of radio silence I feared the worst. I made this person wait. I explained my situation. I delivered my agreed upon interpretation of his wishes. I saw dissatisfaction and attempted to find an alternative solution. We agreed on a price slash since he did not want modifications. He paid my time and effort with indifference and avoidance. I dedicated time and effort when I knew I couldn't instead of giving up to the pressure and finished a product that he allegedly found okay except for certain parts which I offered to touch up. Seeing as though our interpretations became irreconciliable, I decided to offer a hefty discount which is basically giving up my claim to time and effort I am not getting back to meet him somewhere I deemed appropriate. He told me he was going to pay me. He hasn't. He deleted his dA, and I take it as him avoiding me. I take it as him avoiding his responsibility to pay what he owes me for the story I wrote. I do not want anybody else to have to suffer through this annoyance ever again.

- 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.