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[ This article contains uncensored NSFW imagery (nudity). ] ... I initially got into contact with Strype on the 3rd of November, 2018. One day later, on Nov 4th, we came to an agreement on a single character thigh-up commission for $220,- USD. I subsequently provided them with my PayPal address and paid their invoice in full that same day (Nov 4th, 2018). They confirmed my payment as completed, and informed me that I'd have linework to look at later that week. On the 16th of November, 2018 (~12 days following the 4th), I received the linework along with a brief apology for the wait. I approved of the linework some hours later, on the same day. After this point, a long period of silence and no updates would occur. This is where I want to bring one's attention to the fact that the artist does not have a ToS. Below is a collection of screengrabs from their primary sites (FA and Twitter), both having no ToS to speak of whatsoever. Furaffinity Account Page Furaffinity "Commissions Available" Post 1/2 + 2/2 Twitter Page (Additional screengrabs from other sites such as Furry Network (https://furrynetwork.com/strype/) and Weasyl have also been collected, but will not be included here as they are not in use by the artist at the time of writing this article.) In short; the artist has no rules, no commitments, and no incentive to adhere to any sense of professionalism with commissions that start off at over 200 USD. I should obviously have considered this a red flag prior, but I did not. That was a mistake. Reiterating; November the 16th, 2018 was when I received and approved of the linework for my commission. I waited until December the 17th, roughly one month later, before I sent them a note asking for an update. No progress had been made - but they had added me to their 'priority list'. I thanked them for the update and continued waiting. Following Christmas and New Years, on the 12th of January, 2019, I sent them a new note asking for an update if possible. (The mentioning of 'three weeks' below here on my part is referring to me inquiring about some lighting conditions in the commission, as they had not yet started, three weeks ago.) Understanding their reasonings, I wished them the best and continued waiting, hoping for an update. On the 1st of February, 2019, I ended up sending them a new note, asking for an update. Still no progress - but understanding their situation (they have been open about these issues on their public Twitter, no censoring necessary), I remained patient, hoping for an update soon. It was during this phase of waiting I came to realize that getting put on a 'priority list' since the middle of December last year actually doesn't mean anything at all. Strype had been taking on multiple commissions between late December in 2018 and up till early February in 2019 - all while my commission was supposedly a priority. December 30th, 2018 - Multiple Slots January 21st, 2019 - One Slot January 26th, 2019 - Multiple Slots > (This one is especially interesting and will be referred to shortly) February 10th, 2019 - Multiple Slots The most alarming about these openings is the fact that these commissions were not prioritized behind my commission. One of them was actually taken in late January, (Jan. 26th opening), but ended up being completed less than a month later, before my commisson had even been started. I know this due to getting in contact with the commissioner in question. [See mod note above] Following these discouraging news, I wrote up a note asking for a reply in direct response to what I had learned, confronting them with my concerns on the 19th of February, 2019: This is how my message looked: This is the reply I received: Reading this reply, the troublesome lack of any ToS the artist would've had to abide by, became clear to see. I thanked them for the update and expected results to show up soon. Three days later, on February the 22nd, 2019, the artist finally delivered my finished commission, thanking me for my patience. Credit where credit is due, I was satisfied with the finished results, but they had arrived 3-4 months after I had paid my commission in full. My commission had arrived roughly one week before my PayPal refund (March the 3rd) opportunity would've been rendered forfeit; not a reassuring fact. Wanting to give them a second chance however, I inquired with them if they would be interested in taking on a second commission, granted that another uncertain 3-4 month waiting period was not to repeat itself, put in a polite of a manner as possible. Their response was simple, and sounded as follows... There was nothing extraordinary about my experience with them, and 3-4 month waiting period. If I wanted another commission, I should expect another 3-4 months of the exact same treatment, over again. ... I urge you to stay away from this artist at all costs, at the very least until they possess a ToS to prevent what happened to me, from happening to you.

I commissioned Poyu September 15th, 2016 for a NSFW YCH of my OC, Elizabeth. I paid $250 (AB price) instead of the highest bid of $80. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/21088105/ Poyu provided a Lightshot screen capture link as proof of receiving the money. In addition, she provided this link in a note towards me confirming the payment had gone through. On September 29th, 2016, Poyu had messaged me how she would be working on this YCH, among other commissions, that week and provided a Trello link for me to check for updates. https://trello.com/b/knQJ6GEr/belle-poyu-art Allegedly the lineart was complete, but there was no proof of that; no WIP provided in both the Trello or message to me. That was the last I ever had contact with Poyu. I attempted to contact her several times through Twitter DMs and stream whispers since that day. All of my attempts to contact her were ignored. As it turned out, she had quietly abandoned the furry community, a commission that had not been finished, and closed commissions indefinitely. Given how she completely disappeared I gave up at the time and did not know of Artists Beware. However, she made a sudden return to FurAffinity and very clearly forgotten about the commission. I addressed it to her: I gave her a full week for the refund, and she still has not replied whatsoever. It has been a full 7 days since then with nothing but radio silence. Had Poyu at the very least acknowledge the situation she is in and explained any issues she may have in her life that would otherwise prevent her from refunding me, I just might have been more lenient, but this is same exact behavior she had several years ago. While this artist has seemingly closed commissions indefinitely, that does not leave out the possibility of her reopening for whatever reasons she may have. In any case, this person is not to be trusted.

I've never made a beware before, so bare with me. 5/4//2019 I commissioned this user for a sketch page via Discord. Here is the screenshot of me commissioning her. 1.) https://gyazo.com/06441cec45ba67f0f6044514191211b6 5/13/2019 I asked for an update, and got this. Seemed to be going well. 2.) https://gyazo.com/5911dcfe3d61a128d4baccbcadab75ea 5/28/2019 I asked for another update, this was said. 3.) https://gyazo.com/df9273acf11c889ee6d7cf4584df2d23 Last Tuesday, reached out to her, and still no reply. 4.) https://gyazo.com/ff1d37724e7c9e770962c1ef6651c860 I go to check her DeviantArt page, and I find this.. An empty DA: https://gyazo.com/f670d3d94e9d98be2cb7934655b30711 I urge anyone wanting to commission this user to proceed with heavy caution. Fortunately, I was able to get my refund back from her after messaging her through toyhou.se and threatening to put a beware on her. Soon after, she went into "quiet mode" on her toyhou.se where we could contact her, and said left this message: "Going on hiatus for a while. Guest mode and quiet mode are on, dont contact me."

In November 2018, I contacted Cakepawss on Etsy about commissioning a large custom plush. They quickly responded and service was great, however after I paid and received the initial sketch, they never contacted me further. Roughly every two months I politely requested an update, and only received replies when I voiced feeling I might be scammed. They have not sent me any proof they even have the materials to make the plush I ordered, much less any intention of completing it. By July of 2019 I filed a complaint with Etsy and informed the artist, who quickly responded they would send proof soon. They did not send proof, and since then Etsy has refunded my purchase. Several months prior (sometime around March I believe?) their Etsy shop was shut down. They still continued to claim they were working on my order, however. Attached are some screencaps of their responses on Etsy, and the post they made on Twitter immediately after I contacted them. They did claim they had a lot going on in their life, which is why I was willing to work with them as long as I was. However they refused to even acknowledge any questions regarding when they would actually send proof, much less the complete work.

I had commissioned the artist Climbdraws for a drawing of my puppy when I first got him, sent the payment and never heard from them again after asking several times about the status of the commission. It’s been nearly a year and a half which wouldn’t even be a problem if I had gotten some sort of update (even though all of their commissions seem to be completed within a few days or weeks generally.) Here’s some screenshots of the convo between me and the artist who goes by climbdraws on tumblr. On other social media they go by climbstudio or climbtothestars but I believe they’re most well known as being half of the YouTube animator team, noodlers. This isn’t the first time they’ve been kinda sketchy with me, first I ordered a leafpool sticker from their storenvy which never arrived so after several months I contacted storenvy (which was after trying to contact them directly for months) and they claimed I gave them a bad address and the sticker was sent back to them months ago. Which made me think ‘okay... kinda weird considering that’s my address and why didn’t they tell me?’ They then ‘resent’ the sticker without asking for a new address and it arrived this time leading me to believe they just never sent it the first time. After that the first time I tried to commission them we planned it all out but I stopped hearing from them completely before I even sent the payment. Which wasn’t too big of a deal just weird I never heard anything one way or the other. Then what you see in the photos happened and unfortunately I never received my refund or my commission/: since they’re a pretty popular face in the wc community I wasn’t sure what to do about it, and at this point it’s too late to dispute on PayPal/:

November 13, 2016 was the time I reached out to her when I saw her via Lemma Soft Forums and discussed about a commission I wanted done. She was a little slow in regards to replying to my messages but I understood considering how she seemed to be a popular pick for commissions based on her website via deviant art. Nonetheless, she replied, gave her the benefit of the doubt, and paid her the amount of $150usd on November 30, 2016 upon agreement on the details I gave her and how much it'll cost me overall. Two other reasons why I thought she's not a fraud are: 1.) She immediately sent me 4 sketch options based on our discussion 2.) I read no negative feedback about her through Lemma Soft and Deviant Art at the time I commissioned her I started becoming concerned when I noticed that I had to keep asking her about updates regarding my commission. Contacted her through her Deviant and Email and the last message she sent me is through email, January 20, 2017, telling me that she'll be sending me the second wip within that day but it never came. She didn't blocked me or anything and becoming a little more worried, I went to check on her deviant art again and saw that while she had thousands and thousands of lined up commissioned list, she barely responded to people who were starting to demand regarding their orders. I also noticed that she placed my order as almost done when she hasn't even updated me regarding my commission ever since that 1st sketch she sent which was on December 2016. ItaSlipy made several excuses, I say this now as an excuse as it has become ridiculously long, such as she's been sick, she's dealing with her wedding, she's sick again, her hands are giving her problems, etc etc. When the list of complaints were starting to pile up, ItaSlipy deliberately deleted her entire journal, slate clean, and "started all over again" as if nothing had happened. This lead me to believe that she's pretty much stolen people's money not only from Deviant, but from other websites as well where she offers her services. Surprisingly, she's still active in Lemma Soft and Deviant Art and I honestly cannot believe that she had the nerve to still accept commissions and now including Patreon. I've attached the screen shots that I managed to snag. The payment, the emails I sent to her, and the supposedly "status" of my commission that she never even updated me about. I understand that this is like 2 years ago, but I would like for people to become aware of this artist. For those who has already commissioned her and wasn't fooled by her, you're very lucky. I just hope there are no more victims of her scheme. I've posted this on my Deviant Page and someone messaged me, redirecting me to this site.

Artist sells regular monthly YCH auctions, purchased a spot at significant auto-buy price and paid promptly. Item was completed and no further contact from artist. This weekend the artist posted their latest batch of finished commissions and I noted that mine was posted - as well as another near duplicate piece featuring another character from the same base sketch. The artist resold the same sketch to a second regular commissioner without notification to the auction winner/original buyer. No mention that this was a possibility was in the auction terms, nor in any terms of service the artist provides. For the significant price paid, I feel it is reasonable to assume the exact sketch would not be reused as a base for additional work. Evidence below: Original YCH Auction Posting: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31055673/ (NSFW) My completed commission: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31414530/ (NSFW) Second piece from same base: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31414687/ (NSFW) I did contact the artist and they did confirm that they sold the piece twice. All that was offered was an apology and statement they would avoid doing it in the future. However, I did note a second set of identical pieces in the recent postings - I cannot speak to the situation of those and will not link them here, but it gives evidence that this may be a recurring pattern and makes me doubt changes will be made to their practices. While I don't expect any resolution from the artist (they did deliver a completed piece as commissioned), I did want to warn the community about the incident given the high profile of the artist and high cost of their work. Buyers beware.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Bourbon. (dead_punk_fox) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-11-01 15:47 Commissioner Beware - Prince_Vaxis WHO: Prince_Vaxis on FA, Vaxi on Discord WHERE: Through FA, then through Discord DMs WHAT: Commission fell through, he wanted to commission me for digital artwork to have one slot auctioned off. WHEN: October 29-30. EXPLAIN: At first I was hesitant to post a beware about this, but the more I thought about it the more obvious that his conduct was wildly inappropriate with me. A few of my associates (commissioners and artists) also felt a beware was necessary to warn other artists about him. Especially since it can be intimidating dealing with a client who has a good amount of watchers and commissions more well known artists, and it's common for artists to acquiesce to a client's demands because of these things. It started off as him claiming a slot on FA (since deleted) and then wanting to discuss it further via Discord, which I don't mind. I keep my Discord public and am fine talking to whoever. At first he wanted a bust commission, which would have fit within his budget. Then he waffled and decided he wanted a much larger idea, however he fought me every step of the way on cost. He was pushing for more and more to be included, things which are way outside the amount of time I have to devote for so little pay. At the end, I told him he was demanding way too much for what he was paying, because what he wanted was essentially a two character full color, which I charge $300 for per image. The end of it has him cursing me out, trying to call me over Discord (I assume to yell at me over voice, had this happened I would have recorded it as well), which I am EXTREMELY uncomfortable with and what really pushed me to write this beware. I don't voice chat in private with random people, and certainly not with someone who's behavior turned suddenly sour. It was likely an attempt to intimidate me into handing him a full refund (which I have done at this point). And him bringing up breaking his commissioner's TOS (??? which sounded extremely sketchy to me, since a TOS is a terms of service for the person providing a service). PROOF: Some of the screenshots do have NSFW art in them, this was him illustrating what he wanted. The conversation is also NSFW as it delves into the aspects he wanted included in the picture. Also included is the sketch work I had done for him that he didn't want to pay for. I apologize for how many screenshots there are, I wanted to include everything. The only part I left out was conversation about our pets and other casual stuff. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GhKNGZqpq0ZsFPMAmvPV1k8ZPuP9MxzC Edit: Update 4.12.19 I actually do have an addition to this caution. Several weeks ago another artist DM'd me on Twitter saying that Vaxis had told them he'd apologized to me and was trying to be a better person. He has NOT spoken to me since before he was removed from the original A_B LJ community. I have had absolutely no contact and he has not made any apologies to me. If he's messaging anyone claiming he has, he's lying.