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Oct. 16th, 2011 at 7:30 PM thaily WHO: Luvythicus WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/luvythicus/ or http://luvythicus.deviantart.com/ WHAT: Art trade, 3 bags of plushies and fur fabric for 1 drawing. WHEN: May 29 2010 Summary: - I offer free stuff, but first come first serve, in order to prevent other people from snatching up 3 trash bags worth of plushies and fur fabric, he offers to trade me art to hold on to them until he can get someone to pick the items up. I agree. - He receives the items and expresses his happiness with them. - He acknowledges multiple times that he owes me work. - Of a certain quality. - Yet he forgets about me 3 times. - Inundates me with angst and lies, such as not having a working computer when uploading digital work or saying he's too busy when uploading gift art. - Lies, i.e. about being threatened to swindle money out of his viewers. - Currently claims he no longer has the items and says I will never get the art he owes me. Once upon a time, I was cleaning up and decided to give away of a pile of plushies and a few meters of fur fabric. The plushies and fur were really nice so I thought some local furries might enjoy them, so rather than give them to a local thrift store like I usually do, I put up a "free to a good home, first come first serve" post here. Enter Luvythicus. He said he knew someone locally who could pick up a large portion of the fur and the plushies the next day, but that didn't work out. Afraid someone else might come for the items before he/his friends could he said "I know you said no reserving, but..." and offered to trade artwork in exchange for me holding on to 13 plushies and several meters of fur fabric. He used this and this image as a sample to show the quality of work he would give me. I agreed and at this point it became a trade; the items for art. June 5 2010 he received the items and let me know how happy he was with them. June 7 2010 I give him the information he needs to draw his half of the trade. The link I sent him was this one, which is fairly clear reference I think. He complains about the complexity, but if you give her clothes you only have to do the stripes on her face, so. *shrug* September 7 2010 I remind him of our agreement. September 22 2010 he forgot who I am. After clarification I send him the reference link again and he says "Imma doodle her today fer sure x3" November 2010 I leave a shout on his FA page (no screenshot as it had since scrolled off) and again, he forgot who I am. November 26 2010 I remind him again, send reference link for third time. Eventually, on November 28 2010, I get a sketch. You might notice a discrepancy between the quality of that and the quality he promised. I hemmed and hawed, already pretty fed up with having to wait half a year for even a preliminary and being inundated with false promises and angst whenever I ask him about it. But I confront him and tell him this is not the quality of work we agreed on. Same day, he agrees and says he'll draw more. which is followed by another note in which he explains, apologizes and promise to "draw something proper". That's the last I heard from him for months. In the meantime he has and continues to take commissions, ask people for ideas to draw, does a lottery, draws gifts, does trades and offers free art and draws numerous pictures of his character doing the horizontal mambo with other people's characters. I understand people having a hard time, and I understand that paying customers come first. But in this case, I have no clue as to what the hold up is supposed to be. If anything I thought the fact he was uploading work would mean he'd definitely get around to mine, but either he has a 1.5 year backlog or he's taken commissions AND trades after mine and just skipped over the work he owes me. March 5 2011, I send him a link to the original LJ post as a reminder, he says I am not a priority and can't even draw for himself. But uploads gift art 10 days later. April 19 2011 rolls around and I'm fed up. I send him a a deadline, provide me with a preliminary within a month or return the items because I don't think he should get something for breaking his promise. Because he lives on the other side of the country and both he and I have spotty transport at best (depending mostly on public, which costs an arm and a leg), I asked (mutual!) friends more local to him and with transport, if they'd be willing to drop by and pick up the items, so it'd be easy for Luvy to bow out of the trade. He responds by saying he feels threatened and anyway his computer is broken so unless I can teach him to draw out of thin air.. He then makes an FA journal about the fact he's being threatened. Notice how, after a year of admitting he promised to make me art of a certain quality and that he was definitely going to get 'round to it, he goes to saying how he just offered a sketch out of the kindness of his heart. At least he's being honest when he says "I don't care if you feel cheated or anything". My response, also explaining that it wasn't a threat because well, it wasn't. I figured that if it was a misunderstanding, he'd delete or at least amend the post. However, in response to my statement that I was not threatening him, he says that the post is just a warning for anyone else who might suddenly demand art from him. So he knew he was not being threatened, but the post is still there, without even amending the information he knew to be false and he got at least 50 dollars out of lying to his viewers! The obvious falsehood of his post also casts a new light on this one: Silly customers. And makes me wonder how many more people he might owe work to. ? I tell him that, while he claims to only be able to use the internet via his phone and not draw digitally, he had uploaded digital work. I'm not angry, I just want what he promised me. May 8 2011 he's suddenly all cutesy and pleasant again, and asks for my real life address for a "surprise". I am suspicious, and ask him for a phone pic of the traditional media doodles. I remember seeing it, but didn't save it, it was the corner of a piece of paper with some doodles. He said there was a second sheet but the cat puked on it or something. By this time I was getting pretty exasperated with and tired of this person. Can you tell? ? Notice how he asks for the character's personal info AFTER I send him the link for the fourth time. Said link has a full bio, which is part of the reason I didn't respond. The other being that unlike him, I was busy-busy (end of the semester, commissions etc.) and didn't feel like telling him about my hobbies. The link I gave him 4 times had plenty of information he needed for some doodles. Needless to say I didn't hear from him after. Sent a note today, asking for an update, he complains he had to wait 5 months for information he already had and apparently couldn't do a single headshot since and he lost the sketches he already had. Despite the fact that I carefully stored my items and they were fine when I gave them to him, the fur was suddenly "riddled with bugs" and he threw it away; good time to mention he claimed the fur was for his then-girlfriend and he just never gave it to her, even though they were still together for at least a month after receiving the fur. He claims to have given the plushies to charity which I sincerely doubt. Considering his track record of lying to me, I heavily suspect he's just trying to brush me off and get me to leave him alone because he supposedly doesn't have the items anymore. And I'm confident that he will never, ever live up to his promise, leaving his post to be forever unresolved. I would definitely recommend people never give him anything again, money or otherwise. Sure he seems to do some commissions and trades, but why chance it?

Oct. 2nd, 2011 at 11:45 PM mikastar Who: RejectedDreams Where: DeviantART, http://rejecteddreams.deviantart.com What: Traditional Art When: September 30, 2011 - Oct 2, 2011 Proof: In explanation. I must strongly caution anyone who receives an art request from RejectedDreams on DeviantART. He comes off all nice at first, but then turns around and belittles your work, changes his story around, and accuses you of scamming him. Here is my ordeal: I posted a journal stating that I was doing sketch commissions. In the past, it was understood that that meant pencil sketches, not cleaned up line work. Most people realize this when commissioning. Journal - http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/neko_83/proof1.jpg So I get a lovely note from RejectedDreams requesting a commission. I proceed to find out further info about his request. I also let him know my process, telling him that he may request changes to his image once I submit it to him, before the final image is complete. Note - http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/neko_83/proof2-1.jpg He thinks that's "cool." And even tells me to include the same type of tusks on his elephant that I had drawn on a previous piece in my gallery. Keep this in mind, because later on he tells me that's not what he wanted at all. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/neko_83/proof3-1.jpg I send him a preview of what I sketched up http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/neko_83/Elephant_Sketch.jpg Then proceed to tell him that if he would like any changes, he may ask for them now. He is completely fine with the image and tells me to go ahead and clean it up. Cleaned up image - http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/neko_83/AchooElephant.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/neko_83/proof4.jpg I send him the cleaned up sketch as well as an extra drawing for being one of the first 5 ppl to note me for commissions. He is very unhappy with it and begins to ask why its not like some of the other commissions in my gallery, mind you those were digitally inked, line art commissions, not sketches, as I had specified in my journal. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/neko_83/proof5.jpg I actually feel bad that he misunderstood the terms of our agreement and would like to rectify the situation, but before I can even reply to his note, he attacks me, claiming that I am scamming him. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/neko_83/proof6.jpg When I do respond to him, in a very professional manner, he becomes even more verbally abusive. As for the "ton of details," he was never specific about them at all and never made any suggestions when I showed him the preliminary sketch. I even agreed to revise the drawing, but as you can see, he just blew past that with his ignorant ranting. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/neko_83/proof7.jpg I then issued a refund and blocked him. There is no way I am going to do work for someone like that. I tried to be nice...I mean I'm pretty sure I addressed the issue in a very professional way. I have never had such an experience like that before. Please do not take requests or anything else from this person. He is rude, completely unprofessional, and immature. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/neko_83/proof8.jpg I advise saving yourself a lot drama by avoiding this one altogether. 10/7/11 Edit: Just wanted to thank everyone who has commented for all their wonderful support and advice. I just recently found out about this community and am very happy that it exists!

Oct. 1st, 2011 at 1:29 AM marblestheskunk WHO: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/timitei/ WHERE: Furaffinity and LJ WHAT: A digital ref sheet WHEN: July PROOF: In explanation Well I saw Timitei's post in teeny com here: http://teenycom.livejournal.com/970882.html I followed it to their FA and commissioned them for 2 ref sheets, one of them was done in a timely mater but I still have yet to recieve the second one. I sent them the commission info in a journal which has since been deleted but here is a screenshot of when she said that she had lost my commission info and needed it again: She then did my ref sheet but still had not done the other one. She then deleted the journal with the info, and I guess forgot about my note describing the raccoon so I reminded her and gave her another description Time went by and she still has not done it, nor has she responded to ANY of my notes I've been sending her asking for my money back, they say on FA they are unread, here is the most recent one: She also posted this on august 31st, but has had a submission since then: This journal was put up out of the blue with no explanation of when she will be completing my commission, its only $5 but I still want a refund and feel that it is wrong and that shes probably doing this to others aswell, seeing the comments on teenycom.

Sep. 30th, 2011 at 6:51 AM coobiee Aye, hello there. I'm relatively new to all of this, including LJ, so please forgive me for any mistakes. I'm not really doing this for myself, but more for everyone who is still waiting and anyone who ever goes to do business with her. While her art is absolutely fantastic her business manners and time for getting things done is absolutely terrible. Though she is usually pretty good with giving refunds if you ask for them. WHO: Galagya, http://siedend.deviantart.com/ , http://galagya.deviantart.com/ WHERE: wolfhome forums/serenityisles forums WHAT: premade poses for the chats WHEN: September 9th of last year. PROOF: Since it's been so long I can no longer grab proof of me sending the payment for them also I didn't pay with paypal I paid with the chat's currency which is deltas. Although I did earn those through commissions so I guess it still counts? Here's the topic where everything is even all the screenshots are taken from there. EXPLAIN: September of last year she had posted a topic on Serenity which contained a presale of a premade wolf set she was working on. It was $25 Paypal/50 Deltas to preorder them all so I sent out the deltas for all of them because I'm a really big fan of her artwork. When she posted said topic there was a little preview of them already and she stated that they were just WIPs for now but she was getting close to being done with some of them. (screenshot) So I figured okay then it shouldn't be too long for them to be completely finished. Well that's where I and many people were wrong. March of this year she finally comments on her topic after not giving any of us any updates at all apologizing for not posting in so long and saying she had redone the poses. She asked us if we wanted to see them so far or if we wanted to wait and most people said they'd like to see a little sneak peak of the new ones. (screenshot) Well that never happened. More and more time went by with no more updates or even a preview of the newley redone poses. So someone finally sent her a PM on the forums asking for an updated and apparently she replied with this. That was on June 11th of this year. More time went buy and in August someone posted a comment saying they were keeping an eye on a topic she made over on wolfhome forums with premade sets. I decided I'd take a look into and to my surprise she had started another premade set without even finishing the one she started over on Serenity. (screenshot) On Augst 28th someone had posted what Galagya had said through a PM on a different forum. (screenshot) Later on that day the same person gave us an update for the 20th of August saying Galagya was going through a move and her family was visiting her. They also said that she was busy with making her own chat instead of working on all this owed artwork that people have already paid for. (screenshot) I figured that's okay, real life things pop up and can't be avoided so I just went about my way. On September 23rd, it had already been over a year since myself and many others paid for these poses, I seen on wolfhome forums that they were finally all moved into their new place and even had internet. I also seen a topic Galagya herself posted on wolfhome forums August 31st. Which can be seen here. More time passed and still nothing. Now back in April she made a topic on wolfhome forums selling puppies which people had to buy and then in a few weeks they were suppose to get the completed refs of the adult versions of those. By this time those people that had paid for those were starting to get a bit frustrated. Which I can understand, but that's a whole different story really. Lets just say out of all 10 of those people who paid $20.00 for a puppy have yet to see a single ref finished. Not even so much as a sketch. Anyways it's now September 30th she still hasn't completed the premade set. Not to mention she owes quiet a few peple things they've already paid for, but that isn't for me to get into. Many people have sent her emails and PMs reminding her about them and asking her about them and still nothing. No updates, no previews, no nothing. Now like I said she's generally good about refunds if you ask her for one, but sometimes she gets an attitude about it. No I don't have proof, just past experiences. This isn't really anything new for her since she's been this way for a really long time from what I've noticed. About a year or two back there were people who had been waiting 3 years for a commission. I'm not sure how that is now though I'm pretty sure she refunded everyone or something. But yeah if you ever go to commission her just beware of how long it could possibly take her and don't expect updates. She gives little to no updates. Her art is wonderful, but the wait and no updates isn't.

Sep. 22nd, 2011 at 10:54 PM scenceable I guess this post is mostly a warning against dealing with this person. However, if there's anything you can suggest that I can do at this point, I'd love to hear it! ? Who Kate Sjoberg, AmandaKathryn (Deviantart and ebay), RedWyvrenStudio (Etsy) Where Ongoing through ebay, etsy, and deviantart What Well she sells unicorn sculptures that run $100+, but my issue is regarding other parts of the transaction. I'm just going to copy paste what I wrote in my own journal. I've never posted in this community before so I apologize if I leave out any information. I'm not really sure what to do with this. The seller here is an artist who I've been a fan of for ages. (Kate Sjoberg, AmandaKathryn, RedWyvrenStudio) I bought a fairy from her in 2006, and then bought a few unicorns, and commissioned a pegasus at the end of 2008. With the commission, I found her communication a bit shaky, like she wouldn't respond to messages every time and that type of thing. My first issue was a mermaid I bought from her in early 2009, she started the bidding low and the auction ended low. She charged me $35 for shipping, and it ended up only costing $12. I messaged her 4 times over a few weeks to get the money back to no response, and after weeks (I guess after that 4th message) finally I go to paypal and see she has refunded me $14. No paypal note, no reply to my messages, no apology. And the difference in shipping was a decent chunk more than $14, but at least I got some back. So I didn't press the issue, and left positive feedback anyway. Now ship overcharges piss me off in general so after that I didn't buy from her for almost 2 years. (I should add, money and falling out of collecting contributed to this as well) Then in Novemeber 2010 I bought two large unicorns, one was $135 and one was $125. The description on all her auctions says the items come with a COA (certificate of authenticity) and they didn't. Also, one of the unicorn's bases was broken. I contacted her through etsy about the break and the COAs. At first she had great contact. And then... nothing. However, against my better judgement, I bought a unicorn in February 2011 from her, which was sold with a "new version" of her unicorn tutorial. Here's our entire conversation through etsy. So, I would like to point out here a few things. First of all, I never got a refund or any sort of money back due to the broken item. She never looked into the claim or got back to me on that (look at the dates on the messages) and I ended up fixing the base at cost to me. The pegs are really expensive and hard to find and I used my own. I would also like to point out that she doesn't apologize at all about an item arriving broken. A few others things... she didn't tell me beforehand that the COAs would be sent separately- I had to ask. The description says they come with COAs. Also, again, she never mentions before I pay that the tutorial would be shipped separately or that it would take time to complete. I knew that info through DeviantArt comments only. Also regarding her last message to me- the COAs were NOT in the box with Dream. I never got them. After messaging her on etsy and getting no response I gave up. I hate chasing people and figured, whatever, let it go, just don't buy from her again. But it bothers me to this day every time I think about it. It's to a point where I want to sell them because I can't enjoy them properly due to these issues. The two unicorns I need COAs for I bought in November 2010. The unicorn that was supposed to come with a new version of the tutorial was purchased in February 2011. So recently, as in the end of August 2011, she posted on DA and I commented about something else and she responded. So I figured hey, she's around, I'm going to send her a note. Why not, might as well mend things if I can. Here are those. The following are messages through DeviantArt's note system So, I realize the tone in my first DA message was quite different from that last one. But that's it. Not only am I done with buying items from her, I am spreading this to others too. Again, I would like to point out that in the message I got from her in August, she did not apologize ONCE for a huge issue that is absolutely her fault. The thing is, they're PAPER. To appease me all she had to do was print two pieces of paper, sign them, slap the old tutorial on a disc, toss all 3 in an envelope and send them out! There is nothing hard about that. Ignoring messages and failing to do something so simple for your customers really just illustrates how little you care. And on a more personal note... I would also like to mention, because for those not familiar with the artist I think it's important- they're not cheap. I have 8 pieces by her that were $100-$200 each. (Sorry! I put this bit in for my LJ friends, I don't mean to mply that her work is overpriced or anything like that!)COAs and such might not seem like a big deal, but if I want to resell them at any point they're not worth much without the COA. As for the tutorial, she charges $13 for the old version and the price for the unicorn I got was started higher because it came with a tutorial. So I bought it largely because of the tutorial. So in many ways it's not that big a deal, not like never receiving an entire sculpture. However, in principal, I didn't receive what the description stated. In the end, I'm leaving this transaction feeling taken advantage of... it doesn't matter what business you're in, that's never something you want to do to your customers. ? If anyone has any advice on what to do, I'm all ears. At this point, I'm moving on and never dealing with this person again. It's really unfortunate that things have come to this because I'm honestly a big fan of her work.

Sep. 8th, 2011 at 8:06 PM thaily I hate writing these things, but I hate people using artists are doormats even more and even though this guy is local to me, he has internet so no-one's safe. It all started with a retweeted message that someone was looking for an artist in the area to design a mascot for a site and create 12 illustrations of said mascot for said site. The tweet came from the guy's intern but she's not the problem here so I won't mention her by name; I want to keep her out of this entirely, I've accidentally interned for people with how do I put this politely diminished moral judgment. I don't blame her, I only hope she doesn't pick up on his sordid (and I use the following word in the most liberal sense) business practices. But I digress, the company in question is called Tenno Media, Peter Bierhuizen is the person this post is about. He appears to be the owner and sole employee, save for the aforementioned unfortunate intern who has since left. The site the designs would be used for is fitness-ferdie.nl Because this happened locally, i.e. in the Netherlands, I will provide translations of our correspondence as well as screenshots for any Dutch speaking person to verify that the translations are accurate. I invited the tweeting intern to look at my site and mail me if she liked my work. First e-mail. "Sending you an e-mail following your tweet. I design websites as a side job and my boss has asked me to design a character. Simply: a frog in an orange shirt with FF on it. A reference to Fitness Ferdi, a web shop where people can buy fitness appliances and goods. Of Ferdi, the frog, he thinks he'll need 12 drawings (illustrations) that will be used in various ways (websites, flyers). I don't know what kind of budget is available. This would kind of depend on the amount of time the designs will take to make. Vaguely said, but if you think you can create Ferdi I would like to receive a message. Kind regards, X" First reply, I explain my process, how many hours I will need and how much I charge; minimum wage is about €9,20 for my age bracket. This will be relevant later. "Hello X, I can definitely design a fitness frog. My hourly wages are €10,- ex. taxes First I will make a few sketches to your specifications, about 6 sketches will take 2 hours, so you can decide what kind of design you'd like or if you'd like to see more sketches. As soon as you pick a design I will customize it until you're satisfied, how that long will take depends on you (plural). From a sketch to a coloured vector (which can be resized to any size) takes about 4 hours x 12. With the cost are also commercial rights, I only retain the right to include the illustrations in my portfolio. - Kind regards, E. Palli (my real name, I use my real and artist name interchangeably)" Second e-mail, with this sketch attached. I sized it down. I told them I can do 6 sketches in 2 hours, they ask for 10 in 3, I comply. "Hello X, Hey E. I've discussed it with my boss and we'd like to get about 10 sketches (3 hours of work) of different kinds of frogs. One illustration we can picture is a frog in a circle, met a happy smile. He's wearing a sleeveless shirt which reads "FF" across his chest in white letters. The plan was that I was going to do the sketches myself, but I think this will cost me too much time, which is why I went looking for an illustrator. I've included the first sketches, so you know what direction we want to take. Once we've received the 10 sketches, we'll see how it goes. We'll have to think of the poses we want. Kind regards, X" I send them these sketches a week later to help them nail down the design they want. "Without shirt, it will be added later. Small: [link] Large: [link] Did you have an address I can bill? Kind regards, Thaily" Get an e-mail a week later, but there's been no mention of a deadline or anything, so I'm not too bothered. "Hey Thaily, I only work Tuesdays at Tenno Media at the moment (the company you drew for). My boss is going to look at the sketches one of these days and as soon as I hear back about it I'll contact you again. You can send your bill to Tenno Media. [blanked address] I really like your sketches, nice style! Greetings, X" Listen to me smalltalk, yap yap. "Hey X, Thank you, I hope your noss (typo) likes them too :P - Kind regards, Thaily" While I asked for a billing address, I hadn't billed them for the first batch of sketches yet. Keep in mind; 10 sketches, 3 hours of work, €10,- an hour = €30,- so far. "Hey Thaily, We had a little meeting and we'd like to see another ten sketches. Some comments: The head can be fairly human, like the middle frog (touching his upper arm). The body can be broader and more muscular. This will be another 3 hours of work. Furthermore we'd like to see sketches of Ferdie: 1 holding weights. 2 spinning on a bike. 3 running on a treadmill 4 flexing his muscles 5 holding a sign 6 pointing left or right 7 in a round logo, like in my sample sketch. Because of my internship I stop working at Tenno Media after next week. You can mail the sketches to my boss at [email protected] en/or [email protected]. The contact will be via Peter. He is my boss. Ferdie will be the mascot of FitnessFerdie.nl. The web shop for it is being perfected and is temporarily placed at this url: [obsolete link]. Maybe the site's lay-out will help you with your sketches. Have a nice and greetings, X" I take a little over a week to respond this time because I suddenly got slammed with unexpected work; friend told me at the last minute he had gotten me an art panel at a convention, so I suddenly had 3 days to prepare for an art show. Augh. "Hey Thaily, How's the frog coming? :) Greetings, X" I managed my art show, then did the second batch of sketches and sent them to both the intern and Peter, the intern's boss whom was now my contact. I explain, for a second time (first being in my first e-mail to them) that they need to settle on a design before I can start on the final illustrations. I've even made it easier for them by putting all the sketches on the same sheet and lettering and numbering the heads and bodies so they can just tell me which body and head they like best so we can combine them and move things along. "Hey X and Peter, Sorry for the delay, I was told at the very last moment that there was an art panel reserved for me at an art show. Here's the second batch of 10 sketches; I added numbers and letters so you can easily indicate which combination of heads&bodies you like, as soon as we decide on a design I can start on the sketches for the illustrations. Small: [link] Large: [link] - Kind regards, Thaily" At this point I decide I'd like to get paid before we go any further, so I send Peter the bill for 20 sketches; 6 hours of work is €60,-, plus taxes the total came to €70,80. Again I remind people this is essentially minimum wage, this will be hilariously relevant in a moment. "Dear Mr Bierhuizen, Here is my bill for the 20 sketches. - Kind regards, Thaily [I attached the 2 specified bills as PDFs, they are from Gear-IT.nl which is my husband's company, because it was easier at the time]" Here's where it took a sudden and sharp turn downhill; the intern gone I was left to deal with Peter who (perhaps after being faced with a bill and the realization that yes, I expect to be paid for my time) suddenly felt all my work was unsatisfactory and unusable. He says he's looking for a specific type of frog, but despite being prompted to tell me which design comes closest to what he wants, he decides he wants to back out of the deal without paying me for the work he has already commissioned and has already been provided. "Dear Thaily, I have looked at the sketches and I'm missing that which X asked for. X gave a whole list with situations and positions that we wanted to see sketches. However I don't see any of these positions. So I can't do anything with your sketches. To be honest I couldn't do anything with the first batch of sketches because I asked for (at least X) what I wanted. So I'm not very happy because you're sending me 2 bills for things I can essentially do nothing with. I'm looking for a particular type frog (see the list of X further down in the mail (was the same list translated further up)) depicted in a number of fitness related poses but I have received none of this. So I'm going to stop because I'm not sure this collaboration is going to be successful. I hope to have informed you sufficiently. Kind regards, P. Bierhuizen Tenno Media]" Assuming the best, that he is merely confused, I explain for a third time that he has to pick a design before I can do the illustrations from the list. I don't wanna do 12 sketches only to have him change his mind about the design before I can finalize. Plus it would cost more, I'm trying to save him money. "Dear Mr Bierhuizen, The sketches are to determine the design of the character, once the design is to your liking (the customer picks a design they like or a combination of designs they like) I will finish the sketches; the 12 sketches of the character on a bicycle/with weights etc. so all the illustrations will be to your liking and consistent. I have only billed you for the 20 sketches at the price we agreed upon beforehand. - Kind regards, Thaily" TL:DR, Peter still fails to understand simple things. 2 notes about that. 1. I was completely bewildered by his failure to understand this simple procedure. First you decide what the mascot looks like before I draw the mascot doing various things. It's not rocket science. And I know it's not me because I've designed numerous characters for various people, if anything people are excited when given choices and the chance to customize the character to suit their personal tastes. I've never had problems with anyone in this matter. 2. He says that if he makes me do the sketches he'll have a spent a fortune before he has anything that looks anything like something he can use; in addition to the procedure I gave him my time estimates and hourly rates beforehand. This only became a problem the moment he actually had to pay for completed work. Allow me to iterate; a fortune. Literally, he uses those words; "Een vermogen". Minimum wage. Aw yeah, I be ballin' with my €10 an hour! "It clearly describes what X wanted to see. I'm sorry but I think your work method is kind of too vague. If I let you make the sketches I'll lose a fortune before I see anything that looks anything like what I want. I don't think that can be the plan. If you included what I wanted to see a la, but this isn't the intention." As a side note I should indicate that he dropped all civilized pretense, as well as his ability to capitalize, punctuate and spell (I'm fixing this in the translation for legibility's sake), giving the impression he can't be bothered with it anymore. I know how he feels, so I give him an ultimatum, pay or lose any claim to the work. "We can do 2 things: - You pay me and you can use the sketches and designs, if anything to give to another designer to finalize the work. - You don't pay and I will sell the designs to a third part to compensate for my financial damages and you cannot use the sketches; so you can't pass them on to another designer without infringing on my copyright." He takes a few days to respond. "go ahead and sell them. i can't use them and will never use them" So, he had all my info ahead of time, knew what he was getting into and is not backing out of payment for work he commissioned and has already been completed; breach of contract. I inform him I will be letting my colleagues (hi guys!) know about him since you know.. Whether or not I manage to mitigate my financial damage, he's still breaking his contract and likely to do it to the next person as well. "Okay, I'll my colleagues know that you break your contracts. Good luck (with your future endeavors)!" This, perhaps predictably, leads to further deterioration in his ability to communicate like a professional. "My god, you are such a vengeful type. I'll tell your colleagues that you (read Gear IT) simply don't deliver what is asked for and that YOU are really (and easily provable) not delivering on your obligations. THAT my dear is actually the real problem. I ask A but get B. Think about that and stop (zeiken, crude Dutch for taking a piss; bitching, moaning, whining, carrying on etc.) pissing on about it, toddler" I iterate, Gear IT is my husband's IT company, we just sent the bill under that name because it was more convenient at the time; I didn't have a PDF and was too busy to make one, but the bill was specified and obviously from me, this is was not in dispute (just that he had to pay it). I correct him since well, Hiryu doesn't do illustration and design, he does hosting (sites, Minecraft servers etc.), security, domain registration and so forth. So if he wants to complain about the right person (i.e. probably lie his pants off) he should complain about Spirit Link Studio. "- Not Gear IT, Spirit Link Studio. - Be sure to present all your "evidence", k? :D" Further breakdown in communication and him not understanding simple things. "So why do you send bills with Gear IT on it. I added it just in case you forgot. Fucking (fokkin = Dutch white trash way of saying "fucking") vague as far as I'm concerned. Read your mails there's enough evidence that you don't deliver on your promises. I've had enough of this stupid pissing on. I'm going to stop replying." I explain simple things with small words. "Because it was easier at the time. Good luck (with your future endeavors)! :D" True to his word, he has yet to reply. But it's only been a day or two and sometimes he takes a week to respond, so there might be more swindling man-child rage to update with later. So uh, in short; don't work for this guy. He only likes your designs until the first bill shows up, then things quickly deteriorate into ignorance, lies and cussing. In a related note, if anyone wants to buy a frog adoptable, I have some available here ? Edit: Thanks for the input guys! Yeah there might have been a miscommunication, the "customer" was vague and told me to draw another 10 sketches "kinda like X". Had he gone "Oh that's not what I meant, I meant Y." the miscommunication could have been dealt with in a civil and mature manner. It wouldn't have been a problem. Unfortunately he immediately broke the contract by pulling out without paying, not to mention the condescending attitude and crass language. I managed to stay civil even after he said he wasn't going to pay for my time, so I don't understand his outbursts at all. In years of doing commissions, he is only the second unhappy customer I've ever had, and it's due to his own lack of patience, understanding and basic manners. I'll probably stay away from similar contracts for the time being, because they cost more time and aggravation than they're worth (especially when you're not being paid) and if I do take a design contract, I'll make them pay part up front like with normal commissions. Lesson learned, I'm moving on to my paying customers ?

Sep. 7th, 2011 at 12:13 AM tijgerhuis This isn't a Beware as much as it is calling attention to blatant ignoring of a paying customer. Papaya's an amazing artist, don't get me wrong, and a really nice person. I'd just like this situation resolved, after six months of waiting, four months lacking of any communication whatsoever outside of short conversations at conventions, and recently, outright disregarding any messages at all. You guys have probably seen her around. http://furaffinity.net/user/papayafruitsushi I'd hate to give the wrong impression here. Again, all I'm hoping to do with this is bring attention to the situation, get some input, and get it resolved easily. Back in February, Papaya posted an FWA thread for badge commissions, and I jumped onboard right away (I'm Toraie). After the conversation there, I sent a PM through FA detailing the character, commission, etc., which was replied to promptly. I wasn't able to pay until the week after, and I let her know. After she claims here to have sketches, I go ahead and pay right away. FWA comes and goes, and I don't get a chance to talk to her, but having to deal with college and many other things, I don't get in touch again until right before ESG (bottom email), where I only hear from her that she's left all commissions back at home, and that she'd try to find them before too long. At this point, having waited a good three months since I paid, I barely want it anymore. Sometime in June (top email), I remind her through email, because she'd explicitly stated all contact was to be through email and not FA notes. No reply. And then it's time for Megaplex. I caught her for a few moments there, and Papaya told me it was in her room, and that she'd get it to me before I left. I left without hearing anything from her, though. A few days after that (per her journal saying she was busy and needed a few days), I send another email (bottom) giving a day that I'd like a reply by. I've already paid, so I really should be able to do this. No reply. The following week, another one (top email). Nothing. All I'm seeing are journals saying she'll be in touch with commissioners soon. And finally, I leave a shout on her page asking if she still uses that email for business. It's a fair question, but it got shoved off before it got replied to, and then others' commissions start getting posted. I can understand slowly working through commissions, but failing to answer simple questions like in my emails is unprofessional. I'd like to emphasize the absolute lack of communication here - surely, if you've got the time to post a commission, much less be working on it, you have the time to fire off a quick yes/no email. It's not about the money here, though I would like it back rather than having the commission finished. I'm just leaving a public notice here, because private communication sure isn't getting the job done.

WHO: FA user Battenburgcake [nsfw/adult account BloodSugar] WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/battenburgcake/ WHAT: 2 full digital pieces WHEN: Inital note, agreement and paid on April 8th 2011. First commission received May 20th. Second commission still not received, August 31st 2011. PROOF: Initial Commission offer: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=commission1.png Artist accepts commission: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=commission2-1.png Payment proof: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=paypal1.jpg First note send asking about commission status: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=commission3.png Note read by artist: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=commission4.jpg Other notes recently sent and no response: http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k549/NomOnMomo/?action=view&current=unreadnotes.jpg EXPLAIN: I commissioned Batten for two pieces, a one character and a two character, on Apr 8th, 2011, 11:02 AM. The total came out to $25 and I paid it via paypal in full on Apr 8th, 2011, 11:01 PM. I recieved my first commission May 20th and since then I have not gotten my second piece or heard from the artist after sending them notes to both accounts. I don't mind if it takes the artist a while to complete something, because I understand things happen outside of our control sometimes, so long as they let the commissioner know what's going on, or that it's going to take them some time/they will be unavailable etc. However, I haven't received a single note from them or a reply to notes I have sent them. Since it's past 45 days, I can't dispute it via paypal -_- Any advice? :s I know it's just $15 but that could have gone to a more responsible artist :S

Aug. 16th, 2011 at 2:27 PM undertow26 I'm not sure if I want to call this a beware. I feel bad putting her here because the transaction started out really awesome, but it declined from there. WHO: Neemeister neemeister.deviantart.com WHERE: Deviantart WHAT: $85 two character commission. WHEN: Beginning of May/June 2010 until now. PROOF: The exchange. She asked me about some details about the story and my characters, so my replies are omitted for personal reasons. [Censored by mod for lack of censoring. Paypal screencap is valid] EXPLAIN: I paid for a commission in June 2010 of two of my characters. In the beginning, the transaction went smoothly, but she required payment upfront. This was fine with me, I've done it before with good results. Since she was going through a tough situation I made the mistake of sending the full 85 USD to her account instead of half/half, which she said would be alright. Everything was fine, I was really excited about this commission. Almost three months go by and I don't get any progress. I understand that she had other commissions before mine so I wasn't really worried at this point. I sent her a message inquiring the status. Since she wasn't on dA very often. the exchange spanned from Aug 30th to Oct 1st. I omitted some unnecessary stuff, hope that's ok. The changes requested was for one of the characters who I redesigned. She went silent for a while, and closed her commissions in December. I was going to ask her about the commission again, but saw her reply to someone else's inquiry on her commission journal saying she intended to get to them. Reassured, I forgot about the commission. Until April/May of this year. I was a bit frustrated at this point. She stopped uploading to her dA gallery. It wasn't the time that got to me, it was the lack of communication. I sent a reply on her dA journal. And it was hidden. By now I'm getting bad vibes. I can understand hiding the comment but she didn't even reply. Irritated, I sent a note to another of her customers. I took out her screen name for privacy reasons. But it looks like I'm not the only one who hasn't received art from this artist. [Removed by mods for proxy] Doing a search on her screen name, I found some accounts on different websites, one that was last visited in July of this year. So I don't think she's out of internet. I sent her another note asking for the status of the commission and it sits unread in my inbox. I'm rather upset that I had to come here in the first place because this started off so promising. I don't want to assume the worst, but it appears that she's been recently active on other sites which isn't a good sign. I'm thinking of issuing a chargeback since I paid with a credit card, but I think too much time has allotted since the initial transaction. I will happily mark this as resolved if she gets in contact with me again, but right now it seems unlikely that I'll ever get the art. =/

Aug. 14th, 2011 at 8:18 PM thebrokentape WHO: Vaughnblondtail -> www.vaughnblondetail.deviantart.com, www.furaffinity.net/user/vaughnblondetail WHERE: Furaffinity.net/Deviantart.com WHAT: $75 commission from me WHEN: Initiated beginning of June 2011, finished June 24th PROOF: 1: http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae340/ABrokenCassette/Picture32.png 2: http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae340/ABrokenCassette/Picture33.png EXPLAIN: So this guy commissioned me to do a series of seven colored images for $75. As is my usual policy, I asked him to pay me half up front and then the second half when the piece was finished. He sent me the first half of the money without any problems, but then comes the trouble. After finally finishing the piece I told him that I had it ready, and if he was set to send me the second half of the money. He said he was, and so I sent him the image with a watermark. He said that he loved it, but then promptly told me that he didn't have the rest of his payment yet. ? I feel a little cheated and pretty frustrated because this guy also has decided to not respond to any of my attempts at communication (it's been a month and a half now with no word.) I've provided a few screencaps of conversations we had.

Edit: Got a DA account, sent her a note and gave her two page shouts... she ignored me. I can see she's responded to other people, and to one of them she said she wishes the trolls would shut up. >_< THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF: http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/390145.html#cutid1 WHO: Eclypse of FA / Leathurkatt on DA WHERE: http://leathurkatt.deviantart.com/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/eclypse/ WHAT: A Celtic pawprint badge costing $15 and paid for with cash and in person. I had the understanding that it was traditional, but I don't have proof of that. WHEN: I paid for it in November of 2009. The last I heard from her until this summer was in September of 2010, saying she would finish the badge and also try to send me at least $10. Then, on June 23rd, 2011, she sent me the... "finished product" in an FA note. EXPLAIN: This started out as a situation involving an artist who was ridiculously flaky and bad at communication and never showed me any proof that she'd worked on my art. You can read about this part in the previous A_B entry about her. I had pretty much given up on her. Then she sent me the finished product in June 2011. It looked NOTHING like what I'd asked for. I wanted a paw with the colors magenta, purple, and blue and some Celtic hearts worked into the design. I also asked for a name and paid for a solid-color background. But I was just so sick of dealing with her that I didn't bother responding at all. A few weeks later, I looked at the image again and got suspicious. It appeared to be a recolor of another badge in her gallery, and the file name of mine had "cougar" in it. I looked at her commission queue and saw that another person had commissioned her for a cougar paw. I contacted this person, and it turns out the artist sent both of us the exact same image, which had been drawn for the other person's trade a year and a half ago. The image in Eclypse's gallery is a recolor of the paw she drew for the trade, not the other way around. I should have realized right away she was a liar. When she sent me the completed image, she claimed that she finished the artwork, then lost it, and thought she'd have to start over again. The file she "lost" had been created in January of 2010. Well, in September of 2010, she claimed that she had the lines done and just needed to finish it. The person who traded with Eclypse has been in contact with Eclypse on DA. I don't have the details of their conversation, but I know Eclypse has been extremely immature and rude. Eclypse claimed that she sent me the wrong image, then said what she did was completely acceptable, then blocked the person. I will let said person know about this A_B post, in case she wants to add anything to it. I myself have not been in touch with Eclypse. I sent her a note on FA saying, "Over a year and a half since I commissioned you, and still all I get is the same exact image you made for someone else. Wow." She has not read it. If she doesn't respond here, I'll have to resort to getting a DA account, because she is obviously active there. I have no interest in her art after this mess and plan to demand a refund. I don't want to get a DA account just to chase after her but that seems to be my option. PROOF: In this gallery I have screenshots of the paw she sent me, the traced paw from her gallery, key parts of our conversation, her price list, and her queue. http://pics.livejournal.com/paula_mino/gallery/00008qs8 I hope this is an okay way to share the images.

Jul. 30th, 2011 at 3:03 PM lackoflollies Edit of an Edit! She sent me.. $10.. when.. I paid her $6. ? I'm sending $4 back, I don't need extra money, and I refuse to take it. Edit: She sent me this very lovely note: http://i52.tinypic.com/14tuf7n.jpg Now this lovely LiveJournal entry: http://pics.livejournal.com/lackoflollies/pic/00003pcw My first REAL post, bear with me. Yes, I am AuroraBorealia. WHO: RainbowJokerHound / Dog-Bone WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/rainbowjokerhound/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dog-bone WHAT: 2 $3 icons when she was having some kind of offer, journal is here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2120709/ It has been capped in case she deletes or modifies it. WHEN: It had been a month or two before I noticed trouble. I asked for updates, first she said her desktop computer or laptop was not working and she was unable to do digital art, but she had been submitting digital works while stating that. So, again I asked for updates after I presumed it was fixed, and she got VERY rude with me, stating I had to wait my turn just like everybody else. As of then, she has been continually submitting things digitally, and ignoring me when I asked for updates. NOW she's saying I never paid her. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2417369/ Edit: She saw my paypal screenshot and apologized for saying that, so that's situated. Everything else, however is still valid. This journal she says she owes me two icons, and my unanswered comment about updates. PROOF: http://i54.tinypic.com/r0v3o1.png Paypal transaction proving I sent the money for this. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2120709/ Journal EXPLAIN: I commissioned her in February because I had wanted some new icons, and noticed she was open. So I sent off my details via PM, and sent her the $6. I wanted for a month noticed she had completed every one else before me. I aske dher how my icons were coming once, and she said she was anable to do digital work because her computer was broken and she lost the files, I said alright and went on my merry way, I figured things would look up. A month or so later, maybe more, I notice she started submitting again, and when I asked for an update I got a nasty PM stating I needed to wait my turn just like every one else. Once I find the screenshot of this I will add it into the post. It is now July, and i've flat out asked for my money back. However, she is now stating I never paid her, which in the above screenshot, and based on the paypal in her journal, I totally did. This is the first time i've ever had issues with an artist, so I waited WAY too long to file a dispute, let alone properly save and record messages pertaining to this due to being a victim of FA leaks, I delete my PMs regularly, so i'm desperately searching for proof i DID get to add to this post. So, this is just a little beware to avoid this artist.

Jul. 19th, 2011 2:55 PM nathanial WHO dust-bite/Torrian Dear/EEEEAAGULLLL WHERE: dust-bite/Torrian Dear, EEEEAAGULLLL on Subeta WHAT: Waist-up couple piece WHEN: April 23rd-Present PROOF: I commissioned dust-bite on April 23rd. I didn't commission her through deviantart, but through Subeta, where she's known as EEEEAAGULLLL. Here is a link to her artshop and my post where I originally commissioned her. My friend and I commissioned her at around the same time; she commissioned her for a head-shot, where as I commissioned her for a $30 waist-up couple piece of my two characters. She got the sketches to both of us at around the same time, however she finished my friend's very quickly afterward whereas after I OKed the sketch and paid her... nothing. Here is a screencap of my payment. Here's the sketch: After about three weeks of no contact, and after she set up a chibi auction before finishing my piece, I sent her a PM on Subeta asking how things were going. Unfortunately Subeta didn't have a working outbox at the time, so I can't show the message I sent, but I assure you it was a very polite inquiry. In the mean time she was updating her DeviantArt quite frequently, and while it stated that she was moving, she still had the ability to respond to messages and post the odd sketch here and there. Wondering if she just wasn't checking Subeta, I sent her another polite message on DeviantArt on June 1st. Within a couple hours, she had read it, but didn't repsond (and still hasn't responded.) Since then she has actively been posting on both DeviantArt and her tumblr (dust-bite.tumblr.com). Some of them are old commissions, some of them are new. She even had time to draw a kiriban image for someone on DeviantArt, and work on her comic and website, orange-zombie.com. Getting a bit frustrated with the fact that she clearly had time to respond to my message/finish my art but chose not to, I decided to send her an e-mail on June 30th to the address she has listed on her DA page. Still polite, but I haven't received a response. At this point I just want my money back, but I don't know how to get ahold of her other than the methods I've tried already. She won't reply to my messages. I have a feeling she's purposefully ignoring me because it says on her commission journal (which I didn't see until after I sent her the first note on DA since I commissioned her on another site) that she will 'take longer if bugged.' "Please be patient when you commission me. Don't rush me, it will only make me go slower. Asking for updates is a little stressful, but I'll provide them." I didn't really think I was rushing her... I just want to know if she ever plans on finishing my art, and if not, if she can refund me. It's true that I haven't asked for a refund yet, before anyone mentions it, but I'm kind of a doormat and I'm afraid of doing it until she actually replies to me. I realize now I probably should have mentioned that in my e-mail. Unfortunately I can't dispute this, not only because it's been over 40 days but because when I sent the money I didn't realize you shouldn't send payment as gifts. Sweet.

Jul. 9th, 2011 at 4:27 PM vibris_sae I was told last time that it was time to make an official beware post, but the artist in question contacted me in the comments, apologized, and said the art would be done at the end of June. I think it's time, though, since it's been nine months of excuses and being ignored, and I really don't want anyone else taken in for more money than I spent. :T I commissioned Rabid Sept. 15, 2010 for three digital busts to be finished by Halloween at $15. After Halloween passed with no sign of them I poked her, and was told since I wasn't first in the queue she didn't get to mine. I said fine, just finish them whenever. I waited until Jan. 17 of '11 to ask her again. She was nice about it, saying I didn't deserve to wait so long, she'd get them done. By this time the person I'd commissioned this for were no longer together, so I made a change and waited until mid-February, when I decided I'd ask what was up. She claimed she just forgot to do them, so I asked for a refund. I made sure to be extremely polite throughout this whole ordeal. She said she would as soon as she opened commissions again - which she did shortly afterward. After I threatened a Paypal dispute (I had no idea at this point of the time limit :P) she begged me not to, since she was using her grandma's PP. This back and forth went on for awhile until she stopped responding altogether. When I posted here to see if anyone had heard from her (and several had) she responded with more apologies and a promise to do the art - not to refund me as I'd asked and as she'd promised. Also in the comments section she admitted having traced over a photo for at least one submission. I have plenty of screencaps once again, if anyone needs proof. Maybe I was bothering her too much over $15 but it's still stealing. I've been contacted by at least one other person who was wondering if she'd done the art I'd commissioned, which I thought was kind of bad form - but it's relevant that other people are being screwed over too. At this point I don't expect to see either a refund or the art, and I'm giving up trying to pursue it. It seems like she'd rather placate people or ignore them rather than fulfill her obligations. ? Edited: Caps: Inital deadline: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/paris_in_flames/Capture5.png Offered refund: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/paris_in_flames/Capture4.png Art offered after refund never shows up: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/paris_in_flames/Capture3.png Art promised in June: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/paris_in_flames/Capture2.png Proof of tracing: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v40/paris_in_flames/Capture-2.png

Tyrah New posted to artists_beware December 26 2018, 18:29 BEWARE: DOBERMANMORALIST WHO: DobermanMoralist @ FA WHERE: FurAffinity WHAT: Digital Artwork WHEN: September 29th, 2018 to Today EXPLAIN: So I ordered a YCH from DobermanMoralist on September 29th. It is nearing three months since this date, and I have received NO updates on progress, NO messages, nothing. So on Monday I asked for either progress updates or a refund, and they said that they would complete mine AFTER they finished their new Christmas YCHs (which were ordered 3 weeks ago). I said "So.. you're doing the Christmas ones first, before the one I paid for three months ago?" Just to clarify, and they confirmed. So I said "I think I'd just rather have the refund then." To which they responded "I don't do refunds, there was no queue, you weren't given a number on the queue, I'll do the art and you won't get your money back." PROOF: https://sta.sh/01zyqqabwcpd EVERYTHING is in this one image.

kitsunewaffles wrote in artists_beware December 7 2018, 19:08 WHO: WarriorKniightSkye/KniightSkye on Furaffinity, Deviantart, Discord. They link everything they have on FA. WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/warriorknightskye WHAT: Stolen/Sold Traced Artwork. WHEN: Really unsure when she started tracing/selling my work, but I was informed of it in October, 2018. EXPLAIN: I was informed by someone that WarriorKniightSkye/KniightSkye had been spotted trying to sell traced artwork that looked like mine. I checked it out and it was definitely mine. I was provided links to side-by-side images and it speaks for itself. They have apparently been doing this to my work for a long period of time. As a precaution, I deleted almost all YCH template holders on my FA. I did notice that she actually tried to buy a YCH from me before, rather recently actually, which is funny, but I digress. You'll see me mention it to her through Discord/FA. I did contact them via note on FA and DA as well as directly through Discord. I didn't receive a response through FA or DA, but did through Discord. They admitted the theft and apologized and I let it go. I was informed again, today (Dec. 7, 2018), that they were at it again, this time trying to sell something for almost $200 using Discord to advertise it. I know she's primarily active on Discord, which is a place I'm really not, so I guess that makes her feel comfortable to keep doing what she's doing. PROOF: Side-by-side images of my old work/her tracings of it (Nsfw warning) --> https://gyazo.com/68ea06e1c24cbac2dc38913644c714ea https://gyazo.com/87bb8f96da9fe2261fb57294233b02ed The Discord conversation where she admitted to tracing and selling --> https://gyazo.com/7ea1183811eecfe43b7090dfe25ea52f FA note --> https://gyazo.com/1bb08d6c25cf2f8acce65b3119b08c99 The most recent tracing job w/ overlay on the original and her trying to sell it on Discord --> https://gyazo.com/fb7a60347a6fcddf203a97616300722e https://gyazo.com/150675260cac75b3215c7feda31cd84d

nickh49 (nickh49) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-12-18 18:47 Unfinished Art Trade: SinfulDreams15 WHO: SinfulDreams15 WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/sinfuldreams15/ https://sinfulwhispers15.tumblr.com WHAT: Art trade WHEN: May 27, 2013 — present UPDATE: After being informed of this post, on Dec. 22 2018 she noted me on FA with her alt account her half of our trade. I'd like this beware to be tagged as "Resolved" but also would like this to have a "Caution" tag if possible due to these messages she left afterwards trying to claim it was personal reasons with me that she ignored my messages for the trade instead of just doing the trade from the start. https://sta.sh/028o4ohtup64 EXPLAIN: I had an art trade with this artist in which I've waited 5+ years for her to finish her half and periodically asked for updates throughout those years. When I actually confronted her about it a few months ago, she said she's been too busy and can't do it, yet I've seen her take trades after mine and do theirs and done gift art for other people. She also admitted to ignoring the messages I asked about it. When I said I was gonna let everyone on her discord server know (because I think they deserved to know), she kicked me from the server and blocked me. PROOF: My half of our trade >>> http://fav.me/d66uh5x Her admitting to ignoring my messages >>> https://sta.sh/01jzi3bd3mez Proof that she now has me blocked >>> https://sta.sh/01ah80dhjf53

vera_snep (vera_snep) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-12-16 05:38 Advice: Lost Contact with CanineKuroki (Please pardon my formatting and such, this is my first time posting) EDIT: Not long after making this post (a couple weeks), CanineKuroki contacted me, apologized, and provided a full refund. Due to personal issues I will not get into detail about, she was unable to finish. She also sent me what she had made for the price of shipping. It's unfortunate that she wasn't able to complete the commission, but I give her some serious props for providing a full refund and sending what she had made. WHO: Canine Kuroki/Kuroki Yami/HoneyspydeR WHERE: https://www.facebook.com/CanineKuroki/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kurokiyami/ https://www.deviantart.com/honeyspyder WHAT: Fursuit partial WHEN: Initial contact: July 16th, 2016 First Payment: July 24th, 2016 First Loss of Contact: September 16th, 2016 Second Loss of Contact: December 21st, 2016 EXPLAIN: So, I contacted Yami through Facebook in July to ask for a quote. She responded pretty quickly and all conversation until September was quick, taking no more than a week for replies. She would send occasional WIP photos and I was happy [1]. My first payment via PayPal was on July 24th and the second one was on September 6th [2]. She was fine with how the payment plan was and there were no disputes whatsoever. ( Read more... ) But then, she just seemed to drop off the face of the Earth. I’d contact her about once a month to try and see what was going on [3]. Her Facebook page never updated and I had no other ways of contacting her. So, I sent a dispute into PayPal in December for both of my payments. She then responded to them fairly quickly, apologizing for her lack of communication. She then offered to give a partial refund, promised to improve her communication, and promised some extra goodies when I got the suit (Unfortunately, I do not have any screenshots of our conversation through PayPal, though I have tried to get them recently). I accepted and she sent a refund [4]. She also recommended I use her email, which she gave me, in order to contact her more efficiently. Unfortunately, I was naïve and dropped both cases, saying they were resolved (because at the time I thought they were). She sent one last set of WIP photos within a week, then disappeared again afterwards [5]. To this day, I’ve contacted her about once a month to try and get her back. I have contacted her through every form of media I could find, including FA and DA. I have threatened, though not followed through with demanding a refund and taking legal action. To be honest, I don’t know how I would go about doing all that, I just wanted to get her attention. I honestly just want my fursuit. I’m hoping that someone out there can help. 1: FB First WIP 3 (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18Rqi1veWRSJZwXyHUa7aaRphusWzxVfe) 2: InkedPayPal Payment 1_LI and InkedPayPal Payment 2_LI (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lo0tY1x5KwHZ2lMfTKs1tvpOSe5LMUV4) 3: Everything in the Facebook folder titled “Lost Contact” (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18Rqi1veWRSJZwXyHUa7aaRphusWzxVfe) 4: InkedPayPal Refund_LI (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lo0tY1x5KwHZ2lMfTKs1tvpOSe5LMUV4) 5: InkedEmail Sent 12_17_16 - 12_21_16_LI (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16_NkSjpftzPa0etb1Sh2o6YmmF20XKM_) PROOF: PayPal: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lo0tY1x5KwHZ2lMfTKs1tvpOSe5LMUV4 Emails: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16_NkSjpftzPa0etb1Sh2o6YmmF20XKM_ FurAffinity: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1L8BUFSDmPU8W7CeEsKYiaw561QNEkdde Facebook: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18Rqi1veWRSJZwXyHUa7aaRphusWzxVfe DeviantArt: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aza_Pfcm-wV6f2DnOw2rpNcVFi-ldddx

impatientpotato (impatientpotato) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-12-08 23:02 Chibijenhen WHO: Chibijenhen_art WHERE: https://twitter.com/ChibiJenHen_Art WHAT: Commission (never received) WHEN: 9/16/2017 EXPLAIN: Chibijenhen opened commissions claiming that she had a problem with her bank that needed extra money to fix, since she's a professional artist now, I assumed it was legit. I bought a commission after asking if the character would be doable, she said it was fine. Over the next year or so I asked for updates multiple times, she assured me she would get to it, but never offered anything as an update, over that period of time she had drawn hundreds of pieces of personal art, and had also opened up commissions again several times, always claiming it was from a bank problem. Now if it was something huge like a poster or animation that I paid for I could understand the wait, but I can't believe she would be so busy she can't do a sketch over a period of a year and 2 months. I had asked some people familiar with her work about it in private, and had been told this is something she does very often, only prioritizing things involving her characters and putting off everything else indefinitely. She doesn't seem like an inherently bad person to me, but going off of this her work ethic is horrendous, I would advise against commissioning anything from her unless you want to wait a very long time. PROOF: ( Read more... ) </lj-cut>

Shetani Cheetah (Shetani Cheetah) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-12-07 00:19 Hitchedboy/Jaoqy/Oatiemeal/Seafowl WHO: hitchedboy / jaoqy / oatiemeal / seafowl WHERE: https://www.instagram.com/oatiemeal, https://www.deviantart.com/seafowl, https://www.deviantart.com/jaoqy, http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&tab=userpage&id=146038 WHAT: 2 character digital painting with background WHEN: July 15, 2018 - current EXPLAIN: Note that there will be some jumping around between different websites/screenshots due to the artist attempting to evade contact. They also changed their usernames various times throughout the course of this interaction, so screenshots may not match up exactly with what I've written. ( Read more... ) July 15 - I commissioned the user hitchedboy on the petsite Flight Rising for a 2-character digital painting, which was paid for using site currency in the form of items. [1] Payment was sent using Flight Rising's 2-way trade system. Weeks passed without word, and their FR profile indicated that they hadn't logged in to FR at all since a few days after I last heard from them. With this avenue of communication closed, I started seeking an alternate way to contact them, and found their Instagram account (which was also under the username hitchedboy at the time. The link on their profile led to a DeviantArt name of jaoqy.) August 27th - I messaged hitchedboy on Instagram to inquire about a turnaround time for my commission. They said they had lost their FR login info but were still willing to do the art for me. They informed me that their preferred method of contact was Discord. [2] August 28th - Our correspondence moved to Discord. I provided them with the commission info again since they stated they lost access to their FR account. I was told that I could check in with them "as much as I wanted" and that my art would be finished in "most likely only a week." [3] September 5th - A week later, I asked to see a sketch. hitchedboy said they weren't at their computer and would send it to me in 2-3 hours. I gave them an extra 4 hours before poking them again. They told me to message them again to remind them in 5 hours; I did so and received no response at all. (Time discrepancy in their message is due to hitchedboy being in the GMT+10 timezone and myself in GMT-5.) Though I was irritated at being brushed off, I decided to give them some time. [4] September 22nd - Life got in the way and I wasn't able to touch base with hitchedboy before this date. I told them the reason for my delay; they responded with a situation curiously similar to mine, and informed me they had completed the base colors on the art. I had not seen so much as a sketch from hitchedboy at this point, despite being promised one several times over. I felt uneasy and asked them to show me the art at its current stage for approval before progressing - again, my message was ignored. [5] September 29th - I logged into Discord, saw that hitchedboy was online, and shot them a message. They immediately switched their status to "offline." (I don't have a screenshot of this, sadly.) In response to this action, I asked them to just let me know if they no longer wanted to do the commission, as I needed it by a certain date and this would give me enough time to find a replacement artist. They assured me that they still fully intended to finish the art, citing extreme forgetfulness as an excuse for blowing me off in the past. They once again set a bizarrely unrealistic time frame - this time just 10 minutes - in which I should expect to see the art. At this point, I was severely doubting that any work had been completed at all, and sent a bit of a lengthy message expressing my frustration about being given the runaround time and again. An hour later, hitchedboy sent me a progress photo. This honestly surprised me, given that I'd been convinced that they hadn't even started, and the completion level seemed to me to be more than could be done in an hour. I informed them of corrections that needed to be made, making sure to be thorough since I didn't know if I would even get a chance to see another WIP before the picture was finished. [6] October 3rd-5th - I ensured that hitchedboy was aware of, and agreed to, the deadline for the piece. [7] October 21st - For the first time, hitchedboy sent me a progress update without being prompted. They said they hoped to have it done by the next day (of course, this didn't happen.) [8] October 24th - hitchedboy apologized for the delay, citing issues with the background. [8] October 30th-31st - The day before the due date, hitchedboy contacted me to say that the art was done, but they were unable to upload it. They claimed to be out of the house again and they would have someone else try to upload the picture while they were gone. Not only had I not gotten to see and approve the final product, I wasn't even told what website I should expect to find it on. In addition, I was extremely confused as to why they didn't just try a different site if they were having trouble with one in particular. I heard neither hide nor hair from them on the actual due date. [9] November 2nd-10th - I would otherwise have just written this off if not for the fact that they had actually completed a good deal of progress on the commission as per the one WIP I received, so continued to message hitchedboy in an attempt to just wrap up the whole ordeal. They claimed to have been in the hospital. No progress was made towards resolving the situation. [10] November 15th - I made another contact attempt on Discord, directly @'ing hitchedboy when I saw them appear as active. [11] While gathering up info to make this beware, I noticed that their Instagram username had been changed to oatiemeal. The account showed activity as of 10 hours earlier (no screenshot of this), and the link in their profile now led to a newly made DeviantArt page under the name seafowl. [12] The recent submissions in this gallery were pieces that had been completed and uploaded on November 3rd and subsequently, when they claimed to not have internet access. Giving the benefit of the doubt, I sent them a polite Instagram message. They responded only to request that I contact them on Discord, which I had been doing for the past 2 weeks. I admittedly lost my cool at this point, which I should not have done. Despite the fact that I knew they no longer used the website where the commission originated, I gave them a deadline to produce either the supposedly completed art or a refund. [13] To this date I have seen neither. (I also messaged them on Discord again as per their request, in case that would produce results somehow - it did not.) [14] I'm very upset because I was really looking forward to getting art from this artist. Quite frankly, I'm not too broken up about losing the payment for the commission, as I would much rather have the art. I can only count myself lucky that I paid in non-monetary currency, and hopefully they aren't doing this to customers on DeviantArt or Instagram as well. PROOF: All screenshots in this folder and linked at the appropriate points within the explanation.

Anjel (anjel_kitty) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-11-27 05:13 Teahound/Shroom Yeen When and Where: Furlandia 2018 What: badge for 20 dollars At Furlandia this past year, I commissioned @ShroomYeen for a 20 dollar traditional badge when I met up with them working in the artist alley. I remembered them from the days of 'yore here on LJ, and wanted to support an artist that I knew from before who lived close to where I lived now. ShroomYeen was very affable at first, and I even invited them to some of the events in the local area since we lived in the same town. But after the con, the messages became fewer and further between, until finally they started flat out ignoring me and refusing to respond to me. I have contacted Furlandia to let them know that an artist in the AA still has not come through with their paid commission so they won't be able to steal from anyone else at Furlandia 2019. At this point I am just going to cut my losses and let people know, especially here in the West, not to commission the artist known as ShroomYeen, formerly known as Teahound, and also goes by Travis. I thought that after this many years, this artist would have changed their ways, but apparently I was wrong. I do not have a receipt for the badge (something I will not make a mistake like that about again) but I do have chat logs between myself and the artist, with the artist agreeing to mail me my badge and then subsequently ignoring me from that point on.

inklopbunny (inklopbunny) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-11-10 12:46 Dog-Bone / XenoForge WHO: The XenoForge, Dog-Bone, DogBoneArtwork, Leachymonster WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/dog-bone , https://twitter.com/TheXenoForge WHAT: Digital art, YCH WHEN: Early December 2017 to now. EXPLAIN: Dog-Bone had posted a Christmas YCH auction, for multiple characters. I purchased one of the slots, and sent payment on the same day or the next. I have contacted them. multiple times since, they've ignored my messages for the most part, and no progress has been made. PROOF: PayPal confirmation screenshot, 7th December. On the 29th December I emailed them for an update, using the address they had on their YCH entry's description (dog-bone changed their email later on). At some point I managed to get through to them via Twitter DMs, but I've lost the messages: they said their computer died. 6 months ago, the artist deleted their entire gallery, announced they were abandoning FA, but assured their watchers that the account will remain open until all owed art is done. I leave a comment asking for details, and they claim they never received my message. I emailed their new email address on the 2nd of November; I still haven't heard from them or seen an update on their Trello, which they update every few days, or their Twitter. Dog-bone accepts and finishes commissions every week on Patreon. Their Patreon price sheet lists their two contacts, so it's not as though they have multiple inboxes to check. They only accept telegram and emails. The activity for the YCH hasn't changed since 26th March.

?Year of the Pupper? (JinxWolf34) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-11-02 13:58 Artist Beware: Matchadrool/QTCoyote Text: WHO: Matchadrool/QTCoyote WHERE: Megaplex 2017 - Artist Alley WHAT: Traditional badge WHEN: August 6, 2017 - September 6,2018 EXPLAIN: I ordered a traditional badge from Matchadrool at Megaplex last year. At first everything seemed fine. I got the sketch and it looked cute. However, there was an anatomical error with the badge and as an artist myself, I wanted to let them know how to fix it for the future(see images below). I told them not to worry about it for my badge. This was the last time I heard from them. We originally talked through text but after they disappeared I found them on instagram after a friend got a commission from them after I had bought mine. I saw that the badge had progressed since I had talked to them but, as of me typing this they have not sent a badge. I have tried to reach out both via text and instagram but no response. PROOF:https://imgur.com/gallery/aC0LHXy

col_eviscerator (col_eviscerator) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-11-02 10:15 Beware: Izacmafia, EmperorZheng WHO: izacmafia on FA, EmperorZheng on DA WHERE: FurAffinity WHAT: Zerosuit special colored sketch. WHEN: October 15th-31st 2018 EXPLAIN: Did not make corrections on a WIP sketch, and was abusive when such was requested. Admittedly, I could have handled it better, but I'm unused to such behavior. The latest/last notes exchanged through FA was shortly before I left for work this morning and when I got home this evening, I found that he'd already deleted the work and approval sketches before I'd been able to save them. I know English wasn't his first language, and communication was difficult at times, but he managed to satisfactorily complete one piece prior to this, despite him misreading or ignoring how I'd requested the characters be posed. I'm unsure if I should still press him for a refund seeing as he did the work, but I am now without even the unsatisfactory art. Edit: He did restore the image in question and I was able to save it, so the beware is now primarily about his behavior and advice on how to proceed. PROOF: I apologize for how disjointed and difficult to follow the conversation may be, FA note system is kind of difficult to use, and I had to bounce between my inbox and outbox. Please do note that 11 is not a duplicate, as it shows a different response. https://www.dropbox.com/s/l10trvc31ed4wfa/01.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/n7ecsz1wlvh9y6a/02.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/01hxkt0j3xzlb46/03.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ey3pem5syi6yymh/04.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/7gqhzcwcg0jqwut/05.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/lj8eq5nnlcd4fuv/06.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vgj6g1dfcvz0yu/07.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/4hya4anavfhpboi/08.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/gh6oqhcaf051ead/09.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/pkh09hragdekg8e/10.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0mbv7gxpu8644g/11.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/xnqwddcd7dzq4lj/12.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/0l5d3q6agtksyok/13.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/k25xwl7kl6u26nf/14.png?dl=0 Edit: Art was received, 14 just remains to demonstrate it was infact deleted. https://www.dropbox.com/s/5fqytygw7nkzqq5/15.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/y7rt2p3k9372xy1/17.png?dl=0 The work in question: https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/d0419ad4-d23f-43fc-ad3c-41fbd79202b4/dcqsi1k-0f6c89a2-6327-47cd-b61b-2821d10f7af5.jpg/v1/fill/w_764,h_1046,q_70,strp/commission_for_eviscerator_2_by_emperorzheng_dcqsi1k-pre.jpg And as in my first screencap, I requested heights of 160cm and 185cm respectively, and supplied a visual aid when requesting the correction: http://www.mrinitialman.com/OddsEnds/Sizes/sizes.html?base_ft=&base_in=185&comp_ft=&comp_in=160 I don't know what good a paypal screencap would be, as the art is done and I'm no longer pursuing a refund, but here goes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v381vs704trfryg/16.png?dl=0

May. 23rd, 2011 at 10:32 PM undertow26 I probably should have come here much sooner, but I held on to the hope that this person would come through for me. However, after his excuses, I'm fed up and reporting him here. I discourage anyone from commissioning him, he's been nothing but evasive. June of last year, I commissioned Coferosa on DeviantArt for a fifteen dollar sketch of a character design. I have a few links to the transaction here including proof that the payment was transferred to him. Against my better judgment, I used the points system to commission him so I'm not able to file a paypal claim. Proof the transaction was made img855.imageshack.us/img855/2139/blackened.png I edited out my main dA name. The transaction was arranged on my commission account but I paid on my main account. First few notes exchanged, he accepts the commission: img11.imageshack.us/img11/5695/theif2.png img705.imageshack.us/img705/7246/thief3.png Some time goes by. I set a deadline in the job offer post of two weeks. As of right now I don't have the link to the posting anymore. But he overshot the deadline. I politely ask the status of the commission img860.imageshack.us/img860/7734/notez.png But my note is ignored. Feeling somewhat insulted, I send him another note img713.imageshack.us/img713/7401/reply0.png I finally get a reply. He says he finished the commission. imageshack.us/photo/my-images/405/thief1.png/ After that, he goes completely silent. I admit, I should have pushed him more. Eventually it completely slipped my mind. But I decided to go through my inbox sometime in Febuary to clean out some old notes and found his. Remembering that he didn't send me a WIP or a complete picture, I note him again. By now, several months have gone by. img831.imageshack.us/img831/2341/reply1h.png I receive a reply, getting the character's name wrong and I don't buy his excuse. Art has been submitted, infrequently though he has posted new stuff. His most recent deviation was submitted May 2 of this year. img836.imageshack.us/img836/2540/reply2.png That's the last I've heard from him. I've warned him several times and now I make good on my promise. As of now I've given up any hope of him refunding the points to me or sending me the art. I have filed a report with dA's help desk but I highly doubt that they'll do anything about it. This is more of a warning to others that may have been interested in his art. It may be a case of him not having his priorities straight, but communication is awful and he'll only respond if you nudge him. Not once has he noted me to say that his computer failed, etc. Edit: As expected, I recieved a response from the staff basically saying I'm on my own here:http://oi54.tinypic.com/wa0ygk.jpg I'll try contacting the artist again with a stern note and a link to this beware. But lesson has been learned, that will be the last time I commission an artist with points unless they've proven to be a very reliable artist.