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May. 24th, 2011 at 2:43 AM silverfalln I am incredibly sad to have to make this post, I really liked this artist, not just for her art, but because I thought she was pretty cool as a person. However... there's only so much I can take. I hope that this will still be allowed to be posted, even though the monetary part has been settled before I even get to post it, as it seems the artist doesn't even want to change how she does business, which in itself was making me seriously contemplate posting here. WHO: FarelleMoon on FA WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/farellemoon (and 2-3 "other" accounts that I can't recall the names of) WHAT: From/For me: a badge, part of a couple's art piece; from my fiance: the other part of the couple's piece, and she suggested doing a ref sheet for him, since this was for a new character and he did not have one for the character yet. I am (with mod approval) posting for both of us. He purchased the commissions for me as gifts. WHEN: My badge order was originally placed August 22, 2010. The couples piece, and the ref sheet was placed October 3rd, 2010. There was even a completed commission placed after this, and information of that is included. PROOF: You can click on any of these images to go to the Flickr gallery they are hosted on, and look at them in the "original" screenshot size. Lots of screenshots behind the cut. Church's screens are on the dark version of FA, mine are using the light one. *further details are hashed out here, further contact over the next few months* Shortly after this, she blocked him, because they were going back and forth in an argument. He was not refunded at this point. Now, for mine. These are for the completed commission. The commission was finished, and a censored screenshot can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowhawk/5753181533/ (tastefully nude, nipples are blocked out by me for the purposes of this post, sorry I didn't show the date). These are the most recent communications between her and I... Keeping in mind, I had sent NO notes to ask about my commission in the time from that last note for the completed commission, and was beginning to get concerned from the tone of her journals, as well as Church's growing agitation over her lack of communication. I read journals when I notice them/have time. Sometimes can't view FA for most of the day, since I can be pretty busy with my RL job and my family. So, those took place on May 9th... Two weeks later, I've heard nothing. I've grown more and more annoyed over the past two weeks, between the lack of communication, and what I've been hearing of people who are also having issues and afraid to speak up... I'm honestly angry at this point. But I'm trying to stay composed. Obnoxious furry-ism aside... This just pissed me off more, so I begin not only gathering my information for this post, but writing it and replying to her as well. That was the final communication as of my last check of FA, and I did send that note as it is written, I just took the screenshot before doing so. EXPLAIN: To start, I fully admit the screenshots above are not ALL off the communication exchanged, as some was just working out details of the art, and not of deadlines/payments/etc. I first commissioned Farelle in February of 2009, for an ink of my character Fidget. It was completed and posted without incident, and very quickly. Well, she offered a few "orphaned" badges some 9 months ago, and I decided I wanted one of them. I worked out the details, and my fiance, Church, sent the payment. A short time later, he decided to purchase a couples "heart" image she was having a special on, and while working out the details there, she offered to make him a character sheet. She said she would have the heart commission done in 2 hours, and the ref sheet would make it 2 weeks. Somewhere in all this, another digital commission was ordered as a gift to me, a simple piece of my character, tastefully nude. It was, again, completed with no incident. Well, deadlines were missed, obviously. And missed. And she dropped off of FA for a while. And she broke up with her fiance. And she turns into an emotional wreck. And she's having issues with pain. And we are trying to be patient. I live in pretty severe pain daily, too, so we can somewhat empathize. Church's ref sheet commission is supposedly sketched. My badge was changed from the orphaned badge to one of my actual character (at her doing), and has been inked (which I have seen, light bondage warning) and allegedly colored. We contact her, asking for updates, or refunds if it's too much work. My badge needs to be printed and have the ribbon added. But by me contacting her (the few times I have over this), she now refuses to show it to me (so I can, you know, make sure it's colored properly), and won't complete it, and will just refund me "when (she) can." (Edit while working on screencaps: She says she won't complete it becasue she doesn't want it to be destroyed when it gets here. Which I never threatened to have happen, and I never saw Church say that.) She refuses to give refunds, because she's jobless and the commission money has been spent. She expects commissioners to read her journals, and refuses to contact them directly unless she is contacted by them, and then she seems to get very annoyed by the whole deal. She says "I will have everything done by this date, and if I don't you get a refund whether you like it or not!" and the deadlines come and go and refunds don't arrive. In the past 9 months, she has stopped coloring commissions, and hired colorists, again saying this only in journals and expecting anyone that doesn't read them to just be happy with it. She recently admitted she's an "art slave" to another person, and that person will ALWAYS take queue over everyone else in the queue (we never would have bothered had we known this, but it's not, or was not, openly posted anywhere). She constantly drags her personal issues into her "professional" artist life and always has some excuse as to why she can't even show a file. She managed to get enough in donations to purchase a tablet, and not just the little Wacom Bamboo by the price she gave Church, it sounds to be a larger one than my 4x6 Intuos... I've been too angry to read her journals to see what size it was, if it was posted. And, if anyone else remembers, Farelle once tried to improve the relationship between commissioners and artists at cons, by posting helpful things to FA. I would love to link these, but I have lost my bookmarks to them. But this, while it was comforting to see that she valued being a professional, is apparently just smoke and mirrors to hide what's really going to happen. Also, while I was getting my screenshots, and Church was transferring his to my computer, she blocked him from contacting her. And as I have been typing this, and editing screenshots down/removing personal information, she's replied to me, as you will see at the end of the above screenshots. tl;dr: We trusted an artist, in the time it takes to have a child we've been repeatedly let down, now getting sob stories instead of work/refunds. Edit while working: Church just got an email notification from PayPal of a refund. She didn't send it, though, it was sent on her behalf. My last note has yet to be replied to, so I am still posting this as warning. If you want to risk it, go ahead. Neither of us will again, and we're both getting very discouraged over things like this happening. So, resolved as far as money goes, but the beware remains because she can't keep deadlines which -she- sets, likes to flake out and pretend she's doing no wrong, and refuses to actually contact her commissioners. Also, she has apparently posted/is posting about this situation here. I will let it be known, if that post is in the queue and she's not posting under an alt account or refusing to name names (which would still be under an alt or having someone post for her), then this is the situation from my/our side and her post, as of the time I am submitting this, is not viewable. Journal Edit, 2:51 pm, May24, 2011: More screenshots, including the last ones between Church and Farelle, as hamburger requested. The one between her and I are extremely confusing, again, as I am not sure where she is getting the idea I have said some of the things I am being accused of. I have told her to keep the badge, as the screenshots show, as I am tired of this exchange and getting nothing but more excuses. (Notice, I point out at the end she seems to have overpaid us in the refund, but Church can't contact her because she has him blocked.) I am at this point through with her. Any future notes will not be responded to, though I may actually add them if she continues to insist that she is being abused/attacked. I do not deny, in anyway, that I am harsh and abrasive in these notes. Mini edit: I admit I MISSED the line in the last note from her where she says to keep the extra money. For that I apologize and I take responsibility for the screw up. Now, between her and Church, these are the last two notes they exchanged. Church is, as I type, gathering notes where she admits to FORGETTING about the commission, as well as further deadlines she imposed and missed. I will add those when he gives them to me and I have them properly edited. Journal Edit 2, 3:32pm, May24, 2011: These are the screenshots where she admits to forgetting about the commissions, sets a new deadline (Christmas 2010) for herself, and a contact schedual is suggested by Church. Not asking for much, just not to be ignored. Church has also pointed out to me that, in the journal where she announced she was going to go to be hiring colorists, he DID actually express his displeasure. However, I can't remember the time frame of that journal as I think I just skimmed it and never got around to coming back to it (This is why, again, journal only communication is BAD.), so we do not have screenshots of it. Assuming the journal is still there and the comment is not hidden, it does exist.