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https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/879013.html I feel like this is a rather unusual beware, but here it is, anyways. All information is under the cut! WHO: Paxerle @ deviantART WHERE: http://www.paxerle.deviantart.com WHAT: Contest Prizes ($8 USD, 1 Chibi, 2 Pixel Icons, 1 Custom Design) - Only the chibi was ever completed and sent to me. WHEN: Paxerle noted me on June 23, 2015 and requested that I enter her contest. The journal with the information has long since been deleted, as well as the results journal, but I believe I was announced the winner on August 2, 2015, as that's when my note to her about prizes is dated. This is still ongoing. PROOF: Screenshots will be linked below. As said above, the original journals with the contest information and results have been deleted, so this proof is based off of what has been said in notes and I hope it's sufficient. EXPLAIN: June 23, 2015: Paxerle contacts me about her contest, the theme of which is to design a character for one of her MYO Sushi Dog Slots. Sushi Dogs are a closed species belonging to another user, which is important because it means she had to have the design approved by the species owner and I can no longer revoke it from her without backlash from the species community. She did pay the species owner for the slot, but, as explained below, she never compensated me, the designer, for the design, which was the original agreement. (I apologize for the confusion of this; I know this is an unorthodox situation that might require additional explanation.) August 2, 2015: I decided to enter because I had no workload at the time and I liked her art, which was also offered as prizes. On August 2nd, the results were posted and I was announced the winner, but this journal, like the one with the contest information, has been deleted. I also provided her with my email address for the small monetary prize. August 21, 2015: Paxerle sends me one of the completed art prizes. I'm including this because I believe it shows that she's acknowledging owing me something, and I don't have much evidence of that, unfortunately. September 10, 2015: I sent a note about the monetary prize because I never received it and, as mentioned in the screenshot, other artists often send payments to me to the wrong email address. (My dA username is Bottled-Rottweiler; my email address has no hyphen.) She claims to have sent it and I let her know that I never received anything. As of this posting, this is the last I ever heard from her. She could have easily responded with a screenshot of the transaction if she actually did send me the money, so I believe she never did and doesn't intend to. Here, she also acknowledges that I'm the designer of the character to the closed species owner, who approves it. This is why I cannot revoke the design from her; it would be viewed as poor etiquette in the community and I could consequently be banned. I was hesitant to post this due to the complexity of the situation, but the general idea of this is, I entered Paxerle's contest and designed her a character, under the belief that I would receive art and monetary prizes in exchange. I never received them, so she now owns a design from me that I was, in a sense, not paid for. I hope I'm not overreacting to this, but the idea that she scammed a free design out of me has left a bad taste in my mouth. Additionally, she has paid people for adoptables and completed personal artwork in this time. EDIT (11/11/25: I want to place emphasis on the fact that this is an issue with an individual artist who failed to compensate me for a character design, not an issue with the closed species community. At the advice of the comments below, I did contact the moderators of the community for assistance, but this is a conflict between two individuals. I have no issues with this community and have always felt welcome there. 🙂