Artists Prioritizing Adopts Over Commissions

[ellaerna]

apologies if this is in the wrong forum. i wasn't sure where to put it.

I'm not an artist and I don't commission things very often, so I wanted to get some other perspectives on a situation I've found myself in. I'm pretty irked by it, but it's entirely possible that I'm being unfair.

So I recently purchased a custom commission from an artist on FA who shall remain nameless. Payment and details were exchanged about a month ago and the artist has yet to do any work on it, hasn't even started. Now, from various journals and things that they've posted, I know that they have a lot of commissions besides mine and that they have had some family issues messing up their work schedule. Fine. I try not to be impatient about these things and I certainly understand life getting in the way of projects. So no harm done there.

However, I have noticed while I wait that this person is still putting out a lot of adopts for sale despite having so many commissions to get through. It honestly feels like for every custom completion they post, they post two adopt sets (though part of that might be from all the adopt reminders they post). They've even put out a couple personal characters while others wait. More specifically, they posted a work schedule and I noticed that on 5 days out of 6 they have adopts on their list of things to do. To be fair, most are meant as "warm ups", but it still felt a bit... I dunno... disingenuous? Especially since they'll start with the adopts and then not get all the way through the customs slotted for that day.

And the schedule has been shifted over the week it's been up, with my slot moving from last Friday to today to... who knows when. Again, I get that there's stuff going on in their life, but they have 11 customs to get through (including ones from Halloween) and I can't help but feel that if they just cut the adopts for awhile that they'd be much farther along. And I get that adopts are a quick cash source but I really feel that prepaid stuff should be the focus. I've already paid for my art, I would like it before you do work that might not even sell.

I dunno. Am I being too harsh? Is this something that other people have experienced, either as an artist or as a customer? Is a month+ typical for a commission from a "busy" artist? Should I just shut up now?

 

[ProjectDuska]

apologies if this is in the wrong forum. i wasn't sure where to put it.

I'm not an artist and I don't commission things very often, so I wanted to get some other perspectives on a situation I've found myself in. I'm pretty irked by it, but it's entirely possible that I'm being unfair.

So I recently purchased a custom commission from an artist on FA who shall remain nameless. Payment and details were exchanged about a month ago and the artist has yet to do any work on it, hasn't even started. Now, from various journals and things that they've posted, I know that they have a lot of commissions besides mine and that they have had some family issues messing up their work schedule. Fine. I try not to be impatient about these things and I certainly understand life getting in the way of projects. So no harm done there.

However, I have noticed while I wait that this person is still putting out a lot of adopts for sale despite having so many commissions to get through. It honestly feels like for every custom completion they post, they post two adopt sets (though part of that might be from all the adopt reminders they post). They've even put out a couple personal characters while others wait. More specifically, they posted a work schedule and I noticed that on 5 days out of 6 they have adopts on their list of things to do. To be fair, most are meant as "warm ups", but it still felt a bit... I dunno... disingenuous? Especially since they'll start with the adopts and then not get all the way through the customs slotted for that day.

And the schedule has been shifted over the week it's been up, with my slot moving from last Friday to today to... who knows when. Again, I get that there's stuff going on in their life, but they have 11 customs to get through (including ones from Halloween) and I can't help but feel that if they just cut the adopts for awhile that they'd be much farther along. And I get that adopts are a quick cash source but I really feel that prepaid stuff should be the focus. I've already paid for my art, I would like it before you do work that might not even sell.

I dunno. Am I being too harsh? Is this something that other people have experienced, either as an artist or as a customer? Is a month+ typical for a commission from a "busy" artist? Should I just shut up now?

Oh goodness, stuff like this is the worst. It’s like, you take my money, now I expect you to give me what I paid for. When it comes to taking people’s money, I definitely think that should be their first priority.

 

[W00lies]

I fail to understand why an artist makes you pay in advance while you're waiting in line. I only ask for payment once I start work on the commissions and if the people decide to back out of it before I start then fine. They should be allowed with no issues and without having to ask for refunds. :/ Plus how easy would it be for someone to say "too late I already started" then you're stuck in a place where all you can do is wait and hope the work gets done. however, if it's your turn and you pay for your commission and after 2-3 weeks nothing has been done then yeah... get paypal involved. To me that's a logical way to work. It doesn't put stress and pressure on me because I am holding money hostage and it gives my commissioner a sense of security because if the work doesn't get done they can back away with their money.

Maybe there are horror scenarios that I don't know of. It that's the case, enlighten me please.

 

[ellaerna]

I fail to understand why an artist makes you pay in advance while you're waiting in line. I only ask for payment once I start work on the commissions and if the people decide to back out of it before I start then fine. They should be allowed with no issues and without having to ask for refunds. :/ Plus how easy would it be for someone to say "too late I already started" then you're stuck in a place where all you can do is wait and hope the work gets done. however, if it's your turn and you pay for your commission and after 2-3 weeks nothing has been done then yeah... get paypal involved. To me that's a logical way to work. It doesn't put stress and pressure on me because I am holding money hostage and it gives my commissioner a sense of security because if the work doesn't get done they can back away with their money.

Maybe there are horror scenarios that I don't know of. It that's the case, enlighten me please.

I dunno. Like I said, I'm not an artist and I don't usually commission things, so I don't really have any horror stories to share.
I don't mind so much paying in advance. I just didn't realize it would turn out to be this much advance.

 

[-..Legacy..-]

I dunno. Like I said, I'm not an artist and I don't usually commission things, so I don't really have any horror stories to share.
I don't mind so much paying in advance. I just didn't realize it would turn out to be this much advance.

That's why it's good to get a rough completion date in the initial agreement. If it's going to be long wait, you'll know in advance, or not commission the work at that time.

 

[RhelArts]

Hiya, your friendly neighborhood artist is here!

And the schedule has been shifted over the week it's been up, with my slot moving from last Friday to today to... who knows when.

If a schedule has been worked out with you and is changed multiple times, you need to address this with them and ask - POLITELY, please - why things are so inconsistent. It could be something stressful happened in their life and adopts are just more relaxing and easy to do. Or that they aren't getting a good feel for the commission and need some time to think it over. Sometimes there's difficulty with a certain request or detail, and to avoid art block , we need to produce other things in the meantime while brainstorming or we'll get stuck in a rut and end up giving you something less quality.

I'm in no way saying this is the case, it's just some possibilities that aren't often thought about.

I dunno. Am I being too harsh? Is this something that other people have experienced, either as an artist or as a customer? Is a month+ typical for a commission from a "busy" artist? Should I just shut up now?

You aren't being harsh, though I will say this; busy artists will very often have a bit of a wait time. That's something you should have been prepared to anticipate in advance, and a lot of the time, things can take quite a while. However, if they're uploading art they are personally doing themselves, and uploading it consistently without doing commissions for people, that's a red flag. If it's simply 'they haven't done my commission yet but have been uploading commission work', then that's sort of just unfortunate for you, but there's no need to worry nearly as much.

I fail to understand why an artist makes you pay in advance while you're waiting in line.

If you mean they're on a wait list and the commission isn't accepted yet, I couldn't be sure either. If you mean they already accepted the commission but have yet to start it, it's so we can avoid scammers. I wouldn't want to put a few hours into a sketch for someone who's trying to swindle me for free art if I could use that time on other things, like personal art or commission work for other people. It's like working off the clock at a store, you don't want to put in effort if you'll get nothing in return. Having the money in advance is an indication that it's safe to work with this person because they're trustworthy, which is why it's so important for us, as artists, to have the same level of dependability. I wouldn't put my money into someone who I don't trust.

however, if it's your turn and you pay for your commission and after 2-3 weeks nothing has been done then yeah... get paypal involved.

Oh absolutely. You should never buy a piece of art and then be left hanging. This is why communication is so important! So long as you're polite, it shouldn't be considered a big evil taboo to ask the artist 'can I see a WIP?'. This is also why having a spreadsheet or something to show people what you're working on and when is so important. It gives them a loose time frame and lets them see 'oh, they're on the lining part, okay!'.



Overall, art is about trust between consumer and producer. If you're going to make money off of something as if it were a business, you need to operate it accordingly. To me, it sounds like there might be miscommunication here, and you should talk to the artist about it. If they get bitchy, you picked an unfortunate person to work with - which happens, unfortunately! There's bad customers just as much as there's bad artists. I wish you the best of luck with it, hopefully you get your art soon!