Commission Stories

I can share a story from a friend
>Be friends irl with an artist
>my art is dA weeb tier while this friend is good
>commission her to draw animu characters cuddling
>she turns it into hardcore porn and charges a shitload for it
>too shy to say no and have to scrape together $150 instead of $50...
>we're not friends anymore

>>2377091
> Making a game asset for a client.
> English is not her primary language but she tries her best.
> bombards me with references.
> remarks were: Copy it but not copy it exactly. design is perfunctory. Sharp teeths scares away costumer.
>Animation description was " Make it attack horizontal up and down."

>Color anotations were " use terrible green, yoda green and malaysian brown."

> When I submitted the bulk of the files, I got blamed for sending too much file for review.
I really have no idea what she's saying but that's probably one of the bad projects I have ever worked on .

>>2377108

you are a fucking idiot

>>2377108
That's a big price jump.

>>2377117
What the heck is 'terrible green'? Have you finished with that project since?

>>2377091
> Doing some quick headshot commissions for around $10-20 each.
> One purchaser is someone I sort of know, acquaintance.
> Asks for a few changes along the way. Happy to oblige.
> Never happy with the finished project. Never. Keeps asking for changes, over and over.
> End up making 5+ changes on a small headshot for her. Not worth $20 at all....

>>2377136
>What the heck is 'terrible green'? Have you finished with that project since?

Of course, I never cancel work until the project's done regardless how hard it is. I think she has synesthesia though.

She's generally a kind client but the bulk of work there for the pay is pretty horrible and it's stupid on my end to agree on that back then.

I dunno if they finished coding it on their end as I never got any notification.

>>2377125
): i was 14 and wanted to see cute animu cuddling anon. and support my friend

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>>2377091
Haha, I have experience with receiving a commission that's poor in quality in comparison to the artists other works.

Ah well. It's alright. Not as good as this person usually does. What do you think?

>>2377153
faces ruined all of it

>>2377146

oh okay. you are excused then.

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>>2377153
>proportions
>anatomy
>that fucking boob

>>2377091
Honestly, this happened to me once. I needed money so I posted everywhere I could, offering commissions.

A person paid me right off the bat, and didn't contact me beyond the first email. So I simply forgot and ended up drawing her stuff like a year later (and just by chance, because I was looking through some old emails).

I felt like crap all day but she said she had forgotten about it too and she saw it as a nice surprise. So all's good, I think.

>>2377188
I think the important thing is you drew it in the end. You sound reasonable abd I imagine if she emailed you asking for an update that would have been a reminder.

I got ripped off by a very popular artist on tumblr once. Sucked. Serves me right for paying so much though

I wanted to call them out on it but didn't want to be drowned by crazed fans

>Be a stupid teenager one Gaia back in the day
>Hold an art auction, fat furry fucker wins
>Makes me revise the art 20 times because "he's not round enough" "can you make him fatter?" "Okay less fat"
>nitpicks everything.
>Hounds me every single day about the art, it's only been one week
>Sends endless fat people pictures
>Red lines my art but can't draw, change it again, get critiques from others anatomy correct, tells me he hates it and go back to broken anatomy
>do it
>Finally accepts
>A week later he asks for me to change more things

>Posts my art everywhere but refuses to give me credit.
>This was not worth 100k in gaia gold.

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>>2377156
>>2377185
xD. Haha. Well. She's usually better. But very anime.

>>2377206
>"Okay less fat"
wow, even he has limits

>>2377217
>She's usually better
it just look she doesn't have a wide safe zone

>>2377153
>>2377217
These look pretty similar really, doesn't look like yours was rushed or anything. I'd say you got what you paid for.

>>2377200
are you me? same situation, and the artist didn't even post my comm in the 'batch' i was part of. guess they knew it was terrible

Lucky for me, I've never ran into any issues.

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>>2377382
Bad example. Those are both rushed.

>>2377756
The thing is this looks like it's probably a completely different style, and probably price range than you bought.

>>2377091
>commission stories

Literally a /cgl/ tier thread. /ic/ loves retarded worhtless drama about as much as /cgl/.

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How to avoid all of this bullshit:

>ask for payment up front, or don't send them the full res file until they've paid

>write up a contract covering any holes that might screw you, this is going to be iterative as something will always happen each time. So make sure it doesn't the next time by adding it into the contract.

>Charge for revisions. Do maybe 2-3 minor ones for free but have it in your contract that revisions will cost them.

>Lay out the entire process of how working with you is going to go and make sure they understand it before you even start. That way they won't be coming to you asking for changes and you'll know what they want.

>don't ask someone to do a commission for them, accept commissions from clients you know won't be a pain in the ass

>If you're not good enough to have people asking you, then git gud fagit.

If you're compromising your work or taking on stuff that you wouldn't otherwise do because of money, then get your bills covered first with a day job or something so you can do the work right.

>>2377851
I wouldn't be surprised if cunts from /cgl/ post in here tbqh

>>2377851
As a cross boarder i am ok with this
>>2377206
I got bored at Christmas a couple of years back and returned to gaia to do art auctions as practice (actually just to feel wanted and worth something, even imaginary money) but I never completed the last one. I went back after a year, apologised loads and fortunately I'd never accepted the trade so they hadn't lost money but I said I'd do it for free as an apology.
Haven't been back since, probably too scared to ever log on again now.

>>2377146
You should post the pic or some of her art. I wanna see

>>2377091
>be me a freelance graphic designer
>always wary of customers trying to rip you off
>be doing volunteer work for non-profit I support
>non-profit has me work with another GD
>we spitball ideas and layouts for a few days
>let it (trans thing) look at my sketchbook while i look at it's
>after project is done we exchange cards
>it shamelessly steals layouts, elements, and logos for it's portfolio from me
>call it out on this
>it tries to get me blacklisted from local design events claiming Im transphobic because of this

I never had a problem with trans people till this thing tried to use their mental disorder to make character assassinate me. Thankfully other people in the local industry have had issues with it in the past and no one believed it. I am never doing volunteer work with another freelancer again. My designs aren't even good. That is the real kicker imo

>>2380490
always keep your sketchbook private homie

>>2380564
"Pages X to Y have my ideas for this project," is a phrase I am never again uttering. At least when I bombed no one would dare bite directly from your blackbook.

I'm at the point where I want to take commissions but I don't know how to format my commission post. I don't even have anything completed/semi-completed as a sample of the style I'd do the commissions in.

On-topic though, yeah, someone I know got screwed out of a $100 and a commission piece because the artist ignored them for over a year, while continuing to do personal pieces. Apparently a few other clients didn't receive any contact or pieces either.

>>2380745
Line art $X
Flats $X
Soft shade $X
Full color $X
Full Scene $X

and have completed pieces for each price/type that shows what you are capable of.

>>2380800
Ah, that should've been more obvious, thanks. I think having not having presentable/representative samples is gonna be the hardest part. I'll just have to open up cheap commissions in order to create samples.

>>2380810
and make sure they leave reviews about the process of buying from you. That is a big key imo. "Wow this guy made buying a commission from him really fast and easy! Within seconds we were discussing it on skype, and I had it in days!"

If you clock them all up, I've probably spent about two years working for people who never paid for the work I gave them. For some reason it's only ever happened with the largest commissions, the intricate ten+ subjects w/ integrated background sort. Maybe they just realize it's worth much more than I am asking them to pay (just because I want it that way,) and they're daunted, so they save it then never contact me again, not responding when I try to contact them.
I realize there are a number of ways i could prevent this from happening by changing my business practices, but I just can't feel good about my work if I start out feeling as if I am doubting by default the integrity of those who find my art appealing enough to be interested in purchasing it.

>>2380924
Stop giving people free art.

>>2377091
i paid for a commission and the artist has taken about 2 years now. feels bad.currently they have computer issues

I was commissioning the same artist for a while. I became a regular customer, and eventually he gave me discounts and even was willing to draw anything for me. Wife made him quit though, from what he told me. Shame.

>>2381256
As a hentai artist who has actually let down a bunch of commissioners due to computer issues over the past few years, just email them and ask for a refund and say that you'd love to commission them again next time they are open.
I won't accept any payment until I've completed the work, letting someone down feels awful and builds the stress up.

>>2377136
I've had friends do that with frigging art I drew them for free. Like, I surprised a friend of mine with a drawing of her RP character, and while it was fair to ask I fix a couple of things that I didn't know about his design, she basically wanted me to completely redraw it :c Luckily this happened in a skype chat with other peoplewho told her she was being too ungrateful.

>>2377136
That's why you state that after a certain number of fixes you start charging for every fix they want after that.

on a side note
when is a good time to start commissions?

>>2377200
>>2377735
theres a tumblr where you can anonymously inform others of asshole clients and artists (so long as you have proof)

>>2377200
A lot of popular artists on tumblr aren't worth the prices they ask for t-b-h and most of their clients consist of people who are dumb with their money in the first place.

>>2377153
I've had this happen to me. Person had a stellar 9/10 portfolio with a ton of work as examples. I get mine and its a 5/10 at best.

>>2380490
>transphobic
>calling it it

you're not wrong but its also not wrong

>Commission real media piece from an artist, making it clear that I would like the final piece mailed to me
>Artist finishes piece, "likes it too much" and refuses to send it to me, throws a tantrum when pressed

Years later, this artist is pretty much blacklisted everywhere for this exact kind of bullshit
I never even got a hi-res image of my commission ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

>Get commissioned by a picky client
>Work closely with them until they're satisfied and tell me that it's perfect and they're happy with it
>Find out a month later that they paid someone else to edit it (poorly) in photoshop after with a bunch of changes/additions that they never mentioned to me

>>2382613
genuinely curious... with this persons track record why have you not named them?

>>2380490
I was gonna say you should be at least using "They" if not he/she but IT kind of doesn't deserve respect if it's not going to respect you. That's shitty dude.

>>2382474
>he thinks there is an objective way of measuring what an artist's work is or isn't worth

Artists are worth exactly the prices that people are willing to pay for their work. If you sell yourself for anything less, you are a moron.

>>2377153
Jesus, those proportions actually hurt my eyes.

>>2377217
Vilppu, hold me.

Why don't people just send a thumbnail of the finished piece, then ask for the money, then send the full piece after the payment is complete? I dong get it.