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Unprofessional Artist
a year ago
Let's talk about some practices, that I as a commissioner, find unprofessional. And I know there's artists getting their mods to type angrily for them in the comments already, because I myself am not an artist, but I don't care.
If you are an artist who takes more commissions than you can handle, constantly asking for money, or hiding your log/backlog from your commissioners while you take more commissions, this is a huge red flag. I understand you gotta make money, but set realistic time and monetary expectations for yourself, and for your commissioners. I've only ever dealt with 2 people who do this, at least extremely flagrantly, and both are recent.
Secondly if you are constantly showing bias in a "first come, first serve" scenario, it's not first come first serve. I realize it's your rules as an artist, just it's my money as a commissioner. There are plenty of other artists who will respect our time and money. What this is in reference to is artists who will make "first come, first serve" stream commissions, but then allow their friends to always go first, no matter when they came in during the line. I had an artist, do this consistently, to the point where she charged up front, then accidentally removed my name from the queue, and forgot about it for days (she's a daily stream artist), until I reminded her, because she kept pushing it back for her friends. That is not "first come, first serve."
Lastly, control your mods. Your mods should not be making explicit sexual advances to your commissioners in DMs/Discord, and then getting stand-offish when you deny those advances. Mysterious, then the artist starting treating you worse after too. Just because they're your stream moderators, doesn't mean I have to let them fuck me.
All three of these HUGE red flags, come from one artist (though excessive backlogging is from two) though I won't share their name. This isn't about drama, it's about standing your ground as a commissioner. Artists and commissioners can't live without each other, so learn to work in unison. I've never had one complain about working with folks in the past, so I'm sure this is a one off situation, but it's extremely jarring to deal with. I can't believe I'm having to state this, but here we are.
If you are an artist who takes more commissions than you can handle, constantly asking for money, or hiding your log/backlog from your commissioners while you take more commissions, this is a huge red flag. I understand you gotta make money, but set realistic time and monetary expectations for yourself, and for your commissioners. I've only ever dealt with 2 people who do this, at least extremely flagrantly, and both are recent.
Secondly if you are constantly showing bias in a "first come, first serve" scenario, it's not first come first serve. I realize it's your rules as an artist, just it's my money as a commissioner. There are plenty of other artists who will respect our time and money. What this is in reference to is artists who will make "first come, first serve" stream commissions, but then allow their friends to always go first, no matter when they came in during the line. I had an artist, do this consistently, to the point where she charged up front, then accidentally removed my name from the queue, and forgot about it for days (she's a daily stream artist), until I reminded her, because she kept pushing it back for her friends. That is not "first come, first serve."
Lastly, control your mods. Your mods should not be making explicit sexual advances to your commissioners in DMs/Discord, and then getting stand-offish when you deny those advances. Mysterious, then the artist starting treating you worse after too. Just because they're your stream moderators, doesn't mean I have to let them fuck me.
All three of these HUGE red flags, come from one artist (though excessive backlogging is from two) though I won't share their name. This isn't about drama, it's about standing your ground as a commissioner. Artists and commissioners can't live without each other, so learn to work in unison. I've never had one complain about working with folks in the past, so I'm sure this is a one off situation, but it's extremely jarring to deal with. I can't believe I'm having to state this, but here we are.
I’ve had artists absolutely ignore my notes after I waited1-2 months after their deadline they’ve given me, I do understand that shit happens but if you take someone’s hard-earned cash to provide a service.. You should be keeping in touch with your commissioner.
I’ve found myself commissioning less and less after having to get refunds from artists that never update anything after months or just go missing.