I strangely have better luck with character accuracy when I get giftart rather than when I purchase commissions. o3o

; M ; me too :T

I just commissioned  vorelord ... the first time around he got the character design wrong entirely. So he offered to make me a ref sheet, but I still had to pay for it, so I was like sure why not... and...

... Paws really look like that? REALLY? > A >;;

Not to mention he still left out some things :Y

I'm just fed up, whatever. I shouldnt be able to sit here and look at all the things that I could do better. Vorelord is an amazing artist. :T

eep--and that last tidbit isnt sarcasm. I really do love his/her art, he/she was one of the first artists I got around to watching. And it's hardly for the vore--the shading, the way things are drawn, I've learned a bunch of stuff just from looking at some things in their gallery. Dont kill me ; A ;

Oh, it's okay, I understood what'cha meant. ^.^

I've found that certain artists, while truly exceptional in their abilities, have certain quirks to their styles that, while it works great for the characters that they tend to draw, can start causing problems when they draw other people's characters. I kind of feel that VoreLord is that way - no offense to him of course. =3 Heck, I'M that way with my art.

I just looked at the pics you got from VL too; I can see your trouble. x.x For the ref sheet, those paw refs are, uh...uh. Um, I think I could draw them better, tbh, and I'm not a very good artist. >..> I'm also not sure it was quite right of him to suggest a ref sheet and then ask for payment for that too - I think perhaps offering you a free sketch or something would've been a bit more tactful. I don't know your characters all too well, so I can't completely tell what was wrong from the first pic, but I can say it didn't look much like any of your characters. o.o

Sometimes it's just bad luck. Did you try to work with VL on developing the pic and/or ref? I usually ask for WIPs on each stage of completion (such as sketch, lines, color, and finishing touches), asking for changes at each step of the way, if there are actually changes to make.

I think that gifts just generally work out better because they're done with more genuine motivation. If you get a gift, it's because the other person really wanted to draw it. If you get a commission, the artist might wanna draw it, but let's be honest, the main reason it's being drawn is for the money. ^^; This isn't always a bad thing, of course, but I've seen some artists push out material that's simply not that inspired because they're mainly doing it for the money.

Though I have gotten some wonderful commissions too. ^^ Something in the works by  Soto right now is looking great - he's a little slow at actually submitting things (he's doing an Iron Artist and submitting the pics in batches of 10 - mine's done, but I won't effectively see the final version until he's finished with the whole current batch), but it's not really a big deal.

Oh yeah I know how it is, but that's why I havent opened commissions. Money is not a very good motivator for me--people could offer me fifty bucks to do something and if I even slightly dont want to do it, I wont. Plus I'm slow. So. Until I feel confident enough to believe that I can draw someone something and be legitimately happy with it, I wont open commissions. XD

Yeah and it's not even the style aspects I was upset about--I draw Dragon Eurynome's muzzle more crooked than him, but I'm not gonna bitch about it. It looks fine. XD It's the other stuff I'm kinda disappointed with.

And we did work together on it, somewhat. He sent me a WIP sketch to verify that everything was okay... but... it said "Dragon Name" at the top, none of the written details existed, and there were two cartoony paws with arrows pointing to each foot. The main sketch looked pretty well developed, and since he wrote dragon name at the top, I assumed the paws and mawshot were going to be more detailed, too. So I gave him the okay... and then it turns out those were actually finished. e v e;

Yeah! I was gonna say the same thing : > It's hard to get the exact expressions and everything right when you're drawing a character that you dont even know, and all you're going by is a description. : >

Yeah, I waited 6 months for a commission once, I'm pretty patient too > U <

Same here, on all accounts. Money doesn't motivate me either - my muse is terribly picky, to be honest. I'm not so much slow as I am unpredictable with my drawing moods. =o Slow actually would be a step up for me, heheh.

Ahh, I see. So you did all you could... Ergh. And some miscommunication too.

I think I've had two commissions where they never were finished, though I did pay the people. Fortunately it's not that much that I lost, but I forgot who they were to begin with so I couldn't address the issue even if I wanted to...

I know it makes me sound like an art whore (well, I AM an art whore really, though I very much appreciate gifts; I just try to be polite and understanding), but I prefer getting requests, really-truly. I can be as patient as necessary with requests, because - well, the artist is under no obligation for me anyways. They'll do it when they feel like it...and that's precisely why it usually turns out nicely too. =3

Haha, I wish I could ask you for a request, actually. I've got a birthday coming up on the 19th and I really wanted to get some birthday-themed ideas drawn out. But I do know you only draw for friends, and I dunno if I'm social with you enough to qualify as one. xD

Haha! XD

I've ALWAYS been afraid of that, I'm so sorry to hear it happened to you :Y If I ever open commissions I'll always ask for half initially, and half later. I'd feel so terribly obligated to actually get around to working if I was holding onto someone else's money, but I dont wanna get ripped off and I wouldnt want them to feel the same way. :Y

I love getting requests too, I dont have to do anything and it's always interesting to see other people's take on something, thats why I commission people so much. I love seeing how people interpret things, especially things which I've created, like my OC's. : > It's hardly about the content--I always oogle over how they decide to draw it > U <

Well you're smart enough to at least acknowledge that--if you tell me what you want, I can leave you off with a "maybe". : > I've drawn for people I literally have not said more than 3 sentences to, so I'll see what I can do! : > I like making people happy, and a birthday is an awesome time to try and do that. So request away and I'll see how it goes. o v o

Oh, it's alright. ^^; I think from now on I'll just commission people that ask for payment after completion of the picture, where they show you some wips, finish the picture, and then give you the finished product once you pay. It seems the most fair and safest way for both commissionee and commissioner to exchange goods. =3 The half-at-the-start, half-at-the-end method you mentioned is also a good one~

I like to see how people interpret my characters in their styles too. :3 I don't really mind a little inaccuracy, even, if it's stylized. I also love the content as well though. xD I tend to have a lot of art ideas, lots of which I have trouble drawing myself, so I tend to have more than just generic concepts to suggest to artists. I also try to cater my requests towards what they would particularly enjoy, as well.

Maybe is more than enough for me. ^^ Thank you~ I shall send you a PM with my idea/character details, to make it all more organized. <3

Those people are so few and far between, though ; v ; I found someone new to commission today and they're the first one out of all the people I've met that have been okay with accepting payment at the end > U <

Ahh I know what you mean about a lot of ideas, I have a hard time starting and finishing comics because a huuuge number of them are so long ; v ; I'm trying to do a better job with making my panels interesting in this comic I'm drawing for an art trade with my friend, and just by trying to do it I've already gotten a lot better : >

Okay! Thanks! : >

Well, I mean - I think there's no issue if one is given money once the picture is done, but at the same time there have been artists shafted by commissioners that didn't pay... The commissioner didn't run off with the art, of course, since the artist never gave them it, but they did already waste their time drawing the picture in the first place, just to have the commissioner cop out on them...

So actually, your halfsies idea is the best one. By insisting on immediate partial payment, the commissioner won't be likely to cop out afterwards, and the commissioner won't have to worry about the artist running off with their money either (because the artist still has yet to receive half, this encourages them to finish the picture). Sad to say, there are indeed people that try to steal art/money from artists/commissioners... =( Sometimes it's not intentional though, and just a matter of forgetfulness (which is why artists should really write the commissioners' ideas down somewhere offline, on their computer desktop or somewheres obvious :O).

*chuckles* Comics are hard. x3 Definitely. Easy to burn out on them mid-way through... That being said, you've still done some wonderful comics in the past. =3~

Yeah :T It's similar to when you draw a gift for someone, only to never hear from them about it, or to not hear much from them. It feels a whole lot like a waste, and that's happened to me before, but on the bright side I learn new things whenever I finish a picture, so I at least learned some new stuff. But I still wish they could at least pretend like they gave a damn XP

Yeah : > I always make to do lists--I had one on DeviantART but I took it down since at the moment I'm not bound to have to draw anything except maybe a huge ass vore comic which I already have mostly sketched out. : >

Aww thank youu > U < I cant agree with you there XDD But comics are indeed a lot of fun ~ : > I have a really cute idea for a vore comic when I have time to draw it, and I think I might make it an "animation", as in, a slideshow, basically. I don't know if it's been done/overdone before, but I at least thought of it entirely on my own so I don't think I have to worry too much. And I've had the idea for a while and I still wanna draw it really bad, so I think I'd be able to finish it if I tried. Maybe. XD

Awr... =( I ALWAYS give feedback to artists that give me gifts. And I usually submit the gifts myself, with copyrights leading back to their userpages of course.

One artist friend of mine,  FairyTails, actually drew me a 4-part gift under one stipulation: that when I submitted it myself, I wrote a story for the pictures in the description. (Which I did, and she loved it. <3) I tend to write stories for gifts I get, you see, because I oftentimes do love the artwork I get and get motivated to put a plot behind each scene. *^^* I feel it's very important that I show appreciation for the efforts of those who would draw something for me, even if it has mistakes or whatever. (I'm not super-picky and rarely have I received a picture with 'too many' mistakes in it - I don't mind mistakes as long as the theme and mood of the picture still matches who I am. <3)

I have a few miscellaneous idea lists and such stuffed away somewhere myself, actually... Forget where though... xD

You're welcome. <3 Comics are an invaluable tool to vore artists I think. Single images can't truly show the whole process of vore, at least not easily. =P Of course, single images are wonderful too, but if you wanna show the whole voring, there's few better ways than a comic.

Animations? Oh goodness, those are even better. <3 I adore pretty much any vorish animation I run into. I've starred in juuuust a couple, but I'd really love to be in something else sometime, if I can manage it. =3 I'm a very energetic/cute Charmeleon, and I work well in animated form. Your slideshow idea sounds interesting - and it probably wouldn't be hard to toss the individual panels together into a true animation. <3

Oh wow! Thats such a neat thing to do ; A ; I cant write--it'd certainly be a pleasant surprise to see that someone wrote a story to go along with the picture, even if I dont happen to be very interested in the content of said picture. I guess it makes the artist feel like their client/friend/whatever feel like they did an awesome job, like you said ; A ;

When I commission people and I receive the final product, I try to show that I love it by pointing out as many details as I can, because I'm an artist too and I know how much time goes into all that work--noticing details, I like to believe, makes them feel like nothing they did in the picture was a waste of time. :D

Yeah XD I really want to do animations--I already have a few in mind, because the more draconic form of my character Eurynome ( http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5744284 The dragons here XD) is SOOOO quirky, it's hard to draw out without animating it. He's a bit scary but strange at the same time--for example, he's always smiling because of the way his jaw is set up, and one of the things I want to animate is him in the dark, with only the tiniest highlights visible on his fur. His eyes and mouth glow, so it'd look like this happyface in the dark with fangs and yellow eyes--and what he'd do is he'd sit there and while craning his neck to one side, twist his head around in a circle over and over again so that it looks like a smiley face slowly spinning around clockwise, and then he'd unwind it again XDD He's a demon, so I imagine he can fuck all anatomy and snap his neck if he wants for the sake of being creepy--I like to believe life for him is made possible because of his soul, not his body. XD

Another thing I wanna draw him doing is chasing my friend's character Thai (8 year old boy)... he'd try to pounce on him but miss, and while he's recovering from the jump (I imagine a lot of dust would be brought up into the air since he's so huge) Thai manages to tumble and hide behind something. So he pokes his head out of the smoke and looks from side to side, but his eyes travel faster than his head so his eyes dart to the far right side of his eye-hole things, his head moves, and then he does the same with the other side, and prances around while trying to find him, until he eventually bites whatever Thai is hiding behind and crushes it with his jaws XD

I also want to do one of him laughing, because his head bounces and his lip curls back to expose his fangs when he does XDDD He's so fucking weird haha

Well, I'll certainly try my best to write a good story for your picture, as well as any other birthday gifts I happen to get too! ^^ I love to flesh out the subject matter in giftarts, and make the pictures all the more appealing at the same. <3

I also like to point out details in the finished projects, things I like particularly about the drawing. ^^ Like for you, I love how you do belly bulges, internals, and how you draw Shadow (particularly his feet). <3 Just for starters.

Eurynome looks pretty cool. ^..^ And I would love to see just how quirky he is in animation! The glowing parts would look totally cool with a bit of animation to show the light pulsing just a tad... Sounds like you already have the animation mapped out pretty well too!

*chuckles* Hopefully he wouldn't hurt a little kid like that... xD Besides perhaps some friendly nomming... Eury looks like the sort of fellow that doesn't mind gulping down some wriggling meals. :P

Well then in that case I look forward to reading it~ > U < I hope I do your idea the way you're envisioning it XD

Aww ; U ; Thaaaaaanks, I always hate the way I do belly bulges XD;;

Oooh pulsing light o A o I never even thought about that--when he gets angry he gets this colored wispy smoke that comes out of his eyes and mouth, like when you blow out a candle, but it's sooooo translucent that it isnt overpowering : >

Oh pbbt, his creator is a voraphile, of course he doesnt mind XD~

Oh, I'm sure you will. n..n And even if it's a little different than what I'm envisioning, then that just means it'll be a nice surprise when I do see it. <3

XD Well, I think you could still stand to improve on your belly bulges, but at the same time I think they're cute. I would suggest trying to shape belly bulges similarly to how the prey is situated inside the gut. That is to say, put a handprint-bulge where they might be pressing their hand against a wall, or a footprint-bulge where they might be kicking their leg...that sort of thing.

Hehehe, he certainly sounds like a unique fella. n..n I look forward to seeing an (inevitable?) vore pic involvin' him sometime. =3

I hope so~ : >

Oh, yeah > U < I try to do that... sometimes... not recently...maybe I've done it once XD But I prefer round tummies anyway, so I might try to do that... maybe... XD

I've already drawn him in a few vore situations--none of him as a dragon, but as a Sonic character back when he was one XD I wish I drew him as pred more often, though--and I'll definitely be sure to draw him on vorish situations in the future o v o I actually have a commission from someone on the way, he shrinks and swallows 3-5 different people... I have a WIP sketch of the first page if you're interested XD

Hey, it's all personal preference when it comes to bulges. :3 I like to see discernible prey-shapes in the bulges, but round bellies are cute too. As long as the gut is nice and big from a decent-sized prey, well... <3 I'm happy.

*chuckles* I wouldn't mind seeing that WIP, sure. =3 Sounds like fun~

Haha, same I guess, when it comes right down to it > U <

And okay! : > I finally got off my lazy ass and uploaded them to photobucket, so here they are:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y2.....Sketch-Pg1.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y2.....Sketch-Pg2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y2.....Sketch-Pg3.jpg

The scenario is simply that he's shrunk down a bunch of people and saved them for later under a cake display lid thing (He's in a victorian-esque mansion in this, in the dining room of it : > ) and he's nomming all of them : >

Uh... I dont know what happened to that third link > A >;;

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y2.....Sketch-Pg3.jpg ?

Oh, neat! And, wait, that style...? Oh, it's Ichbinich's work! :3 He's a cool dood, he drew my Ramech self a few times and did the best-ever job on that character.

Nice little comic as well, hehe~ ;3

This is just me musing in the morning, but the thought occurs to me that in at least some cases, it might be a matter of how much time they have. If an artist is commissioned who has a fairly big workload, I could kinda understand them getting things wrong because they only kinda quickly looked at a reference picture and tried to get things done quickly to avoid too much of a backlog building up. Not that I'd necessarily agree with it in such a case, since accuracy within my style is important to me, but I can certainly understand it.

Also, obviously, dunno if this is the case for any individual person. x3 But yeahs.

Also also, what do you want for your birthday? >:T

I understand someone like Vorelord would certainly get a lot of buyers interested... but the point is to draw what the clients want, not to churn it out as fast as possible after taking someone's money. Some people get impatient, sure, but if he's so overwhelmed that the quality of his art is affected, I would advise him to look into setting up a certain amount of slots. :T

I-i dunno? ; v ; You dont have to draw me anything you silly goose ; v ;

Like I said, I understand it if that's the case for some artists (Again, more hypothetical than anything, as I don't know anyone specifically that it's like that for x3) but I don't really agree with it. x3 Maybe my tone'll shift when I find myself taking commissions and getting a huge pile. XD But yeah, sticking with just 'slots' would certainly help limit the workload at any given them.

So you claim, so you claim. ;) But if you have something you'd like me to do for your birthday, I'm certainly open to doin' it. x3

Yeah, I dont hate the commissions he did for me obviously, even if it sounds like I do. I think the posing and perspective of the first one are great, and it is what I asked for--the sky was done amazingly well, and I love how the color of Eury's tail fades out. It's just all I've talked about are the things that are wrong with it. I wouldnt say the second was worth what I sent him, but I'm glad he made it for me and everything. : >

> U < Yessir~

I'm scared to work on your commissions now. ;A;

IT'S EASY

JUST FIND A PICTURE OF EURY

COPY FEATURES

BAM : >

IT ISN'T THAT HARD, THAT'S WHY IT PISSES ME OFF WHEN PEOPLE GET THINGS WRONG

To be fair, Eury isn't exactly simple.
And you having OCD about it doesn't help.

You in a bad mood? o v o;~

If you're worried you're allowed to ask me questions silly : >

Not really?
And I shall definitely.

Oh wow, that sucks :C I'm sorry that had to happen. It is always a good idea to show the commissioner a preview sketch or something, to make sure it's correct before finishing the entire picture. It's the professional thing to do, me thinks.

But yeah, I've had bad luck with commishes in the past, as well. Had to wait up to nearly 3 years for a commission...twice...and one artist drew something completely, totally different than what I asked for! And never sent it in the mail, like promised. Makes ya wonder, why bother anymore? xD

Geez what was their beef? > A >;; They could at the very least give a refund, geez :Y

The longest I've waited was 6 months, but at least it was worth the wait... 3 years?? Thats just insane > A >;;;

I know right??? I'm patient and understand they're busy in real life, but could of at least kept in touch every once in a while! Both artists did make up for it by upgrading from line arts to fully colored, so it's all good <3

6 months is a bit of a wait, too, but glad your commish came out awesome!

Oh well, there IS that, at least ; v ; .... Except now instead of having lineart of something you didn't ask for, now it's colored XDD

She had a good excuse though--she's in college (Like, legit college. Not the community college I'm always whining about XD;; ) and she had some other commissions to do, too e v e;;