Hey, you still owe me a request from FIVE YEARS AGO! *Jokes*

No, seriously. I can understand your mindset.

Just like I said 5 years ago, I won't draw your weird fetishes! >:B

B..But it was only of a sunset, and a single flower!

Sickening! Spare us the filthy details!

Aww, it's NOT your birthday? I saw this journal, thought about how it made me smile to be wished a happy one, and that's why I clicked. :P

And I totally get you on trades and collabs. I won a contest through another artist like 5 years + ago, and I never got my prize. They always had something going on. So I just let it go. Same artist also owes me a trade. Also let it go.

It is, er... was, actually. But birthday journals are kind of sad. The people who really care will already know and remember it anyway.

And yeah, I've had... mixed experiences with collabs, trades, contests etc. myself. But to be fair, I've had several rather professional collab partners too, who were fun to work with.

My unspoken policy on trades is bust my butt as soon as the other person is finished!

I know, I know. That's horrible.

Hah hah, fair enough, as long as you make sure to take care of your part of the trade.

If your trade partner has a similar art trade policy, though...

That's surprising that these people would make you wait on a collaboration, considering the high level of quality you put into your part of an art trade (no I am not saying this to suck up, I am just stating an observation).

Hah hah, thanks, but that's besides the point. Regardless of technical quality or experience level, people should always make an effort to get their part of an art collab or trade done, especially if they were the ones to initiate it.

Oh I know, that's very bad form to start an art trade with someone and not follow through.

tsk - these flaky creative types. What can you do, eh?

And this is why I no longer work with anyone ever. But that's just me. Your collab art is spiffing! The ditherers may be frustrating but does not sitting back and seeing your awesome finished piece make it worthwhile?

That's besides the point, since the scenarios I described in my journal tend to lead to no results whatsoever. ( Other than wasted time, which I could as well use to create some new art of my own, completely avoiding all of these difficulties. )

I've definitely had some pleasant and efficient collab partners, as well, though. Come to think of it, there's a few I've never had trouble with, and then there's some which frequently seem to cause a collab to fail, or at least turn it into a somewhat awkward experience, one way or another... Maybe I should establish some sort of 3(?) strike rule, or simply stick to the few artists I enjoy working with. Meh. :/

My track record is fine...I think.

Except we just haven't been doing it lately because we've been so busy or something. And because I'm a greedy bastard. But I do get what you mean. It hasn't happened to me much personally because I don't often get a lot of art trades.

If you're still up for some sort of collab or art trade, feel free to let me know. I do still remember enjoying that Greek mythology themed one we did last time.

Oh, yeah, you're good. In fact, we've probably done more successfully completed collabs, than I've done with anyone else. ( And hey, one even got a DD feature. )

Actually, I'm sort of behind, because I still have that Poseidon collab pic sitting around on my HDD unfinished. I think it has potential -- just need to get around to it and finish it some time.

And I wasn't really pointing fingers at anyone in particular. As I mentioned, it's just something that's been happening to me a lot, and not only recently.

Anyhow, we could probably do another collab, since it's been a while. Do you have my e-mail address? If not, send me a private note on here.

It's just occurred to me that I almost never bug other people to finish their end of the art trade or collab. I guess I just get so busy with doing other stuff that I eventually forget it, or maybe I just feel bad about bugging other people about it because I don't want to come off as annoying. Conversely, I'd feel really bad for agreeing to do an art trade or collab and not holding my end of it up. If I didn't want to do it, I wouldn't agree to do it in the first place. That's better than reluctantly agreeing and not doing it at all because you can't motivate yourself to do it. But perhaps it's because motivation is important to me that I would never knowingly start an art trade or collab unless I really wanted to do it.