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NEW RULES REGARDING FUTURE COMMISSIONS
12 years ago
In light of some recent events elsewhere on the site, I will be implementing new rules as fail-safe measures for any commissions I may accept in the future. I believe other artists should follow suit to protect themselves from being involved in things they are unaware of.
First, I WILL NOT accept textual references of characters. That is, you cannot offer me a text-based description of a character. Textual references make it very easy for a commissioner to describe the appearance of a character that is not their own without my knowledge that the character belongs to someone other than the commissioner.
Secondly, ALL visual references MUST provide significant, documented proof that the character shown does in fact belong to the commissioner. That is, a ref sheet or ref image uploaded by the commissioner must either show the signature of the artist for that ref, or provide a link to the original posting of that image. This way I can verify with the original artist that the character in that ref does or does not belong to him/her nor anyone else he/she may know that isn't the commissioner.
Thirdly, ALL visual references must have been posted a minimum of 60 days. That will nearly eliminate the possibility that a reference of a character that doesn't belong to the commissioner will survive being reported and/or removed by the administration of the site.
I apologize for inconveniences this may cause, but after seeing what I witnessed earlier today happen, this is absolutely necessary to protect myself.
First, I WILL NOT accept textual references of characters. That is, you cannot offer me a text-based description of a character. Textual references make it very easy for a commissioner to describe the appearance of a character that is not their own without my knowledge that the character belongs to someone other than the commissioner.
Secondly, ALL visual references MUST provide significant, documented proof that the character shown does in fact belong to the commissioner. That is, a ref sheet or ref image uploaded by the commissioner must either show the signature of the artist for that ref, or provide a link to the original posting of that image. This way I can verify with the original artist that the character in that ref does or does not belong to him/her nor anyone else he/she may know that isn't the commissioner.
Thirdly, ALL visual references must have been posted a minimum of 60 days. That will nearly eliminate the possibility that a reference of a character that doesn't belong to the commissioner will survive being reported and/or removed by the administration of the site.
I apologize for inconveniences this may cause, but after seeing what I witnessed earlier today happen, this is absolutely necessary to protect myself.
For the sake of not starting anything, we'll label the man/aggressor invovled Person A and the woman/victim involved Person B. Basically that artist was commissioned by Person A to draw his character dismembering and beheading Person B's character without her permission. She got extremely upset about it, posted the mater publicly in a journal, and got Person A's account suspended. Unfortunately, the artist who drew the image got suspended too, even though he/she had ZERO knowledge of what Person A was commissioning. Pretty much the innocent bystander to the whole thing, CorkyOrkyii, was suspended as well simply for having drawn the image in question.
I refuse to be in CorkyOrkyii's shoes. And this new policy I've crafted almost guarantees I never will be.
That said, the situation you describe seems very out of the ordinary. The artist didn't do their own check on the character name or description by searching here on FA or elsewhere. It sounds, from what you say, like they could have found the character owner and checked to see if there was permission for the piece. Given that the described piece could be interpreted as a threat of violence against the victim, I think it's the artist's obligation to go to some length to verify for themselves the character ownership and not trust anything posted by the commissioner at all. I don't know if there's any legal liability involved if the victim brings in law enforcement against the commissioner, but the artist needs to be able to say they performed their own due diligence and show exactly how they did it. Somehow I don't think he would have faced suspension, or could successfully appeal it, if he could show that he did indeed perform due diligence.
That said, having certain rules is important to avoid these kinds of entanglements. I might suggest that instead of offering a set of fixed rules that people can look for ways to get around, you simply say that you reserve the right to refuse any commission based on any inability to ascertain the drawn character's true provenance. Then go from there on a case by case basis.