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Gripes Department
12 years ago
General
I normally don't air my complaints on the internet, but I feel like this is an important issue. Recently, my girlfriend contacted an artist on FA who was doing a set of sketch commissions. I have tried to get work done by this artist before, but quickly became upset with their ethics on how clients are "chosen".
The artist in question, who I will not name, apparently does not do "first come" commissions ever, preferring to pick and choose which projects they want to do. This to me is a red flag. If you are going to ignore possible clientele, they will stop following you and then never spend money on you. This actually happened to me when I tried to get artwork done from the same artist in question. I attempted to secure two slots, one for me and one for my girlfriend, but was cast to the wayside because I guess I am not a part of the artists circle of friends.
But, back to the main story. My girlfriend had contacted the artist first about getting a group of images done, and at the point of her contacting the artist, there was no mention of "I will choose who gets my art" (my words, not the artists, but a decent paraphrasing of it). We are certain the only reason why my girlfriend is even getting the artist to do this commission for her is because she was willing to pay a little extra because she wanted quite a bit.
Now, here's the funniest part. The artist has a commission queue, with my girlfriend being at the top of it, but apparently the queue isn't actually a queue. The artist is placing free or gift art for friends at a higher priority than commissions. Thankfully, I unfollowed this artist a while back because of the debacle that happened with me, but once my girlfriend gets the art that she commissioned, she is going to unfollow them, too.
There's a big, broad line between being faithful to those who commission you and doing freebie art for friends and for practice, and if you want to be professional, you don't use favoritism for who you commission or for whose work gets done first. If you have commissioners, they are the priority because they are paying you to do work. They are being your lifeline for paying bills and allowing you to live comfortably. I can understand doing fun art every so often, but you should have a schedule for it. Let your commissioners know that every so often (be it every couple of weeks, every 10-15 commissions, or whatever) you will do a couple pieces of fun art to break up the monotony or keep your skills up to snuff. Don't tell people that they might not get chosen because you'd prefer to pick and choose who gets art and who doesn't UNLESS it's a raffle or contest.
I don't care how good of an artist you are, you don't fuck with your clientele of commissioners. Since you are getting paid to draw, guess what? Drawing is now your job! Get the work done, then have fun.
The artist in question, who I will not name, apparently does not do "first come" commissions ever, preferring to pick and choose which projects they want to do. This to me is a red flag. If you are going to ignore possible clientele, they will stop following you and then never spend money on you. This actually happened to me when I tried to get artwork done from the same artist in question. I attempted to secure two slots, one for me and one for my girlfriend, but was cast to the wayside because I guess I am not a part of the artists circle of friends.
But, back to the main story. My girlfriend had contacted the artist first about getting a group of images done, and at the point of her contacting the artist, there was no mention of "I will choose who gets my art" (my words, not the artists, but a decent paraphrasing of it). We are certain the only reason why my girlfriend is even getting the artist to do this commission for her is because she was willing to pay a little extra because she wanted quite a bit.
Now, here's the funniest part. The artist has a commission queue, with my girlfriend being at the top of it, but apparently the queue isn't actually a queue. The artist is placing free or gift art for friends at a higher priority than commissions. Thankfully, I unfollowed this artist a while back because of the debacle that happened with me, but once my girlfriend gets the art that she commissioned, she is going to unfollow them, too.
There's a big, broad line between being faithful to those who commission you and doing freebie art for friends and for practice, and if you want to be professional, you don't use favoritism for who you commission or for whose work gets done first. If you have commissioners, they are the priority because they are paying you to do work. They are being your lifeline for paying bills and allowing you to live comfortably. I can understand doing fun art every so often, but you should have a schedule for it. Let your commissioners know that every so often (be it every couple of weeks, every 10-15 commissions, or whatever) you will do a couple pieces of fun art to break up the monotony or keep your skills up to snuff. Don't tell people that they might not get chosen because you'd prefer to pick and choose who gets art and who doesn't UNLESS it's a raffle or contest.
I don't care how good of an artist you are, you don't fuck with your clientele of commissioners. Since you are getting paid to draw, guess what? Drawing is now your job! Get the work done, then have fun.
