I'm going to reply here since you can reply back here :)

I've read all the stuff, and while I do understand your point of view, it might not be in the best interest of the group if they let some members avoid certain rules.
(I'm thinking of the; "4. PLEASE DO NOT JOIN IF YOU WILL DRAW QUICK, UNSHADED MS-PAINT DRAWINGS OR UNCOLORED SCRIBBLE SKETCHES! Badges are complete works of art and you will be banned for giving that type of work." ) while I don't like the wording they have used, it is still a rule of the group and if you knew ahead of time that one month would not be a reasonable time for you to make a coloured and somewhat shaded image then it might have been in your best interest to not have joined in the first place. I know this sound harsh, but I'm just trying to say that this specific group may not be for you - but there is a lot of people out there willing to trade, while also giving you more time than 30days.

Also for the pricing, I get it, I really get it, but this is fandom work, most people here would absolutely love to get 10-18 $ an hour, but as it stands only those really really great or really really popular artists get commissioners with those prices. Personally I make between 0.5 and 3 $ an hour on commissions - but I know I could probably raise the prices a little bit - I would still loose commissioners on it though as I'm right in the borderland for "cheap / expensive" as of now. I'm not saying your time isn't worth it - but at the same time that would make every other member of the groups time worth the same as well. Please keep this in mind. Also it's not just a badge, it's opportunity to share something with a fellow artist that might not be able to afford art, or just share your labor of love with other artists, and so when something is not done all the way through it can be seen as a direct insult of "you are not worth my time", which is probably why people dog-piled on those comments in the other journal.

Also not familiar with copics as I only use promarkers or watercolour pencils for my traditional stuff, but if they are in any way similar to promarkers I would suggest making your own colour chart (as the colour on the outside is often tricking), and practice on basic shapes like circles/apples/squares. This will help you bring up your speed and lessen the risk of making a mistake from trusting the tip colour. Not for anybody else's sake, but the time you are saying you spend on each image is not unusual for beginner artists, and I know it can be insanely frustrating when you know people are able to draw a similar image sketch to finish in less than 3h. I'm not talking as a "pro" artist or anything btw, heck I look at myself as an absolute beginner still, but I really really love drawing and so I think I might know a little of what I'm talking about ^^;

Its not that it isnt worth it, its that I cant produce the copic badges within a month because of how long they take me. Therefore they were not an option for me to do.

I would have gladly changed to another media pencils or regular markers, which dont bleed and are readily available everywhere. I did the exchange for fun and because I wanted to draw other characters without having to host a raffle all the time (which is what I'll prolly do now anyways).

As for that note, my drawings arent sketches. I do have to draw them out in pencil and then ink them. I then proceed to shade them in black and white, varying the pressure of the pen and overlaying of lines to try and achieve accurate black and white conversions. Recently I have been adding color because I've found that they make ballpoints in all colors (except true yellow apparently). The "sub par" character was black, blacker, medium black, dark black, and purple. Sooooo idk what people want me to do with her? make her hair pink?

As for the copic, when i ink in copic I use the brush end and I have to paint the lines on, controling the thickness with very smooth strokes. then when i color it, i cant touch the color to the black lines because it bleeds, and if i dont keep the leading edge wet it creates lines. My friend and one of the con badge memebers who saw the whole thing is talking to me about my technique, seeing if there are better ways for me to get quicker and apparently i might be using the wrong paper for the markers @_@

The most frustrating thing about this whole thing is the fact that no one thinks that I actually put time into these works. I dont know if others can turn out similar quality in less or what the average person takes on a on par badge, but I just freaking take so long.

First of all, let me say this, I have been selling badges specifically, since 2006, so I have quite a lot of experience in this area. One reason that people are upset is your rediculous price quote of $180-200. Quite frankly even super popular artists with people on waiting lists just to get a badge from them, charge around $50-$70. These are people with extreme talent and a large fan following. Thus, your quoted price, comes off as pretencious, self important, and just rude. It feels as if you are saying that your time and work and materials are worth twice or more than that of other, experienced artists.

You then go on to say that the art you get in return is only worth $10-40, who are you to put a price tag like that on someone else's art work, someone who put in their best effort and time/materials, it is very insulting when you say that your art is woryth so much, you are claiming that other artists work is worth less than half of your own.

Realize also, that you are not working for free, you are trading with another artist, you are getting a piece of artwork in exchangr for your own work, and thus you should be putting your best effort into each piece, every time. When I do traditional art, I use copic markers, faber castel and micron pens, stickers, and scrapbook paper that can be up to $1.00 per page for nicer pages, not to mention doing all of my own laminating and including a badge clip with every badge. These materials are not cheap, but you do not factor in the cost of each copic or micron into each badge, this is not proper business practice, you will get more than one badge worth of work from any one pen or marker, so unless you are giving the customer the markers with the badge, then you do not factor the whole cost of a new marker into the price.

All of that aside, I think that when such a large number of people tell you that something that you submitted is clearly not indicative if uour best work, that you should realize that they might be on to something and take it as a hint to put more effort into your work. It is insulting to put my best into something and in return I get something that looks like it took 15minutes when an artist can clearly do better.

I was never quoting anyone $180. I said that THAT is what I would make if I took the time, instead of maknig a badge, and went and worked extra hours.

THATS the whole reason I dont do commissions. I cant draw fast enough to make the $10-$20 i would charge worth my time.

I cant produce the copic badges within a month. Therefore they were not an option for me to do. I don't know what else you want me to say?

If an artist can do full nice oil paintings, you shouldnt expect them to try and cram all that work into a month in an attempt to do a trade. They should be okay with doing other medias as long as its up to par. No one before had told me my work wasnt acceptable. In fact people said they liked it. So I was never made aware that ballpoint pen was not a viable media.

As I said in previous posts, had I been polite asked to use another media, I would have changed. Granted my skill in other medias is none to non existent. Instead the exchange owner insisted that I can do the copic badges for the exchange.

Sorry :| if I say it takes me too long to do those badges, then it takes me too long. I dont see any other way around it.

They also (as are you) saying that I dont put effort into my pen badges. They arent scribbles. They are INKED works. It takes me time and effort to do them. Whether you believe I do 6 hours of work or 30 min, thats your choice. You arent me, you dont believe me, and you arent watching over my shoulder so theres no way to prove or disprove it.

Ongaku, you don't know me, I'm not part of the exchange, and I'm not any type of artist. I came across this drama-fest because I am a friend of Mazz's.

I don't know enough about art to make any kind of judgement about the quality of yours, so I won't even try. But you said in your above post: "I never once called out the admins nor the group, merely stated my point of view in a calm logical manner."

Yet you have called out the admins and the group. You called them "passive aggressive", "verbally upsetting" and "rude" in your original response. Then on Facebook, you urge people to avoid the group. Regardless of what you think about the admins or the group, and regardless of whether or not it is true that they are "passive aggressive", "verbally upsetting", and/or "rude", you can't say those things and at the same time claim that you never attacked them. Don't get me wrong, even though Mazz is my friend, I absolutely disagree with her tone, wording, and especially her use of an expletive acting as an admin of the group. I don't think that was right of her and I completely understand how that kind of wording would put you on the defensive and tempt you to fight back. But that isn't any kind of solution, and it only makes you look worse.

The group has a set of rules that you either did not read, did not understand, or chose not to follow. I can appreciate that doing your best is frustrating and takes a long time. You obviously don't have the time or the inclination to do that every month. That doesn't make you a bad person, it just means that ConbadgeExchange is not the group for you.

Things would have gone so much better if you had simply said, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize the level of effort expected from me every month, and I don't think I can commit to that, so it's probably better that I drop out."

But what's done is done. You have already defended yourself plenty already. Which is to say, too much. And the best advice I can give you now is to stop trying, because the more you try to defend yourself, the worse it will make you look. Especially, refrain from attacking the Exchange or its admins regardless of how you feel about them, because doing so can only make YOU look worse.

What Mazz said as an admin was unprofessional and overly confrontational. You have a right to be upset about that. But that doesn't give you a free pass to verbally attack the group or its admins, and it doesn't give you a free pass to spout off numerous excuses for not doing your very best work when that was clearly what was expected of you.

If you really care about your reputation, I would urge you to forget about however you feel you've been wronged, and issue an apology for the things that you did wrong. And that includes not doing your very best work. As far as why you didn't do your very best work... you didn't have enough time, you didn't understand what was being asked of you, or you couldn't afford the materials. Whatever. Nobody likes excuses. Nobody wants to hear the details.

I do believe that Gallia is a separate person from you. Do what you need to do to prove it, if you feel the need. I hope you get that cleared up.

There's nothing else left to prove except that you can be the better person here. Good luck.

Thank you for being level headed and clear. I appreciate your suggestions.

To clear what i said up though, I never told anyone on FA not to join the group. I refrained from saying anything of that likes. Other people are welcome to do as they please and im not going to impose anything to try and sway them otherwise. What you're reading on FB is a personal message between me and my friends, who were also commenting on the situation and invested in the situation. I feel that within my own group of friends in a private setting I should be able to say such things, sorry I didnt notice it wasnt cropped out and the image has been edited to reflect that.

As for the passive aggressive, verbally upsetting, and rude. I said that TO con badge (or mazz or whoever has been replying and not directed at the public) because the journal was excessive in its language and the level was uncalled for as well as passive aggressive because I was not (at the time) blacklisted. I was still following and still able to see the journal, which I knew was in relation to me. The rude part was because in private notes my work was called scribbles. As I said in the other notes, I do put time into these works. They arent sketches, I am not a skilled/trained artist. It takes me quite a bit of time and effort and to have someone call my work scribbles rather than requesting me to switch medias, or provide a reasonable alternative, was extremely upsetting.

And lastly, I do put time in. I honestly do. My works have been colored since I've gotten the pens (the sub par character was black, medium black, dark black, and purple, so not sure what people want me to do there) and I try my best working with mediums I am not accustom to (which is pretty much everything - ive only been drawing in these mediums for less than a year and only sporadically. You can choose to believe me or not. There really no way to prove it or disprove it seeing as you (or anyone else for that matter) isn't me, isnt asking me how much effort i put into it, nor standing over my shoulder watching. But as far as I know I wasn't breaking any rules on that sub par badge except the the arguable "effort" put into it.

I only know what I've seen posted on the exchange, and seeing your previous posts. Frankly, the submissions you were making for trades just weren't good enough. That's not to say there isn't worse styles, people that got anatomy upside down and inside out, but they did their best work on it. You half assed the job.

Your last submission to this was here: http://www.furaffinity.net/full/13609279/
Do you think this is anywhere remotely close to your better work? From looking back, you've been submitting art like this since December. In return, you had wonderful art from people like Xainy. Your most recent ones I can see being here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13491535/ and http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13485919/ - You've consistently submitted incredibly sub-par work. If you feel other artists in the community aren't upto your standards, why have you stayed? And if you do feel they are upto your standards, how horrendous is it to submit work that looks like 10% of your usual standard (you say average is 10-20 hours, none of your recent submissions look to have taken more than an hour, so this is a highly generous 10%).

Your argument that you were having to provide the most expensive thing on the menu holds no weight, simply because everyone else in the community is submitting the same thing. Regardless of digital or traditional, the badges created are the best work a person can do, including full colouring.

Finally, I understand the supplies for traditional are expensive, but this is the same situation a lot of artists are in. You're not providing these for free, this is still an exchange - You are getting back equal worth. My own partner, Angelwolf does the majority of her badges in traditional, including the one she did for you (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13084335/). You always have the option to work in digital, and in things like trades, a lot of artists use it as a chance to work in a new medium. If you can't afford to do the work, why on earth would you ask to be part of a trade?

You do realize that the work you linked, the uncolored, half completed, was a WIP (work in progress) as stated in the title...? Also, I never said that other artists were unacceptable. I enjoy every badge I get, even the very first one someone drew in (assumably) crayola marker and took a poor photo of it (I never received the original and had to adjust the brightness because the photo was too dark to see the content).

The reason why I can't offer copic badges is because in order to do them (without neglecting my life outside the art world) it takes me about a month and half. 10-20 is not average of my speed its an average of how long those badges tale, its me spending the rest of my time to do them, neglecting my life outside the art community.

If an artist can do full nice oil paintings, you shouldnt expect them to try and cram all that work into a month in an attempt to do a trade. They should be okay with doing other medias as long as its up to par. No one before had told me my work wasnt acceptable. In fact people said they liked it. So I was never made aware that ballpoint pen was not a viable media.

As I said in previous posts, had I been polite asked to use another media, I would have changed. Granted my skill in other medias is none to non existent. Instead the exchange owner insisted that I can do the copic badges for the exchange. (BTW - Ballpoint WAS my new medium and I dont have a tablet so unless horrendous mouse drawings count I wouldnt think thats a viable option either)

Lastly, I do put time in and effort. My works have been colored since I've gotten the colored pens (the sub par character was black, medium black, dark black, and purple, so not sure what people want me to do there) and I try my best working with mediums I am not accustom to (which is pretty much everything - ive only been drawing for less than a year and only sporadically. You can choose to believe me or not. There really no way to prove it or disprove it seeing as you (or anyone else for that matter) isn't me, isnt asking me how much effort i put into it, nor standing over my shoulder watching.