I buy *lots* of art and I've kinda established some of my own guidelines for a commissioner. Generally speaking, for one rather elaborate completed picture I don't think having it done inside of 30 days is unreasonable. I know and have commissioned plenty of artists, and even if they do have jobs other than art, it seems pretty reasonable.

When I commission someone though, I tend to ask how long its going to take, and I have a "3 month rule" in place. Which basically says if its not done in that timeframe, I'm just not interested in the artwork anymore. I wanted that picture 3 months ago, you know? If the artist fails to make contact with me and keep me appraised of the status on work, or if something important happened and they cant work, then I don't think it shows very good faith to your customers. I don't want to slave drive someone, but if you don't keep your paying customer informed, it doesn't show respect. I'm pretty forgiving if people just communicate >_>;

As for when I'll actually contact the person. I'd say that's really the artists job to keep tabs on their work. I shouldn't have to babysit them. If they forgot, they absolutely deserve to lose business. :x

Also, as an aside, next month some changes are taking effect to paypals policies, and they are extending the refund period on services to something like 160 days. Which means at the end of 3 months if services haven't been delivered people can get their refunds.

Thank you for your comment!

You seem to have a pretty good policy I kinda agree with your 3 month thing. I wanted that art 3 months ago not now ect.
I'm forgiving as well because like I said I understand life and I'm not going to be a salve driver as well but I worry about being TOO forgiving and risk making myself lose money paying someone for something that they may have changed their mind on drawing all together. If it was free I would brush it off and forget about it but when it's payed for... I feel like there is a certain level of professionalism that needs to be there.

I didn't know about that change on paypal! That's really good to know.

I tend to screen someone a bit before I commission them now. It's really reduced the number of commissions I don't get a return on. Some of the factors to consider is how the person generally responds to people in journals and submissions. Some people can be really good at sugar coating things and taking no action. Then there's looking for a queue, or if a queue is even available to begin with. Then considering how many watchers they have and the demand for their work. Then the consistency of when they submit things. You can sort of establish a rough estimate of how their turnaround times are based on the size of their queue, and the working times.

And of course, like I said, ask for just a ballpark when you approach the artist. If they tell me its going to be a 3 month wait, I will just thank them for their time and go elsewhere with the idea.

I think when money is being exchanged, even though its not a whole lot most of the time, someone agreed to do work for you in exchange for it. I think professional conduct is a requirement there. But at the end of the day there's very little to keep someone accountable for their work unfortunately. If someone is popular enough they have a revolving door of customers. Just because some people got burned before them, everyone likes to think that "this time it will be different because its me" or "I've been waiting months to commission this person, now there's less competition. Even reporting people on communities like artists_beware doesn't do anything. It all gets forgotten in time :x