Jesus fuck... that shit is textbook abuse.

I know it can be hard to assert yourself and fight that kind of shit, but at least it sounds like you have some friends who can recognize it and help you out. Just make sure you stick close to them and let them know as soon as anyone tries to guilt you like this, because it is NOT okay. Don't draw for these people, it just reinforces their behavior and will lead them to doing it to other people.

You don't owe people a god damn thing they didn't pay for in some fashion. If you feel you took too long on a commission it is up to you, and you alone if they should receive something extra as compensation. That is NOT up to them to ask for, and if they do then they are some shiesty motherfuckers.

It's a pretty shit thing for people to do, friend or not, and you shouldn't have to deal with it or 'cave in' to it.

If they like your art enough they absolutely must have some done by you for them; they should understand it's your time being taken up you could be earning money to live, and thus understand that you take Commissions, not requests; for a reason

Well :|

Stupid is as stupid does I guess. And people who abuse others for free shit are stupid.

I am glad it appears to be over though, and it's perfectly reasonable to nope.avi with those notes.

Hi there, as a person who used to do art full time. I strongly suggest that you don't do free art anymore, don't discount either. It didn't work out for me, all it did was lower the value of my art to other people. This led to me to working longer hours, cutting corners to try to save time, hurting my wrist from trying harder instead of working smarter. My suggestion is to set a small monthly budget for advertising, like $20-$50 total, with a different advertising image each month, so that you get more people to know about your art.

Anyways goodluck.

Jesus that's awful. Hopefully you never fall victim to that ever again.

That is a HORRIBLE way to try and get people to get shit free. I am sorry that you have to go through such things.
As someone that DOES get a lot of art, both paid AND free, i always try and maintain that i dont want people to draw me unless they are WANTING to and happy and enjoying themselves. I would rather have nothing at all than to get art at the expense of making someone feel like shit.

I hope that people cut you a break. You are an amazingly talented artist, and deserve the money for your art. I appreciate and enjoy practically everything you do here, and hope that you are able to continue free of harassment by assholes.

This is one of my fears if i ever become someone that abuse others which i would rather pay dubble than ever do something as horrible as that

Hope it goes better for ya from now on and that arse hats that abuse others like they did to you that they get a shity feeling because they are shit pepole

Two things:

1 - only take on a few commissions at a time and get them done in a reasonable time frame to stop any complaints about delays/times
2 - grow a thicker skin :P That's really shit to hear people have been pressuring you into doing free art. Like... It's the ultimate form of price wanking :V If they valued you and your art at all they wouldn't demand free art from you.

Although I have no idea how long the delays were but it sounds like the free art you've done for them was higher in value than the original commissions >..<

But yeah... Do everything you can to be timely with your communication and productivity, most artists I see that collapse under the pressure of doing commissions part/full time is due to having awful self discipline when needing to draw on a regular basis for clients.

WAIT! The people forced you to draw them free art just because of your prices??
That's the most stupid thing I ever heard! If they don't like your prices they should go and look for an other artist! I commissioned an artist once and waited like over a year for it to be done and paid that artist over 100 USD and never blamed him or made him feel guilty. Sure I asked sometimes if he is still around, even as he offered me to repay me I declined it and told him just to finish it and everything is fine.

But that they tell you to do them free art is shameless of these people!
You should just tell them that they can either pay what their picture will cost or just forget it.

Thats harsh to hear. It's sad alot of people take advatage over you like that.
Just say no, its not that hard. You got more sword and shield for being a liked and big artist then some sod tripping others into submission.
Stay strong, nugget!

All I ever wanted was to + > input https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QfSzgV1q5g > Art input get yiss

But I dunno how to. Sad times

Here's how I feel about guilting people into doing free art, particularly under the colour of friendship:

It makes me see red.

Artists have to make livings too. Many make very poor livings indeed, and their time is all they have to sell. A friend should not be begging free doodles out of you. A friend should be willing to pay twice what you charge, because whatever strengthens you, strengthens the friendship. I routinely throw extra money at artists I call friend, sometimes with no commission at all attached to it. They're friends. I help where I can. That's what friends DO, dammit. Friends do not leech off what little spare time their artistic friends have. That doesn't make you a friend. That just makes you another wanker.

And I've had artistic friends occasionally do gift art for me. I didn't ask for it. Ooops, their hand slipped, and art came out! I consider such gifts to be the most priceless treasures in my collection...they are gifts from the heart. That's what gives them meaning to me. I never ask for free art unless I am literally given no other choice (a few artists won't take paid commissions) and even there I try to trade something.

Screw the false friends. Screw the wankers. You're worth far more then they give you credit for, as an artist and as a person.

(As for the criticism of doing commissions too slow, I could say something about my own, but that's the criticism of a customer. I *DO NOT* expect, or want, free art over it. Period.)

Treat it like a business, like any business. The customer pays the price and you deliver. Clear communication, regular communication.

I have tried not to complain and haven't ever asked you for free art but I have been waiting for my vore commission of my snake gal since Megaplex '13. You're an amazing artist but when an artist goes quiet and doesn't respond to polite requests for updates via any medium I am sure you can understand how people could feel.

How awful! I've commissioned an artist and have been waiting for my commission for over 5 years now for it, but I would NEVER think to ask them for free art! Of course, they never respond to my inquiries about where my art is, so they probably would just ignore a request like that anyway.

Might wanna contact support on that artist because if you payed for that image already then i would believe they've scammed you and you are inquired to get a refund or get that person banned considering they've openly scammed you.

Hi

Draw me free shit

With vore n stuff

tnx

That's kind of bullshit. I've written free stories for people before when I was lagging on something but that was MY offer, my generosity, and no one should demand treatment like that.
I feel sometimes like the commission process is an aberration... like there's an underlying ideal state where art is freely shared but also 'willing.' The artist draws what they wish to, whether for themselves or for another person. Commissions break that by using money from the consumer (rather than collaborator) to force an outcome regardless of the producer's desires. Art can become a product rather than expression. When it becomes a product the consumer has expectations about what their money or promise of money means, and a relationship is established which will always try to take maximum advantage of the prodcuer and create maximum value for the consumer.
I've tried to avoid this by treating commissions as collaborations. But really it's down to a lot of commissioners who are understanding that they're asking for a creative product rather than just something manufactured, and you can't put time limits on that. It's probably easier for an artist, but I think the central role of willingness and expression still play.
I can empathize about taking forever as well, seeing I never finished that one thing for you... The hardest thing about commissions in my mind is that they also break the ability of a producer to let something go and move on... if you're doing 20 sketches and turning out 3 decent pictures, that's fine until one of the sketches that doesn't make the cut is a commission that you've committed to and don't want to let someone down by moving on.
And while a general social contract would be nice and sort of works but sort of doesn't, I really wish there were some way for artists to derive primary income from self-expression (meaning more than just the lines they draw) rather than commissions. Commissions are pretty neat in a lot of ways and there are commissioners who really do build worlds up with the help of other artists, but there's also imo a lot material being produced that is vapid and to the extent that producers rely on commissions there's almost a censorship, especially when the artist breaks down and stops producing at all and the community centers around commissions (art as product) rather than the old model of publishing that was all about self-expression of the producer.

Dude, I would never guilt trip you for free art! I've been waiting patiently for art from ya and you haven't heard me bitching about it, even if it's been 4 years. I am a very patient guy, even come to know you as a really cool guy and a friend! So whatever need be, I'll still be commissioning ya for art, not taking advantage of ya.

Not sure how long some of these people get to wait at times so I wouldn't want to pick a side.

If it's like, 1 year or half a year or something for a commission to be done and the people haven't gotten any warning about time then, suuure they might deserve some compensation of some form. But if you can be fooled to draw someone free shit if they just ask enough then that's a issue.

Some people have been waiting for a long, long time. I am not proud of that at all.

As for being fooled... I guess it's not really being fooled as much as it's just trying to avoid conflict. Or maybe it's some kind of weakness. I dunno.

*breaks out the whip* you work for ME now. Get in my belly.

Yes boss

I love getting free art from people, especially when I want to commission them but can't cause lack of funds or the fact that I have others I promised to commission first, but guilt tripping you and shaming you is absolutely unacceptable, and is completely wrong for them to do, I have waited sometimes a year or more for a commission, but I won't just make the artist feel guilty about it, its always worth it in the end . if someone does that to you again for free art, block them immediately

I had no idea this was going on, I am sorry to hear that! D=

Hopefully with that out in the open now, you're being a bit more strict with this right? Don't let anyone talk you down about the way you work to get free stuff, it's not fair on your real commissioners and most of all, it's not fair on you, having to slave away because someone else is displeased with your prices or whatever excuse may be.

I don't know how this has affected you mentally, though I can only assume it's been super rough. Either way, I can understand why you wouldn't respond to art requests, though if you're leading a busy life, you come first, and others need to understand you're a person, not a machine.

ugh that's disgusting. you're super skillful, fuck these abusive assholes -_-

Eh, if people think they can get away with it, they'll try to, sadly.

Probably the best way of dealing with it though, just note it on pricing pages / commission info sheet, and ignore any free stuff, people will eventually get the message.

I guess that's what I have been doing. When I see the new note asking for requests, I just hope they don't persist so I don't feel the pressure.

But I DO owe the commissioners that have been waiting, and I DO owe friends for art they have done for me. I cannot ignore them.

Friends shouldn't be pressuring you, especially if they know about the situation you're in.

plain old commissioners might need a bit more diplomacy as it's more of a professional thing i suppose, but there's still no right nor reason to demand free stuff, if you've blown out over workloads and the like how does increasing it unfairly help anyone?

Just have to be firm with your stance, guilt tripping won't help anyone, commissioners should be professional enough to not try it on, and friends shouldn't be trying it in the first place.

That's why I stopped doing vore. I was so stressed by how mean people were that I ran away to do more personal art

Then eventually I deleted my vore account.

I'm so sorry you deal with that but I'm happy you're making it public. Let me know I'll beat them up 》:(

I wouldn't mind commissioning you one day as I love your vore art and I have a really awesome species character to commission with. However it was hard to send a note and ask the price as I wasn't sure if it was right to explain my commission,get what the price was,and then go silent while trying to work for the money.

Also I'm a very patient person for commissions. All I ask is remembrance is all and a reassuring slap every week or so that it will get done sooner or later. So I might try and send a note sooner or later now that I'm trying to get back into vore alot more.

Rule Number One: NEVER ask for free art. Sharing ideas is fine, as it might inspire artwork. But asking for artwork? Psh. No.

... But now that I'm thinking about it, IS there a sheet that explains your policies and prices for commissions? I can't recall ever seeing one.

Just learn to say no.

Nnnn
...

NNNNNURRNNNNNNN!!!!

Nnnnn.... nnn.....

Once you pop, you can't stop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umDr0mPuyQc

why not try this:
commissions flowing- higher prices
commissions slowing- lower prices

everyone is happy, you can do free art when YOU want, no one gets to complain about prices because they committed.

I've actually became friends with some of the people I've commissioned in the past. I'm surprised that can happen

Cownugget, You are a legend to us newbie upstart artists! If someone tells you your prices are too high, then you tell yourself "I'm worth it" because you are!

Cownugget, maybe this would help if you ever do have to reply to them - instead of having to type "No", just put a link to this video. xD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwiYNYlqJL0

Anyway, sorry to hear that, that is very sad and not right! *pat pat* :c

I've had this problem before, it's not fun and I hated getting into it.

I can understand your feeling and situation of the moment. I've had similar issues with past clients when I work commissions for table top painting models.

My 2 cents: If anybody guilt trips you about it, by online chat, they are not your friends. They're just after free art. If you know the person where you can meet with them, let them know you're working on it but let them know that their 'guilt tripping' isn't going to help get the job done any faster.

I'm not one for vore, but I do like the art done to a degree. That said, you should never let anyone bully you into free work.

Here's how these things are meant to go:

"Hey, man. It's been a long time and you haven't given me my thing yet."

"Oh, shit you're right. Here, I'll give you a second thing for free to make up for it."

Here's how to do it wrong:

"Hey! You've been taking forever to give me my thing! You owe me a second thing!"

---

It's something you see a lot in business. The waiter fucks up your order twice and they scratch it off of the bill to make up for it.
It's meant to be something out of the kindness of someone's heart to sincerely make up for it. When you demand it that makes you a
total dick since you have to lack empathy for the person doing the thing for you. Maybe their life is shit right now. Maybe a relative just died and they
had to attend a funeral in another state.

I've gotten pissed at people for messing up something up but that's almost always been in response to the person being an apathetic cunt-sponge.
Like when Geek Squad came into my house to get my TV remote working again and they end up breaking the TV because they were "Too rough with it" and this just so happens
to be the day before the Super Bowl which we're hosting a party for.
I didn't put up with the bullshit because these guys worked for Best Buy and were supposedly professionals but ended up breaking my shit.

Someone that draws art on the internet is one person, not a huge company, and you can't always expect to get what you want quickly. I guaranteed if these two shitlords were in your shoes they'd go on the defensive. Consider giving free shit to the people that deserve it when you can afford it. If they demand free shit you just finish the job and tell them to fuck off, maybe even block them. You're under no obligation to compensate them. It's kinda like demanding an apology, you just don't do it.

---
TL;DR
---

Don't give free shit to people that don't deserve it.

Well said.

What if we want to pay you for art and are willing to wait for months? :P because...I’d totally be down for that.

Bro, take as long as you need, and yeah, dude, I'm with  lucidum on this one