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Commission Quicksand and what NOT to do
8 years ago
For truth, justice, and booty. As you all know I often make it known how I feel about customer service regarding commissioners and their artists and how there needs to be more responsibility on the artists ends.
We only ever hear about the bad from commissioners and artists rarely receive criticism due to either their popularity or lack of courage from their commissioners. In doing so we have artists in situations that neither they nor their commissioners would want.
Earlier today an artist and friend of mine 
theBlackRook made a post saying what I have been trying to say and in kinder words than I could muster. I encourage a read by any artist be they new, old, experienced or inexperienced in commissioning.
"This one is more to my fellow artist and not to the fans and the commissioners. I hire and work with a ton of people on my projects, as I alone, and even with 
lavenderpandy as my partner cannot possibly do all the art and work necessary to expand the project, story and art like necessary. Look at sites like Hard Blush, Clubstripes and others. There's a reason these sites hire both freelancers and full-time contributors. I bring this up to let you know that both out of pocket and with assisted funding from fans and patrons I support the fandom by hiring artists to do a ton of work. I spend thousands and get hundreds of commissions. It informs the way I conduct my own business and commissions, it also has given me a great idea of some of the unprofessionalism and lack of maturity facing commissioners and those who take commissions. Today I want to focus on something I call Commission Quicksand.
Commission Quicksand is when you take on either a big commission or many commissions and then you have either one or many unforeseen issues that cause you to have to take more commissions on top of what you already have. With those commissions on top of whatever big or plentiful assignments you already have on your docket you are also under the obligation to handle your normal everyday bills and expenses causing you to have to take more commissions to take care of yourself, as this continues your older commissions become neglected, patient commissioners are made to wait without reward and your task as an artist becomes quite a great deal more daunting. The prospect of speaking to those who are waiting for you becomes anxiety inducing and the idea of getting the work done gets more and more depressing. Pretty soon you begin to make excuses for yourself, cordoning off the hardest of the work you need to do and putting it on the back burner. You keep telling yourself you will get to it, but the work keeps piling up and every interaction with the commissioner becomes more and more nerve racking until it eventually leads to annoyance, anger, and resentment. All of which the commissioner does not deserve. You find in big or difficult projects an artists will often say; 'This was too hard.' or 'It was more than I can handle'; these are both excuses and a sign of lack of professionalism and maturity. If the thing was too hard or something you couldn't handle, you would have attempts and sketches and things to show you tried and failed. Just not being able to bring yourself to try or put pen to tablet doesn't make the paid commission too hard. You got to try to lift something to know how heavy it is. Sometimes it's lack of focus or commitment to what seems like a daunting task, now that so much time has past.
Falling into Commission Quicksand does not make an artist immature, unprofessional or irresponsible. Those things come about with how they handle that adversity that arises from commission quicksand. I'm here to tell you from someone who is in it and is constantly dealt with it the things you do not want to do and how you can help yourself get along.
1. Be honest; be available, be understanding...
Someone paid you in good faith. When you start getting up to six months or more without doing a commission or showing the progress you got to remember that these people have a right to want to know what's going on with the money they invested into you and the art you're supposed to do. Also, you know you owe these people art; how dare you resent them for asking; especially when you aren't coming to them with an update. I know it's disheartening to tell someone over and over you got nothing, but you got to swallow that pill and talk to them. Be honest about your progress and be available to update them. Make it a point every so often to go and talk to them if you can, even if you have nothing to show. Too many of us try to avoid the commissioners til we have something to show and that lack of contact and explanation is what breeds resentment. Understand that not only do they deserve to know, but they deserve an explanation and most people want the art more than they want the money. As long as you aren't a dick and are willing to compensate them for that wait time, they will generally be positive. They paid you the money cause they wanted art from you, there are hundreds of different artist they could have hired. They hired you, that should humble you.
2. Don't get a damn attitude and don't make assumptions
From the moment someone who you owe a commission speaks to you, some artist who owe commissions are off put. If the commissioner says hello, hows your day; and starts with polite small talk. You get mad because they are beating around the bush. No, they are in a very awkward situation and don't want to be rude by just coming out and saying, 'Where the fuck is what I paid for!'. Likewise, if they lead with, 'Hey, can I get an update.' You want to get upset cause that's all they wanted, this is especially if they speak to you in real time; like on skype or discord. They want to hear from you, personally. It's their right. Name something you bought that you didn't receive or didn't work right that you were happy to talk to a machine about. You called the company and was pissed at the automated menu and mashed zero until you got to talk to a person. You think your commissioners don't want to talk to a person? You are behind, it may be your fault, it may not be... that's not your commissioners' fault; don't make it their problem.
3. Manage Your Fucking Time Better
Come on buddy. I work with a lot of artists who forget that I too am an artist. An artist with an injury that slows down all of his work and has to wait for his partner to color things because a mouse doesn't have pen pressure. So trust me, I've got a realistic idea of how long things should work for those of you who are not handicapped. And as an artist myself, I know a lot of us don't manage our time very well. Some artists don't have a set schedule and cannot bring themselves to work if they aren't 'Feeling it'. But the truth is, a lot of people could get a lot more work done if they just dragged they tablet into the bathroom and worked when they took a shit. Some of us aren't very well self-motivated. Some of us have some issues with depression, anxiety and all sorts of issues that cannot be quantified for others understanding. All of these are valid and do truly and honestly impact our productivity. With that said, I'm still 100 percent certain most artist, myself included don't fucking manage they time as well as they should. This is going to be one you got to look in the mirror and admit to yourself.
4. Do Your Best
Don't let a fucking year pass on a commission and then throw up something just to get it done and over with. Appreciate the wait your commissioner has and do your best. I'm not the best artist, I've not got the skills some other artists have. But I do my best and I try to do better if someone has to wait for me. And no, it's not just them getting work now that you've improved over time and don't ever say; 'Well I'm better now and I've increased my price since you bought this,' like that's giving them a fucking deal. That's some truly arrogant shit. I hope you know that. They deserve your best work, especially the patient ones who you let their commissions go undrawn because they didn't complain and you just focused on getting the ones who pestered you off your back.
5. Seek Help
We all have artist friends and though we do have some issues, it's okay to ask for help. Especially if you are behind. When I'm having an issue on an image and it's taking too long, I have friends I ask to take a look at it. 'Hey, this hand doesn't look right and I been at it for days.' 'Hey, can you red line this sketch to make sure it's right, I been taking too long and I just need to make sure it gets right.' I know we all have our pride and I understand that and we want to get it for ourselves, but sometimes you got to realize no man is an island, and you owe it to your commissioners to do everything in your power to get them the best image possible within a reasonable time frame. And when you're late, you need to ask yourself how best you can do that. The community is full of artist and peers who have skills beyond me and I'm not ashamed to double check myself if I feel I'm taking to long on something I'm not particularly sure about. I've found that for every self-absorbed asshole in the fandom, there are two or three people who generally believe in the community and it's ability to teach, assist and make us all better artist. If you need to, reach out. Your commissioners deserve the best that you can do for them."
theBlackRook
lavenderpandy
At least I'm in freebie-quicksand instead of commission quicksand, so it's a little less bad. There's jsut so many goddamn glorious things to do and so little time. >:V
"3. Manage Your Fucking Time Better"
If only I had in the first place... If only... ; w;
actually have had this happen and I'm out 75$ for a piece I was hoping for
Started December 1st 2015
No updates, no progress, and she's too nice for me to say anything
I spend 175$ and got two pieces instead of one because she never finished my ref sheet, and I ended up getting a copout piece in addition to the headshots (the only part of the ref she finished)
But I'm still waiting on the other one, and she claims depression is the reason she isnt working on it. Meanwhile, a furry who had surgery for cancer and was in the hospital was back to it in four weeks. I've waited more than a year and a half for this piece.
xD
And they now took down their trello link so who knows if I'll ever get that $60 back