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This isn’t about my art, this is about other art. This year I’ve commissioned two artists and agreed to trades with two more.
The first commissioned artist promised me my art within three days, and got it to me five months later.
The second did get the art done on time, but took two months to actually ship it to me. (This one was excusable, at least, there were reasons for the delay, and I got a scan on the day it was done so at least I had something!)
The first trade artist got his half of the trade, and has sent me a sketch, and is now LYING to me about why he hasn’t finished the final piece. *arghs*
And the second trade artist, who has not been sent his half yet because I’m tired of getting burned on this kind of thing, promised me all four rough sketches within a day and the finished art within a week, and it’s been much longer than that and I have one rough and one… well, I guess it’s a rough too, but it’s *really* rough.
I’m sick of this! I’m sick of people promising what they don’t deliver. And the trades were bad enough, but if you’re going to call yourself a professional, and take money for your art, you should darn well have some kind of professional standards! The first commission piece was NOT at all cheap, I paid top dollar for pro art, and while it was good when I finally got it, taking FIVE MONTHS seriously ticked me off. Particularly as I was watching her deviant art account and she uploaded a dozen personal art pieces during that time.
I just needed to rant. I really want to commission some more stuff, but a. I’m broke and b. I don’t know who I can trust anymore. I thought the first girl was a real pro, but she wasn’t.
Speaking as an artist, there are often many reasons for procrastination. Not excusing it, I’m just offering some insight for it.
I am guilty of procrastinating when it is of something that I am not very interested in, or my parameters are so boxed in my artist heart feels crushed as I have no room to express my art. Or the commission is very complicated and just overall intimidating, i.e. the commissioner wants a lot of little details, major background, etc.
I no longer take commissions because often I would do a sketch, the client would demand a revision, I’d do that, then they’d ask for another. I had one guy try to get me to do 4 revisions for a $35 commission! I limited it to 2, and he still whined and bitched.
Other reasons for not accepting commissions is that most of the time I just can’t get into what they want me to draw and I’ll sit down to draw it and everything but what they asked for shows up on the sketchpad. I’ve had several I just could not produce no matter how many times I tried. Most of the time now, if I do accept a commission they have to give me some freedom on what I do, the character can be locked in, but positions, scenery, etc be my choice, within a loose frame.
Anyway, no telling why these folks are doing this, but these are some of my whys.
Kyrin
Kyrin wrote:I no longer take commissions because often I would do a sketch, the client would demand a revision, I’d do that, then they’d ask for another. I had one guy try to get me to do 4 revisions for a $35 commission! I limited it to 2, and he still whined and bitched.
Other reasons for not accepting commissions is that most of the time I just can’t get into what they want me to draw and I’ll sit down to draw it and everything but what they asked for shows up on the sketchpad. I’ve had several I just could not produce no matter how many times I tried. Most of the time now, if I do accept a commission they have to give me some freedom on what I do, the character can be locked in, but positions, scenery, etc be my choice, within a loose frame.
I understand completely what you are saying Kyrin.
I also don’t take anymore commissions for my art and for the clothing I used to make.
Seems like they are never happy.
In my case it’s better if I just make something and they buy it if they like it. 😉I commissioned a custom resin and told her she can take her time at it since she is very busy righ now. I’m patient and will wait for it to be done. But there are limits and an artist should understand that.
Five months isn’t terribly long for good art. Unless of course you both agreed to a deadline. OTherwise, as they say… Quality – Speed – Low Price … pick any two.
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My art: featherdust.comYes, five months is short. When you’ve agreed to five months. When you were promised and assured that it would be THREE DAYS, five months is forever!
That’s what I don’t like. I will wait. I have waited more than a year for art. I will wait until the end of time, IF you don’t jerk me around, give me deadlines you don’t meet, and then lie to me about why you didn’t meet them! When you say “It’s almost done, it’ll be to you tomorrow” and then a month later when I ask you why it isn’t finished and you say it’s because I never sent you my references, even though that’s the very first thing I did, that pisses me off.
I am an artist. I make a living doing this, I KNOW that things happen, I’m running about three weeks behind myself right now. And I have let my customers know, and I am not promising things I can’t deliver!
I like what Kyrin said. I don’t take artwork commissions anymore because well, a) I don’t really like to draw and b) what Kyrin said about not being interested in the subject. It’s worse for me because I don’t enjoy drawing as is, and then I have to draw something I don’t want to draw… so I just stopped taking commissions.
It sounds like the main failing is communication, SPark. It’s as if the artist needed a quick excuse as to why the artwork wasn’t done, and so he said it was your fault for not sending him references. That’s pretty low.
Kujacker wrote:I like what Kyrin said. I don’t take artwork commissions anymore because well, a) I don’t really like to draw and b) what Kyrin said about not being interested in the subject. It’s worse for me because I don’t enjoy drawing as is, and then I have to draw something I don’t want to draw… so I just stopped taking commissions.
Truthfully, hearing an outright “no” is 1,000 times better (and more professional) than hearing a “yes” and never having the artwork done.
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