What is your worst experience in doing comissions?

[Mischief Phantom]

(I'm not sure if this falls in this category so please correct me if so)

Just recently I was giving away free art and someone wanted to tip me but halfway through the trade they decided to cancel it
( = . = )
I mean I know it's free and theyre not really entitled to tip but I think it's quite rude.

I know many people have experienced worst things and I wanna hear your stories.
What is your worst experience is doing commissions? How did you deal with it?

[goobystahp]

oh man don't get me started.


So I took this order for a standard YCH pose. I did it up all nice and EXACTLY as the buyer requested. Anyways, the buyer messages me saying how sorry she was and that she wanted a different color (she had completely redesigned her OC) so I decide to redo it since the customer was very polite. After I finish redoing it, I message her the link. A few days go buy and she messages me asking for another color change. = n =

[gogodr]

Doing graphic design work I once had a client make me redesign the whole work 2 times and on the last time I asked him for feedback I forgot to downscale it. The "client" said it was perfect and ran away.
happened once, never again. Luckily it was not a big amount of work, just like 4~ hours which is like 60$ at my current rate.

[Beena the Mystery]

One time I had a friend commission me, after it was finished I did a few small revisions that she wanted. Then she did an awful edit job to do it more to her liking, i was horrified.

[Saint Bree]

Someone opening a restaurant in my area wanted me to design their logo and menu.
I spent months working with him because he would ask for something, I would do it and send him a message with the images, he'd ignore my messages for weeks then suddenly pop up and decide he wanted something else done immediately which was impossible.

In the end I was only given $200 dollars which was nothing compared to the work that I did.

Shortly after he opened the restaurant, he left to take a long vacation in Florida and I got a call from his mother. They didn't end up using the menu I made at first, but they didn't like the one someone else made, so they wanted me to do a new menu and make new pages and such without getting paid anything. I refused of course.

It was my first, and worst experience with something like this.

[Loner Yanagi]

I had finished a commission for $8 and sent the person the drawing and they wanted me to work more on it. o_O; I could understand if it was messy or unfinished, but to me it looked nice... x__X

[Lychee Fruit]

I've... drawn a few things I'm not proud of. stare

It paid bills, and the clients were satisfied, so I can't say I did anything wrong. Still, there's always that irrational fear that I'll be at an interview someday and hear, "We'd love to have you on the team, but it has come to our attention that ten/twenty/thirty years ago you drew ___________, and we just can't hire you."

[SailorVera]

I once drew portraits for people I knew personally and it went well until I encountered one girl who just... was never happy. Claimed her eyebrows weren't that thick, when they were. Said her chin was smaller, eyes were bigger, hair was fuller, ect ect and just... was never happy. After her I just decided to not draw people I know anymore because I don't want to deal with their insecurities with their image.

[adorkablehiko]

First one was about 2-3 years ago, probably when I was in my senior year in high school. A freshman friend of mine said she had a friend who had connections to Disney and could get me in, kind of like internship and I barely knew anything about the art business world back then, so I fell for it. I kept on asking her, and she kept on avoiding the question and then one day, she told me that the sister (or aunt, not sure really) of that person who had connections wanted me to draw her and her boyfriend. So I did. They provided me with a canvas and I could only use pencil so it was hard as heck, especially with mistakes. Disney thing never happened. She basically lied to me and I don't give a ******** anymore =n=

Second one was a few weeks ago. I had this client who wanted me to do the art for his whole visual novel (which is a type of game from Japan); character designs, backgrounds, sprites, CGs, all that stuff. And he had only written just the first chapter of the game. I worked on the designs first, and then when I managed to pluck up the courage to sort out the details of the whole gig, he asked me for my price, and it came to about $200 just for the sprites (he had a s**t ton of characters he wanted me to do, around 8+) and then what was annoying was that, instead of asking me if he could have a discount, he told me that my individual price was too high compared to the initial, limited-time price I offered (I offered $8 for a waist-up lineart while it was $20-$25 for a waist-up colored sprite). His words were "It's too much of a difference, don't you think?" He basically told me that my art wasn't even worth $20, which pissed the ******** out of me. Only after he insulted me did he say that it's because $200 was 90% of his budget. I'm all okay for discounts if someone's on a budget since the OELVN community is more on the amateur side, I'm fine with that, but insulting the artist for their "ridiculously high prices" (HECK $20 IS SUPER ******** LOW ALREADY IMO. Industry prices are up in the hundreds) isn't the way to go. What's funny was this happened BEFORE I officially opened my commissions with the average prices.

Not that this happened to me, but to a friend of mine, she did a graphic design for this one dude's facebook page. She's from the Philippines and the dude was her friend's boss from England, so she trusted him (I was wary for her because I assumed she never did any commissions with someone from out of the country and all the more online). Apparently she did the design and ofc sent it to him for approval and stuff, but he said he wasn't going to use it and paid her $40 (agreed was $100 I think). The thing was after that, she saw his facebook page and that he actually used the design she did. b*****d.

[Lychee Fruit]

Wow, yeah, that guy needs to take a business class. Those little 20$ personal projects artist do are just that - personal. You're not his friend doing him a favor, you're a provider of a service. If he wants the service, he's gotta pay for it.

[SailorVera]

adorkablehiko

First one was about 2-3 years ago, probably when I was in my senior year in high school. A freshman friend of mine said she had a friend who had connections to Disney and could get me in, kind of like internship and I barely knew anything about the art business world back then, so I fell for it. I kept on asking her, and she kept on avoiding the question and then one day, she told me that the sister (or aunt, not sure really) of that person who had connections wanted me to draw her and her boyfriend. So I did. They provided me with a canvas and I could only use pencil so it was hard as heck, especially with mistakes. Disney thing never happened. She basically lied to me and I don't give a ******** anymore =n=

Second one was a few weeks ago. I had this client who wanted me to do the art for his whole visual novel (which is a type of game from Japan); character designs, backgrounds, sprites, CGs, all that stuff. And he had only written just the first chapter of the game. I worked on the designs first, and then when I managed to pluck up the courage to sort out the details of the whole gig, he asked me for my price, and it came to about $200 just for the sprites (he had a s**t ton of characters he wanted me to do, around 8+) and then what was annoying was that, instead of asking me if he could have a discount, he told me that my individual price was too high compared to the initial, limited-time price I offered (I offered $8 for a waist-up lineart while it was $20-$25 for a waist-up colored sprite). His words were "It's too much of a difference, don't you think?" He basically told me that my art wasn't even worth $20, which pissed the ******** out of me. Only after he insulted me did he say that it's because $200 was 90% of his budget. I'm all okay for discounts if someone's on a budget since the OELVN community is more on the amateur side, I'm fine with that, but insulting the artist for their "ridiculously high prices" (HECK $20 IS SUPER ******** LOW ALREADY IMO. Industry prices are up in the hundreds) isn't the way to go. What's funny was this happened BEFORE I officially opened my commissions with the average prices.

Not that this happened to me, but to a friend of mine, she did a graphic design for this one dude's facebook page. She's from the Philippines and the dude was her friend's boss from England, so she trusted him (I was wary for her because I assumed she never did any commissions with someone from out of the country and all the more online). Apparently she did the design and ofc sent it to him for approval and stuff, but he said he wasn't going to use it and paid her $40 (agreed was $100 I think). The thing was after that, she saw his facebook page and that he actually used the design she did. b*****d.

problems like what your friend went though are way too common in the professional industry. They treat art and design like a joke that we should do for free because it's "fun" and "you'll do it in your spare time anyway". They'll find a way to try to get the work for free.
It's a good policy to get at least half the money up front. Most professionals won't start work unless they're paid in full from the start.

[adorkablehiko]

SailorVera

problems like what your friend went though are way too common in the professional industry. They treat art and design like a joke that we should do for free because it's "fun" and "you'll do it in your spare time anyway". They'll find a way to try to get the work for free.
It's a good policy to get at least half the money up front. Most professionals won't start work unless they're paid in full from the start.

Very true actually. One of the things I hate when it comes to art and business is when people expect you to draw for them for free. All the more insulting when they tell you that they'd pay by crediting you (which is like an unspoken agreement either way, and what the guy for my second experience offered to do for me) and giving you exposure. Another is when they tell you that I should be paying them instead because I'd be getting more fans with their game. Uh no, thank you. I can do my own advertising, I can definitely do it way better than you can.

I actually told her that. That she should have asked for half of the payment (she does this on the side, it's not her main source of income so that was fine), and to only send him really small previews of the design but what's done is done. At least she got paid for some of it. Something's better than nothing, but still, to actually say that they weren't going to use it but went back on their word is hella annoying.

Lychee Fruit

Wow, yeah, that guy needs to take a business class. Those little 20$ personal projects artist do are just that - personal. You're not his friend doing him a favor, you're a provider of a service. If he wants the service, he's gotta pay for it.

My friends are more respectful than him because they'd probably pay me more than what I'm asking for and more. When my bestfriend found out how much I was selling stuff ($1 sketches, $3 headshot lineart, $4 waist-up lineart, $5 fullbody lineart), she told me I was stupid (which she rarely says) and to jack up my prices. Even at $20-$25, she told me that was too low while this dude implied that my art wasn't worth $20 and that it was "too big of a difference."

[Serethielle]

It's nothing as serious as a freelance job, but when I was in elementary school, I drew stuff for my neighbor. It'd be a few drawings at a time in exchange for a quarter, and maybe some of her time playing with me outside.
I drew a ton and signed my name (all in pencil) on every one.

Another neighbor friend tells me that the girl I drew for had been erasing my signature and showing it off in school. When kids didn't believe her, they asked her to draw specific things as proof. She would come home and request that I draw these specific things so she could take it to school the next day and show off and "prove" she drew them all.

I learned a few things from this: forgive but don't forget, use pen for thing you want to be permanent, and be wary.

[Jinxitor]

oh man you would not BELIEVE some of the experiences i've had

probably not the worst but the most obnoxious i've had was when someone irl came up to me and they got a ton of my information and i stood there calmly explaining everything to them and being patient and then they just said "Draw me a p***s," and walked away laughing. I was absolutely furious. do people really think it's funny to come up to a person struggling for money saying you would like their services, just to say SIKE at the end? most bad commission experiences just come as a result of the client not really understanding the industry and how difficult it is to do artwork, but this person was being ignorant on purpose.

[lesbian daddy kink]

╠ the first time somebody commissioned me on gaia, i had no idea what a reasonable price was to charge, and they ended up getting two full color drawings for 25M gold. actually, they never ended up paying, they just blocked me. ╣