Quicksand Fans

this'll seem like a weird question, but to those of you who have commissioned others:

what's the longest you've waited for a commission?

i'll explain in another thread why im asking this.

NobodyGotTime4Dat wrote:this'll seem like a weird question, but to those of you who have commissioned others:

what's the longest you've waited for a commission?

i'll explain in another thread why im asking this.

Hmm,... I think the longest I ever waited for any single commission I had done was about 2 months. The artist had a lot of other commissions ahead of mine at the time, which is not uncommon.

I do know people online that have waited months, if not years, for commissions,... it all depends on the artist.

I have never commissioned an artwork so cannot comment directly but I can say how I handle the issue when I receive commissions for custom video. It would seem reasonable to do something similar with art work commissions. I always prepare a written proposal in such cases and the time required for delivery is always part of that proposal. I will almost always describe that time as longer than it usually takes. I will write something like Within six weeks following the end of the production season." I propose it that way because I know I will be very busy during the production season and might not have time to get to the editing part of a project until all filming is over, but usually the delivery takes place long before the season ends.

Hmm...I'll probably just explain here then instead of making a new thread about it:

So there's an artist I commissioned back in November of 2017. Around the time that I commissioned this person, she was pumping out artwork like crazy (and nicely well drawn, too), so I figured I could commission her and hope to see it get finished in like the next couple of weeks or so.

Now, I do understand that sometimes life can get in the way of an artist, and as such, commissions could take a while for someone to finish---in the case of this person, her husband's personal & work life and his on-and-off relationship with his family seems to emotionally affect her, among other things (having to pay for bills, and every once in a while she seems to talk badly of herself with comments like "I fucking hate my life" and whatnot. She had depression at some point but I guess that's gone now).

I started changing my mind, though.

I don't know what her current queue list is (she never updates it), but apparently she has people still waiting on her queue that seemingly have the patience to wait for as long as 5 months now. As of now I've been waiting for 3 months.

Believe me when I say that I do have the patience to wait for an artist to complete a commission, but slowly I started getting impatient because instead of actually working on the commissions, she keeps doing this thing every week where she offers to draw headshots, bust sketches, or chibis for whatever prices she sets for them (which tend to get filled up pretty quickly with lots of slots).

Anyways, she and her son got sick a few weeks ago, with her wrists getting injured shortly afterwards. This resulted in her not uploading artwork for a while (which is understandable), but then she posted this a few days ago:

https://gyazo.com/c06b420fb0d1b739d22847e18fffb9fe

The fact that there are people in her queue list who have waited so long now and have not seem to be bothered by it at all makes me think that I should wait a little bit longer to see if she does actually complete it, but as time flies by with no progress on it whatsoever I'm also slowly losing interest in the commission.

Thoughts?

Bear in mind that I have no professional training that is relevant, but when you say she produced like crazy and then stopped its sounds very much like a case of bi-polar disorder, in which case you won't get anything while the artist is at the depressed pole.

NobodyGotTime4Dat wrote:Hmm...I'll probably just explain here then instead of making a new thread about it:

So there's an artist I commissioned back in November of 2017. Around the time that I commissioned this person, she was pumping out artwork like crazy (and nicely well drawn, too), so I figured I could commission her and hope to see it get finished in like the next couple of weeks or so.

Now, I do understand that sometimes life can get in the way of an artist, and as such, commissions could take a while for someone to finish---in the case of this person, her husband's personal & work life and his on-and-off relationship with his family seems to emotionally affect her, among other things (having to pay for bills, and every once in a while she seems to talk badly of herself with comments like "I fucking hate my life" and whatnot. She had depression at some point but I guess that's gone now).

I started changing my mind, though.

I don't know what her current queue list is (she never updates it), but apparently she has people still waiting on her queue that seemingly have the patience to wait for as long as 5 months now. As of now I've been waiting for 3 months.

Believe me when I say that I do have the patience to wait for an artist to complete a commission, but slowly I started getting impatient because instead of actually working on the commissions, she keeps doing this thing every week where she offers to draw headshots, bust sketches, or chibis for whatever prices she sets for them (which tend to get filled up pretty quickly with lots of slots).

Anyways, she and her son got sick a few weeks ago, with her wrists getting injured shortly afterwards. This resulted in her not uploading artwork for a while (which is understandable), but then she posted this a few days ago:

https://gyazo.com/c06b420fb0d1b739d22847e18fffb9fe

The fact that there are people in her queue list who have waited so long now and have not seem to be bothered by it at all makes me think that I should wait a little bit longer to see if she does actually complete it, but as time flies by with no progress on it whatsoever I'm also slowly losing interest in the commission.

Thoughts?

I currently working with someone on a project and commissioning art may come into it so i asked him, as he seemed to have commissioned a few.

It boiled down to who it was being commissioned, as if they're a working pro on commercial deadlines, that takes priority. He also knows some artists who are semi retired who will still do commissions every now and then. And what is being asked of them, and how much is being paid.

Some have taken just a few weeks, while one had quite a waiting list and it was several months after terms were agreed before work started, but then it was completed fairly quickly. This was a from a very well-known artist apparently, and it cost several hundred pounds!

This is a tough call,... I think it really does boil down to 'are you okay with continuing to wait?'

Life certainly does happen, and it can cause a lot of problems and delays, both physical and emotional, and the emotional aspect can really take a toll upon artists.

I will say though, one thing in your explanation makes me question this artist:

NobodyGotTime4Dat wrote:Believe me when I say that I do have the patience to wait for an artist to complete a commission, but slowly I started getting impatient because instead of actually working on the commissions, she keeps doing this thing every week where she offers to draw headshots, bust sketches, or chibis for whatever prices she sets for them (which tend to get filled up pretty quickly with lots of slots).

I really have to wonder about this,... is she taking these new commissions,... which sound like the YCH's many artists do,... even with a full que list of normal commissions and doing these rather than working on the commissions that have been waiting already? If that is the case and the artist seems to be putting more priority on these new YCHs over other commissions that are already waiting, and have been for awhile from the sound of things, then that would certainly give me pause to question doing business with this artist,... but that is just me.

Unless I am misunderstanding the situation you are describing?

Dethmetal wrote:I really have to wonder about this,... is she taking these new commissions,... which sound like the YCH's many artists do,... even with a full que list of normal commissions and doing these rather than working on the commissions that have been waiting already? If that is the case and the artist seems to be putting more priority on these new YCHs over other commissions that are already waiting, and have been for awhile from the sound of things, then that would certainly give me pause to question doing business with this artist,... but that is just me.

Unless I am misunderstanding the situation you are describing?

She does do YCHs from time to time, but if you were to look at the person's gallery you would definitely see more of those bust shot/headshot/etc pics than pics of, you know, actual commissions.

Luckily she wrote in her TOS that she has up to three months to work on any piece before a refund can be suggested, which I am *seriously* considering right now. I'm commissioning someone else to draw a QS-styled pic and while I do have more than enough money to cover it, I would prefer to pay a portion of the commission with the $50 that I sent to this artist (the one I've been talking about in this thread).

Update:
Apparently the artist has more time now and is willing to finish it this week, so I guess there's no need to continue this thread

NobodyGotTime4Dat wrote:Update:
Apparently the artist has more time now and is willing to finish it this week, so I guess there's no need to continue this thread

Heh, well, okay then, I hope it turns out to your liking. I will say though, if you encounter an issue like this in the future you can always just send a note to the artist to politely inquire what your status/place in the commission que might be, it never hurts to ask, but I do stress POLITELY.