"Artists Beware"

Hello there. I've been a long-time lurker of this community, reading all about risks and bad experiences on commissions before I started my own. And now I've finally joined to ask for a bit of advice.

I've recently gotten a customer interested in a character sheet commission. Their interest is in lineart, because while they want the picture colored, they've told me they could color the lines themselves. Obviously a picture with colors, even flat ones, is more expensive than just lineart, so I understand the reason for the request.

For commissions, I don't send the original sai/psd file: I send my clients png files, but admittedly, my lineart is very clean, so it wouldn't be hard to either fill in the blanks or use certain techniques in photoshop to make a layer out of it. I do offer sending over the original file for an extra fee, and of course I'd expect the client to make minor modifications to the piece if they bought the original file, but I guess I never thought I'd be asked to send in a sketch or lineart just so the customer could finish the picture. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the message it would send, either: why would anyone buy my flats, if they can buy my lineart and the original file, and finish the job themselves for a lower price? Not to mention the obvious self-doubt that goes on there. Are my flats that bad? Are my prices too high?

I've worked with this customer before, for a simple sketch. Those lines are messier than my lineart, but back then, they asked if they could lay some flats on the sketch to test it out, and I said yes. That might've been a mistake on my end, but well, it's a sketch, not on par with my more polished stuff, so I didn't really think much of it.

So first, I wanted to know the community's thoughts on accepting lower-tier commissions when the customer has admitted they'll be heavily modifying (read: finishing) the picture themselves. Perhaps I'm being overzealous without realizing it. Then second, depending on that first question, how I should deal with the customer (good person, not pushy or anything) about this.

Thanks in advance to anyone reading this, and any advice that might get offered.

Howdy! I ran into a bit of a pickle on my Patreon, and now I'm seeking advice on how to handle it now and in the future. I have it to where if my overall pledges reach $125 that I will upgrade the raffle amongst my subscribers to a two character colored sketch from a one character sketch. Recently I surpassed that pledge amount and hit $160 publicly.

Unfortunately, after Patreon sent out payment requests due to declined payments I ended up with far less than what is listed publicly on my account, and (quite a bit) below the $125 pledge level.

The question is: Should I continue as promised with the upgraded sketch? I don't feel that disclosing to my Patrons that there were declined payments is right. Even though it would be impossible to tell who was declined and who wasn't, the fact of the matter is that it seems like personal information to be posting on my Patreon's activity feed. I don't want to embarrass subscribers offhandedly.

However the time difference between the sketch levels is significant in terms of time, and that's time that I've essentially not been paid for.

WHO: Kammymau, Mandymau, Mandymau5

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kammymau/

WHAT: Headshot sketch

WHEN: Paid on the 29th of December to be delivered on the 5th of January. Refund deadline of 3/4th of February.

PROOF & EXPLAIN: Originally I was going to wait until I've received my refund, but after how unprofessional she's acted I feel I can post it now just dealing with her attitude alone.

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I'm posting here to ask for advice, because maybe someone here has had a similar situation and they may have some good advice.

A commissioner purchased a spot for a custom adoptable they and paid promptly, absolutely no trouble there.
When I asked for the details, they told me they would provide me with the references for the character they'd like drawn. When I stated that in fact the slot was for a custom chibi adoptable and not a chibi drawing, they didn't reply back. After a couple of days they told me that they were working on getting a refsheet together for the character they'd want drawn, which makes me think they may have missed the point about what a custom adoptable is? But drawing a chibi isn't a problem for me, so I chalked that up as a "need to clarify things better in the future" and made sure to note it down in my to-do list as a chibi drawing instead of a custom chibi adoptable.

However, that last note was sent about three weeks ago and I still haven't received the information I need to finish the drawing. I did send a note a day ago to ask about the details and that if a lack of a refsheet was the only issue, I'd be more than happy to work with them from a written description, but have not yet received a reply so far.

At this point, I'm kind of worried, because the customer has been holding a spot in my commission-queue for three weeks, and I'm kind of worried it's making it look as if I don't finish commissions promptly? I know that refunding is an option, but I feel like doing so may upset the customer as they told me they were excited about getting the slot.

Maybe I'm just overthinking this, but I'm just unsure of how to proceed.

EDIT: As of today I have refunded them due to lack of response to the previous note, sent out a note explaining the refund and added a clause to my ToS stating that I reserve the right to cancel and refund a commission if I have to put a spot in my queue on hold for more than two weeks due to lack of references/response. Thank you for the input and for helping me with how to proceedon this one!

I really appreciate it.