EDIT: I contacted her and she said she was almost done and sent me a WIP, and with promises for extra sketches for being patient. She has been nothing but nice, but sometimes I need to give her a bit of a push to get her WORK on it. I don't think it's very professional, but hey whatever.
I'm not sure if I should post a beware. I commissioned someone a while back to do a 15$ chibi reference sheet for me. The commissioner made me pay upfront (which I did), then told me my commission would be done in 1 week to 2 weeks. At the time, she still had 4 or five people in front of me. It has been about four months since, with her only completing 1 commission in the first week or so of my wait. Now, she is only completing PERSONAL work before her commissions. She has posted multiple pieces for herself in the last MONTH! Her most completed one is 80% done. It said the same thing 3 months ago! I'm frankly don't know what to do! Advice is greatly appreciated!
I'm not sure if I should post a beware. I commissioned someone a while back to do a 15$ chibi reference sheet for me. The commissioner made me pay upfront (which I did), then told me my commission would be done in 1 week to 2 weeks. At the time, she still had 4 or five people in front of me. It has been about four months since, with her only completing 1 commission in the first week or so of my wait. Now, she is only completing PERSONAL work before her commissions. She has posted multiple pieces for herself in the last MONTH! Her most completed one is 80% done. It said the same thing 3 months ago! I'm frankly don't know what to do! Advice is greatly appreciated!
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As the other commenter said, she may be horrible at updating commission wait lists. Maybe she's not posting commissions online any more, just sending them only to the commissioner (in which case you wouldn't know if she's been finishing the other commissions). Maybe she's had a terrible bout of artist's block and needs to work on some personal things to get the art juices flowing again--though she should have informed you that there would be a longer wait. Maybe she's suddenly been put in a position where she can't work on commissions. Maybe she has indeed absconded with everyone's money. I don't know.
I do agree that without further information from her, the long wait plus her posting personal art only is suspicious. However, you've not given us much information either, so it's hard to give more specific advice than 'talk to her about it'.
So shoot them an email, note, or some form of communication and give them a few days to respond.
However, she did make an agreement for a deadline. If she is posting personal things and not commissions I can see why you are concerned. I would just try to note/email her with your concern about the commission in a polite manner. You could even ask for a work in progress shot of the commission. If she has no progress shot for you perhaps try to work something out see if she can make another "check in" deadline, update, ect depending on her situation.