#art warning

Or something.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: (PLEASE READ THIS DESCRIPTION, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE AN ARTIST) Recently I decided to get back into commissions after a very long break (long story short: I was too depressed to try, and felt I wasn't up to task to do a commissioned work). Back in September I decided to get back to doing commissions, by first applying to a random ad I found on Twitter. The post asked for a Lovecraftian inspired work for a comic, with the major request being interior pages, or cover art. It was open to offers, to both show art and provide a price. I went in with works that felt would fit the genre, and an offer: $120 for cover art. The client accepted, and after some talks he and I agreed: I'll be doing a cover art drawing for $120. The plan was to pay $60 on the accepted draft, then $60 on completion. After some back and forth, with their acceptance on the progress, it eventually resulted in the work you see above. With the draft payment settled, all that was left was the final payment. When I approached them, it was there my problems came. Now I want to open first by saying: I was at fault for how this went. I was too naive and sympathetic. The client explained that they were undergoing some surgeries, and that it would be awhile to do payment. I allowed them time, gave my well wishes, and continued on with other work in the meantime. This started as a week, then eventually became a month. Every other day or so I asked them on the payment (again giving my sympathies) and each time they'd say they were still busy. It was only until recently that this changed. At this point I was still sympathetic, but all of sudden they hit me with an out of nowhere comment about how they wished they never approached me - along with a vague accusation that I had "dropped" a cover art on them. I then approached them on the topic, asking they they felt like this. However I also told them that I wasn't in the mood to wait any longer. My patience had run dry and I told them: payment by the 15th, no later. In the time they responded again, saying that I had apparently came to them with a cover drawing when the goal was for interior art - and that there was no discussion on cover art. That is a lie. I have receipts cataloging our interactions, and in multiple exchanges they outright agree and state that I was doing cover art. I even checked back to ensure I hadn't misinterpreted them, and although they asked for interior art on the ad, they also asked for cover art if contacted - to which they explicitly agreed on. As you may imagine, that payment did not come. I responded, but they had since gone quiet. I debated myself on this. My patience has long gone, and I'll admit that I was quite insulted at this. After speaking with some art friends, I decided that the best course of action will be to make this public. I'm still wondering if I should publicly blacklist them. It isn't an easy decision to make for me, as I'm concerned on how this will affect me and that I do not want to promote mob behavior. I will converse further on the appropriate action, but in the meantime this is my warning/request: If you see this work being publicized without my express and open permission, I ask that you report it: either to me, and/or the site/publication. Originally this work was meant to be used as a cover drawing, and I do not want this to be used after their apparent to pay me. If you are an artist, and you're worried about the identity of this client: message me. If I feel that it is safe, I'll tell you who it is so that I don't openly put their ID out. I still wish to do commissions, but I can't lie in saying that this hasn't soured my excitement. I'll certainly be implementing better securities in handling this in future commissions. Thank you, and have a good day.

I recently was scrolling through my dashboard when I came across a post from @savenkey stating that @natasha-turicheva-2003 was an art theif. Just a fair warning to any and all artists on tumblr to report and/or block them.

This is a notice for the folks who follow me that the art below (above) is quite a bit gorier than the typical stuff I post. I’ll overtag it just to be safe but if you’re curious, it’s the next NEOBRUSH post of Carolyn as a Zombie, doing zombish things. This has been an AO PSA. Thanks for reading :)