Back in June, I commissioned Tumblr artist Andarix to do a piece of my WoW character, Jhulen Sun-Descending. At the time, she was still using her original system of set prices for set level of work, and it was under that system that we made the contract and I paid. The total was $50, which included an extra fee because of the level of detail on Jhulen’s tattoos, and I was completely fine with that.
I won’t go into the hassle I went through just to get the piece. No, the point of this is to say I was, essentially, cheated.
Under the artist’s original system — the system under which I ordered and paid — I was to receive a finished piece, inked and simple color. What I received is very obviously done under the artist’s new system, wherein she charges $13 an hour, you propose a budget, and she does what she can inside that budget, resulting in a sketch that appears only half-finished.
At no point was I informed of this change. From June until yesterday, I was under the impression I was getting an inked, colored, complete piece of my character. It was a pretty ugly shock to see the “finished” piece and be told it was all she could get done inside the time budget, considering I did not pay on a budget.
Suffice to say, I’m really unhappy with the entire experience, from the time it took, to the lack of communication, to the end result, and I will not be a repeat customer.
I did not expect the response my post about this artist got the other day. I was just angry and wanting to vent. Then I started getting responses back from people, ‘I commissioned her too’ and I see this, and… y’know. It’s time.
Artist’s Beware exists here on tumblr, but as far as I can tell, they don’t tag their entries. And unfortunately, that makes it absolutely useless for anyone trying to find out if an artist they want to commission is engaging in shady business practices.
And I’m sorry to say? Andarix is.
I commissioned her in July 2014 for a character sheet of my Wildstar character. (Paypal confirmation here)
I was excited! I was psyched! And then I see this post (X) and… my name is nowhere on it? But there’s a pending? Is that me? I don’t k…now?
So I inquired.
This is the entirety of our email correspondence. At no point was I, a paying customer, notified of any delays; I was clearly expected to read her tumblr.
Oh if only there was an external site that kept track of financial transac— OH WAIT.
(My activity, but you get the idea) So…again, with the expectation that all customers must follow her blog to get any sort of updates, but an illustration that she can’t be arsed to put any legwork into ensuring she completes her obligations.
There was a post that I didn’t get screenshots of that pcktfox references in his/her post, where she said she was really unhappy with her art, and asked all her outstanding commissioners if they minded if she completely changed her style…? Or something? I remember being supremely annoyed and ignored the post because again. It’s been 6 months since she said she would put me at the top of her list, and I have no art, no apologies, and most importantly, no friggin refund.
Andarix produces gorgeous work. Her art is absolutely lovely.
But she really needs to get her shit together. When you take money in a business exchange, you need to act like a fucking business. And that means organizing your client list appropriately, managing your business load, and most importantly, communicating with your clients.
She failed all three criteria as far as I’m concerned.
Roteye was his Scourge nickname, and, well… it was because half of his face is really messed up. It’s one of the wounds he got shortly before dying – while it was somewhat “fixed” and usually it looks like the scars on his right side of his face, neck and shoulder and a few holes in the cheek, in truth it only stays like this because of the constant regeneration that’s happening.
He’s a death knight that heavily specializes in the blood magic school, so he can not only control things like his body temperature and function of some of the organs if needed, but also the state of his pre-death wounds, yet only to a certain degree. He can’t heal them completely, and if he runs out of resources and energy that keeps him going – the best examples of when that happened is when he didn’t feed his runeblade or neglected the Hunger long enough – the wounds start to re-open and you get this
Oddly enough he doesn’t really mind being called Roteye and it’s one of the most used nicknames, although most of his friends prefer to call him by his name or other nicknames – Bernie, Bern.
Random fact about mister Bernard: back when he was alive, he used to love making little figurines and toys in his spare time – something he learned to do as a kid, constantly hanging around his aunt’s family workshop.
As an undead, it appears he still enjoys doing that, as it helps him to keep his mind off of things and relax – although now he found an odd use for his dark magic and sometimes makes tiny but very intricate ice figurines instead.
