[Edit: I'm getting word that people are contacting her to harass her about the payment: please don't hound her. Also removed the last name: my mistake to include it (didn't know it was a real one or not).]

I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this but I suppose it was only going to be a matter of time. I'm posting this so that other artists here on DA can watch out in case you're approached.

I'm reporting my first bad commissioner: She goes online by "Ahna" and/or"crazy_kitten86" on her e-mail, and is "DraconaInVolata" here on Deviantart.com.

Do not take commissions from this girl if you see her, as she won't pay you.

Background: The way I've done commissions until now was to ask for the payment when I completed the image: basically I would show the final version with a very neon and hard to remove watermark over it as a preview/proof that I finished, and the commissioner would pay. Once I receive payment, I send the clean version of the commission.

This is a "just-in case" measure, in case I have to drop the commission due to IRL reasons or can't finish for some reason, etc, and the customer will not have risked any money; this method hasn't been a problem for either party before, since it tended to protect both commissioner and myself. <(This is instead of all-up-front or half-up-front)

Because of this girl, I will no longer be doing it my old way.

What happened: She first notes me over DA to talk about a potential commission. We respond back and forth and it gets moved to e-mail (easier for me to keep track of commissioners that way), and the price is settled.

The commission she asked of me was going fine - communication was relatively fast and I made sure to include her in seeing every step so she could catch if I did anything she didn't want ahead of time, which she didn't. She approved everything. Things were fine until I sent the e-mail to her telling her that I'd finished, attached with the watermarked preview of the final image (around April). I don't hear from her for around a month, when she e-mails back that due to some IRL financial problems, she can't pay me until a month later.

I take this with a grain of salt, especially considering the timing and what I've already heard from other artists about problem commissioners doing something similar. But I okay the extension.

Another month flies by and nothing. I e-mail her again.

She responds that she sold some stuff on E-bay and is $8 short, and once she ships out what she sold, she'll be able to pay me.

That last was back in May.

It's mid-July now. I tried contacting her again several more times, with no response. I've heard nothing from her: no e-mail, no payment.

((crossposted to my LJ and to artists_beware on LJ))

Avoid this commissioner!

-Wyna