Question for all - Voltra Online

DragonicKittens

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I honestly don't know where to put this, but I know it isn't really a serious discussion topic and I am not quite ready to post this in the Art shops since I do not have it in order yet.

But I plan on buying art this year with RLC. I never done it before, but I would like some advice from anyone that either does it or has bought art with RLC in the past.

So my main fear is that if I buy art with RLC, what if I don't get any sketches or WIPs after I sent the artist the money? Like, they didn't say anything before hand about waiting for art from them or it didn't say anything in their commission info on wait times. I don't want to send half or the full payment and not get or hear anything from weeks on hand.

My other question is on paying them. I know that its mostly done with PayPal, I know that much. But when should I send the payment? Should I send it to them when they let me know or wait til they give me a sketch? Part of this does happen to be due to the question above, but I would rather know now than regret this later.

I rather be safe than sorry when it comes to this kind of stuff. I honestly have no idea what I am getting into and would like to know from some experienced people when it comes to buying art with RLC. RLC is much different than virtual money since I can cancel a trade if nothing has been heard from in a long time. Or if they took my virtual money and gave me nothing, I could at least report them or something. I don't think I can report someone for not giving me my money back due to not having a sketch done in 2 or 3 weeks. That is just a general idea, I honestly have no clue on how long it would really take on a RLC commission. ^^;;

DragonicKittens

Friend PM Trade

@SirLionelNigelConrad: That makes sense, and I would rather get to know how an artist feels on drawing something that is mecha or not mecha. I rather know a head of time before asking "Hey, draw this for cash money."

I just saw an artist on dA that is willing to draw for $1, but I sent them a note asking what they prefer to draw. I did let them know what it was going to be, but I know for one thing, I am gonna be paying more than a dollar since it is a PWYW transaction. Since what I am requesting may be complicated, I rather pay them for the work as a whole.

Glume

Friend PM Trade

@SirLionelNigelConrad: Because artists are extremely undervalued in our society somehow. Art, music, philosophy... they're all seen as a joke, at least in my capitalist society :p So many people want to buy my art to make a product that they will make money off of, and all they offer as a form of payment is "exposure". Exposure is great, but I can get it myself, thank you. With that kind of constant treatment, and the added self-doubt artists already put themselves through, its easy to de-value ones work. I don't even know what to charge for art so I usually just charge 12/hr plus materials, so I'm probably guilty of this myself.

@DragonicKittens: I've never purchased art, but I can give you my perspective as a seller if that helps. I personally can't make an exact time frame when doing art for someone unless arting is my only job. Other commissions, work and life make it very hard to be consistently creative on a schedule. As such, I always update my clients with an idea of where I'm at and what I have left to do, and I'll send WIP shots a lot. I hate sharing works in progress, because my process is so erratic and looks nothing like the final piece, but I feel it is my responsibility to do so. As for payment, I've actually been conned out of money AND art trades quite a lot in an attempt to be a trusting person, and its a hard issue to figure out. Half before and half after is pretty solid, or if I watermark everything until the payment... I'd say stick with people you trust, listen to recommendations, and you'll be fine

Ping me, Devil Daddy, ping me.

Pixel Art Extravaganza

DragonicKittens

Friend PM Trade

@SirLionelNigelConrad: I can understand how you feel on that, but I was planning on offering them more than just a dollar for what I want. One of the characters I am waning art has armor on his legs and no where else. Not to mention, since I would love it colored, I'm pretty sure I can think of what would be a reasonable price.

You also have to consider that not all artists doe this for a living. Some of them only take it up as a side thing if anything. I watch a streamer that has done some beautiful work and she will draw just about anything for money. But she is going through a whole lot since she has a kid and a full time job.

Heck, I honestly would sell my crap for a dollar at a starting price or just have them pay what they want. My art isn't perfect nor is it worth $20. I honestly am more comfortable selling my art with virtual money (Gaia Gold, Volts, etc.). Exposer is part of it, not a lot of people view my dA (which I pretty much gave up on), Twitter (still new there), and Instagram (I haven't posted there in months). Most of the views I get on my art, if any, is when I am selling it on Gaia (not on voltra) or when I am giving out freebies. My prices tend to be reasonable over there on Gaia since the inflation is nuts. If you are curious to what I draw, I mostly do it all digital. I'm just throwing the things below to show you what I've done recently, but those would be the colored samples I'd post up in my shop or some where as a sample to what I can do. Two of them is drawn by my mouse on my desktop, the other one was drawn with my finger on my chromebook.
One --- Two --- Three

@Glume: By the way, I love your avatar. :) Its so pretty.
I also understand on the creative part when it comes to work and personal life. Right now I'm doing freebies/requests on both Gaia and dA to expand my image gallery on Twitter. Plus I did get a few friends that gave me some recommendations on some artists. Being conned is honestly one of my major fears about this since I don't want to pay half or full and receive nothing in a few months with no updates. But I can understand on if the art won't look anything like the final product. I'm fine with that, as the artist, you do you. As the commissioner, thought this might just me personally, as long as I'm satisfied with it, that is what matters. I honestly would rather a bazillion WIPs with watermarks on it in a span of a month with updates (though I think that is a bit of an over exaggeration) than nothing. But a time frame would be really nice before hand too. Like, it will take me a few weeks before I can get to your art, please understand. Or I have a wait time that is about a month, but I try to work pretty quickly, I'll let you know when it is time for me to work on it.

Millet

Friend PM Trade

Millet, spilling the tea:

Definitely just look for people who have an established history of commissions, or are in general active.
Many with a following wouldn't risk their image and scam you. I've spent hundreds on art of my Dungeons and Dragons
characters.

I think it is important to find the right balance of a detailed request. Ref pics are plus, give them some kinda room for
Freedom in some way or form/or options on certain things. You don't wanna be super overly detailed as it just becomes
easier to miss something and make a mistake, but you still want to be detailed enough while remaining concise so that
you get what you want. Also read your own request to your self over a couple of times to make sure you didn't miss anything,
or misspeak somewhere. :)

Rayon Declaire

Friend PM Trade

Speaking from someone who hasn't really bought any real life cash commissions most artists that charge ask for half of the payment up front and I hold that just in case you back out or something not saying that you would but just generalizing. Usually this is non-refundable even if you end up not liking what they're making. That being said most artists are kind and usually send you work in progress updates before the final is done that way if they have anything that needs to be changed they can do so during the sketch process and not when things have been started to color. If you're worried about when it comes to trusting people I would go with somebody that's well-known and has a lot of good positive feedback.

Rayon Declaire

Friend PM Trade

Also another note if you're taking an artist off of deviantART there should be some type of a reporting feature on that if you haven't received any updates within a certain amount of time. Or if they don't finish their work at all. The same can be said for PayPal because PayPal has what they call a reporting desk. I bought a bunch of stuff off of eBay and whenever I've had any problems with Goods being delivered I can always create a ticket with PayPal saying that my item was not shipped or received.

Ping me if needed

I do pixels. check my shop

DragonicKittens

Friend PM Trade

@Q t e a p o n: Thaks QT, I'll have to keep that in mind now. :) I'll also have to check out all of the artist you talked about too. All of their art is quite lovely. :D

@Millet: I see where you are coming from, and I make sure to get all of the references I need, if not more if it is requested. Plus I do like it when an artist goes out of their way to create something new. I got this I want to say a month or so ago. The original reference looks like this. They said they wanted her to show more skin, and I was just in love with it so much. I told them that I wouldn't mind having that as an unofficial reference of this character since they drew her so beautifuly. Plus most of her art seems to be circus based, which made it even more interesting. :)

@SirLionelNigelConrad: Pretty much, plus we did agree that $15 to $20 seemed to be fair. They said I can send half of the payment or the full payment depending on how things go. The artist is really nice and I hope more people help her out in her emergency.

@Rayon Declaire: So far I've gotten a whole lot of good suggestions from friends. So I plan on looking at the artists that they suggested and see about their prices and what they will/won't do. Plus I will probably ask a little closer when it comes to buying the art from the artist and ask them when I should send the half or full payments. But you also have a point, I may not end up liking what they draw, but I might in the long run. Right now, the main person that I hope likes it would be my hubby. Mostly since what I am buying relates to us both since we both play this game. :)

Please ping me to get my attention

Pixel art by me
Click here for my twitter and other things.

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DragonicKittens

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