thoughts on spec work

[sunhawk.livejournal.com]

Just thinking about speculative work and what opinion people have about doing it.

I'm not just talking about clients posting on places like DevArt anonymously asking for "samples" or setting up "competitions" but also having a client look at your art, dither about hiring you and then offering you the chance to compete with other artists by submitting work for a project and they'll pay the person whose work they like but not the other artists. Has anyone ever done such a thing in a rewarding way? Am I correct in my first reaction, which is to politely inform the person that I do not do speculative work? In most advice I've read for artists in the past, they warn again doing speculative work as many people use that as a way to get free art. And most of the advice I see around here is based on the concept of "some form of payment up front before any work is done."

Thoughts?

6 Months, still no badge or contact from Seel

[shadowclaw.livejournal.com]

This is my first time posting to AB, and really, my first bad experience with an artist entirely. I got a commission at Anthrocon 2009 (so, in July 2009) from Seel ( http://www.furaffinity.net/user/seely ) for a badge. I paid $20. She told me later on during the con that she wouldn't be able to finish it there, and would mail it to me once she had finished it. I agreed to this.

In August, she sent me a note saying she was starting on it; that was the last contact I had with her. On November 29th, I sent her a note on FA asking about progress and she never replied to it. Then once again on December 10th, I sent her another note on FA, thinking something had gotten screwed up in the big downtime the site had through the week before, and maybe she hadn't received the note. She didn't respond to that. A week ago, December 30th, I sent her a note asking either for some sign of progress, or a refund. I still haven't gotten a reply from her, and she's submitted many things since the con. She's been fairly active recently, posting art and comments, and has yet to respond to my notes, effectively ignoring my overdue commission.

I don't know how else to get in contact with her, and I don't want to publicly post complaints on her page. At this point I just want my money refunded; she can forget about the badge.

EDIT as of 10:50 PM CST



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