My advice for Do Not Commission artist Shiuk

[shivonhusky.livejournal.com]

FIRST OF ALL !!! This is NOT a flaming attack or personal attack against Shiuk! This is a BUSINESS RELATED warning for the artist shiuk !! Please do understand I am writing this so that others can be aware of it and that hopefully Shiuk will listen to this and take this story into future relations with customers.

Back in April/March 2010 me and Shiuk discussed a commission I wanted to do. Shiuk was being very friendly and after I explained the drawing, he send me his OK on it, and I payed him shortly after. For such a good artist, 40 dollars is a nice deal! So Shiuk said he would have it done within a few weeks and I told him that was fine and even if it took longer, that was fine too :).
So after like 1 or 2 weeks after we made the deal, he already send me the sketched version of the commission and I was like, woow, that is very fast! And it looked perfect right from the start. All it needed was colouring and this drawing would have been finished!

So a few weeks went by and I haven't heard anything, so I thought I would send him a note asking POLITELY and KINDLY without any threats or flaming, what the status was. He said he was still working on it and I was fine with that comment, so I kept my mouth shut for another month or so. No word from Shiuk and no drawing yet either. Im a very patient guy. Dont like pushing artists by asking constantly on how things are doing.

During this period it was practically impossible for me to get any sort of reaction from Shiuk. I tried mailing him a couple of times, still being polite and kind, if I could get a status update. Since he said it would be done in a month or so, we are now already going to speak of months. Also tried leaving hints to his Twitter and Formspring, but the Twitter failed because he couldn't see my Tweets, and the second he must have seen, but deleted the questions. I cannot remember if I asked him things by the use of FA Notes, I think I did, but cannot confirm.
So over a time span of months and months I didn't do anything and just let it be, cause I had my busy life too and to be constantly going after him to ask what the status was, I didnt really wonna do. Of course I did saw new artwork being posted of him during that time, his Twitter still updating, so it seemed he was still alive.

Eventually we hit on December when a friend of mine just had a commission finished from Shiuk. So I immediatly asked him how long it took Shiuk for it to finish that one and when did you order it? Apparently Shiuk managed to get this one done in a few weeks time without any problems. This of course got me motivated again to search contact with Shiuk. Which my friend then politely asked Shiuk, cause he was still talking to him through IM and not through me, what the status was. I also posted on the same timeframe a FA Shout, and just minutes after that the shout got deleted and I finally had contact with Shiuk again through the FA Notes system!

To my shock the message was really short. Not really giving me an apology for waiting 8 months to get a commission from him, but just saying he will have it done by the weekend. So of course I tried getting a reason from him why he took so long to finish my drawing and why he hasn't been in touch and all that. His reasons were pointed to the furry fandom it seemed, which i could understand, but still. Your dealing with a costumer here. I kept on trying and get a reason out of him, but failing. At first he also offered a refund since he would be much happier with that. I did not agree as I did not waited 8 months just to get a refund. Told him he was a good artist and that he was almost done and it's making everybody happy if you finish this one. And if he didnt wanted to do my commission for whatever reason, he should have stated that during our deal moment or at least quickly after, but he already made the sketch, so that wasnt the case.

So the date was set for last weekend, but I still didnt have anything. But Shiuk did leave me a very nice message saying that he couldnt get to it on Sunday and he would finish it on Monday. So the Monday passed, The Tuesday passed, And up until late Wednesday, still nothing. No word, no drawing. So I poked him again about it asking the status, he replied: Just a lot of sudden "Oh, I wanted this for christmas" People. So then I said that I have waited 8 months for this drawing. You keep promising dates and its still NOT done yet. He replied: I'll add you to the before Christmas list. So I got a little pissed off from this as he promised me he would have it done long time ago, and now I have to wait a few more days again??? Sorry, but no way!

And then out of the blue I get two FA Notes saying: *sigh* and I am done. Refund has been sent.

And that was enough reason for me to post this Do Not Commission info towards Shiuk. His communication skills desperately need to improve and I felt like I have been treated poorly by his way of business. Highly recommend not doing business with him unless he makes some changes to finish commissions faster and communication about delays with his customers. In fact I wouldnt even call this a delay, but a simple, screw you, thing. Sure he gave me a refund, but that is not a good reason to calm down and not post something on my experience of this artist.
Shiuk needs to realize that I have been very patient with him, have been treating him professionally in my ways of contact through mail and other resorts. That I had no personal attack or flaming or anything else in mind towards him. I just wanted to have this wonderful artist, finish something :). And because he handled this as poorly as it can get, I just had to write about it.

I have posted this on my FA as a journal note and it seems more people are having issues with Shiuk. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1962562/.

Some screenshots of the e-mails I have been sending to him. Please note the dates. They qualify as enough timespan to not pester him right? :)

http://www.shivon.nl/shiuk/shiuk.png
http://www.shivon.nl/shiuk/shiuk2.png
http://www.shivon.nl/shiuk/shiuk3.png
http://www.shivon.nl/shiuk/shiuk4.png

Comments

[tornaderman.livejournal.com]

I've heard of quite a few people in the same situation with this artist. It's good you at least got a refund from it though!

[ichigoneko33.livejournal.com]

There's not much I can say about the artist, other then yes, he does deserve a beware and seems a lot of people have been having trouble with him.

However, no matter how long he's taking, I don't think it's in your right to pester him to find out why there was a delay. It's more proper for the artist to give you a little idea, but there's no need for them to tell you everything if it's something personal. Can people correct me on this if I'm wrong?

In the future though, if someone offers you a refund, it's a pretty good sign that trouble may come if you don't accept it. There's multiple reasons why someone wouldn't want to work on the picture anymore. Even if they started and liked the idea from the get-go, sometimes things happen. I had to do a pretty cool picture for someone, but it wasn't something I normally do and in the end, we had to discuss either a refund or a new picture because I just couldn't get it right. I know that isn't the case here, but it's an example.

Not condoning what he did at all, and this was mostly neutral what I said, it isn't info just for this situation, but for whenever you come across it again.

[ichigoneko33.livejournal.com]

I think I may not be explaining myself right. Trying again! About the asking why there's a delay. This is written in general when talking to an artist, not about this specific situation.

Asking why there's a delay is perfectly fine and you should know. It's never come to the point where I needed to be asked myself, but if someone did, I'd easily let them know.

What I'm kinda not sure about, is pestering about it when it seems they're reluctant to say anything. It's possible they don't want to say anything because they have no reason, which is what I'm assuming happened here. But, it's also possible that it's something very personal. Does working for someone mean that you have to tell them any personal delay? I'm actually asking, since I don't really know.

Of course, not condoning him at all. Even if it's personally, you can still give an idea of what's up. Say your mother is sick and she needed you around, instead of telling them how shes so sick shes going to pass on soon.

[soldierx.livejournal.com]

Gotta love the popufurs.

[frostpaw.livejournal.com]

commissioned him about a year ago and still no luck getting my art. I am just about out of any form of patience. I too have been getting the this weekend, only he has given me the same this weekend about 4-5 times now at least.