#Help a fellow artist

[crtbrain]

gonna watch some tuts on shading/lighting cuz its kinda what i struggle with the most. if yall have any good ones let me kno !!!!!

[scareghoul]

hello everyone.

i’m opening emergency commissions. i had to buy new glasses, and they costed me so so much, and since i didn’t have any commissions since april, my savings are actually non existent

you can dm me, i very much prefer this way

two to three are enough for me not to end the month on red so please if anyone’s interested hmu i very much need it

[maikaartwork]

Artists, let’s talk about Instagram commission scammers

There’s been a huge rise in commission scammers recently, mostly on Instagram. A lot of new artists don’t know what to look out for, so I figured this might help people.

How they begin

Usually the scammer will write to you asking about a commission. Something deceptively cute - mostly I encounter asks about pet portraits, with one or two photos sent. They’ll probably try to sell you a sweet little story, like “It’s for my son’s birthday”. They will insist that they love your artwork and style, even though they don’t follow you or never liked a single piece of your art.

What to look out for:

Their profiles will either be private, empty, or filled with very generic stuff, dating at most a few years back.

Their language will be very simple, rushed or downright bad. They might use weird emojis that nobody ever uses. They will probably send impatient “??” when you don’t answer immediately. They’re in a crunch - lots of people to scam, you know. 

They’ll give you absolutely no guidelines. No hints on style, contents aside from (usually) the pet and often a name written on the artwork, no theme. Anything you draw will be perfect. Full artistic freedom. In reality they don’t really care for this part.

They’ll offer you a ridiculous amount of money. Usually 100 or 300 USD (EDIT: I know it might not be a lot for some work. What I mean here - way higher than your asking price, 100 and 300 are standard rates they give). They’ll often put in a phrase like “I am willing to compensate you financially” and “I want the best you can draw”, peppered with vague praise. It will most likely sound way too good to be true. That’s because it is.

Where the scam actually happens

If you agree, they will ask you for a payment method. They’ll try to get to this part as soon as possible. 

Usually, they’ll insist on PayPal. And not just any PayPal. They’ll always insist on sending you a transfer immediately. None of that PayPal Invoice stuff (although some do have methods for that, too). They’ll really, REALLY want to get your PayPal email address and name for the transfer - that’s what they’re after. If you insist on any other method, they’ll just circle back to the transfer “for easiest method”. If you do provide them with the info, most likely you’ll soon get a scam email. It most likely be a message with a link that will ultimately lead to bleeding you dry. Never, and I mean NEVER click on any emails or links you get from them. It’s like with any other scam emails you can ever get.

A few things can happen here:

They overpay you and ask for the difference to be wired back. Usually it will go to a different account and you’ll never see that money again. 

They’ll overpay you “for shipping costs” and ask you to forward the difference to their shipping company. Just like before, you’ll never see that money again.

The actual owner of the account (yes, they most likely use stolen accounts to wire from) will realize there’s been something sketchy going on and request a refund via official channels. Your account will be charged with fees and/or you get in trouble for fraudulent transactions. 

You will transfer the money from your PayPal credit to your bank account and they will make a shitstorm when they want their money back, making your life a living hell. They will call you a scammer, a thief, make wild claims, wearing you down and forcing you into wiring money “back” - aka to their final destination account. 

Never, EVER wire money to anyone. This is not how it’s supposed to go. Use PayPal Invoice for secure exchanges where the client needs to provide you with their email, not the other way around.

You can find more info on that method HERE.

What to do when you encounter a scammer:

Ask the right questions: inquire about the style, which artwork of yours they like, as much details as you can. They won’t supply you with any good answers.

Don’t let the rush of the exchange, their praise and the promise of insanely good money to get to you. That’s how they operate, that’s how they make you lose vigilance. 

Don’t engage them. As soon as you realize it might be a scam, block them. The sense of urgency they create with their rushed exchange, and pressure they put on you will sooner or later get to you and you might do something that you’ll regret later.

Never wire money to anyone. Never give out your personal data. Never provide your email, name, address or credit card info. 

Don’t be deceived by receiving a payment, if you somehow agree to go along with it. Just because it’s there now doesn’t mean it can’t be withdrawn. 

Here is a very standard example of such an exchange. I realized it’s a scam pretty fast and went along with it, because I wanted good screenshots for you guys, so I tried going very “by the book” with it. 

Please share this post, make it reach as many artists as possible. Let young or inexperienced artists know that this is going on. So many people have no idea that this is a thing. Let’s help each other out. If you think I missed any relevant info, do add it as an rb!

Also, if you know other scam methods that you think should be shared, consider rb-ing this post with them below. Having a master post of scam protection would AWESOME to have in the art community.

[glubandeepspace]

i always see so so many "this is so cool, credit to the original artist idk who" and like hello You downloaded it from somewhere and it's an era where you can reverse image search in less than a minute (if not copy & paste link even quicker).

if you dont know how then you can also learn as fast.

if the results arent precise then first of all also why do you think the point of "credit" is only saying it's not yours?

is it not obvious that most artists post not only to share but to be recognized for their own hardworked skill & creativity?

but nooo youre the one who'll be or wanna be hearing all the "ahh yes this is so good"s for far far less of a point (without even giving others the option to check out the artist's other potentially similar works that both of you may enjoy)? is that the only way you can find community? just say "art not mine, idrc abt the source" atp at least if you won't (ideally) stop entirely. honesty & self awareness is great with the bar this extremely low. consumers these days

[eclown4hire]

WOE, GLOBAL EXLUSIVE REFERENCE SHEETS BE UPON YEE

[nimthirielrinon]

help please

Hey everyone, I’m about a week from pay day and my situation is dire.

I’m almost out of wet food for the cats, work is late in paying me again (ah, the joys of freelancing), and the order of low-FODMAP non-perishable food I put in a few weeks ago still hasn’t arrived. We should be okay with Smudge’s meds for another week, I think. Being able to lower his dose has meant that will last a little longer, at least.

I’m hungry, I’m exhausted, I’m beyond stressed now. I try to stay positive but in all honesty I’m really finding it hard at the moment. I have art for sale on RedBubble and Ko-Fi, as well as commissions and a donations and a donation drive on said Ko-Fi. I have two Amazon wish lists, one for people food and one for cat food and supplies. All of them, including samples of my art, can be found on my carrd.

Please help, please just share this post if that’s all you can do. I just need to make it through this week.

[goodmorningevildoers]

Now announcing: Splatterday! Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, find the indie horror pros selling books and more. Keep your eyes peeled for the hashtag on Nov. 30 — we’ll be sharing and supporting our fellow weirdos.

[spadesncrows]

hear me out please I beg

[vladdyissues]

Seriously, there are more than enough fanfics and rule34 art of Danny getting raped by Vlad till he's bleeding, but the second the reverse is suggested you clutch pearls.

You Peppers ship a 14 year old with and adult who wants to kill him, at least don't look down at me like you got a moral high ground. And just to not sound hypocritical, of course I ship them too.

Vlad can be the cruel, brawny, tall, big dicked man and Danny has to be the catamite, but an alternative can be great too, a bit divergence damn it,

"Enough of this thing exists already! I want everyone to stop making this thing they enjoy and instead make the thing that I want to see!"

Anon, you sound like a screaming, tyrannical toddler.

You're the one throwing a hissy fit about there not being enough Tall Strong Big-Dicked Danny content while the rest of us mind our own business. You're the one spamming our inboxes with asks—sometimes very graphic, distasteful, and definitely unwanted asks—about ship dynamics that we have repeatedly explained don't appeal to us. And yet you keep sending them.

This isn't even about shipping or dynamics, really. This is about you not respecting our boundaries and trying to force us to cater to your personal preferences.

Metaphorically, you're going to every ice cream parlor in town and having a tantrum because they're not serving cheeseburgers. "There's too much ice cream in here!" you scream—in a restaurant called We Love Ice Cream And Serve Nothing But Ice Cream. "I want a cheeseburger! Why don't you serve something other than ice cream!? You're all a bunch of pearl-clutching snobs who look down at me because I like cheeseburgers! Well, the ice cream you serve is gross, anyway!" (As if there's only one flavor of ice cream, and its the flavor of Pompep that you mentioned.)

You're being an ass, anon. This is not how you ingratiate yourself to your fellow fans or shipmates—especially not when you imply that some of us are shipping Vlad and Danny the """"wrong"""" way and your way is somehow better or more interesting.

How about the next time you feel like sending someone another ask about Big Tall Strong Danny wrecking Vlad's anus with his 16-inch monster cock, you instead pick up a pencil and learn to draw art and write fic of the things that you want to see? Because that's what the rest of us did.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

[i-really-like-phrogs]

When someone else’s art is so good you physically can’t look at it because of artistic jealousy

[gum-iie]

artist hard at work

[olsartonly]

Random Kinito drawing

[bonkbunn]

Work Doodles reflecting a horrid realization

(Mild tw: blood, violence, Jimmy)

[thefandomfurry]

Due to request I offer Cherik picnic 🥰 @lopsidedghoul

[vee-isaweirdartist]

‼️Please, read if you're up to supporting a young artist‼️

In all honesty tho-I should've stated this earlier, but oh, well, better late than never!

Ignore the text change, mid way this Ibis-Paint decided I won't be using the text tool anymore

So! With that being said..

I'm opening 5 more slots on my Ko-Fi commissions! and if you can't get into Ko-Fi, Followers of my account can request directly PayPal payment!

I wouldn't ask or, be insisting in this kind of things since, it makes me feel uncomfortable.. somehow- But I need the money and, since things having been the best lately, maybe I'll have to consider using commissions for college costs and such in the nearby future..

‼️Thanks for reading, and if you cannot commission me, please consider reblogging this post‼️

Price Sheet & TOS:

[thesunbettershineonthemagain]

so whoever it was at disney who decided they were gonna design the ducks to make them as hard to draw as possible literally better count their days.

anyways heres another practice webby 💕