So there was this artist I was negotiating with about commissions recently. His prices were extremely high, so I wanted to talk everything out with him first and then budget it accordingly (mainly was hoping it would be an early Christmas present to myself by the time it was done). Just last week or so he assured me that he had zero commissions waiting at present and that he was willing to be flexible about payment methods. Apparently his definition of "flexible" is "either pay everything up front or f off", because I asked if he would be okay with me paying in parts (note: I never said I wouldn't pay his full price, nor did I say he had to do more than what I had paid him at that time, all I'd said was "I don't make very much money, so can I pay you in $100 segments until it's paid in full?"...basically, like how layaway works.) and I even told him that, if it wasn't cool with him, I'd work something out to get it all to him as quickly as possible. All traces of niceness and interest in my commission abruptly vanished and he sent me a message saying "You know, I actually do have some commissions on hold." followed by a "Write me again when you're more serious about this.", though his actual words read more like: "Write me again when you're not broke". Because, y'know, being broke means you aren't serious when you want to try and negotiate with a guy for easier payment methods on a picture he originally said would be $150 before bumping the price up to $400 just because there would be two characters in the pic...yeah, totally couldn't be serious at all. :shifty:
As much as the NOCD attitude ticks me off, what really bothers me is that he could have been so much nicer (or, at the very least, politer) about it. He could have easily said "you know, I'd really rather if you had at least half available to pay now and then you can pay the rest when I'm done" or "I'm not really comfortable with you paying in parts, so I'd really appreciate if you had the total amount ready for me. I could put you on a waiting list, if you'd like"; either of those would have sat much better with me and, instead of me sitting here complaining about a guy who was being an ass and essentially lying when he promised a flexible payment plan, a little politeness would have had me talking about this really awesome and really talented artist who was great with clients despite his crazy price range. Honestly, I think all artists have the right to refuse any commission, but why be a d*ck about it? Any artist is, essentially, selling their name as their brand. You cannot get away with alienating people that don't fit within your perfect little bubble when the majority of your potential cliental resides outside the bubble to begin with. You want to attract more clients who fit into your ideal pay grade? Be nice, build up a dedicated group of customers who are willing to spend that much, and don't make potential clients hate you to the point where, if they discover any of their friends are considering commissioning you, they warn them away.
I guess I'm just ticked off about the elitist attitude and the fact that it feels like the guy's running some kind of scam. And, sadly, been seeing that attitude more and more lately. It's almost like people think "hey, I'm really good at -insert activity here- and you people aren't, so bow down and do whatever I say". And, frankly, it doesn't matter how good these people are, they aren't so good that they're above the fallout of their actions. Ugh. Well, I guess it's good that I found out about how this dude really acts before I started paying him...and now I have the option of looking for someone who's more customer friendly to give my money to. Here's to you, jerk off. Don't even think about messaging me again.
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Side rant:
You...know that stuff you just threw away was my old writing that I'd put aside, right? No? It was just a bunch of old papers? No, it wasn't. One of my old writing stashes is gone and I seriously just saw you throw it in the trash. Hmm, you're ignoring me now? Well, that's nice. Yeah, maybe if you ignore me long enough I'll disappear or something. Nice seeing you, too. :/
