Additional comment on the Mercy commission

Hey pervs,

I've been thinking about this and decided that I don't want to just throw out the commission images without sharing my thoughts on the whole process.

This might be a bit lengthy, but I need to vent a little and also provide additional comments to it.

Firstly, in my opinion, the entire commission was a giant mess. I always aim to be nice and often throw in some freebies or do more work than initially agreed upon. While there's nothing wrong with this within reason, I struggle with saying no or adjusting the initial commission price. It feels a bit like a scumbag move to me.

The last few commissions I undertook showed me that I need to change this approach and be more clear and strict about such matters.

Allow me to summarize what happened before I share my personal comments on the finished commission. Please note that this is from memory, and I may mix up the timeline and forget certain details, but you'll still get the overall picture of what went wrong.

Originally booked as a 5-image commission, the client, being a patron of the highest tier, was eligible for the associated discount. Initially, it seemed simple, so I threw in an extra image and estimated pose changes for free. Technically, it ended up being 8 images due to separate portraits for the monitor. I considered this an additional freebie.

The process began like any other commission – I started working, sent some work-in-progress shots, and had to make a few changes, some of which I strongly advised against due to what I believed was a worse outcome. This back-and-forth continued until they requested more pictures, pose changes, and fluids. I initially accommodated without considering the extra workload. Around the 7-image mark, I decided it was too much and insisted on charging extra, which the client agreed to and paid for, extending the commission to 9-10 images, also including another discount.

I can't recall exactly when, but there were subsequent changes that led me to essentially redo whole shots due to late-stage edits that weren't easily editable. This occurred multiple times. As you've likely noticed, the final commission has more than 10 images, because they wanted even more changes and images. The cycle repeated too often, and I should have put a stop to it sooner.

Additionally, there were moments when it felt like they doubted my explanations, thinking I was lying about the feasibility of certain requests. This led me to having to justify myself by providing screenshots and even making a video proof.

Don't get me wrong; they were always nice, which contributed to my delay in realizing that I needed to stop this. In the end, I informed them that I would finish two of the requested shots without multiple revisions or changes, without charging anything extra, and that this would be the last time I do commission work for them.

Without delving into more details, I had initially planned this to be a commission requiring around 3-5 hours of work. In the end, I worked on it for more than 22 hours, charging only for 6-8 of those. They offered to pay more, but I declined, acknowledging my role in the lack of clarity and early intervention.

This process was very draining and burnt me out quite a bit, prompting two pauses of a week or more before I returned to this commission, thinking I would finish it that day.

I'm generally against rushing out commissions and compromising on quality. I always strive for the best possible result for my skill level at that given moment. However, I feel this isn't up to par with my recent work, and I wanted to explain why. Despite you may liking the result, it's not up to what I think it could have been without so many limitations and communication issues from both sides.

I always aim for the highest possible quality, especially after some recent artworks. I want to maintain that level of quality.

I try to be nice, and I'm not angry at anybody, but for the sake of my own sanity and yours, I've decided to change how I communicate and handle things in the future.

This may lead to me declining or providing shorter answers than you might like, this is not because I'm mad or angry but because I feel it is needed. I hope you understand this.

Venting over. 

Thank you for reading this mess of a post.

P.S.

I've been working on a few different artworks simultaneously in the last few days. One is almost ready and should be available in early access tomorrow.

The animation I teased on Twitter will need a bit more work but is also pretty far in the making.