EDIT (06/14/2015): The artist made enough to help their friend out! Thanks to anyone who donated!

The rest of the journal remains, mostly unedited.

Rez's Expectations From An Artist

More than anything else, all I genuinely want from someone I commission are two things: Communication and Humanity. Communication is obvious...or at least, it should be but most artists mess this up all the time. I'm not asking for a timeline, broken down by the second and cataloged with progress photos or some other such rubbish. All I'm really looking for is signs of progress and the knowledge that you're still working on the piece.

Do I expect it in a day? No, of course not. In a month? No, sometimes not even then. Hell, you can go longer if you have to. All I want is some kind of word from the artist as they work on it. Gonna be later than you expect for whatever reason? Tell me. Think something might need to be changed with it before we can move on? Get in touch. Nothing about what I'm saying here is hard to grasp. It's common sense really. Well, it should be at least. Not sure whether some people stress themselves out or just truly think they're above chatting with you, but this sadly leads to the next part: Humanity.

I could tell you, right here and now and off the top of my head, at least two names of artists who are so far up their own...wait, this is rated general isn't it? Alright, let's try this again...

There are a lot of people out there who presume that because they are an artist that they can never be questioned. I don't know where that logic comes from, nor do I really care. The point is that, in order for me to commission you, I need to know that you have a soul. What does that mean? It's simple: Treat someone with the respect, get treated in kind. Treat them like they should be bowing before you? Get blacklisted/blocked immediately.

Somewhere along the line, probably before I even really got into the community I imagine, most artists decided that because they can draw and you can't (Which is a lie by the way), you have to bow to every little childish whim they possess. Why? No idea, but it actually makes my "job" of being a furry community member so, SO much easier. "Ah, I see they make some art I enjoy..." I would say "Let's get in touch and see if I can get a commission!"

Usually that works out fine, but then we get some that are, hmm, let's call them something PC like, uh, pompous, yeah that will work. This creature, because they certainly don't seem human, will then berate me for daring to contact them without submitting a request on their blog/through a different site that I don't use/etc. Obviously, this gets worse the more popular they get so you're often left to choose between two options. You either a) suck it up, get the comm done and feel dirty afterwards or b) miss out on the work entirely and try to find someone else who isn't a festering...look you get what I'm saying. You have to look elsewhere is the gist of it.

Having to choose between your self-worth and a picture is a fool's game. A laughable one at that. So here's what I do, in case you haven't figured it out yet of course.

• Contact them and ask for a spot or to be added to a queue or whatever
• If they give you an attitude that you don't think was a simple miscommunication, use the BLS system. Blacklist, Leave, Smile.

Let's take care of the obvious problem you may have when considering that logic. Sure, I get it, you want the commission from them and only them. Maybe you really like their style, maybe they've been known for quality work in the past, but here and now, they've been a terrible example of humanity and you can't figure out why. I'll be blunt here for you: There are other artists out there that will take your commission. It may take some time, maybe even cause you to consider drawing for yourself at some point just to get it done, but never let some tool on the internet make you feel bad about getting what you truly want. Actually, that goes for life too. People that hold you back? Toss 'em. Not worth the time.

As for the other possibly obvious concern you may have, that being "What about if I want to keep seeing their work? Won't that stop if I blacklist them?" Sure, it will Blacklist them on that particular site, but, come on now, this is the internet people! You can Leave them to their own devices for years and hit up google to catch up in a heartbeat (safesearch on or off depending on what you're doing, you dig?).

So, you've got it done. You blacklisted them, don't see their journals anymore and you're looking for (or already found) another artist to help you out with what you wanted. Now what? Now, all you gotta do, is Smile. You took out the aggravation of having to deal with someone who clearly thinks too highly of themselves, you'll get what you wanted done from someone else and, hey, it may even have been cheaper to boot! You win. You sanity is intact and the blind fans of that former artist who considers themselves superior can waste all the time and money they like selling their self-respect for a picture of whatever.

Your conscience? Clear. Your wallet? Probably fuller.

Life lesson over, let me link someone to you here. We'll call it a kind of spotlight on someone worth commissioning. That person, CeliaSouris, Why? Read on.

Friendly with a sense of humor and a lovely art style to go along with it, this was an easy link to, uh, link. Go slide some cash their way if you've got it lying around!

Later Everyone.