HAYLO GUYS. IT'S RAEG TIME.

Okay, I really should post here more! -pastes "blogger" to my bookmark tab bar thingy up thurr"-

OKAY. So I've got a rant for you guys!

I AM PISSED AS HELL.

Back in March, I and my girlfriend attended FWA 09. This was the first con we went to that we did commissions in the artist's alley...at. So we both did pretty good, and it was awesome! Cool, right? Notsomuch.

My girlfriend had a guy come up to her later in the con, and ask if she'd want to do a thirteen character digital commission. I heard that much, and had to turn my attention to the other person that was in front of me, talking about something else. But after all of that was done, and the guy she had been talking to was gone, she turned to me with a mix of excitement and overwhelming pressure. She said that she had just gotten a commission for 13 characters, and it would be $130. $10 a character, NOT EVEN INCLUDING BACKGROUND. Not much, considering how much work this guy wants out of her. :|
It would be in the same layout as The Last Supper, with all of his own characters, plus my fursona and hers? (What the fuck, why would you want TWO GIRLS YOU JUST MET's fursonas in your picture? Who are you and what the hell do you want?)
Now anyway, back to the PRICE of this thing. He agreed to $10 a character, minus background. Now, she's selling herself short at this point. She'd really never done commissions before this, and thought it would be a good way to start out, doing something big like this, so she didn't turn it down.
The same guy comes to me, asks me for a one char digital pic, and I do it. We keep in contact over the course of the next few months til I can get to his (I had others to work on.) When I got to his, we chatted for a bit, and he mentioned how much of a steal he got his piece for. I was like "Buh?" He said "Yeah, she agreed to do it for $65" I nearly threw my computer, but instead politely asked "Excuse me? She told me --like, directly afterwards,--- that you agreed for, er, higher than that." and he played dumb. He said multiple times that he was looking for someone to do it for LESS than $130, and she agreed to $65. No one in their right mind would do something THAT BIG for $65. No one.
I go to her with this information, and she's just as confused as I am. She did NOT agree to do it for that little. She sold herself short, but not THAT short. So they talk it over, and the most she can get out of him, without feeling like she might lose the commission, is $75. ... Seventy-five Dollars. For 13 characters. Full color, with a DETAILED background. ... is that sinking in yet, people? Now, now, this...yeah. Some of the characters are holding GUNS and shit. They're all clothed, some have GUNS and various AMMO and stuff, there's....God, there really is no justification as to why someone would do this for so cheap... ._. Not even BAD artists should do it for that cheap, man. Come ON.

**Okay, so. Time passes. Life gets harder and harder for her. Various family members (read: animals. And when you're a furry, animals count as family members) die, she gets sick alot (she has all of like 2 white blood cells), her mother's physical, emotional, and mental health continues to deteriorate (her mother is disabled, and her and her brother are pretty much her caretakers), and lots of general SHIT happens in her life, making art for someone seem like the last thing she really wants, or has time, to do.

OH WAIT. DID I MENTION HE HASN'T EVEN PAID HER YET?! (I need to figure out how to make that sentence blink... CAUSE THAT'S IMPORTANT.) IT'S IMPORTANT.
So time passes....some more....it gets to be around RCFM...which is in May. He's asking why she's not done. It's been three months. :| She's been in hell for like three months. And to be honest? He's not her ONLY commissioner. She has a few fursuits to work on and various other things, but she has a life, an admittedly hard life, but one outside of DRAWING FURRY CRAP FOR PEOPLE. Anyway. So yeah, its been three months, and she hasn't done anything. He bitches. Says he's being patient and everything. :| Bulllll shiiiiiit.

Every so often, when he feels like pestering me, he'll ask me again and again if she's done, and if she's not, why. I explain that life is rough and everything, but apparently, that's just not good enough. :|

He keeps on bitching at me and bitching and bitching and whining and bawwing, and I'm really tired of it. A few times he asked me if I want to work on it with her, so it'll "get done faster." And I'm like Psssh, not unless you're gonna pay me more. Of course I haven't said that, but it's honestly getting to the point where I AM gonna say that cause I'm really getting sick of this bull. But to be honest, after consulting SEVERAL people with this particular issue, there is no reason why ANYONE should do this for so little. For everything he wants in this picture, all the detail in the clothes and background, and as many DIFFICULT AND OVERCOMPLICATED characters there are in it, I wouldn't do it for less than $400. Now, that sounds a bit steep, yes, but I'll be damned if he isn't deserving of dropping THAT much money on something this big.

Anyway. Yeah. So now it's September, at this point she's been threatened with having to move away from her home, lots of family issues, etc. involving lack of money. Pretty much, at this point, she's not taking any more commissions, has very few that she has to be working on (mostly fursuits, which she HAS been working on) and is having severe monetary problems. She's pretty much having to sell bodily fluids for grocery money, kay? Her internet's down, and the only explanation she can really give at this point for not having finished EVERYTHING with the picture is that he doesn't have internet, and can't access the email she had been using as the reference for these characters.

However, she's finished the lineart. ...she worked really hard to get that done in time for AWA, so she could show him and get at least half of the payment for it. Not too much to expect right? I've done half of the work, I deserve half of the payment, right? NO. He doesn't even BUDGE, and says he's not gonna give her a DIME until it's completely done.
I'm sorry, there's something WRONG with that.

What I don't get is why...he needs this piece done so bad. Why he's so freaking IMPATIENT. You know what you have a right to get impatient about? Something you paid for. But he didn't pay for A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G. So he has absolutely NO right to be so angry about why she's not done yet. If he paid her, she'd be more apt to finish, amirite?

Now, here's the topper on this cake... He sends me a message this morning, and I wake up to "Hey, I'm gonna get you to do the rest of the commission. I'll pay the difference. At least this way I know it'll get done."

...I did not respond. I don't think he realizes that the "difference" here is that he's gonna pay me $400. Either way, that is what made me rage today. I'm sick of him pulling this stuff. He at LEAST owes her half of what he "intended" on paying her, for all the strife she's been through with this.

If he cancels this thing, after she's halfway done, does she not deserve half of it? I mean really.


Essentially, for those of you who don't want to read all of that above:

• Guy commissions (my) girlfriend for 13 character, full color picture with background.
  
• They agree to $10 per character. (Which is messed up in my book. :| )
• After the con, he speaks with me about it and says that they agreed to $65, which is untrue.
  
• As to not lose the commission entirely (as she would like to keep a good rep, and get money) she manages to get $75 out of him.
  
• He. Has. Yet. To. Pay. Her.
  
• She's had alot of life to deal with. Please refer up to (**)
  
• On several occasions he has buggered me and her over it, without right, BECAUSE he has not paid her.
• He has come to me, wanting me to do it, but I refuse to do it for less than $400. Anyone in their right mind wouldn't do it for less than that. :|
• Did I mention he boasts constantly about how much money he has and everything he buy with it? Cause he does that. Often.
  

Anyway.... yeah. So. This is the drama and the issue at hand. What should be done? At this point, I'm ready to tell him off, AND get what he owes to her. I'm SO tired of this. Auuuugh. Sorry for the lengthy rant, but this was absolutely ridiculous and I've had enough.