Is This Artist a Scam?
Recently on Twitter (or X), a random account followed me. In their profile, they’re listed as an animator, but all they do is repost other artists’ tweets and I couldn’t find any artwork posted by them.
They started texting me and we had a friendly conversation. They brought up art so I shared my art with them and they shared theirs. I told them how much I love their art and randomly they said they had an idea which was for them to redesign my OC (original character) in their art style and I was delighted and honoured so I said yes.
Then they said they’ll make it into a 2D model and the next text they sent word for word was, “Yes ma’am a 2D model of your OC would be a game changer it would bring your character to life in a way that really stand out and feels way more professional and unique
You could use it for merch, animations,edits, concept art and even future content if you ever decide to stream 😋” which is when I started to be a little suspicious as the text just sounded so cold and long compared to how they were typing.
Things got more suspicious when they asked if they wanted to include my signature (which is how artists usually watermark their art piece) in the artwork in which I said no, it’s fine.
Randomly after that, they started asking for me to pay them and I said ok at first as I love supporting artists. They asked me for my budget in which I asked their usual prices for a 2D model and they said it was $200 which was way out of my price range. And I felt bad that I would underpay them so I asked for just a simple sketch or drawing.
We then settled on $50 upfront and $50 after the work is done but some part of me still felt suspicious so I asked if I could get a quick first sketch before paying the $50 and at first they said it was completely fine but then changed their immediately and said that they typically begin work after receiving upfront payment. So now I’m still not sure whether or not I’m being scammed.