r/Lathmar_TFD

First of all, I will probably never use VGen again. Not because of the system itself, the system is good. The thing is, I paid two artists who didn't deliver on time. For the first one, I waited 3 months, only for them to tell me that because of university, they wouldn't have time to finish it. I was like: Ok, it happens.

Sadly, the artist had a stream, and I really liked her art, so you know what happens when someone likes the art and has access to a stream showing it... I would go there and watch it. Then someone in chat asked her about her current jobs, and she started talking bad about me, saying that I didn't pay her enough... I will not state her name here. The price I selected was the highest one with the commercial rights option there on VGen, so yeah, I just paid the exact price she asked for. Of course, I didn't tell her that I had seen the stream; I just waited patiently. And yeah, she eventually said she couldn't deliver on time and apologized, because she knew I had been waiting for months to receive it. At least she refunded me, the only things I suffered were the bad talk about how much I paid and the 5-month delay to my launch.

The second time, I paid another artist on VGen. He asked me to release the funds early. I told him the story about the previous artist, how I waited 3 months for nothing, and asked if we could just do it the normal way. He said ok. The thing is... he didn't do it either. 2 months went by and I didn't even receive the sketch he promised me. I DM'd him, he left me on read, and after 50 days, he just completely forgot about me LOL. This second artist's work was simpler and cost $80, so I thought he could easily do it on time. The first one was a little more complex and cost $300.

Third time... No, I didn't use VGen again. I took a leap of faith with a guy on Instagram. He said he had a lot of work and it would take 6 months. I thought, "This is the guy, I can feel it." And yes! After 2 months, he sent the sketch (YES!), and now I just need to wait 4 more months for the colored version. This one was $700. The funny part about my experience is that the guy without an intermediary to protect me is the one who actually delivered...

So, my tip for you artists is this: don't accept jobs that you won't actually finish. As authors, we have planned launches. Because of these delays, I literally had to push my book launch back by a whole year.

Sorry for the rant, but take this as a tip. Also, some artists have a set price, but the moment they find out I'm an author looking for a book cover, the price suddenly jacks up by around 100%, the last one was an 80%+ increase. And no, it wasn’t the commercial use fee on VGen since that was already included; they claimed it was for complexity (no problem) even after I had already selected their highest-tier option that already included that, but I at least wanted to receive the art... End of the rant.

Is there another good platform to hire artists? For my next novel, I'm looking for quality artwork with a reliable 3-month turnaround and fair pricing, because VGen... yeah, not again.