As a maker I think everyone should benefit from a waitlist method. Having customers on a waitlist and not charging the money until you're able to start with the comm. That way you can have customers but can take it easy one or two at a time and then you can take a break if you need it or if you have an emergency before taking in more payments
This the safest method out there. I am a digital illustrator and I have been doing it that way for 10 years. The worst that can happen is you get to someone in your queue and they lack the funds, so you just delay the bill until they come to you saying they are ready and work on other commissions in the meantime. There _are_ artists that do the pay-upfront method (I'm trying it myself for the first time this year) but they have the experience from doing this long enough that has resulted in them having a stable work-life balance that doesn't cripple them via burnout.
This is exactly what I did during a project I took on which took 2 solid years to complete, it was so tiresome and tedious but i'm 2023 I lost all customers who dropped out for financial concerns (they didnt pay yet, ofc I didn't let them because of the tedious project I was working on which changes were requested about 12 times totaling a re-do of the pattern for 3 entire attempts). I thought i'd get a lot of views once it was complete, as it's a giant pokemon plush that's literally 11ft long. Apparently after all said and done I got hardly no views, no comments, no faves, lost those customers who were waiting to pay me and I haven't had a customer even come to me since, i've been out an entire year without a single commission after I worked myself so much that I had no life. Basically no hobbies and no relaxing, worked weekends and 12-14 hour shifts daily. I ended up with cash at the end but not the expectation of actually getting more customers/followers and such. Such a drag lately this has been.
I had an artist have this kind of thing. I was in the queue for almost three years lol, but when I was up the commission was done in under a month. Stunning work both the time and money was 100% well spent, and I will order from them in the future.
Honestly that’s how I thought all artists and creatives did it? You typically have x amount of commissions you can take. When those are done you open the list again. Shocking that it wasn’t handled that way tbh.
@@xdani_thethinkingneko Right. I always see artists saying they have X slots open or Not accepting rn. Which means they probably limit how many commissions they do. My assumption is that he got incredibly greedy and lived outside of his means.
I'm an aspiring fursuit maker. And considering the track record of this happening cause this isn't the first time this has happened, I wanna make it like a goal to NOT do something stupid like this to basically end my career. Like come on people. Really?
That's why there is a saying called learn from example. Learn to not do what these people do and don't fall into a trap of oh well it can never happen to me because XYZ. That would be a falsehood. the idea that someone is an exception to the rule that they can do the same thing as another person and have no negative repercussions from it. But logic dictates otherwise despite semantics one might try to argue.
Multicolor bark IS autumn fallings. Who had bad customer service and was gathering such a bad reputation they rebranded. I’m not even surprised in the slightest
Yeah they rebranded after people called them out about not taking anyone they weren't friends with for slots or just doing premades because they were such a big deal.... keep in mind this was a literal decade ago so a lot of the new furs don't know that lore
Thankful I only lost 4k when I lost contact with my maker (they went complete radio silence.) Never feels good to lose money in any setting. Stories like this kind of dissuade me from trying again.
I'm really sorry to hear that, it's sad how common stories like that are. There are still many amazing makers with good business practices, but it seems like it's important now more than ever to really look closely at their queue lengths, refund policies, and just be careful paying too much up front.
Damn. 4k is the exact same amount i paid (local conversion) and i still manage to get a fursuit (partial) mainly because my maker is local. I would seriously cry if my own $4k is lost if i were you. Hard work gone to waste.
Don't let that happen. 4k is enough to bring someone to claims court. Gather all evidence first, including any PayPal info/transaction info. Do a charge back if possible with evidence that service/product was never turned in for investigations. Some banks honor transactions upto a year. If the seller is silent it is possible they are scammers. You can also negotiate monthly payback if they don't want to deal with potential court & travel/court fees.
Aye while we are talking about this, can we bring up Fur the Win? Many people, including myself, have been waiting for 6+ years with no progress on our suits. I've met people still waiting after 8 years from them. :) Would really love to see the fandom talk about this more!! I commissioned FTW 6 years ago when I was 17 for a full digi suit. 6 years later, and only the head has any progress on it. :) Which is just enough that as per their terms of service, I cannot get a refund. The head was completed 5 years ago. 😚 No other part of the suit was even started. I've heard multiple people even say their suits from FTW were unwearable when they first got them. This company is definitely a scam!!
I'm having a similar experience with One Fur All, I commissioned a partial from them and paid it off in full 5 years ago. I haven't heard anything from them, last I asked for an update they said everything was delayed due to covid
@@Nightfoxmoon Damn, One Fur All are still going? I remember Quakefox's OFA tracker. Huge website. The last time I looked there were people who had been waiting what would now be about 15 years for their suits. Others had left the fandom and cited being scammed by OFA as part of their reason.
Jax being in debt is impossible. I checked how much money, Yamishizen makes in a year and it's roughly $110,000. And they charge $10k for full suits. Jax makes on average $15k on a full suit commission. They're making WELL above the average person a month.
As a maker myself, its so infuriating how poorly someone can run a business knowing that they are considered a top tier maker. It seems that they treat it more as a hobby than an actual business and this is heavily reflected in their practices. It just shows that greed was a factor which snowballed into what we're facing today. And to completely ghost your customers for them to only hear from you when you make your apology statement is truly pathetic. I feel no sympathy for them whatsoever and they deserve everything thats coming for them.
@@Nessie31how can it be stolen $$ if this is what they've been doing since their business began?? So they screwed up and got a lot to make up for it, that doesn't make them thieves 🙄 Good Lord, what a couple of terrible takes here....
@@FrosteeWusky The irony of calling other people's takes terrible while yours sits here with zero likes and zero supporting comments... It's hilarious and kinda sad. You're an apologist with no solid backing to your argument.
Im gonna be honest, if MCB can make premades, why cant they make the fursuits that people commissioned from them? Its the same process, just different fur colors and if they have the foam to make premades then thats obviously not a cost they have to worry about. And this is one of the biggest fursuit makers in the fandom!! Im seeing a certain trend between the bigger fursuit makers in either dissappearing, ghosting customers or flat out not delivering suits that costed upwards of 20k, because MCB is not the first big fursuit maker to do this.
fursuit making is probably not a reliable career if people are just giving up on their customers like this. not saying this is isn’t a result of their personalities like it takes two to tango and the burnout sounds insane
@@comfortme Sigh.... I'm sad to say though i've been a maker for ten years I haven't had a single commission since Dec 2022. I think it partly has to do with people not trusting anymore.
I'm not a fursuit artist, I draw/paint/make comics. Being creative in my own way is a lot easier than drawing what someone else wants. I could bang out 30 drawings a day if it's what I wanted to draw but sometimes you get really tired of drawing This-one-guy's-really-specific-fetish (tm). The dread can be debilitating. If you are basically stuck doing stuff for other people you might not even have time to do something fufilling. Or you might feel guilty for doing something you want if you have commissions waiting. And the treadmill of getting behind then trying to catch back up is very hard to get off and you get even more stressed about it. Normal jobs have paid vacation days. Artists really don't if we want to keep up and be able to afford to live. There's no pressure, no one over your shoulder, no self doubt, when you create for yourself. I did a bunch of adoptables once and it was rather fun coming up with original ideas and just throwing them out there. I also imagine making fursuits takes a long time and it's not just something you can make for fun on the side if it's also your job. Free lance art is very different from other jobs in that I doubt a nurse goes home and nurses for fun. I'm not defending this person for spending the money but I don't think people understand that freelance art as job is very different from art as an expression of creativity. Even artists that work for companies have a 9-5, paid vacations, and can come home, disconnect from their jobs and create art they want to. Unless they work at places that are underpaying/overworking them and people would agree working all hours of the day is criminal... unless you're freelance. Then you're expected to.
@Eternalskyy It makes me so sad to see this. Scammers get the big money, while real artists struggle. I myself am not a fursuit maker but I like to design characters and their outfits. I only ever attempted to buy a suit once and was ghosted, thankfully the maker had me set up to do payments when they updated me but I had paid half of the suit and then only got so much of that back because of everything. I personally know I myself am just nervous and very broke after scrounging funds for so long and now just unable to go through that again.
I agree with the burnout thing you said. It's an umbrella excuse too many use too often. It exists sure, but if you're burned out on whatever, stop taking new work and catch up on the queue THEN take whatever break you need or quit all together. Not just keep piling up problems.
And people wonder why I didn't go to a school or Collège for a line of work. i think I know myself and what I know is after I were to get out of the field of said education to get in the line of work I went to school for I know in due time I'll lose the passion and burnout from it and quit. And I will have wasted so much money for the education for a job I don't want to do anymore. So it was best for me not to even begin that route. That's what I say about this Fursuit situation. It's learn to get right with yourself and know yourself and really ask yourself can you really picture yourself doing this long term? Everyone gets tired of doing the same thing over and over at some point in their life. It be good to have a plan B or C just incase your passion you turn into a business to live off of doesn't work out.
This fursuit maker must not have thought this through and now it's a bad time to be burnt out of something because now they are getting burnt for how it affects their customers who paid hard earned money for a fursuit who may not get one now and deserve a refund.
Unfortunately, it's never that easy when bills need to be paid. That's not to say that going dark and continuing to take money is acceptable, but the solutions tend to be more complicated than merely "stop working". I'm fortunate that my burnout was simply me getting fired, begging my parents for a short-term loan to pay my rent, and finding a different career for a year while I recovered. We as a community really need to start teaching and sharing best practices to survive as independent business managers, rather than expecting creatives to wing it and figure shit out from scratch every time.
64 thousand US dollars is roughly equivalent to how much a telecommunications/electrical engineer in Australia gets paid annually after having at least ten years of experience in the industry on top of a university degree they spent 3 years on obtaining. Pretty much that’s a hundred grand a year in Australian dollars.
Unexpected medical issues would explain a lot of it.. I live ~15 minutes from an ER, a ambulance ride there is about 8.3K. An evening stay is about 13.8K. and a three day stay, typical for a diabetic, comes to ~52.3K. So an unexpected hospital stay for a otherwise healthy person could easily consume a considerable amount of it. And recovery time afterward would likely eat up a large portion of the remainder, making it a scramble to get materials for projects
It does make sense to have to pay ahead of time for materials for the suit and the work afterwards. But at these numbers, without any work being done, that's just...too much. These people put their trust in the maker and I can only imagine that pain. I just wonder what the deeper story here is. Genuine mismanagement, malice, something else entirely...I don't know, I can only guess.
I guess it does make sense to charge full price upfront in some cases but I feel like MCB are a big maker with lots of income from past commissions therefore they should have saved up for materials for new commissions. But i guess they haven’t since they are charging full price upfront which makes me think that they have not been responsible with the money from past commissions and haven’t saved up for materials for future ones hence the full price upfront
If I recall, they said they were trying to make ends meet and then it wound up becoming too much. They got burnt out, needed to get more money to pay bills, and then before they knew it, the funds dried up then they needed to take more commissions. It became a loop from the sounds of it.
Among the more known fursuit makers, they all take payment 100% up front before work starts. Artists do the same for art commissions. Have to pay the artist in full before they’ll start a commission.
@@RainStorm13 At least when it comes to art comms I have experience. Some do take the money before they start, some take it in-between the sketch and the lineart, some take it afterwards. The last of which being the most dangerous, cause the person might just refuse to pay and/or ghost you after. That's always a thing. Had something similar happen to a friend, actually. So I do get it.
I find research such as previous customer reviews, there experiences as well as reading the T&Cs of a fursuit maker helps. Most I've seen (here in the UK at least) will ask for a non-refundable deposit to cover materials; usually 50% then usually pay the rest upon completion; or in installments. Each maker has their own payment plans preferences. Whilst it varies maker to maker one of the most important things to note is that a fursuit is a luxury not a need. It's a long term investment too considering a well made and looked after one can last for years. For me personally I would rather pay it installments knowing I can see progress instead of sending the full amount.
Challenges like these aren't exclusive to our fandom, but thankfully, such cases are relatively rare. It might not always seem that way, but it's important to remember that for every negative story shared, there are likely over 100 positive experiences that go unnoticed. My advice is to thoroughly research suit makers and reach out to their past clients for feedback. Many of us are open about who crafted our suits and are eager to share our experiences, whether we recommend a maker or not. When considering a maker, prepare a comprehensive list of questions to ask. If a maker seems unresponsive, provides limited information, or doesn't adequately address your queries, they might not be the right fit for you. To those new to the fandom and looking for a fursuit, my most crucial advice would be to take your time. I understand the excitement and eagerness to get a suit, but it's essential not to rush the process. Choose the right maker, ensure you're financially prepared, and exercise patience. Remember, even without a suit, you are a valued and cherished member of our community. We're all happy to have you with us!
I am also a "new" furry. Joined the fandom a little less than a year ago. Along the road got to meet a lot of new people. And before I commisioned a suit I asked around people who'd be a good maker for my partial. Got a lot of recommendations but my budget was pretty tight. At the end I commissioned a small maker who has not been making suits for long, but does absolutely stunning work :) Also wasn't too bad (around 1k€ for a minipartial).
I am kinda new (was a semi furry 2016 to 2020) furry but rejoined in 2022 and i just got my fursuit in last November. As to how i did, i checked their TOS, reputation and local. That's how i did. If you really want it to be safe, always commission a local fursuit maker. That way, you don't need to be worried if he or she is scamming you and the authorities will handle it.
As someone who’s taking a law class right now I can definitely see all the charges and lawsuits that would come of this. I also see this as someone with medical knowledge, so I would also partly sympathize with MCB about burn out, but they shouldn’t have taken the money. This is just my opinion.
You can use burnout as an excuse to not work on something, but that requires you to refund the person for it. Imo it's perfectly valid and healthy to realize that burnout (also a deep depression can cause you stop working as well) is stopping you from fulfilling something. If someone has paid for it and you know you're just not able to do it at that moment then refund them and I'm sure they would understand. Even offer a new spot to replace the lost one when you're ready to get back to commissions. On top of that you need to stop taking on any other commissions, it's just piling up work and causing more stress for you and the customer.
Yeah after I had 2-year long queues in the past I cut to only 2-3 projects at a time if they were full suits. I'm not seeing any commissions are all since late 2022 though, i'm not a social media person so everyone flocked to elsewhere
I've been doing commissions Anime, Ren Fair, Cosplay for about 20+ years, and have done 3 fursuits and dozens of fursuit parts like tails and paws. I only take 1 commission at a time and don't take another until the previous one is completely done! ... and the customer is happy with the product! i think this is the best way to produce top quality commission stuff. You also only have to deal/talk to 1 person at a time and give them your total attention and nobody else. I require the cost of materials upfront and 20% of the total cost to get started. This is a good way to do business - if the customer is unable to pay the full amount within a reasonable time upon completion they don't get the commission until it's paid in full. There's some negotiation but not much, I do expect to be paid though because if I'm working on your commission - I'm probably not doing anything else in terms of "work"... so I do need an income also. Ideally the commissions will be paid 50% at the start and 50% half way through, that way when it's completed it's yours immediately. :) I hope that helps some of you newer makers! (I've completed all my commissions in 3 months or less - even the most difficult customers that change their colors 4 times half way thru!)
Dont forget that they reauctioned a spot when a commissioner in their queue passed away! On top of that from what I read they kept the money from the initial commissioner too! Talk about double dipping!
What does that have to do with anything? Why would they keep a deep person in their queue? And as for the money, it is theirs, it belongs to them, they were paid for a service, but the commissioner died, so it belongs to them now
if she was really burntout and not lying she would have removed them from the que and worked on the next persons suit, instead they sold the slot that was in front of other waiting people. @@Age_Of_The_Stars
honestly what are they to do? refund a dead person? i can see the auction being disrespectful but it’s just business. people crawl all over each other for a chance to enter queue. disagree with everything they’ve done but i honestly don’t see anything wrong with this. if it were any other maker, doesn’t matter
no what they do is they keep the spot empty and work on the next person in line obviously. Instead they not only took another persons money knowing they were overburdened, but also let that person have priority over living people who were still waiting.@@comfortme
I absolutely agree with everything you said, down to the specifics. This isn't a hot take, this is just common sense. I have worked with a fursuit maker in the past, and i'm looking at one for a future commission, where they take 30% up front to secure the slot and buy materials. Which is still a significant chunk of money, the maker I'm looking at will charge £4000/$5000 for the fullsuit commission so that'll still be a good £1500 up front, not chump change at all. But then you're able to pay in installments as the suit gets completed. However it does give you that assurance that until work is completed, they won't have the full sum. Nor is that final sum, at the very least, the same price as a decent CAR. My opinion is that no suit should cost this kind of money (>$15k), it's price gouging practices and like you say, they only have to complete 4 suits a year and they're earning VERY significant income. I know for a fact, having lived with a fursuit maker previously, it does not take 3 months for a fullsuit, even a really fancy one, if that's the sole project on the go. Easy livings there. This comes back to lack of accountability and poor business practices from start to end. If a maker demanded full payment up front, i'd cancel the commission immediately. Big red flag.
First of all this was so well done! Second this is so prevalent in the community now it’s unreal. This happened to my partner. Twice!! He waited over a year and a half the first time. The maker went from minimal contact and short response to completely no contact. He asked for a refund. Asked for WIP. Nothing. They only finally got back to him on one of the last days before the PayPal judgement was going to side in his favour. Which of course because of the length of time only covered half of the amount. After that incident he went to another maker explained that everything that happened and said look I got screwed around for a year. I just want a partial by FWA (which was like 8 months in the future at that point) make said yeah that’s problem. All of the sudden around Christmas time they start making weird posts on social media about having money issues, personal problems all the while still listing new premades and showing off WIPs for premades. Finally last week my partner asked again is this going to be done, how far are you? Hadn’t even started working on it yet. Found out afterwards there are a bunch of people waiting on him for over a year. This is my biggest issue with these makers. I understand burnout. But you can’t use that excuse when you’re making and selling premades and showing up at cons. Even the response from this maker doesn’t make sense. “I’m going to continue to make premades to make the money to refund you” ahhh why don’t you just complete their suit then?!? It makes this whole situation sketchy and I’m so nervous to commission anyone for my own suit now.
Damn and here I am with ten years of experience unable to even get a commission since dec 2022.... With ability to start in late july right off the bat. I'm not sure why all these people with money keep going to makers who dont give a crap about the customers or aren't honest with themselves.
Do you mind sending a DM over to me? I'd love to work with you on a suit for you. I literally haven't received a commission since dec 2022 and I could literally order materials the same week as payment and start working in August/late july with installments up to end of the year. I'm a maker of 10 yrs of experience.... But don't have 'social media' popularity. My queue is all dried up. Everything I do is very different from typical makers after being burned in the past, personally, which is entirely why I do what I do. I don't want to let someone down, I have plenty of past clients, one of which commissioned me 3 times in a row.
As a maker myself, I only request the money for material up front. Then the rest can be paid off month by month. I would never expect someone give me $10k+ and then not do any work
What really bothers me is, that MCB only spoke up AFTER the customers posting about taking legal action and whole Twitter pets her head and is like "great of you speaking up, do better next time, you're awesome!" wth? If the customers said nothing MCB would have said nothing...
I do feel a bit sorry for Multicolorbark, but maybe they could have done, what you explained with half payment up front. Or only taking a few commissions or only when they are in a financially stable position. Burnout can be tough, especially when paired with anxiety, stress, and depression.
personally, in terms of payment, the way i'd do it is have the material cost listed as a non refundable deposit one the work began. like the moment the material is bought. in the limbo state, raw mats sitting but not crafted, a order cancelation would not get the deposit back however they could pay the shipping fee to have the raw mats sent to them. once work is started, then the shipping option for the raw mats is gone with the deposit. the mats would then be used to complete the project in a pre made state and then sold/ auctioned. some modifications may be made. if the order is to proceed though then the cancelation option goes away and the order would be brought to completion and shipped. so to clarify, to enter que, just the raw mats plus tax etc would be the down payment. to begin the work the remaining payment would be required.
Greymuzzle here, when I got my suit back around 2010 I paid the deposit first then the rest on completion (yes it took 1.5 years but it got completed) I'm not sure how or when that changed but I would never pay for a full suit upfront, just seems a little strange to me. 'Caveat emptor' (Buyer beware)
this is crazy... i took commissions when i was 10-13 with undiagnosed ADHD and ended up just totally scamming people out of money (like $25 total with 5 people) and is the WHOLE reason i don't do commissions 6-9 years later bc i STILL don't think i could do it due to mental and physical health. these are the excuses i made when i was 11 on why i couldnt complete someones $5 commissions. regardless if its true or not, its 100% just them trying to get sympathy.
i know the issue has been "resolved" but i dont know why people are acting like them finally deciding to just work on the suits is some kind of win. someone has been waiting 1.5 years? if theyre burnt out and its 'affecting their suit quality' what makes people think they are gonna be getting their suits in the next 10 years or if it's gonna be high quality??? idk. people are acting like they're super awesome for taking accountability but it still just leaves a sour taste in my mouth idk
i'm so glad I opted to make my own suit. its going to take longer but theres no risk of never getting it, I know its status, and i get to take pride in what I create.
Taking an absurd amount of Commissions at one time creating a long bloated queue and then lazily staggering out progress on the work they're being paid to do and whining about burn out and unhappy clients seems to be pretty common across all of art/craft twitter.
I absolutely adored this maker and am saving up to get a suit from a maker one day but seeing this has kind of just put me back to feeling rather down about the community as a whole. I just read another beware post about Cove-Palms/critterscove ! Edit: Thank you for covering this maker’s issues!
honestly same here. my recommendation is to look into smaller makers, research them and find the one that you think is the most reputable. its a little more affordable, it won't be MCB quality but it'd be still decent quality, and built to last, and you'd be less likely to have to wait for an extremely long time.
@@Its_AsteriaAhah i'm sure my quality is just as good if not more durable at least than MCB. My newest suit is a husky undergoing work in progress phases right now, i'm a maker of 10 yrs. I have no queue at all sadly since dec 2022....
I'm just starting up my fursuit business and this kinda thing is extremely upsetting. When someone who is seen as one of the best suit makers in the business does stuff like this and hurts people's trust, it affects all makers and has people be extra cautious when commissioning anyone! I actually got into fursuit making because I had something similar happen to me (luckily only $5k, not $16 but it's still pretty bad). I'm glad I went through and still am going through that situation because I learned what not to do with my business going forward. I only plan on taking a max of 3 slots at a time with premades in-between, selling at cons and also making other products so that I have something to fall back on just in case that isn't commissions dependent, and only taking payment for materials up front and getting paid for the rest of the commission after the lining is finished (that way if they don't pay the rest then I can easily turn it into a premade). I know my limits and what I can handle. I think it helps that I'm almost 30 as well and have worked professionally, but would rather work on stuff I'm passionate about. It sucks when some of the biggest makers out there who we look up to as inspirations mess up this badly and hurts the community like this...
Trying to mess with furries is usually a bad idea. We often have the money or computer skills to fight back, or at the very least know a furry who does. But a fur suit maker ripping off furries is a terrible idea. Literally biting the hand that feeds you.
As a maker, I HATE how so many makers just don't know how to run a business? Like honestly its not hard. If you can't be financially stable and run a business without losing your customers money, maybe don't be a full time maker maybe? I work a full-time job and part-time make fursuits and I don't need to touch my commissioners money untill they have received their work.
I think a lot of the problem is the fact that the demographic of fursuit makers is very much not a demographic of businesspeople. It's all artists, and it's very easy to get into being a professional fursuit maker without substantial knowledge of how to run a business. That is, until it blows up in your face.
Bruh mcb literally said “as an unexperienced maker” (5:30) obviously, that’s a poor excuse, considering how many suits there are of theirs and how much they are in demand. You were anything but unexperienced, you just took advantage of your customers that were so willing to pay you. The only thing you give them in return for their money is bullshit. I really hope things turn out good for the customers and multicolored bark’s business practice.
O Shit. I wanted to commission them for YEARS until they rose their prices to 10k. They had some other stuff that went on years ago which was called out but quickly swept under the rug by popular artists that commissioned them. FYI, they were known as AutumnFallings in the past!
That 22k fursuit partial situation already had me suspicious of this maker. I mean, 22k is a crap ton of money, and altho I know it was a bid, I personally just do not think that partial (or really any partial tbh) is worth that much, and I’m always a little wary of makers/artists that allow their bids to get that out of control. (Remember that one 20k closed species commission?) That’s just my personal opinion. But with this new info coming out… yeah I wouldn’t trust MulticolorBark anymore. Where the hell did over $60k go? How could it just vanish?
paying part of the price upfront is actually really common practice for freelance work. it helps artists not get scammed, which is unfortunately very common. once youve finished the work the client can just decide not to pay, or decide they dont want it anymore, but the artist already put in the time, energy, and funds to create the work.
Firstly, this is the most cohesive and unbiased reporting of a questionable fandom member, so thank you for that. It's inspiring! I am EXTREMELY disappointed in what they've done. They set a standard for fursuit makers to actually charge a living wage and more for their skilled labor, and they've squandered the generosity of the fandom. Because of their fumble, suitmakers at large are now set back and scrutinized even if we've done no harm. I noticed how you group suitmakers at large when talking about burnout, and it really sucks that that's the impression that suitmakers have come to have. It is also unbelievable that 64k was spread out over only FOUR suit comms (perhaps more, but if one costed 16k, it can be assumed it's single digits) and they couldn't even fulfill that. Makers are stuck in a rock and a hard place because the materials costs a LOT of money to begin with, and because it is a custom made project, if the buyer backs out or misses a payment etc, you are out of potentially months of money and work unless you get extremely lucky and can sell it off as a premade. Premade parts are not selling well right now, unless you have a following. Making it so the only logical solution is to require full payment before starting - thus making it easier for clients to be scammed if the maker decides they don't want to deliver. It seems like there should be a better solution for both parties, but there really isn't. Unless we collectively agree to make it socially acceptable to charge back at 180 days, when PayPal ends buyer protection, if charging back through a bank isn't pheasable. I agree with you on "burnout". Unless you haven't taken money, it shouldn't exist nor be a valid excuse. As a newer maker who does it as a hobby with a different full-time job, I'm a little stressed myself with my current queue, however I could not imagine a debt like this over only a handful of suits, when that is your full time JOB.
I wonder if there is a kind of "middle man wallet" type of virtual saving account where customers can make their payments, while also not giving the makers access to the money until the commission is completely done. That way the makers can see the customer is paying them, but it will also give the customer security by knowing their money is never going to be gone until they receive their product. I don't know like anything about a running a business, much less an expensive and time consuming commission based business, so I don't know what would be the best practices and what good companies use, but I think this would be a good way to go about it imo.
@@ShiitaKitsune64 I really like that and agree! I think it would be important for makers to be able to access some of the funds immediately to order materials, but otherwise yes.
for me i dont understand a 16000 dollar suit at all. i get it, its your life and your money, and while their suits are really nice, you can also get a REALLY nice suit for less than a third of that price. ideally i want to get into fursuit making in the future, and if i ever get around to it, id never let something like this happen, id probably only have one client at a time to prevent the queue from getting too big. id just force myself to work on a single project at a time until its finished.
Glad to hear how well thought out this video was and demonstrating a fair understanding of business practices. I've come across a lot of aspiring fursuit makers and wish to say that I too want to make great fursuits. I already have my own retail business selling kitchen equipment to restaurants, hotels, and catering companies and have to say it has been a fun and great experience but I don't find it fulfilling. I don't really share interest in cuisine or cooking. My calling has been fursuit making and writing. I was just a teenager when I gave it a go so I was quite proud of the fursuit head I sculpted. I haven't been able to get back into it but now that I have capital I do want to try it. With my business experience I know that it is advantageous to ask for the money upfront. Personally, I'd never take on doing a fursuit unless I got a down payment on all the materials and billed hourly wages for just the head. I dont know what could happen but at least I know I can complete the most important piece of the fursuit in case there is never enough time to finish a whole body. It is a bit scary to be working by yourself though, that I'd tell you. I've never got bad burnout to the point I don't work. Maybe feeling responsible sits so heavy on my shoulders and I am incapable of making excuses... But no one to back me up if I am unable to complete work on time? At the same time hiring or even training a partner who can just backstab me isn't an option. The only strategy I see is having at max 4 people in queue. I can reasonable see myself doing 4-5 fursuits a year and planning my living expenses accordingly. Where MulticolorBark went wrong is I believe they had high cost of living, or after some success they lived more lavishly, and did not put the money they were getting aside to save up. Counting on future projects to come in is never a good idea. My business cant survive on that model due to how easy it is to get a project cancelled. They should have looked at some cost-cutting measures once they noticed they couldnt work as many hours and update their pricing to reflect the longer wait time. If people know they get some kind of discount and expect it in 3 years a few might still be willing to queue up. Maybe it will get even more customers. And the actual queue is 2 years even at the burn out pace. I myself notice I need a long break to recharge and a new business to pursue. If I can sell my business at cost that'd be amazing, if only there were reasonable bidders. Started with $30,000 and now after 6 years it is worth $1,125,000 and doing well enough. I'd give it up to have a 2-4 year getaway from reality. I want to play games like Skyrim which I never got to finish when it came out. Probably take actual classes for drawing/sculpting. I want to spend a year in harsh Alaska and the Scottish Highlands to get some inspiration for a book I want to complete. And I have some health issues that need me to destress. 2030. If this video is stull up then I will come back to it. 2030 is going to be my year where ive had my break and developed my skills. Huh ill be 33/34.
burnout is a valid excuse, however, in this case - it is not. If they were burnt out they should of let people know, closed commissions and done something about it. Not hide it, take people's money and then make excuses for it.
I am not a apart of the furry fandom at all- but I am unbelievably fascinated by it! And have a few online friends who are. This situation sucks so much- I have dealt with something similar to this, but I’m a much smaller scale. I commissioned an artist to create some art for a project and paid 180 in total for two pieces. I did get one but never received the other one. The artist completely ghosted me and two years later am still kinda upset about it.
I haven't experienced issues with makers (i dont own a suit) HOWEVER i've been experiencing similar issues with artists. I have waited nearly 3 years for one piece I had paid for back in 2021. I hear little to nothing for a year, received a sketch finally. had some problems arise that had to change the commission due to selling one of the characters in it, and so i messaged the artist to refund as its been over a year, with no progress and one of the characters in the piece was no longer relevant--they said they couldn't refund but could revise it. I agreed and then had nothing up until mid last year, and i did receive the commission finally a couple months ago but for the longest time i thought i'd never see it. That being said, I'm currently dealing with a situation from a well known artist with whom i won a ref sheet auction from back in march 2023. and received no information on it or wip until i bugged them about it 7 months later. (im pretty sure they forgot/ threw it together in a night) as a wip. i then requested them to change the most minor thing and didnt receive a response for another month with an update to that one small thing i requested, it's been over a month now since then and i havent received anything, not even a text update on things etc...but all the while im seeing them put out same day in-stream commissions, or taking commissions, and posting almost daily... it's very frustrating to have paid for something and to see that it just keeps getting pushed further and further with nothing to say for it. i literally have to bug them multiple times to get them to respond. it's like....im struggling right now and i wish i had the money i spent on something almost a year ago now and still dont have.
UPDATE: the character for whom the reference sheet I was waiting for belonged to my ex. We broke up in January 2024 and so obviously I don't think he deserves the commission I paid for..so i contacted the artist for a refund, as it's been nearly a year with no other progress being made. Said I couldn't get a refund but offered an alternative. I agreed and I've still gotten nothing, not even a sketch or an update on when they will have something.
Yeah this kind of thing is a lot more common than people think, just not usually with this amount of money. I personally have lost a little over 4000$ in commissions in the past 6 years because of artists taking 6-8 monthes before "starting" and then claiming burnout or a plethora of other reasons (most common being wrist broken and tablet being broken. Those two have been used on me 20+ times now) and thrn either not refunding me, or partially refunding me and sending me an incomplete drawing that cant even be considered my character. Or, yknow, just ghosting me, blocking me, or deleting their accounts. Even worse, i only commission artists that have been recommended to me. They always wait too long for me to take legal action or its just not worth taking thrm to court since most of them were between 80-160$. I've been told that i need to just wait in line for those popular artists and just hope i get in in under a year but it is completely unreasonable to be able to hold that amount of money for that long when you only make minimum wage. It takes me 4 months just to have 200$ of playmoney, if something doesnt come up
Honestly, I think putting down base price for materials, THEN once started to some extent the rest sent is much more fair, or even half sent until it’s half finished, etc. breaking up payments would be easier to refund & easier for the buyer
I keep thinking to myself that I should get into the business, with two others. One who's a sketch artist, the other who can cut and trim the materials and I can sew them. What I kept thinking is an upfront charge to keep a slot, that'd be used to cover the expenses of the suit itself as well as future shipping of the suit. This would be the bare minimum amount for this, depending on the buyer's wishes on how they want it done. And then come up with a price plan for labor, which could be a flat rate across the board. I figured $2,000 USD for each of us ($6,000 USD total) for a full suit could be a good starting point. After all, it wouldn't be an every-day job, could tackle a suit once a month and that would still be a livable wage. at least for my area. The labor costs would be expected only when the suit is ready to ship. The suit was completed, and it literally just needs to get boxed up and shipped out. That way, it could even be stored in case the buyer finds themselves unable to pay the labor costs for whatever reason. This is also entirely taken from someone who's never designed a fursuit, and has no idea what actually goes into it on a commercial level.
I've been wanting to start getting into fursuit commissions, and when I went through a rough time and wasn't able to finish my last suit, I immediately refunded 100% and I still felt so guilty for wasting the guy's time 😭 I get the idea that if you're not feeling good about a current project, you could jump ahead to the next one so you can afford to refund the first, but jeez you can't keep piling on more and more like that, especially knowing you're already feeling burnt out and probably can't finish the current projects 😭
The art block, the burnout. As an artist we have them, but, there are ways to relieve them. I take 1 day off during a pre-burnout to mentally recover or sometimes make space for something personal. I also limit myself to work 8hours instead of 12-16hr days except on rush services (which are also limited). Take too long of a break and it's poison like derailing a train, falling off as the conductor and trying to hop on again. The train is going to keep going, the bills and rent ain't stopping for you. Your basic needs for food and water probably won't stop for you more than a day. Letting the long break and derailing happen is also irresponsible if you're an adult and it's happened more than once operating on a larger project income. Even after my car accident with a spine fracture I resumed 3 weeks how ever I could manage. Even after breaking my fingers on my main hand I resumed 2 weeks after with one hand how ever I could manage. Claiming burnout but also keeping the money without completing the project is nothing short of incompetence, irresponsible behavior, and abuse of customers. It is a very bad business practice and one shouldn't be in business if they can't expect to manage their business properly to be able to atleast reverse transactions. Yes there are often overhead costs, but you should be able to reserve funds if you're noticing the train is starting to loose its track and you know you're going to call it quits on those projects. In hardships of like 10 projects you can cut the tailend of 2-4 and refund their money. This way it's much easier to manage the ones that need to get done despite a set back. Handling a business is not like going to work as a employee for another business. Different animals, different responsibilities. Many people aren't cut to manage a business so with this in mind, they should not have a business if it is not managed well and instead should be an employee with a stable income without worry about project deadlines/financial management.
I really, seriously doubt they will. MCB is very likely to drag out a 'proposed timeline' for things, and then just start adding more and more time onto it before going dark on communication. You'll also probably see them all of a sudden have pre-made partials ready to go up magically for auction sales, and then they'll go radio silent immediately again after the auction ends and they collect the money. They are NOT to be trusted ever again with anything ever in the future. It is very safe to assume there is an ulterior motive behind anything they do from now on into the future.
I hate when I see artist's that go "I don't have the money I spent it on bills!" What bills do you have that easily equate to 60k? Do they genuinely believe that other people would accept this as fact? Ive never spent anywhere near 60k in my lifetime and I have groceries and bills too
We got scammed from a maker a number of years ago at this point, it sucks. Paid in full, should never do that, fortunately it was only like $3600 I think? This was back when fursuits were reasonable (in my opinion). Months between contacts, same old sob story of I'm broke, I have no money, I have other people to refund, I'll make pre-mades and get you money in a queue based on available funds. Felt bad every time I asked for an update, like I was badgering the person, finally got like $50 back I think? and haven't really pursued it since, figure it's pretty much a lost cause at this point. Fortunately, It was student loan money, so like, Never going to pay all of that off anyway, so whatever. It just sucks though for customers and makers alike. Then it is harder to trust any future maker whith your money nest time you want a commission. I have a few people that never delivered art too, but least we're only talking $50, $75, not multiple thousands of dollars. I also never got the part about I'll sell a pre-made and give you some of the money. Like 1) no you probably won't, cus reality is you need that to live and don't have it, but 2) if you're willing to make a suit, why not just work on the commissions you already have...? oh right because that takes us back to 1), you need more money cus you're broke, can't afford to make a suit and not get anything out of it since you only have the energy for either pre-made or the commission, and likely don't even have the money available to buy the materials for the commsion without making a pre-made with stuff you might already have. So I guess I do get it, but still it's annoying.
You are an absolute Saint for making this video. I had given up on any furs complaining about popular makers and artists ponzi schemes like this. Nailed it A+ for the video. And to all the good makers and artists, I'm sorry that these poor actors give your profession a bad name. It's worse then the used car sales market ...
Wow. This is something I have to think about when I commision my suit. I think that whether or not a maker is burned out, they should at least tell their clients if there will be any interruptions in making their suits. That's the professional business way to run things. MCB should at least take out a loan or some sort to refund clients and customers if the suits are taking more time. At least show them you care, that's how it works and should work. That's all I can say for now. Great video and keep up the awesome job. Have a happy 2024
@@Eternalskyy Oh, sorry. Misuderstood your question. To answer that, you can go online and look for makers. Or if you are attending a convention, there are lots of artists and dealers in the den that you can look. Just ask around, who knows, you may find one.
Not just as a suit maker, but as someone who does commissions, it’s important to set a realistic number for yourself of what you’re able to accomplish in a period of time. Once you reach that number, close your commissions and only work on those. Only when your finished with those should you open commissions again “But I need to make money to live-“ then make sure you’re charging what will sustain you through finishing those commissions and then some as a safety net. Being able to give stuff out for cheap is fine, but being able to afford to live is better in the long run.
Not related to the video, but I'd like to say that I love your clothing shop. Some subtle merch in there might be cool. Hope you can go big with it one day
Thank you for bringing up what no one is talking about, as I have also been scammed by a supposed fursuit maker in a similar way. To be honest I don't even think the maker was real, I'm not hating on any fursuit makers. I think fursuit are worth every penny, but please make sure your customers payment method is secure, so that any money that is sent over without anything in return can be returned to the customer.
i dont take fursuit commissions yet but i do take part commissions and i can say I would never think its fair to take their money ages before even starting a commission. like you said about maybe a smaller deposit to reserve a spot- sure that makes sense, but im only gonna take the full payment once im actually ready to start working. There is good reason we take payment before doing the work, so we cant get bailed on, in a case where we cant even take legal action against someone just for wasting our time (unlike how they can take legal action if we take their money,) but it truly makes no sense when big makers want to take full payment for work like MONTHS and months before they even DO any of the work! I hate that practice, it is so annoying. like, why do you even need to take on comms before you have time to do them? its not like if you wait until you have time then suddenly no one is gonna take a slot, from one of the most famous makers in the entire fandom. You also have a responsibility to manage your customers when youre a business owner. period, its THAT simple. there is NO ONE and NO THING to blame for this situation besides themself for not managing their business properly. I get that things get tough but thats no excuse to blame your poor management on when youre doing it at the expense of other people. they need to just suck it up and take responsibility. its their fault for taking on work they couldnt do and then not even saving the money they were given for that work when it wasnt even done yet.
Guys, cutting foam and sewing faux fur isn't NEARLY as hard as you think it is. You can make a top-tier suit for 5-10% of the retail price with some practice and patience. Do not waste your money on fursuit makers, especially when tutorials are out there to make exactly what they're making.
I remember a tweet saying "Doing fursuit making as a full time job is a bad choice" and now that I think about it they are right. if you're by yourself making fursuits full time things are gonna get out of hand one way or another, it's like what MCB said you have to take on multiple commissions to live but at the same time can't even get a single fursuit done but have about 20 more in your queue. (IMO) Fursuit making should be a side job unless you have a team of people helping you and then that can be a whole different story.
If you have good business practices and don't spend all money immedediately, you can do it. I do it for 5y now and works fine. Not the fursuit making as a job is the problem. the person running the business is.
I agree. I had up to a 2 yr queue at one point. I kept it down to 1 year after that. Sadly I haven't seen a single commission since dec of 2022 now.... Kind of just sitting around with making a personal project and if nothing happens I guess i'm done? No idea.
taking payment up front, usually half, with half on delivery, is standard in every industry that does custom work of any kind. full payment up front is also extremely normal. source: i am not a fursuit maker but know many of them and do custom creative work myself
this doesnt lessen the fuckiness of this situation i just wanted to make a note of it since you seemed to think it was unusual. this maker is fucking up regardless. thanks for the vid
Wow. Just...wow. This is a shock to find out. For literally years, I have been planning to save up to over $10K to commission this maker. She was the IDEAL maker for the character I have in mind. She, so far, would be the only maker who would bring my character to life most accurately. For a while, now, I've been like "Maybe I should also find an alternative maker in case something happens to Multicolorbark" so I have been looking for more makers. I'm so glad I've had this mindset! XD The most disappointing part of the whole situation is that it's kind of not the first time she did this, according to her recent tweets. I now believe I understand why the search "AutumnFallings drama" exists. She certainly should stick with just hosting auctions for premade if this pretty much happened twice. Off to find another maker! :')
Hello! :3 I'm around.... I have a husky project i'm working on and it'll hopefully shine a light on a great canine style to show now that I'm modifying bases instead of making my own. I hope people take notice.
I’m going to become a fursuit maker soon, and I’m in the process of making my first premade to get things started. I’ve mapped out a portion of how I plan on doing my commissions. I will require half the payment upfront so that I can pay for the materials as well as have a small amount of income. For a partial/mini partial I would give them expect to be shipping in three months. But try to do it as fast as possible while still having good quality. By as fast as possible, I mean I made a full suit, my first full suit, plus the head, feet, and holy crap big wings, in one month while working a day job. So if I dedicated all my free time to fursuit a I could honestly get out one head a week if I really applied myself. And that wouldn’t be sacrificing any quality, but that would be just the head. But yeah I would not get the full payment until the item is prepared to ship. And starting out I wouldn’t take more than a couple commissions at a time (if I even get commissions) and make sure not to overwhelm myself. The three month production time would allow me lots of wiggle room as well. But I’m not planning on taking commissions for full body suits yet. I would like to wait until I have gained more experience
I don't make fursuits, but I do occasionally take on commissions, and I typically don't charge people until a certain point to ensure I can get them the product first BEFORE they have to pay (this doesn't include people new to my coms for trust reasons, but regardless its usually after a sketch even then). I have canceled coms due to incredible amounts of stress before and its nice not having to worry about the money. I get that with fursuiting, you might not have the luxury as you likely put that towards the cost of materials for the suit, but even then this is ridiculous. As they said, they did this to themselves, but there were ways to fix the situation in the beginning before it got this out of control. Make a wait list, take only one active commission at a time, make partials you can sell with left over material (if any) to make up for the lost funds. You should never keep people waiting this long ESPECIALLY if they pay the amount they do for these suits.
As a fursuit maker myself I have had many issues where customers have asked to do payment plans or asked to just put a small payment for me to start the suit and alot of the times they would continuously miss payment due dates and come up with a lot of reasons why they can’t or won’t pay on time which causes me to have to stop on their commission until they can pay the next payment, I’ve had people pay 1 time less then a quarter of the prices and then miss 3 payments in a row which causes trust issues and makes me feel uncomfortable with continuing to work with them so I had to cancel the commission and ship out what was made that added up to the amount they paid for.. its stressful/rough to have to do stuff like that so I just ask for half or full up front, if I’m able to trust the customer enough I do payment plans where they pay 4-6 separate payments until the suit is fully paid. It’s very unfortunate that this maker has done that to people, it hurts my heart so see makers do that.. fursuit making is my passion and I can never see myself do that to anyone! I want to make sure the customer is happy/satisfied ☺️ it brings me joy to see the customers reactions to their character coming to life! That’s a big reason why I never give up and though I’ve had my minor burn out, it was never more then a day or 2! I get back up and going 😄 hopefully that maker can fix everything and make those people happy again!
$16K per fursuit??? That's more than I spent on my first two cars combined! It makes me wonder if in the future when the "furry industrial complex" is more established, that banks will give out fursuit loans. Or maybe there will be entire furry banks that will process these risky large-sum transactions.
I love making fursuits, and this is why I'm extremely hesitant to do commissions (especially since I have a kiddo) and just probably going to stick to pre made suits. If the person wants to add a body suit to their partial then I can do that for them and that's probably as far as it'll go commission wise
I knew a Fursuit maker that took commissions and would just spend the money on herself then when the customers would get upset she would say I told them it would take a year or so I will worry about it then ..Made me feel sad.
im not a furry or part of the fandom but i am a seamstress, its crazy how much is charged for a fursuit. always amazes me. I also feel like not enough care and security is given when it comes to the money these people hand over. like, dont egt me wrong, ppl gotta pay bills n shit, but u should not be blowing through 16k like that. sometimes i sell my sewing services and always only use around 20% of money recieved before making the profuct for personal things, i only use any left over once i have finished what i was payed to do.
I always wanted to commission MCB cuz they make beautiful suits but i dont think ill ever be able to afford them, now i got another reason not to bother. That being said, anyone know a decent maker that I could commission a full digitgrade suit with simple markings for $2500-3000 (maybe even $4000 if i sell an organ) that i wont have to wait a decade for?
That sounds like me, I only create 1-2 fursuits in a year and don't have a queue at all this year yet. I want to work on something this August if possible. Had nothing come in since Dec. 2022...
@@TheUmbralWolf I want to make some toony canines soon because I rarely got my hands on them as a species oddly enough. Pretty much any head base i'm given I can work with or any head base ordered. I am super happy with toony, kemono, masculine/fem/grumpy/toothy/tired expressions, magnetic features and everything just not muscles. I'm very used to receiving redlines on my work quite often, every step of the process and going through materials/samples. Usually I stray away from a lot of stripes and dots, I like sticking with about 5 strips or dots or color changes per SIDE of each item (like tail, hands, feet, cheek, arms, legs, body are all singular items) My current prices are listed below... I can consider a little less if I love the design or its simplicity. Heads: $1130 I can work with any eyes / bases possible; foam/3d printed, lined. Paws: $300, $400 for seamless pawpads. Lined. Realistic and stuffed fingers offered as upgrade. Feet: $300, removable memory foam slippers. Plush/foam base. Tails: $45-$300+ (size dependent) Body: $995 with belly color, $870 without. Digitigrade: $600, $750 medium, $900 large. 10% off Artistic Liberty
@@Eternalskyy Hey that's perfect, my fursona is wolf and I've wanted him to be made into a cartoony style suit cuz i really love the look of those. And you're pricing is really reasonable especially since i want a digitgrade suit, my fursona is really simple and pretty much one solid color (black) aside from some color around the paws and feet, the marks around the eyes, and the eyes themselves of course. And I don't mind any artistic liberties, as long the original colors aren't removed (Black and Pink). I've wanted to make a few changes to him for a while now but i still have no idea what i want to add or change so any additions or changes are welcome as long as they don't make the cost skyrocket XD Now, you said you wanted to start around August yes? I should have most of the money around then if my math is correct so want i wanna know now is if you can ship the suit out, and if you can what places you can and can't ship to. Oh and the payment method, can't forget that!
kinda glad learned to sew so i never had to commission a suit. the first suit was not great but the 2nd one was decent and I just kept practicing. I was like 16 when I made my first good suit (I only made partials) so it's not like I worked full time nor did I have to pay rent or utilities.
I have trust issues with even the most basic of commissions/purchase. Having a multi thousand dollar suit be mishandled like this makes me not want to commission anyone ever again because of the possibility of this happening. As bad as this sounds, people pay you to make the suit. Not to pay off your unrelated bills. Don't screw around with peoples' money. Also, it's a business. It's technically embezzlement.
i can do a whole video on this (and might) but it's frustrating to see situations like this because a lot of times I see fursuit artists/makers who are self employed as doomed from the start. i can speculate to the moon and back on why so many furries in particular seem so uneducated on what it actually means to run a business but the most hair pulling infuriating part is furries' refusal to work with others. I mean that very literally - I can't tell you how many times I've been like "why not consult a lawyer on your TOS?" to be met with "well thats expensive" or "I know what im doing" when 1, thats not true and 2, its literally an investment into your future. This is why to me makers like lemonbrat will always seem more "professional". Wanna avoid burnout? DONT DO 80 JOBS BY YOURSELF! GET SOMEONE TO RUN YOUR SOCIALS WHILE YOU WORK! Part of being self employed is treating yourself like an actual employee. That means actually filing and paying for health insurance for example. Especially if you're making net over 50k as a self employed business. You can literally take free business classes! Nothing is more American than starting your own business, so many people have something to say on how to do it!! I just don't know why furries are so resistant to the idea that they're a for real company promising a for real product and that makes them a for real employee
I have Been there as a suir maker. Work stsrted going well, i took on more commissions thinking itd go great, then before i knew it i was in the same spot. Burnout got the better of me, bit by bit until it was so bad it took months to get back to work, with a massively daunting wall of a queue blocking out all light, and zero hope of refunding All of the clients. Eventually i was able to recover! It took a while and some Dr. Visits to to work thru it, but ive knocked half the pile down and only have a handful of commissions left. The smaller the queue fets, the easier its getting to keep working at an even pace.
the business practice of paying half or so up front is actually common. It used for graphic design and art, ect. It is to ensure that the creator/artist doesn't get screwed over while they are completing/finishing the work by their client. Especially if you can't really so anything with the work afterwards if the client bails or just take the work without paying. It ensures that the person making the work doesn't get screwed over by the client, however the money is meant to be kept to the side encase of any issues or if the work can't be completed, not to be used whenever.
Honestly. I’ve noticed almost every big fursuit maker starts doing stuff like this. Navy Workshop has a queue of over 130 and people aren’t getting their products or their suits. It’s honestly really sad. Money isn’t easy to come by these days. We need to start setting a standard for artists and makers.
As a maker I think everyone should benefit from a waitlist method. Having customers on a waitlist and not charging the money until you're able to start with the comm. That way you can have customers but can take it easy one or two at a time and then you can take a break if you need it or if you have an emergency before taking in more payments
This the safest method out there. I am a digital illustrator and I have been doing it that way for 10 years. The worst that can happen is you get to someone in your queue and they lack the funds, so you just delay the bill until they come to you saying they are ready and work on other commissions in the meantime. There _are_ artists that do the pay-upfront method (I'm trying it myself for the first time this year) but they have the experience from doing this long enough that has resulted in them having a stable work-life balance that doesn't cripple them via burnout.
This is exactly what I did during a project I took on which took 2 solid years to complete, it was so tiresome and tedious but i'm 2023 I lost all customers who dropped out for financial concerns (they didnt pay yet, ofc I didn't let them because of the tedious project I was working on which changes were requested about 12 times totaling a re-do of the pattern for 3 entire attempts). I thought i'd get a lot of views once it was complete, as it's a giant pokemon plush that's literally 11ft long. Apparently after all said and done I got hardly no views, no comments, no faves, lost those customers who were waiting to pay me and I haven't had a customer even come to me since, i've been out an entire year without a single commission after I worked myself so much that I had no life. Basically no hobbies and no relaxing, worked weekends and 12-14 hour shifts daily. I ended up with cash at the end but not the expectation of actually getting more customers/followers and such.
Such a drag lately this has been.
I had an artist have this kind of thing. I was in the queue for almost three years lol, but when I was up the commission was done in under a month. Stunning work both the time and money was 100% well spent, and I will order from them in the future.
Honestly that’s how I thought all artists and creatives did it? You typically have x amount of commissions you can take. When those are done you open the list again. Shocking that it wasn’t handled that way tbh.
@@xdani_thethinkingneko
Right. I always see artists saying they have X slots open or Not accepting rn. Which means they probably limit how many commissions they do.
My assumption is that he got incredibly greedy and lived outside of his means.
I'm an aspiring fursuit maker. And considering the track record of this happening cause this isn't the first time this has happened, I wanna make it like a goal to NOT do something stupid like this to basically end my career. Like come on people. Really?
Stories like this can be good learning opportunities of what not to do. I respect you striving to have good business practices!
I wanna make fursuits but don't have a job my parents don't like furries. My siblings also think it's a mental illness. :_b
Take one commission at once and if you need to take a break tell them that and explain why. Most importantly, give them updates.
Omg PATCHES!!! I MET YOU AT COMIC CON WHEN I FIRST BECAME A FURRY IN THAT UGLY WOLF MASK!
That's why there is a saying called learn from example. Learn to not do what these people do and don't fall into a trap of oh well it can never happen to me because XYZ. That would be a falsehood. the idea that someone is an exception to the rule that they can do the same thing as another person and have no negative repercussions from it. But logic dictates otherwise despite semantics one might try to argue.
Multicolor bark IS autumn fallings. Who had bad customer service and was gathering such a bad reputation they rebranded. I’m not even surprised in the slightest
Yeah they rebranded after people called them out about not taking anyone they weren't friends with for slots or just doing premades because they were such a big deal.... keep in mind this was a literal decade ago so a lot of the new furs don't know that lore
Thankful I only lost 4k when I lost contact with my maker (they went complete radio silence.) Never feels good to lose money in any setting. Stories like this kind of dissuade me from trying again.
I'm really sorry to hear that, it's sad how common stories like that are. There are still many amazing makers with good business practices, but it seems like it's important now more than ever to really look closely at their queue lengths, refund policies, and just be careful paying too much up front.
Damn. 4k is the exact same amount i paid (local conversion) and i still manage to get a fursuit (partial) mainly because my maker is local. I would seriously cry if my own $4k is lost if i were you. Hard work gone to waste.
4-fricking-thousand?!?! No way. Dude. Bring them to court!
Don't let that happen. 4k is enough to bring someone to claims court. Gather all evidence first, including any PayPal info/transaction info. Do a charge back if possible with evidence that service/product was never turned in for investigations.
Some banks honor transactions upto a year.
If the seller is silent it is possible they are scammers. You can also negotiate monthly payback if they don't want to deal with potential court & travel/court fees.
I have seen this happen at least 20 times.
Aye while we are talking about this, can we bring up Fur the Win? Many people, including myself, have been waiting for 6+ years with no progress on our suits. I've met people still waiting after 8 years from them. :) Would really love to see the fandom talk about this more!!
I commissioned FTW 6 years ago when I was 17 for a full digi suit. 6 years later, and only the head has any progress on it. :) Which is just enough that as per their terms of service, I cannot get a refund. The head was completed 5 years ago. 😚 No other part of the suit was even started.
I've heard multiple people even say their suits from FTW were unwearable when they first got them. This company is definitely a scam!!
I'm having a similar experience with One Fur All, I commissioned a partial from them and paid it off in full 5 years ago. I haven't heard anything from them, last I asked for an update they said everything was delayed due to covid
@@Nightfoxmoon Damn, One Fur All are still going? I remember Quakefox's OFA tracker. Huge website. The last time I looked there were people who had been waiting what would now be about 15 years for their suits. Others had left the fandom and cited being scammed by OFA as part of their reason.
These stories are so sad :( I would be devastated if this happened to me. Not getting a suit AND losing money. damn
Jax being in debt is impossible. I checked how much money, Yamishizen makes in a year and it's roughly $110,000. And they charge $10k for full suits. Jax makes on average $15k on a full suit commission. They're making WELL above the average person a month.
their new auction reached 19k (didnt see if it hit 20, but last time i looked it was 19k, then the bids was cleared after the auction ended)
isn't yami also kinda sketchy tho?
As a maker myself, its so infuriating how poorly someone can run a business knowing that they are considered a top tier maker. It seems that they treat it more as a hobby than an actual business and this is heavily reflected in their practices. It just shows that greed was a factor which snowballed into what we're facing today. And to completely ghost your customers for them to only hear from you when you make your apology statement is truly pathetic. I feel no sympathy for them whatsoever and they deserve everything thats coming for them.
I’m mean yea that’s 16000 dollars stolen cash
@@Nessie31how can it be stolen $$ if this is what they've been doing since their business began?? So they screwed up and got a lot to make up for it, that doesn't make them thieves 🙄
Good Lord, what a couple of terrible takes here....
@@FrosteeWuskythey scammed their customers, scammers steal money, therefore scammer = thief
@@FrosteeWusky The maker did not intend to hand back the money, that's by definition a scam.
@@FrosteeWusky The irony of calling other people's takes terrible while yours sits here with zero likes and zero supporting comments... It's hilarious and kinda sad. You're an apologist with no solid backing to your argument.
Im gonna be honest, if MCB can make premades, why cant they make the fursuits that people commissioned from them? Its the same process, just different fur colors and if they have the foam to make premades then thats obviously not a cost they have to worry about. And this is one of the biggest fursuit makers in the fandom!! Im seeing a certain trend between the bigger fursuit makers in either dissappearing, ghosting customers or flat out not delivering suits that costed upwards of 20k, because MCB is not the first big fursuit maker to do this.
not every fursuit made is the same amount of effort but i see where you are coming from
fursuit making is probably not a reliable career if people are just giving up on their customers like this. not saying this is isn’t a result of their personalities like it takes two to tango and the burnout sounds insane
@@comfortme Sigh.... I'm sad to say though i've been a maker for ten years I haven't had a single commission since Dec 2022. I think it partly has to do with people not trusting anymore.
I'm not a fursuit artist, I draw/paint/make comics. Being creative in my own way is a lot easier than drawing what someone else wants. I could bang out 30 drawings a day if it's what I wanted to draw but sometimes you get really tired of drawing This-one-guy's-really-specific-fetish (tm). The dread can be debilitating. If you are basically stuck doing stuff for other people you might not even have time to do something fufilling. Or you might feel guilty for doing something you want if you have commissions waiting. And the treadmill of getting behind then trying to catch back up is very hard to get off and you get even more stressed about it. Normal jobs have paid vacation days. Artists really don't if we want to keep up and be able to afford to live.
There's no pressure, no one over your shoulder, no self doubt, when you create for yourself. I did a bunch of adoptables once and it was rather fun coming up with original ideas and just throwing them out there.
I also imagine making fursuits takes a long time and it's not just something you can make for fun on the side if it's also your job. Free lance art is very different from other jobs in that I doubt a nurse goes home and nurses for fun.
I'm not defending this person for spending the money but I don't think people understand that freelance art as job is very different from art as an expression of creativity. Even artists that work for companies have a 9-5, paid vacations, and can come home, disconnect from their jobs and create art they want to. Unless they work at places that are underpaying/overworking them and people would agree working all hours of the day is criminal... unless you're freelance. Then you're expected to.
@Eternalskyy It makes me so sad to see this. Scammers get the big money, while real artists struggle. I myself am not a fursuit maker but I like to design characters and their outfits. I only ever attempted to buy a suit once and was ghosted, thankfully the maker had me set up to do payments when they updated me but I had paid half of the suit and then only got so much of that back because of everything. I personally know I myself am just nervous and very broke after scrounging funds for so long and now just unable to go through that again.
I agree with the burnout thing you said. It's an umbrella excuse too many use too often. It exists sure, but if you're burned out on whatever, stop taking new work and catch up on the queue THEN take whatever break you need or quit all together. Not just keep piling up problems.
And people wonder why I didn't go to a school or Collège for a line of work. i think I know myself and what I know is after I were to get out of the field of said education to get in the line of work I went to school for I know in due time I'll lose the passion and burnout from it and quit. And I will have wasted so much money for the education for a job I don't want to do anymore. So it was best for me not to even begin that route. That's what I say about this Fursuit situation. It's learn to get right with yourself and know yourself and really ask yourself can you really picture yourself doing this long term? Everyone gets tired of doing the same thing over and over at some point in their life. It be good to have a plan B or C just incase your passion you turn into a business to live off of doesn't work out.
This fursuit maker must not have thought this through and now it's a bad time to be burnt out of something because now they are getting burnt for how it affects their customers who paid hard earned money for a fursuit who may not get one now and deserve a refund.
Unfortunately, it's never that easy when bills need to be paid. That's not to say that going dark and continuing to take money is acceptable, but the solutions tend to be more complicated than merely "stop working". I'm fortunate that my burnout was simply me getting fired, begging my parents for a short-term loan to pay my rent, and finding a different career for a year while I recovered. We as a community really need to start teaching and sharing best practices to survive as independent business managers, rather than expecting creatives to wing it and figure shit out from scratch every time.
64 thousand US dollars is roughly equivalent to how much a telecommunications/electrical engineer in Australia gets paid annually after having at least ten years of experience in the industry on top of a university degree they spent 3 years on obtaining. Pretty much that’s a hundred grand a year in Australian dollars.
Unexpected medical issues would explain a lot of it.. I live ~15 minutes from an ER, a ambulance ride there is about 8.3K. An evening stay is about 13.8K. and a three day stay, typical for a diabetic, comes to ~52.3K.
So an unexpected hospital stay for a otherwise healthy person could easily consume a considerable amount of it. And recovery time afterward would likely eat up a large portion of the remainder, making it a scramble to get materials for projects
an ambulance ride is 8.3k??
like, $8,300??
@@Londonaviatior Only if you don't have insurance. US healthcare is a corporate scam. ua-cam.com/video/b43iUJI4_Ms/v-deo.html
@@Londonaviatior yep, for a fifteen minute ride, two paramedics, and supplies
Meanwhile, it's 125$ in Canada.......
@@lightdreamer_ and nothing in europe..
It does make sense to have to pay ahead of time for materials for the suit and the work afterwards. But at these numbers, without any work being done, that's just...too much. These people put their trust in the maker and I can only imagine that pain.
I just wonder what the deeper story here is. Genuine mismanagement, malice, something else entirely...I don't know, I can only guess.
I guess it does make sense to charge full price upfront in some cases but I feel like MCB are a big maker with lots of income from past commissions therefore they should have saved up for materials for new commissions. But i guess they haven’t since they are charging full price upfront which makes me think that they have not been responsible with the money from past commissions and haven’t saved up for materials for future ones hence the full price upfront
@@SentoHvn Maybe. Hard to know exactly what the true cause is.
If I recall, they said they were trying to make ends meet and then it wound up becoming too much. They got burnt out, needed to get more money to pay bills, and then before they knew it, the funds dried up then they needed to take more commissions. It became a loop from the sounds of it.
Among the more known fursuit makers, they all take payment 100% up front before work starts. Artists do the same for art commissions. Have to pay the artist in full before they’ll start a commission.
@@RainStorm13 At least when it comes to art comms I have experience. Some do take the money before they start, some take it in-between the sketch and the lineart, some take it afterwards. The last of which being the most dangerous, cause the person might just refuse to pay and/or ghost you after. That's always a thing. Had something similar happen to a friend, actually. So I do get it.
I'm a new furry, and with the amount of bad fursuit maker news I've heard lately, it makes me scared to commission a suit :(
I find research such as previous customer reviews, there experiences as well as reading the T&Cs of a fursuit maker helps. Most I've seen (here in the UK at least) will ask for a non-refundable deposit to cover materials; usually 50% then usually pay the rest upon completion; or in installments. Each maker has their own payment plans preferences.
Whilst it varies maker to maker one of the most important things to note is that a fursuit is a luxury not a need. It's a long term investment too considering a well made and looked after one can last for years.
For me personally I would rather pay it installments knowing I can see progress instead of sending the full amount.
Challenges like these aren't exclusive to our fandom, but thankfully, such cases are relatively rare. It might not always seem that way, but it's important to remember that for every negative story shared, there are likely over 100 positive experiences that go unnoticed. My advice is to thoroughly research suit makers and reach out to their past clients for feedback. Many of us are open about who crafted our suits and are eager to share our experiences, whether we recommend a maker or not.
When considering a maker, prepare a comprehensive list of questions to ask. If a maker seems unresponsive, provides limited information, or doesn't adequately address your queries, they might not be the right fit for you.
To those new to the fandom and looking for a fursuit, my most crucial advice would be to take your time. I understand the excitement and eagerness to get a suit, but it's essential not to rush the process. Choose the right maker, ensure you're financially prepared, and exercise patience. Remember, even without a suit, you are a valued and cherished member of our community. We're all happy to have you with us!
I am also a "new" furry. Joined the fandom a little less than a year ago. Along the road got to meet a lot of new people. And before I commisioned a suit I asked around people who'd be a good maker for my partial. Got a lot of recommendations but my budget was pretty tight.
At the end I commissioned a small maker who has not been making suits for long, but does absolutely stunning work :) Also wasn't too bad (around 1k€ for a minipartial).
I am kinda new (was a semi furry 2016 to 2020) furry but rejoined in 2022 and i just got my fursuit in last November.
As to how i did, i checked their TOS, reputation and local. That's how i did.
If you really want it to be safe, always commission a local fursuit maker. That way, you don't need to be worried if he or she is scamming you and the authorities will handle it.
Engage your inner chad, and build your own fursuit.
As someone who’s taking a law class right now I can definitely see all the charges and lawsuits that would come of this. I also see this as someone with medical knowledge, so I would also partly sympathize with MCB about burn out, but they shouldn’t have taken the money. This is just my opinion.
You can use burnout as an excuse to not work on something, but that requires you to refund the person for it.
Imo it's perfectly valid and healthy to realize that burnout (also a deep depression can cause you stop working as well) is stopping you from fulfilling something. If someone has paid for it and you know you're just not able to do it at that moment then refund them and I'm sure they would understand. Even offer a new spot to replace the lost one when you're ready to get back to commissions.
On top of that you need to stop taking on any other commissions, it's just piling up work and causing more stress for you and the customer.
Fursuit makers need to make one at a time and not to accept any more whilst making one
Exactly how I do it. It works for me. People get greedy
Yeah after I had 2-year long queues in the past I cut to only 2-3 projects at a time if they were full suits. I'm not seeing any commissions are all since late 2022 though, i'm not a social media person so everyone flocked to elsewhere
There’s no way i’ll get more than 1 in a queue. Fursuits take months to make, and i can only think about one at a time.
@@crayonzii Yes they really do especially digitigrade, even when you've made a dozen suits.
I've been doing commissions Anime, Ren Fair, Cosplay for about 20+ years, and have done 3 fursuits and dozens of fursuit parts like tails and paws. I only take 1 commission at a time and don't take another until the previous one is completely done! ... and the customer is happy with the product! i think this is the best way to produce top quality commission stuff. You also only have to deal/talk to 1 person at a time and give them your total attention and nobody else. I require the cost of materials upfront and 20% of the total cost to get started. This is a good way to do business - if the customer is unable to pay the full amount within a reasonable time upon completion they don't get the commission until it's paid in full. There's some negotiation but not much, I do expect to be paid though because if I'm working on your commission - I'm probably not doing anything else in terms of "work"... so I do need an income also. Ideally the commissions will be paid 50% at the start and 50% half way through, that way when it's completed it's yours immediately. :) I hope that helps some of you newer makers! (I've completed all my commissions in 3 months or less - even the most difficult customers that change their colors 4 times half way thru!)
Dont forget that they reauctioned a spot when a commissioner in their queue passed away! On top of that from what I read they kept the money from the initial commissioner too! Talk about double dipping!
What does that have to do with anything? Why would they keep a deep person in their queue? And as for the money, it is theirs, it belongs to them, they were paid for a service, but the commissioner died, so it belongs to them now
if she was really burntout and not lying she would have removed them from the que and worked on the next persons suit, instead they sold the slot that was in front of other waiting people. @@Age_Of_The_Stars
honestly what are they to do? refund a dead person? i can see the auction being disrespectful but it’s just business. people crawl all over each other for a chance to enter queue. disagree with everything they’ve done but i honestly don’t see anything wrong with this. if it were any other maker, doesn’t matter
no what they do is they keep the spot empty and work on the next person in line obviously. Instead they not only took another persons money knowing they were overburdened, but also let that person have priority over living people who were still waiting.@@comfortme
I absolutely agree with everything you said, down to the specifics. This isn't a hot take, this is just common sense.
I have worked with a fursuit maker in the past, and i'm looking at one for a future commission, where they take 30% up front to secure the slot and buy materials. Which is still a significant chunk of money, the maker I'm looking at will charge £4000/$5000 for the fullsuit commission so that'll still be a good £1500 up front, not chump change at all. But then you're able to pay in installments as the suit gets completed. However it does give you that assurance that until work is completed, they won't have the full sum. Nor is that final sum, at the very least, the same price as a decent CAR.
My opinion is that no suit should cost this kind of money (>$15k), it's price gouging practices and like you say, they only have to complete 4 suits a year and they're earning VERY significant income. I know for a fact, having lived with a fursuit maker previously, it does not take 3 months for a fullsuit, even a really fancy one, if that's the sole project on the go. Easy livings there.
This comes back to lack of accountability and poor business practices from start to end. If a maker demanded full payment up front, i'd cancel the commission immediately. Big red flag.
First of all this was so well done!
Second this is so prevalent in the community now it’s unreal. This happened to my partner. Twice!! He waited over a year and a half the first time. The maker went from minimal contact and short response to completely no contact. He asked for a refund. Asked for WIP. Nothing. They only finally got back to him on one of the last days before the PayPal judgement was going to side in his favour. Which of course because of the length of time only covered half of the amount.
After that incident he went to another maker explained that everything that happened and said look I got screwed around for a year. I just want a partial by FWA (which was like 8 months in the future at that point) make said yeah that’s problem. All of the sudden around Christmas time they start making weird posts on social media about having money issues, personal problems all the while still listing new premades and showing off WIPs for premades. Finally last week my partner asked again is this going to be done, how far are you? Hadn’t even started working on it yet. Found out afterwards there are a bunch of people waiting on him for over a year.
This is my biggest issue with these makers. I understand burnout. But you can’t use that excuse when you’re making and selling premades and showing up at cons.
Even the response from this maker doesn’t make sense. “I’m going to continue to make premades to make the money to refund you” ahhh why don’t you just complete their suit then?!?
It makes this whole situation sketchy and I’m so nervous to commission anyone for my own suit now.
Damn and here I am with ten years of experience unable to even get a commission since dec 2022.... With ability to start in late july right off the bat. I'm not sure why all these people with money keep going to makers who dont give a crap about the customers or aren't honest with themselves.
Do you mind sending a DM over to me? I'd love to work with you on a suit for you. I literally haven't received a commission since dec 2022 and I could literally order materials the same week as payment and start working in August/late july with installments up to end of the year. I'm a maker of 10 yrs of experience.... But don't have 'social media' popularity. My queue is all dried up. Everything I do is very different from typical makers after being burned in the past, personally, which is entirely why I do what I do. I don't want to let someone down, I have plenty of past clients, one of which commissioned me 3 times in a row.
As a maker myself, I only request the money for material up front. Then the rest can be paid off month by month. I would never expect someone give me $10k+ and then not do any work
What really bothers me is, that MCB only spoke up AFTER the customers posting about taking legal action and whole Twitter pets her head and is like "great of you speaking up, do better next time, you're awesome!" wth? If the customers said nothing MCB would have said nothing...
I eat hand sanitizer 👍
:o SAME!!
Me too
Great
Same
I may not eat hand sanitizer but I do eat smth similar
✨S O A P✨
I do feel a bit sorry for Multicolorbark, but maybe they could have done, what you explained with half payment up front. Or only taking a few commissions or only when they are in a financially stable position. Burnout can be tough, especially when paired with anxiety, stress, and depression.
this burnout wouldve never happened if they knew how to pace themselves to begin with before queuing 20+ people
They should have went with small amount of people and yea half payment to at least be a deposit
Don't feel sorry for them. Make dumb business decisions and you deserve the flak and call out.
personally, in terms of payment, the way i'd do it is have the material cost listed as a non refundable deposit one the work began. like the moment the material is bought.
in the limbo state, raw mats sitting but not crafted, a order cancelation would not get the deposit back however they could pay the shipping fee to have the raw mats sent to them.
once work is started, then the shipping option for the raw mats is gone with the deposit. the mats would then be used to complete the project in a pre made state and then sold/ auctioned. some modifications may be made.
if the order is to proceed though then the cancelation option goes away and the order would be brought to completion and shipped.
so to clarify, to enter que, just the raw mats plus tax etc would be the down payment.
to begin the work the remaining payment would be required.
They are making 16k a suit. Don't feel bad for them.
Greymuzzle here, when I got my suit back around 2010 I paid the deposit first then the rest on completion (yes it took 1.5 years but it got completed) I'm not sure how or when that changed but I would never pay for a full suit upfront, just seems a little strange to me. 'Caveat emptor' (Buyer beware)
this is crazy... i took commissions when i was 10-13 with undiagnosed ADHD and ended up just totally scamming people out of money (like $25 total with 5 people) and is the WHOLE reason i don't do commissions 6-9 years later bc i STILL don't think i could do it due to mental and physical health. these are the excuses i made when i was 11 on why i couldnt complete someones $5 commissions. regardless if its true or not, its 100% just them trying to get sympathy.
i know the issue has been "resolved" but i dont know why people are acting like them finally deciding to just work on the suits is some kind of win. someone has been waiting 1.5 years? if theyre burnt out and its 'affecting their suit quality' what makes people think they are gonna be getting their suits in the next 10 years or if it's gonna be high quality??? idk. people are acting like they're super awesome for taking accountability but it still just leaves a sour taste in my mouth idk
i'm so glad I opted to make my own suit. its going to take longer but theres no risk of never getting it, I know its status, and i get to take pride in what I create.
Taking an absurd amount of Commissions at one time creating a long bloated queue and then lazily staggering out progress on the work they're being paid to do and whining about burn out and unhappy clients seems to be pretty common across all of art/craft twitter.
I absolutely adored this maker and am saving up to get a suit from a maker one day but seeing this has kind of just put me back to feeling rather down about the community as a whole. I just read another beware post about Cove-Palms/critterscove !
Edit: Thank you for covering this maker’s issues!
honestly same here. my recommendation is to look into smaller makers, research them and find the one that you think is the most reputable. its a little more affordable, it won't be MCB quality but it'd be still decent quality, and built to last, and you'd be less likely to have to wait for an extremely long time.
@@Its_AsteriaAhah i'm sure my quality is just as good if not more durable at least than MCB. My newest suit is a husky undergoing work in progress phases right now, i'm a maker of 10 yrs. I have no queue at all sadly since dec 2022....
I'm just starting up my fursuit business and this kinda thing is extremely upsetting. When someone who is seen as one of the best suit makers in the business does stuff like this and hurts people's trust, it affects all makers and has people be extra cautious when commissioning anyone!
I actually got into fursuit making because I had something similar happen to me (luckily only $5k, not $16 but it's still pretty bad). I'm glad I went through and still am going through that situation because I learned what not to do with my business going forward. I only plan on taking a max of 3 slots at a time with premades in-between, selling at cons and also making other products so that I have something to fall back on just in case that isn't commissions dependent, and only taking payment for materials up front and getting paid for the rest of the commission after the lining is finished (that way if they don't pay the rest then I can easily turn it into a premade).
I know my limits and what I can handle. I think it helps that I'm almost 30 as well and have worked professionally, but would rather work on stuff I'm passionate about. It sucks when some of the biggest makers out there who we look up to as inspirations mess up this badly and hurts the community like this...
Trying to mess with furries is usually a bad idea. We often have the money or computer skills to fight back, or at the very least know a furry who does.
But a fur suit maker ripping off furries is a terrible idea. Literally biting the hand that feeds you.
So true lol
Just the thought of the existence of scammer furries makes me really sad.
Ikr, like if we can afford a 16,000$ suit then we can afford a 10$ pipebomb
As a maker, I HATE how so many makers just don't know how to run a business? Like honestly its not hard. If you can't be financially stable and run a business without losing your customers money, maybe don't be a full time maker maybe? I work a full-time job and part-time make fursuits and I don't need to touch my commissioners money untill they have received their work.
I think a lot of the problem is the fact that the demographic of fursuit makers is very much not a demographic of businesspeople. It's all artists, and it's very easy to get into being a professional fursuit maker without substantial knowledge of how to run a business. That is, until it blows up in your face.
Bruh mcb literally said “as an unexperienced maker” (5:30) obviously, that’s a poor excuse, considering how many suits there are of theirs and how much they are in demand. You were anything but unexperienced, you just took advantage of your customers that were so willing to pay you. The only thing you give them in return for their money is bullshit. I really hope things turn out good for the customers and multicolored bark’s business practice.
O
Shit. I wanted to commission them for YEARS until they rose their prices to 10k. They had some other stuff that went on years ago which was called out but quickly swept under the rug by popular artists that commissioned them. FYI, they were known as AutumnFallings in the past!
That 22k fursuit partial situation already had me suspicious of this maker. I mean, 22k is a crap ton of money, and altho I know it was a bid, I personally just do not think that partial (or really any partial tbh) is worth that much, and I’m always a little wary of makers/artists that allow their bids to get that out of control. (Remember that one 20k closed species commission?) That’s just my personal opinion. But with this new info coming out… yeah I wouldn’t trust MulticolorBark anymore. Where the hell did over $60k go? How could it just vanish?
paying part of the price upfront is actually really common practice for freelance work. it helps artists not get scammed, which is unfortunately very common. once youve finished the work the client can just decide not to pay, or decide they dont want it anymore, but the artist already put in the time, energy, and funds to create the work.
Multi color bark made my suit and it’s surprising to see them in a vid
Firstly, this is the most cohesive and unbiased reporting of a questionable fandom member, so thank you for that. It's inspiring!
I am EXTREMELY disappointed in what they've done. They set a standard for fursuit makers to actually charge a living wage and more for their skilled labor, and they've squandered the generosity of the fandom. Because of their fumble, suitmakers at large are now set back and scrutinized even if we've done no harm. I noticed how you group suitmakers at large when talking about burnout, and it really sucks that that's the impression that suitmakers have come to have. It is also unbelievable that 64k was spread out over only FOUR suit comms (perhaps more, but if one costed 16k, it can be assumed it's single digits) and they couldn't even fulfill that.
Makers are stuck in a rock and a hard place because the materials costs a LOT of money to begin with, and because it is a custom made project, if the buyer backs out or misses a payment etc, you are out of potentially months of money and work unless you get extremely lucky and can sell it off as a premade. Premade parts are not selling well right now, unless you have a following. Making it so the only logical solution is to require full payment before starting - thus making it easier for clients to be scammed if the maker decides they don't want to deliver.
It seems like there should be a better solution for both parties, but there really isn't. Unless we collectively agree to make it socially acceptable to charge back at 180 days, when PayPal ends buyer protection, if charging back through a bank isn't pheasable.
I agree with you on "burnout". Unless you haven't taken money, it shouldn't exist nor be a valid excuse. As a newer maker who does it as a hobby with a different full-time job, I'm a little stressed myself with my current queue, however I could not imagine a debt like this over only a handful of suits, when that is your full time JOB.
I wonder if there is a kind of "middle man wallet" type of virtual saving account where customers can make their payments, while also not giving the makers access to the money until the commission is completely done. That way the makers can see the customer is paying them, but it will also give the customer security by knowing their money is never going to be gone until they receive their product. I don't know like anything about a running a business, much less an expensive and time consuming commission based business, so I don't know what would be the best practices and what good companies use, but I think this would be a good way to go about it imo.
@@ShiitaKitsune64 I really like that and agree! I think it would be important for makers to be able to access some of the funds immediately to order materials, but otherwise yes.
for me i dont understand a 16000 dollar suit at all. i get it, its your life and your money, and while their suits are really nice, you can also get a REALLY nice suit for less than a third of that price. ideally i want to get into fursuit making in the future, and if i ever get around to it, id never let something like this happen, id probably only have one client at a time to prevent the queue from getting too big. id just force myself to work on a single project at a time until its finished.
Glad to hear how well thought out this video was and demonstrating a fair understanding of business practices.
I've come across a lot of aspiring fursuit makers and wish to say that I too want to make great fursuits.
I already have my own retail business selling kitchen equipment to restaurants, hotels, and catering companies and have to say it has been a fun and great experience but I don't find it fulfilling.
I don't really share interest in cuisine or cooking. My calling has been fursuit making and writing. I was just a teenager when I gave it a go so I was quite proud of the fursuit head I sculpted. I haven't been able to get back into it but now that I have capital I do want to try it.
With my business experience I know that it is advantageous to ask for the money upfront. Personally, I'd never take on doing a fursuit unless I got a down payment on all the materials and billed hourly wages for just the head. I dont know what could happen but at least I know I can complete the most important piece of the fursuit in case there is never enough time to finish a whole body.
It is a bit scary to be working by yourself though, that I'd tell you. I've never got bad burnout to the point I don't work. Maybe feeling responsible sits so heavy on my shoulders and I am incapable of making excuses... But no one to back me up if I am unable to complete work on time? At the same time hiring or even training a partner who can just backstab me isn't an option. The only strategy I see is having at max 4 people in queue. I can reasonable see myself doing 4-5 fursuits a year and planning my living expenses accordingly.
Where MulticolorBark went wrong is I believe they had high cost of living, or after some success they lived more lavishly, and did not put the money they were getting aside to save up. Counting on future projects to come in is never a good idea. My business cant survive on that model due to how easy it is to get a project cancelled. They should have looked at some cost-cutting measures once they noticed they couldnt work as many hours and update their pricing to reflect the longer wait time. If people know they get some kind of discount and expect it in 3 years a few might still be willing to queue up. Maybe it will get even more customers. And the actual queue is 2 years even at the burn out pace.
I myself notice I need a long break to recharge and a new business to pursue. If I can sell my business at cost that'd be amazing, if only there were reasonable bidders. Started with $30,000 and now after 6 years it is worth $1,125,000 and doing well enough.
I'd give it up to have a 2-4 year getaway from reality. I want to play games like Skyrim which I never got to finish when it came out. Probably take actual classes for drawing/sculpting. I want to spend a year in harsh Alaska and the Scottish Highlands to get some inspiration for a book I want to complete. And I have some health issues that need me to destress.
2030. If this video is stull up then I will come back to it. 2030 is going to be my year where ive had my break and developed my skills. Huh ill be 33/34.
burnout is a valid excuse, however, in this case - it is not. If they were burnt out they should of let people know, closed commissions and done something about it. Not hide it, take people's money and then make excuses for it.
No it isn’t, not if you took a persons money.
Stop all new orders, finish the jobs you took on, and then stop. You don’t get to stop until you have provided a complete product.
@@eninacur Nailed it!
I am not a apart of the furry fandom at all- but I am unbelievably fascinated by it! And have a few online friends who are.
This situation sucks so much- I have dealt with something similar to this, but I’m a much smaller scale. I commissioned an artist to create some art for a project and paid 180 in total for two pieces. I did get one but never received the other one.
The artist completely ghosted me and two years later am still kinda upset about it.
I love this channel. Thanks for always making great quality videos!
completely off topic but i LOVE ur character's design sm.. its so pleasing to look at
I haven't experienced issues with makers (i dont own a suit) HOWEVER i've been experiencing similar issues with artists. I have waited nearly 3 years for one piece I had paid for back in 2021. I hear little to nothing for a year, received a sketch finally. had some problems arise that had to change the commission due to selling one of the characters in it, and so i messaged the artist to refund as its been over a year, with no progress and one of the characters in the piece was no longer relevant--they said they couldn't refund but could revise it. I agreed and then had nothing up until mid last year, and i did receive the commission finally a couple months ago but for the longest time i thought i'd never see it.
That being said, I'm currently dealing with a situation from a well known artist with whom i won a ref sheet auction from back in march 2023. and received no information on it or wip until i bugged them about it 7 months later. (im pretty sure they forgot/ threw it together in a night) as a wip. i then requested them to change the most minor thing and didnt receive a response for another month with an update to that one small thing i requested, it's been over a month now since then and i havent received anything, not even a text update on things etc...but all the while im seeing them put out same day in-stream commissions, or taking commissions, and posting almost daily... it's very frustrating to have paid for something and to see that it just keeps getting pushed further and further with nothing to say for it. i literally have to bug them multiple times to get them to respond. it's like....im struggling right now and i wish i had the money i spent on something almost a year ago now and still dont have.
UPDATE: the character for whom the reference sheet I was waiting for belonged to my ex. We broke up in January 2024 and so obviously I don't think he deserves the commission I paid for..so i contacted the artist for a refund, as it's been nearly a year with no other progress being made.
Said I couldn't get a refund but offered an alternative. I agreed and I've still gotten nothing, not even a sketch or an update on when they will have something.
Yeah this kind of thing is a lot more common than people think, just not usually with this amount of money. I personally have lost a little over 4000$ in commissions in the past 6 years because of artists taking 6-8 monthes before "starting" and then claiming burnout or a plethora of other reasons (most common being wrist broken and tablet being broken. Those two have been used on me 20+ times now) and thrn either not refunding me, or partially refunding me and sending me an incomplete drawing that cant even be considered my character. Or, yknow, just ghosting me, blocking me, or deleting their accounts. Even worse, i only commission artists that have been recommended to me. They always wait too long for me to take legal action or its just not worth taking thrm to court since most of them were between 80-160$. I've been told that i need to just wait in line for those popular artists and just hope i get in in under a year but it is completely unreasonable to be able to hold that amount of money for that long when you only make minimum wage. It takes me 4 months just to have 200$ of playmoney, if something doesnt come up
Honestly, I think putting down base price for materials, THEN once started to some extent the rest sent is much more fair, or even half sent until it’s half finished, etc. breaking up payments would be easier to refund & easier for the buyer
I keep thinking to myself that I should get into the business, with two others. One who's a sketch artist, the other who can cut and trim the materials and I can sew them. What I kept thinking is an upfront charge to keep a slot, that'd be used to cover the expenses of the suit itself as well as future shipping of the suit. This would be the bare minimum amount for this, depending on the buyer's wishes on how they want it done.
And then come up with a price plan for labor, which could be a flat rate across the board. I figured $2,000 USD for each of us ($6,000 USD total) for a full suit could be a good starting point. After all, it wouldn't be an every-day job, could tackle a suit once a month and that would still be a livable wage. at least for my area. The labor costs would be expected only when the suit is ready to ship. The suit was completed, and it literally just needs to get boxed up and shipped out.
That way, it could even be stored in case the buyer finds themselves unable to pay the labor costs for whatever reason.
This is also entirely taken from someone who's never designed a fursuit, and has no idea what actually goes into it on a commercial level.
I've been wanting to start getting into fursuit commissions, and when I went through a rough time and wasn't able to finish my last suit, I immediately refunded 100% and I still felt so guilty for wasting the guy's time 😭
I get the idea that if you're not feeling good about a current project, you could jump ahead to the next one so you can afford to refund the first, but jeez you can't keep piling on more and more like that, especially knowing you're already feeling burnt out and probably can't finish the current projects 😭
The art block, the burnout. As an artist we have them, but, there are ways to relieve them. I take 1 day off during a pre-burnout to mentally recover or sometimes make space for something personal. I also limit myself to work 8hours instead of 12-16hr days except on rush services (which are also limited).
Take too long of a break and it's poison like derailing a train, falling off as the conductor and trying to hop on again. The train is going to keep going, the bills and rent ain't stopping for you. Your basic needs for food and water probably won't stop for you more than a day.
Letting the long break and derailing happen is also irresponsible if you're an adult and it's happened more than once operating on a larger project income. Even after my car accident with a spine fracture I resumed 3 weeks how ever I could manage. Even after breaking my fingers on my main hand I resumed 2 weeks after with one hand how ever I could manage. Claiming burnout but also keeping the money without completing the project is nothing short of incompetence, irresponsible behavior, and abuse of customers. It is a very bad business practice and one shouldn't be in business if they can't expect to manage their business properly to be able to atleast reverse transactions.
Yes there are often overhead costs, but you should be able to reserve funds if you're noticing the train is starting to loose its track and you know you're going to call it quits on those projects. In hardships of like 10 projects you can cut the tailend of 2-4 and refund their money. This way it's much easier to manage the ones that need to get done despite a set back.
Handling a business is not like going to work as a employee for another business. Different animals, different responsibilities. Many people aren't cut to manage a business so with this in mind, they should not have a business if it is not managed well and instead should be an employee with a stable income without worry about project deadlines/financial management.
Wow it’s so Werid to see this
I hope everyone that was affected by this gets there stuff they want
I really, seriously doubt they will. MCB is very likely to drag out a 'proposed timeline' for things, and then just start adding more and more time onto it before going dark on communication.
You'll also probably see them all of a sudden have pre-made partials ready to go up magically for auction sales, and then they'll go radio silent immediately again after the auction ends and they collect the money.
They are NOT to be trusted ever again with anything ever in the future. It is very safe to assume there is an ulterior motive behind anything they do from now on into the future.
I hate when I see artist's that go "I don't have the money I spent it on bills!" What bills do you have that easily equate to 60k? Do they genuinely believe that other people would accept this as fact?
Ive never spent anywhere near 60k in my lifetime and I have groceries and bills too
We got scammed from a maker a number of years ago at this point, it sucks. Paid in full, should never do that, fortunately it was only like $3600 I think? This was back when fursuits were reasonable (in my opinion). Months between contacts, same old sob story of I'm broke, I have no money, I have other people to refund, I'll make pre-mades and get you money in a queue based on available funds. Felt bad every time I asked for an update, like I was badgering the person, finally got like $50 back I think? and haven't really pursued it since, figure it's pretty much a lost cause at this point. Fortunately, It was student loan money, so like, Never going to pay all of that off anyway, so whatever. It just sucks though for customers and makers alike. Then it is harder to trust any future maker whith your money nest time you want a commission. I have a few people that never delivered art too, but least we're only talking $50, $75, not multiple thousands of dollars. I also never got the part about I'll sell a pre-made and give you some of the money. Like 1) no you probably won't, cus reality is you need that to live and don't have it, but 2) if you're willing to make a suit, why not just work on the commissions you already have...? oh right because that takes us back to 1), you need more money cus you're broke, can't afford to make a suit and not get anything out of it since you only have the energy for either pre-made or the commission, and likely don't even have the money available to buy the materials for the commsion without making a pre-made with stuff you might already have. So I guess I do get it, but still it's annoying.
Damn if I had $3600 to throw away like that.... Lmao I haven't had a commission since dec 2022 now, just still waiting.
You are an absolute Saint for making this video. I had given up on any furs complaining about popular makers and artists ponzi schemes like this.
Nailed it A+ for the video. And to all the good makers and artists, I'm sorry that these poor actors give your profession a bad name. It's worse then the used car sales market ...
Wow. This is something I have to think about when I commision my suit. I think that whether or not a maker is burned out, they should at least tell their clients if there will be any interruptions in making their suits. That's the professional business way to run things. MCB should at least take out a loan or some sort to refund clients and customers if the suits are taking more time. At least show them you care, that's how it works and should work. That's all I can say for now. Great video and keep up the awesome job. Have a happy 2024
What type of suit would you commission? :)
@@Eternalskyy No preferance at this time.
@@IorekByrnison086Ohhh? Hm, I'm wondering where to get a commission to work on this year honestly.
@@Eternalskyy I see. It depends on your price.
@@Eternalskyy Oh, sorry. Misuderstood your question. To answer that, you can go online and look for makers. Or if you are attending a convention, there are lots of artists and dealers in the den that you can look. Just ask around, who knows, you may find one.
Not just as a suit maker, but as someone who does commissions, it’s important to set a realistic number for yourself of what you’re able to accomplish in a period of time. Once you reach that number, close your commissions and only work on those. Only when your finished with those should you open commissions again
“But I need to make money to live-“ then make sure you’re charging what will sustain you through finishing those commissions and then some as a safety net. Being able to give stuff out for cheap is fine, but being able to afford to live is better in the long run.
Not related to the video, but I'd like to say that I love your clothing shop. Some subtle merch in there might be cool. Hope you can go big with it one day
Thank you for bringing up what no one is talking about, as I have also been scammed by a supposed fursuit maker in a similar way. To be honest I don't even think the maker was real, I'm not hating on any fursuit makers. I think fursuit are worth every penny, but please make sure your customers payment method is secure, so that any money that is sent over without anything in return can be returned to the customer.
As a fursuit maker, I really want to be top tier. But I'm not doing stupid things.
i dont take fursuit commissions yet but i do take part commissions and i can say I would never think its fair to take their money ages before even starting a commission. like you said about maybe a smaller deposit to reserve a spot- sure that makes sense, but im only gonna take the full payment once im actually ready to start working. There is good reason we take payment before doing the work, so we cant get bailed on, in a case where we cant even take legal action against someone just for wasting our time (unlike how they can take legal action if we take their money,) but it truly makes no sense when big makers want to take full payment for work like MONTHS and months before they even DO any of the work! I hate that practice, it is so annoying. like, why do you even need to take on comms before you have time to do them? its not like if you wait until you have time then suddenly no one is gonna take a slot, from one of the most famous makers in the entire fandom.
You also have a responsibility to manage your customers when youre a business owner. period, its THAT simple. there is NO ONE and NO THING to blame for this situation besides themself for not managing their business properly. I get that things get tough but thats no excuse to blame your poor management on when youre doing it at the expense of other people. they need to just suck it up and take responsibility. its their fault for taking on work they couldnt do and then not even saving the money they were given for that work when it wasnt even done yet.
Keep adding those likes!
off topic but your avatar is so frikin cool, i never really looked at it like, LOOKED at it, and its absolutely amazing.
Guys, cutting foam and sewing faux fur isn't NEARLY as hard as you think it is. You can make a top-tier suit for 5-10% of the retail price with some practice and patience. Do not waste your money on fursuit makers, especially when tutorials are out there to make exactly what they're making.
"This really is not the internet's business".
You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.
I remember a tweet saying "Doing fursuit making as a full time job is a bad choice" and now that I think about it they are right. if you're by yourself making fursuits full time things are gonna get out of hand one way or another, it's like what MCB said you have to take on multiple commissions to live but at the same time can't even get a single fursuit done but have about 20 more in your queue. (IMO) Fursuit making should be a side job unless you have a team of people helping you and then that can be a whole different story.
If you have good business practices and don't spend all money immedediately, you can do it. I do it for 5y now and works fine. Not the fursuit making as a job is the problem. the person running the business is.
I agree. I had up to a 2 yr queue at one point. I kept it down to 1 year after that. Sadly I haven't seen a single commission since dec of 2022 now.... Kind of just sitting around with making a personal project and if nothing happens I guess i'm done? No idea.
taking payment up front, usually half, with half on delivery, is standard in every industry that does custom work of any kind. full payment up front is also extremely normal. source: i am not a fursuit maker but know many of them and do custom creative work myself
this doesnt lessen the fuckiness of this situation i just wanted to make a note of it since you seemed to think it was unusual. this maker is fucking up regardless. thanks for the vid
I’m a lawyer. I watch this video. I am convinced I chose the wrong career lol
You can pay for good fursuit materials at the start tho
@@Enrommietru lol
@jamesriccards7545hayoo
Wow. Just...wow. This is a shock to find out. For literally years, I have been planning to save up to over $10K to commission this maker. She was the IDEAL maker for the character I have in mind. She, so far, would be the only maker who would bring my character to life most accurately. For a while, now, I've been like "Maybe I should also find an alternative maker in case something happens to Multicolorbark" so I have been looking for more makers. I'm so glad I've had this mindset! XD
The most disappointing part of the whole situation is that it's kind of not the first time she did this, according to her recent tweets. I now believe I understand why the search "AutumnFallings drama" exists.
She certainly should stick with just hosting auctions for premade if this pretty much happened twice.
Off to find another maker! :')
Hello! :3 I'm around.... I have a husky project i'm working on and it'll hopefully shine a light on a great canine style to show now that I'm modifying bases instead of making my own. I hope people take notice.
i love ur channel man keep it up ! 🔥
I’m going to become a fursuit maker soon, and I’m in the process of making my first premade to get things started. I’ve mapped out a portion of how I plan on doing my commissions. I will require half the payment upfront so that I can pay for the materials as well as have a small amount of income. For a partial/mini partial I would give them expect to be shipping in three months. But try to do it as fast as possible while still having good quality. By as fast as possible, I mean I made a full suit, my first full suit, plus the head, feet, and holy crap big wings, in one month while working a day job. So if I dedicated all my free time to fursuit a I could honestly get out one head a week if I really applied myself. And that wouldn’t be sacrificing any quality, but that would be just the head.
But yeah I would not get the full payment until the item is prepared to ship.
And starting out I wouldn’t take more than a couple commissions at a time (if I even get commissions) and make sure not to overwhelm myself. The three month production time would allow me lots of wiggle room as well. But I’m not planning on taking commissions for full body suits yet. I would like to wait until I have gained more experience
Money is crazy man
I don't make fursuits, but I do occasionally take on commissions, and I typically don't charge people until a certain point to ensure I can get them the product first BEFORE they have to pay (this doesn't include people new to my coms for trust reasons, but regardless its usually after a sketch even then). I have canceled coms due to incredible amounts of stress before and its nice not having to worry about the money. I get that with fursuiting, you might not have the luxury as you likely put that towards the cost of materials for the suit, but even then this is ridiculous. As they said, they did this to themselves, but there were ways to fix the situation in the beginning before it got this out of control. Make a wait list, take only one active commission at a time, make partials you can sell with left over material (if any) to make up for the lost funds. You should never keep people waiting this long ESPECIALLY if they pay the amount they do for these suits.
Your one of my favorite furry UA-camrs❤
As a fursuit maker myself I have had many issues where customers have asked to do payment plans or asked to just put a small payment for me to start the suit and alot of the times they would continuously miss payment due dates and come up with a lot of reasons why they can’t or won’t pay on time which causes me to have to stop on their commission until they can pay the next payment, I’ve had people pay 1 time less then a quarter of the prices and then miss 3 payments in a row which causes trust issues and makes me feel uncomfortable with continuing to work with them so I had to cancel the commission and ship out what was made that added up to the amount they paid for.. its stressful/rough to have to do stuff like that so I just ask for half or full up front, if I’m able to trust the customer enough I do payment plans where they pay 4-6 separate payments until the suit is fully paid. It’s very unfortunate that this maker has done that to people, it hurts my heart so see makers do that.. fursuit making is my passion and I can never see myself do that to anyone! I want to make sure the customer is happy/satisfied ☺️ it brings me joy to see the customers reactions to their character coming to life! That’s a big reason why I never give up and though I’ve had my minor burn out, it was never more then a day or 2! I get back up and going 😄 hopefully that maker can fix everything and make those people happy again!
Stopping the kids from saying first
$16K per fursuit??? That's more than I spent on my first two cars combined! It makes me wonder if in the future when the "furry industrial complex" is more established, that banks will give out fursuit loans. Or maybe there will be entire furry banks that will process these risky large-sum transactions.
love your content this is amazing
This huge mess is why
1. I only sell premades
2. If I decide to take slots, I will only take 1 or 2 at a time
Sweet vtuber avatar.
I love making fursuits, and this is why I'm extremely hesitant to do commissions (especially since I have a kiddo) and just probably going to stick to pre made suits. If the person wants to add a body suit to their partial then I can do that for them and that's probably as far as it'll go commission wise
I bet this comment from a furry won't get 3 likes.
*i'm the 3rd like.*
Ty guys
@@BecauseYesYT np
You're right, it's gonna get 4 likes not 3
When I feel burnt out, I remember a quote from one of my favorite books, "The reward for a job well done is another job"
dude thats crazy
I knew a Fursuit maker that took commissions and would just spend the money on herself then when the customers would get upset she would say I told them it would take a year or so I will worry about it then ..Made me feel sad.
I love your content nightzy keep up the great work :D
im not a furry or part of the fandom but i am a seamstress, its crazy how much is charged for a fursuit. always amazes me. I also feel like not enough care and security is given when it comes to the money these people hand over. like, dont egt me wrong, ppl gotta pay bills n shit, but u should not be blowing through 16k like that. sometimes i sell my sewing services and always only use around 20% of money recieved before making the profuct for personal things, i only use any left over once i have finished what i was payed to do.
One of best furry UA-camrs :3
I am making my first fursuit head, and oh my gosh this is going to be a hobby of mine at some point I know for sure.
Hopely the whole Drama will be over soon. I don't like Drama. I just wanna life my Life.
It's not "drama" though
My cat wouldn’t stop playing with the wagging tail on ur vtuber avatar lol
I always wanted to commission MCB cuz they make beautiful suits but i dont think ill ever be able to afford them, now i got another reason not to bother.
That being said, anyone know a decent maker that I could commission a full digitgrade suit with simple markings for $2500-3000 (maybe even $4000 if i sell an organ) that i wont have to wait a decade for?
I’d be able to, I’m on instagram under this username
That sounds like me, I only create 1-2 fursuits in a year and don't have a queue at all this year yet. I want to work on something this August if possible. Had nothing come in since Dec. 2022...
@@Eternalskyy what kind of suits can you do and what's your average price range?
@@TheUmbralWolf
I want to make some toony canines soon because I rarely got my hands on them as a species oddly enough. Pretty much any head base i'm given I can work with or any head base ordered. I am super happy with toony, kemono, masculine/fem/grumpy/toothy/tired expressions, magnetic features and everything just not muscles. I'm very used to receiving redlines on my work quite often, every step of the process and going through materials/samples. Usually I stray away from a lot of stripes and dots, I like sticking with about 5 strips or dots or color changes per SIDE of each item (like tail, hands, feet, cheek, arms, legs, body are all singular items)
My current prices are listed below... I can consider a little less if I love the design or its simplicity.
Heads: $1130 I can work with any eyes / bases possible; foam/3d printed, lined.
Paws: $300, $400 for seamless pawpads. Lined. Realistic and stuffed fingers offered as upgrade.
Feet: $300, removable memory foam slippers. Plush/foam base.
Tails: $45-$300+ (size dependent)
Body: $995 with belly color, $870 without.
Digitigrade: $600, $750 medium, $900 large.
10% off Artistic Liberty
@@Eternalskyy Hey that's perfect, my fursona is wolf and I've wanted him to be made into a cartoony style suit cuz i really love the look of those. And you're pricing is really reasonable especially since i want a digitgrade suit, my fursona is really simple and pretty much one solid color (black) aside from some color around the paws and feet, the marks around the eyes, and the eyes themselves of course. And I don't mind any artistic liberties, as long the original colors aren't removed (Black and Pink). I've wanted to make a few changes to him for a while now but i still have no idea what i want to add or change so any additions or changes are welcome as long as they don't make the cost skyrocket XD
Now, you said you wanted to start around August yes? I should have most of the money around then if my math is correct so want i wanna know now is if you can ship the suit out, and if you can what places you can and can't ship to. Oh and the payment method, can't forget that!
Hey I recognize that models art style! I've never seen anthro models from them that weren't their own pink fox- Looks great! ♡♡
First
kinda glad learned to sew so i never had to commission a suit. the first suit was not great but the 2nd one was decent and I just kept practicing. I was like 16 when I made my first good suit (I only made partials) so it's not like I worked full time nor did I have to pay rent or utilities.
1st view :O
Otherwise I love your avatar
I love your google picture, what exactly is the flag on the left side?
@@DA_FOX547 ah it’s the polygender flag, aka where someone feels all genders at once
I have trust issues with even the most basic of commissions/purchase.
Having a multi thousand dollar suit be mishandled like this makes me not want to commission anyone ever again because of the possibility of this happening.
As bad as this sounds, people pay you to make the suit. Not to pay off your unrelated bills. Don't screw around with peoples' money.
Also, it's a business. It's technically embezzlement.
i can do a whole video on this (and might) but it's frustrating to see situations like this because a lot of times I see fursuit artists/makers who are self employed as doomed from the start. i can speculate to the moon and back on why so many furries in particular seem so uneducated on what it actually means to run a business but the most hair pulling infuriating part is furries' refusal to work with others. I mean that very literally - I can't tell you how many times I've been like "why not consult a lawyer on your TOS?" to be met with "well thats expensive" or "I know what im doing" when 1, thats not true and 2, its literally an investment into your future. This is why to me makers like lemonbrat will always seem more "professional". Wanna avoid burnout? DONT DO 80 JOBS BY YOURSELF! GET SOMEONE TO RUN YOUR SOCIALS WHILE YOU WORK! Part of being self employed is treating yourself like an actual employee. That means actually filing and paying for health insurance for example. Especially if you're making net over 50k as a self employed business. You can literally take free business classes! Nothing is more American than starting your own business, so many people have something to say on how to do it!! I just don't know why furries are so resistant to the idea that they're a for real company promising a for real product and that makes them a for real employee
I have Been there as a suir maker. Work stsrted going well, i took on more commissions thinking itd go great, then before i knew it i was in the same spot. Burnout got the better of me, bit by bit until it was so bad it took months to get back to work, with a massively daunting wall of a queue blocking out all light, and zero hope of refunding All of the clients.
Eventually i was able to recover! It took a while and some Dr. Visits to to work thru it, but ive knocked half the pile down and only have a handful of commissions left. The smaller the queue fets, the easier its getting to keep working at an even pace.
the business practice of paying half or so up front is actually common. It used for graphic design and art, ect. It is to ensure that the creator/artist doesn't get screwed over while they are completing/finishing the work by their client. Especially if you can't really so anything with the work afterwards if the client bails or just take the work without paying. It ensures that the person making the work doesn't get screwed over by the client, however the money is meant to be kept to the side encase of any issues or if the work can't be completed, not to be used whenever.
Honestly. I’ve noticed almost every big fursuit maker starts doing stuff like this. Navy Workshop has a queue of over 130 and people aren’t getting their products or their suits. It’s honestly really sad. Money isn’t easy to come by these days.
We need to start setting a standard for artists and makers.