what to do when a 3d commission goes wrong
the scam guide is about not getting here. this one is about being here already: the work is late, or it came back wrong, or the person has stopped replying. there is an order that recovers most of these, and a point past which you should stop.
first, work out which problem you have
three failures look identical from the outside and need opposite responses. name yours before you write anything.
| it looks like | it usually is |
|---|---|
| the work came back wrong | a brief problem, not a skill problem |
| the work is late but they are talking | a scope problem, and usually recoverable |
| they have gone quiet | a commitment problem. the clock is now the issue |
the work came back wrong
resist rewriting the brief in the feedback. go back to what you actually asked for and check whether the thing you got matches it. more often than is comfortable, it does, and what changed is your picture of what you wanted.
if the delivery does match the brief, this is a change request and it is fair to pay for it. if it does not, quote the line it misses and ask for that line, specifically. "the silhouette is wrong" gets you another wrong silhouette; "the brief says under 2k triangles and this is 9k" gets you the model you asked for.
- give feedback in one batch, not in a stream. six messages over two days is six interruptions and one confused artist.
- mark up an image. a scribble on a screenshot outperforms a paragraph every time.
- separate "this misses the brief" from "i have changed my mind", out loud. the first is owed to you; the second is a new job.
it is late
ask for one thing: the current state, as a screenshot, today. not a promise, not a new date — a picture of where it actually is. an artist who is behind but working sends it in five minutes. an artist who has not started cannot.
if the picture comes back and the work is real, renegotiate the date once, in writing, and cut scope rather than quality. shipping four excellent pieces beats shipping six rushed ones, and you can commission the other two later.
they have gone quiet
silence is the one that gets expensive, because most people wait too long out of politeness. set a limit and say it: a clear message that names a date, and what happens after it.
- one message, in the agreed channel, naming a specific deadline for a reply.
- if that date passes with nothing, treat the job as closed and say so in writing. do not send more money.
- collect what exists — files, messages, payment records — before any of it disappears with an account.
- if you paid in milestones, you have lost one milestone. if you paid everything upfront, you have learned why milestones exist.
on bevel's bench the same rule runs in reverse for the artists: a client who goes quiet for seven days closes the brief, and the artist keeps the half already paid. the rule is symmetrical on purpose. silence has to cost somebody something, or it costs the person who is still working.
what protects you next time
- milestones rather than a deposit. half to start and half on approval means the worst case is half, not everything.
- a written scope. it is the only thing that can settle "is this a fix or a change request".
- a named delivery date, with checkpoints between now and then. a date with no checkpoints is a hope with a calendar entry.
- ip in writing. at bevel the full transfer is included, which means a job that ends badly still ends with you owning what you paid for.
when to walk
walk when the cost of continuing exceeds the cost of restarting. that point arrives sooner than it feels like it does: two weeks of chasing is worth more than the deposit you are trying to save, and a piece dragged over the line by someone who stopped caring will need replacing anyway.
the honest version of this advice is that a managed studio exists to make this whole page somebody else's problem. one contract, art direction on every job, and if an artist disappears mid-brief the studio replaces them and the date holds. that coordination is what the cut pays for.