Chocolate's Artwork TOS

Want me to draw you something? Great!
Here's what you need to know.

A summary of the most important terms are shown first,
the detailed list of terms beneath apply wherever appropriate.

These terms apply fully as shown on this page on the date a commission was ordered.
You can click on each of the terms below for further detail and clarification. These details always apply.
I reserve the right to amend these terms without notice.

You can contact me on any of my active platforms with questions or issues.

Last Updated on 24/02/2024

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  1. While I can make exceptions under certain special circumstances, always assume these terms to be in effect. If you need an exemption, you must make it known and request it ahead of time. There is no guarantee that I will grant it, and may charge extra in some cases.
  2. I frequently juggle my commissioned work with subscriber-funded projects, and am very methodical. Your patience will ensure that I can provide you good quality work once finished.

    That having been said, I will make sure to keep you up to date with any developments on your commission's Artconomy project page, which will notify you of any updates via email.
  3. This varies depending on the type of commission, but I do not take payment until I am ready to start, or have already started work on your order.

    Usually, once the sketch is sent for approval, the commission will be held until feedback is received and payment is settled. The piece is then given priority over other commissions until it is finished. This way, you know that work is underway or about to start before you've paid for it.

    This does not apply to Jam Sessions (Stream Slot), as they are to be paid in full upon confirmation.
  4. Once the initial sketch is finished and delivered, the commission will be held for up to 2 weeks, within which time payment must be settled. If a commission is held for longer than the grace period or cannot be paid for, the finished sketch can and will be reused for other commissioned projects.
  5. For each respective stage of production (inks, colours, etc) you may request some degree of changes for free depending on the level of detail you've purchased. Substantial alterations, or alterations in later stages may incur additional charges. Alterations to fix errors deviating from the commission's written specification are free up until the work receives final approval.
  6. My subscriptions are intended first and foremost for use as a monthly tip-jar to support my ongoing crowdfunded work. Site access is granted automatically, while bonus rewards are based on availability and not guaranteed.

    Prorated refunds to recent pledges may be considered on a case-by-case basis. earlier pledges are non-refundable.
  7. I will occasionally upload vetted and approved commission progress work on my patronage site as an exclusive perk for patrons. You may opt out of this for any reason and at no additional cost, but please note that maintaining my site with regular updates directly supports my work.

    My finished commissions are always posted publicly, but can be kept private for an additional fee.
  8. I am always happy to accommodate open-ended requests, but please note that this is given at the commissioner's risk. This applies fully to "improv" commission tiers.

    If you are lacking in ideas for more bespoke commission tiers, I ask that you at least provide a theme and a subject wherever appropriate, and specify important information and details up-front to avoid disappointment. Alterations that are necessary due to missing information in the commission's written specification are subject to the same terms specified above.
  9. Depending on what you ordered, these can be requested for following the commission's completion. Wherever applicable, you can have any of the major versions of the piece.
  10. I am granted license to use characters or personal IPs that are included within the scope of the requested piece. The artwork itself is always copyrighted to me and is licensed to you for personal use. You may repost the artwork anywhere with attribution and crop it for profile images.

    Special licensing arrangements can be made for other uses on a case-by-case basis, but explicitly excludes any use of my artwork as a part of, or for the purposes of training or developing AI of any kind.
  11. All of my artwork may be reuploaded freely with appropriate attribution, but only after I have uploaded it to one or more of my public galleries. This restriction applies to completed commissions and especially to site content that hasn't been released yet. YCHes of which any completed version has already been posted publicly are exempt from this restriction.

    Attribution can be made with a link to any of my gallery pages, my main webpage, or directly to the image in any of my galleries. The latter two options are always preferred.
  12. My work queue is fluid and I select what to work on next depending on various factors including subject and theme appeal, complexity, length of time it's been in the waitlist, and whether or not the customer is a patron. If you require your commission to be done urgently, you may order a rush slot.
  13. I may refuse any request for any reason as I see fit. Refusal does not prevent you from commissioning me again at a later date unless the reason is related to a breach of these Terms or otherwise stated.

 

The longer version that nobody reads and says they did.

This section provides the full list of terms, including additional information related to the summary above.
Unless otherwise explicitly stated, these terms apply in full to any and all of my artwork wherever relevant.

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Commission Ordering and Payment

  1. Submitting a request to my waitlist is not a guarantee of work, which depends on whether I am able to accept the project and if the required minimum specification has been provided.

    A minimum specification includes which product you want (as per my listings on Artconomy) and a basic description of what you want. Some tiers require specific information, and others are limited to a maximum level of detail provided, as per their listings.

    I will clarify any missing information, and confirm if and when your request has been added to my queue.
  2. You are free to keep your commission specification as vague as you like, and I welcome commissioners to leave things up to me. However, gaps in a commission's description grants me explicit creative license, entirely at the commissioner's risk. This applies fully to improv commission tiers.

    I will usually consult with you on any major decisions or details that are missing and required to complete the piece, wherever appropriate. For the most part though, gaps that need filling in will be left to my creative decision. In other words, make sure you provide references and give me any important details in writing wherever possible, as they may be left out or end up different to what you expect.
  3. Not every commission will meet its mark on the first try, which is why every request is allowed some room for edits and modifications, and are included within the price depending on the level of detail you have ordered and how far along it is towards completion. Larger, more detailed commissions are generally afforded more edits at each stage of the project.

    Substantial modifications, or modifications at the later stages of the project can incur extra costs that I will confirm with you ahead of time. Alterations needed to fix errors that deviate from the commission's written specification are not subject to additional charges at any point prior to its final confirmation.
  4. In the case of a bespoke commission, I will send you a sketch for vetting and payment before proceeding. Improv commission and Stream slots require payment once confirmed and added to my queue.

    If it is a sequence or comic being paid for in full, I will provide a rough storyboard or approximate equivalent. I will also re-confirm the final price in case of any changes or details that were not taken into account. You can request further changes at this point, and after payment is settled, work will continue.
  5. When claiming a rush slot, the commission and fees must be paid for in full before work can begin.

    The rush slot fee is non-refundable.
  6. Payments through PayPal are also an option, but at a 5% extra charge.

 

Licensing, Rights and Ownership

  1. By submitting a commission request, you provide express authorisation for the use of any necessary copyrights to complete the project (e.g. including your own character or someone else's as a gift) as well as a warranty that you are able to do so. This does not grant me any rights beyond the use or depiction of the characters within the scope of the project or artwork being commissioned or requested.
  2. You are automatically granted license to repost your commissioned artwork with attribution, and to make crops of it for use as profile avatars and banners, but nothing more. You must have my express, written permission to modify or alter the piece in any considerable way, or reproduce or use any of my work for any sort of gain or profit.

    Special licensing arrangements can be made for other uses on a case-by-case basis, and usually involve a percentage markup depending on the requirements.
  3. I will occasionally upload commission progress work on my site as an exclusive perk for patrons pledging at certain tiers, but only what has first been seen and approved by the commissioner.

    You may opt out of this at your discretion, for any reason, and at no additional cost. Please note that having more content for my site lets me maintain it with regular updates, which directly supports my work and also allows me to take on commissions more regularly.
  4. All of my artwork may be reuploaded freely with appropriate attribution, but only after I have uploaded it to one or more of my public galleries. This restriction applies to completed commissions and especially to content from my site that hasn't been released publicly yet. This restriction does not apply to YCH commissions of which a completed example has already been posted publicly.

    Attribution can be made with a link to any of my gallery pages, my main webpage, or directly to the image in any of my galleries. The latter two options are always preferred.
  5. All of my finished commissioned work is posted publicly on my galleries wherever possible; this is because sharing my art is the main and largely only way for me to promote it.

    Your commission may be kept private at an additional fee of 50% of its price prior to any discounts.
  6. Any custom stickers requested as part of the stickers commission tier or created during a Jam Session will be kept as part of my catalogue of sticker templates for future reuse by other clients.

    This is done simply to reuse assets as much as possible, and keep my prices low.
  7. Upon commissioning any stickers, I will provide you with a separate sticker with my signature and contact info to identify my work within your digital stickerpacks wherever appropriate (i.e. Telegram). This must be included as part of your packs wherever any of my work is featured.
  8. Whether it is commissioned or crowdfunded, none of my artwork may be used to train or develop AI models in any way, shape or form.

 

Workflow, Queues and Process

  1. I work best when switching between longer projects to keep myself motivated, and while some smaller projects may get finished alongside a more involved one, deadlines will be abided by to the best of my abilities. The longer a commission persists in my queue, the more priority I will give it until it is finished.
  2. You may specifically request that your commission be excluded from streams, or only be worked on during streams at no extra charge. Note that either option will likely slow down production time.
  3. I will endeavor to start and complete your commission as quickly as I can given my schedule and workload, especially after the first sketch is done and payment has been settled. However, please understand that I juggle a variety of tasks other than commissions as my business is a solo operation.

    I do not take kindly to pestering regarding the progress of a commission and may cancel it outright in extreme cases. If you need a commission urgently, you can order a rush job for an extra fee.
  4. With the exception of certain circumstances (e.g. paid-for rush jobs; projects held up by commissioners for too long), I always aim to finish all actively pending work prior to adding new ones to my work queue.

 

Refunds, Refusals and Cancellations

  1. I may refuse any requests based on scope, complexity, subject matter or any other reason as I see fit. Refusal does not prevent you from commissioning me again at a later date unless it is due to a breach of these Terms or is otherwise specified.

    For legal reasons, I will not accept commissions that involve extreme violence, explicit rape, necrophilia and sexual content with underage characters of any kind or between humans and feral animals.
  2. If considerable progress was made and the piece is at a satisfactory level of polish, then a partial refund will be issued based on the final level of detail and the commission delivered in its current state. Otherwise, a full refund will be issued, the first sketch delivered, and the commission closed.
  3. Before the first sketch is completed, the commission may be cancelled freely and for any reason whatsoever by either party. If cancelled by the commissioner, any work done up to that point may be auctioned off or repurposed for any future projects with replacement characters wherever necessary.
  4. The fee for claiming a rush slot commission is nonrefundable, with the sole exception of cancellation on my behalf. A full or partial refund of the artwork's cost may still be issued as per the previous clauses.
  5. If your financial situation has changed and payment is no longer possible, it is your responsibility to inform me of cancellation before payment is due.

    Once the first sketch is completed and invoice submitted, the commission may be held pending for up to 2 weeks until payment can be settled. If a commission is held for longer or cannot be paid for, the finished sketch can and will be auctioned off or reused for another project.
  6. Should you wish to end your monthly pledge at any point, go to your profile page and cancel via the Subscription Management button shown there. You will retain your membership up until the date your next payment would have been due.
  7. Accidental pledges or pledges you wish to retract are a possibility, and in such cases I may consider a full or prorated refund for your most recent pledge if you contact me directly.

    Earlier pledges are considered fully used and are non-refundable.
  8. I am easily reachable on all my various platforms and will always discuss options in case you require to cancel your membership or commission after payment has been made.

    I make sure to run a fair and honest business and chargebacks hurt me more than is necessary, especially if we could have reached an agreement and I issued you a refund instead.

    In case of any problems with my work, please always contact me first and foremost.