Terms of Service

The following are terms of service for SpottyJaguar (also called "the artist," "I," "me," and "myself,"), relevant to all non-commercial projects. These terms will outline expected behavior when working with me. These terms are subject to revisions, editing, and additions without notice.

When agreeing to receive artwork from me, clients (also called "you," and "your") enter a contract with me, and agree to all terms on this page, which will not be superseded by any other terms unless explicitly agreed upon by myself and the client.

Where there are multiple character owners per commissioned image, these terms will to extend to the owners of any characters depicted.

In contacting and agreeing to receive artwork from me, the client also affirms that they are at least 18 years old.

Please see this page for my commission prices, guidelines, and what I will and will not draw.

General

1) All business will be conducted through e-mail at [email protected]. I will not discuss commissions via personal note, instant messenger, or public forum.

2) You will receive email updates on your commission when substantial progress has been made, or otherwise when necessary. You are encouraged to check in when you feel it necessary for updates, assurance, reminders, or questions.

• I will do my best to accommodate busy schedules. However, clients are responsible for informing me if they know they will be absent for longer than 2 weeks. (See refunds, cancellations, and refusals for further details.)

3) I reserve the right to showcase all commissioned work on any of my personal websites and galleries. For time-sensitive work (birthday gifts, anniversaries, etc.), I may delay public showcase at your request. I will not accept commissions intended to stay private forever, or for an indefinite amount of time.

4) I retain all the rights to the commissioned artwork, including the right to make prints and merchandise for sale, to include it in image packs, and to alter the commissioned work to make it more generic for print, if I choose. The purchase of image rights can be negotiated.

5) Clients retain all rights to their own characters. This does not mean you own the copyright to the image (see point 4).

6) Clients may not profit from commissioned artwork under any circumstances. This includes the sale of the digital file in image packs, as prints, merchandise, etc..

7) Clients may create prints for personal use (to display in-home or as gifts). Clients may also crop the artwork to create icons, wallpapers, or other graphics to be used non-commercially, but may not alter the artwork itself. You are free to showcase the artwork on your personal website or gallery so long as I am credited as the artist, and so long as it is not any high-resolution or un-watermarked version of the work.

Payment

1) Payment is due after details have been established and a price agreed to.

2) Once you are prompted to pay, commissions must be paid for in full within 7 days. Additional time may be allowed in the event of uncontrollable circumstances. After the initial and any additional allotted time, I may cancel the commission due to lack of payment.

3) Payment plans are only available for commissions totalling $200 or higher. Commissions under $200 must be paid at one time. Work will not begin until I have been paid in full, including payment plans.

4) All prices, including any quotes given, are non-negotiable. Payment will be accepted in USD only. At this time, payment may only be made via PayPal.

5) Price-quotes given for work to be commissioned at a later date will only be valid for 3 months (90 days) from the time they are given. Beyond that, a commission's price will be re-negotiated with the client at the time the work is commissioned.

Revisions and Delivery

1) Clients will have the opportunity to direct revisions of their commission during the sketch/thumbnail stage, and again at the flat color stage (if applicable). I will do my best to accommodate changes, however, repeated requests for revisions, or extensive requests that diverge from the your original description or references, may incur separate fees.

2) Simpler commissions, intended to be completed in one sitting, especially (but not always) those totalling less than $75, may not include thumbnails or other in-progress images being delivered for revisions. Exceptions to this include if the piece has diverted significantly from the last in-progress image (or client's description, if there was no in-progress image shown), or if I am unsure of some detail and would like your input.

3) For all commissions, minor revisions can be made after the work is complete, especially where I have failed to include something that was present the original description or references. Major revisions may incur separate fees.

• Minor revisions: changes to hands or feet, changing facial expressions, small accessories like jewelry, adding small simple markings.
• Major revisions: changes to position of limbs or torso, adding new clothing, significant changes to markings (e.g., changing spots to stripes).

4) Upon completion, you will receive both a small web-copy of your commission, for sharing, as well as a higher resolution copy, for personal viewing. Both files will be .PNGs. The higher resolution copy will be 2,000 to 3,000 pixels on it's longest side.

5) My artwork will fit on an 8.5x11-inch page, by default. To ensure a straight-forward transaction process avoid revision fees, requests for specific dimensions - such as 8x10in or 9x13in - must be made as early as possible.

Refunds, Cancellations, and Refusals

1) General refund rules;

• If the client cancels their commission during or after payment, but before work has begun, you will be refunded, but I will retain 5% of the total cost of the commission as a convenience fee.
• If the client cancels during the sketch/thumbnail stage phase, a 50% refund of original cost will be issued.
• If the client cancels during the color stage, or after the commission is complete, no refund will be issued.

2) If I am the one to cancel the commission, 100% of the payment will be refunded to the client. I can cancel and refund a commission for reasons including but not limited to;

• Rude or inappropriate behavior.
• Poor communication or failure to communicate in effective English.
• Unforeseen inability to complete the commission.

3) If, after 3 weeks, I am waiting for but have not received a reply from the client, the commission may be put on hold, and I will make repeated attempts to re-establish contact. When contact is re-established, one of the following will apply;

• If it has been more than 6 weeks since last hearing from you, I reserve the right to cancel and refund the commission, while retaining a 15% convenience fee.
• If it has been more than 12 weeks, the refund will instead be in the form of credit with me, worth the full amount that you paid, toward another commission at my current rates.
• If the absence was due to uncontrollable circumstance (e.g., natural disasters or severe weather), and/or we are both both happy to continue working together, there will be no penalty.

4) When a commission is cancelled before it's complete, the client may keep the incomplete art. I still hold copyright to the art, and left-over art may not be altered or completed by anyone else without permission.

5) Even for commissions that are not cancelled, I may recycle sketches/thumbnails that were rejected by the client for other works.

6) I may turn down requests to draw a character that does not belong entirely to the client. If you ask me to draw someone else's character, I may ask that the owner contact me and give me permission to do so, and they must understand at least the general idea of what's being drawn. If the commission is intended to be a surprise or gift, I may refuse if I have any suspicion the character is being used without the owner's consent or otherwise against their wishes.

Last edited Saturday, February 27th, 2016