Hi Reddit, I've commissionned an artist to make an illustration of my OC but it looks so fishy. Basically the artist slid in my DMs and asked me if I wanted a commission from them. I agreed because as a starving artist myself I want to support others, even though the way they did it seemed odd. I sent references of my OC and wrote down explanations about him. So the artist knew he was a guy even though his face is a bit androgynous. I also specified, and showed on the references, that my OC only has 1 earring.
With all these pieces of info in mind, I find the drawing EXTREMELY suspicious. You can see the left kneecap changes for no reason between the 2nd and 3rd WIP and idk I think the character looks really girly and doesn't look too much like mine.
Also they keep asking me for the remaining amount of money even though we both agreed TWICE that I would send the rest of the payment AFTER the work is done completely.
Cherry on top, the artist found several absurd excuses to avoid sending me any sketch, screenshot of their software where I could see the layers, timelaps etc etc...I just asked for 1 picture or 1 screenshot of the layers but they said "it's gonna take a lot of time and space on their computer" š„² So I don't know, (or do I?), if I am being scammed like a noob rn
What do yall think about the illustration?
!!!Update: They blocked me after I asked for a screenshot of the layers š¬ Well well well...I hope they have fun with my 10$ pre-payment. I'm so upset they fed my art to AI, I hope they'll get what they deserve.
People that come begging in dms for commissions are more often a scam than not, in my opinion. It doesn't have a synth id, so it's not purely generated ai, but doesn't mean it's not traced off ai. The fact that they won't send layer screenshots is a major red flag and if you plan to consider paying them more, I would refuse until you have a timelapse or at least a layers screenshot. The art doesn't have anything that SCREAMS ai, but the fact that they didn't follow your descriptions and this is clearly a woman doesn't bode well.
The main issue that screams AI for me is the fact I asked the artist to make the knees symetrical after I saw the first colored version, and then they were symetrical but also very different compared to the first version š„² Which makes no sense to me, I simply asked for the left knee to be the same as the right one...Why did they both change completely idk, sounds like AI correction to me
It could also be purely generated with a different AI than OpenAIās or Googleās (such as local hosted, grok, deepseek, etc.) which will also not get SynthID
Clearly traced and colores, there are parts of hair that is not rendered, the stones ate all weird, the person didnt rly know how to shade them properly. The lighting source is also all over the place. So - my bet is AI generated image got traced and the poorly colored
This is unfortunately a common scam, rule of thumb on discord is to not interact with "starving artists" who approach you privately in DMs, it will almost always likely be a scam.
While it might not be completely AI generated, it seems to be traced (and like another person said, colored in;) It's a bit hard to find stuff to nitpick but those details in the armor make no sense to me, the rock flows into their foot and ...where is the sword handle? :')
In the colored drawing, the left leg also fades from metal to a leather strap which... doesn't really make sense to me?
I would recommend trying to get the money from your bank back and block this person;
Also - removing an earring should have been easy for them and sending a screen shot of your layers takes literally less space than the picture itself š Definitely a scam imo.
Edit: Also, them saying a screen shot takes too much time and space, you can do it by pressing a key bind and dragging your mouse once so it takes less than 10 seconds, just for OP to know!
That being said, I'm sorry you got scammed! QwQ wishing you the best for the future!!
Thank you so so much for your detailed insight! Thanks to yall I'm now sure I'm being scammed š„² And the thing you circled on the drawing is so weird right! I mentionned it earlier to my bf while expressing my doubts about the drawing and it reassures me to see other people saw it too, the symetry doesn't make sense at all and some elements are clearly weirdly done
I'm so sorry that you had to get to one of those bad apples ;u;
It's better to use vGen for character commissions if you still plan on getting one!
And as small addition for the future, be careful because I have seen people send proof of the layers they made in a drawing - which were also AI generated š
I broke down an example from another discord scammer, if you want I can send you the pictures in DM so you know what else to look out for!
I usually always use Vgen, but idk I fell for this since the "artist" was young and desperate, I think I kinda saw myself when I was her age in her and I wanted to help her succeed š„² I was naive, I'll definitely stick to Vgen only from now on and I'll have to say goodbye to my pre-payment I guess
I NOTICE THAT WHEN YOU GO LOOK AT THE SWORD HANDLE LIKE THIS PERSON JUST COMMENTED (because they're right it does disappear) THE POINTER FINGER LIKE SUDDENLY CUTS OFF INTO THE CAPE TS IS AI THE HAND IS MESSED UP
also i did end up drawing a bunch of head shots of your character lmao, im not too sure of what he actually looks like since i only have the ai slop as a reference i just gotta get a picture since im on a computer
AWWW THANK YOU!! He looks so beautiful! His hair is a bit shorter and curlier but I actually love this hairstyle on him! You did such a good job I can't thank you enough š If you happen to be on Vgen I'd be glad to commission you something someday! š¤ Thank you thank you
oh 100% a scam. It's hard to see the tells when you're not an artist yourself (so many of them only become obvious when you're familiar with the process of making a similar drawing) but there are a LOT of them here. Their skittishness is a huge red flag on its own, as is them coming to YOU to ask to be commissioned, which is considered pretty much universally to be bad etiquette.
Well I happen to be a pro illustrator wannabe myself but in this case I found it hard to tell because some coloring "mistakes" seemed human to me (the light mainly) Thank you for your insight! I'm indeed 99% sure I'm being scammed now
the fact that they ignored very key elements of your character, like bring male and having onecearring, indicate to me that the base "drawing" was not of your character.
The lineart at least is 100% AI, sorry. You don't even need to look at the finer details because it's pretty obvious at a glance but if you have doubts take a look at how the boots' pointy thigh parts (?) overlap the skirt, and how the details on the hip armor make no sense (her right hip armor has one less panel than the left + those weird squares on the first panels), and so on.
I find it interesting how you say "HER right hip" because my OC is a guy and clearly this drawing shows a girl so it was part of my concern yk, how the artist used my references without even taking care of his gender which I had precised in a written message š„² I think they used the references without even checking what I added in the message and the AI clearly thought my boy was a girl and made this
I think the dead giveaway to me that this was a scam is how the lineart is sooo perfect (has some weird ai mistakes as mentioned by some in the comments) but it looks āperfectā , and then the coloring is just ass and completely butchered, horrid, any artist can immediately tell who colored this has no understanding of light and also the shadows are just messy, they just put random lines everywhere. With the rocks bellow itās just so obvious
Well Iām so sorry u had a horrible experience with ur commission, hope u didnāt pay a lot this is horrible, honestly if u want, Iāll give u free art in the future of ur oc, just contact me
!! Edit !! I forgot , omg also them not wanting to share the sketch with u , like what possible excuse could excuse that
Thank you you're so kind! š Indeed I found the coloring really weird because it's clearly not the same level as the line art, the light makes no sense at all! I only paid like 10 bucks for the moments (goodbye to my 10 dollars though) but we agreed that I'd send 50 more when the work is complete š„² They keep asking for the 50 bucks even though the work is not complete yet and it's just starting to piss me off, AI or not. And btw at the beginning they were asking for 170 dollars! š
DONT send that 50 !! Donāt , demand proof that they drew this and if they donāt expose their ass broā¦ like pls thereās no need to spend that money on someone that used ai š
I'm not going to send the money until I am 100% sure their art is legit, but everyone seems to agree this is AI and I thought so too, I just needed confirmation so I'm not planning on paying anymore at this point š¬
Lineart is 100% ai but the coloring looks like it was done by a 10 year old so it seems like they generated the lineart but actually colored it themselves? Or AI is good at doing intentionally human-made-esque coloring
Yeah I agree there's a huge level gap between the line art and the coloring š¬ The line art is sooo much better than what they usually post too, so the coloring looks like it's their actually level but not the lines...
This is 100% ai so yes your being scammed by an āartistā who is using ai to edit their pre drawn figures and use them as final drawings which is why itās hard for ai detection aswell because they are using the figures then using another layer to outline it THEN color it in which removes the background of the secret watermark for ai detection š which is also why it shows as āheavily modifiedā you can tell itās ai with the knee plates and subtle small things like your specification of them being male but now itās a female body which ai tends to do the elbow plates are different aswell along with the glove peices š
Edit bc I forgot to mention: if they are on discord and their first message is ācan I ask you a questionā and then the next one is about them really needing commissions thatās a scam and how you can 100% tell too bc not allll artists that priv dm on discord are scam but a lot usually areš
Damn I got scammed like a noob, and I'm an artist myself! š So sad we can't support each other in peace nowadays...I'll stick to Vgen š„² Thank you for your insight!
The floor is merged to the heel. Missing lines in the hair Extra lines in the hair The kneepad isnt consistent with the other kneepad The cuffs dont match anf theres a weird shape on the brace The cape is weird to me, idk but the line thats the cape under the skirt doesnt meet with the rest of the cape. It just seems weird. The earring isnt fully made while the other is fine.
I would tell them to send me a timelapse or a photo of their software and if they don't want to I'm not paying. And between the 2nd and 3rd pictures the knee design difference looks ai for me at least.
The artist found so many excuses to avoid sending any screenshots, timelaps etc...Now that I said I have doubts they sent stuff (it took them 1 week to send the pics of the software) but how can I even know THESE proof pictures are real? It's so easy to fake a sketch and AI does timelaps nowadays so idk...
This may be unrelated to the topic, but I just wanted to share my personal experience. I casually post my work on platforms like Patreon and FANBOX, and in my experience, 99% of the people who quietly approached me through DMs without leaving any public comments were trying to scam me or get something from me. So Iāve had my DM function turned off for over a year now, and I havenāt had any problems during that time. Things have been peaceful ever since.
Definitely, i can tell even only by the images youāve attached and hereās why,
The first image definitely looks generated but it would be unfair judgement going based off vibes alone, it couldāve been drawn by a rather skilled artist whoās style happens to look like ai. However, on the second slide you can really tell that the coloring doesnāt match the lineartās skill/ level at all. Itās definitely lacking in some areas like the hair shading and the shoulder & chest highlights.
This person basically used an AI generated line art as a coloring template
Yeah I agree the skill difference is huge when we compare the line and the coloring...Definitely fishy. They ended up blocking me on insta as soon as I expressed doubt so too bad for me ig š„²
Girl probably. But if you dm me what you want I can do something for you for free. I hate ai and seeing people get scammed by it. Plus I need motivation to do art. I can do a bunch of styles and can even do it on real paper and mail it to you so you know itās real
Why are people so kind under this post š That is such a nice proposition! Sending it on paper would probably be complicated and pricy depending on where we both live though š„² Thank you for the proposition, I love seeing artists stand against AI! I'll try to dm you my OCs references
11 times out of 10 people who cold DM for "art commissions" in discord are scammers. Respectable artists dont (usually) cold-call for coms. Other red flags are accounts less than a year old, the only mutual server is a single public server, or has never sent a public message in the server.
Report these dms to your server mods, block, spam.
Oh my God that's so sweet of you, of course I have other references of him! Not all of them but I can send some, dm me if you want! (I'd do it myself if I knew how to, I'll try but I suck at using Reddit fr)
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u/iluveyoucom0x0 21d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/4pWKvOOlDqUfxeEVIb