Others Seeking advice on free lancer's lack of communication

[anoobj]

I have been using a particular free lancer for 3 commissions so far and the drawing is very good.

The only issue is that he doesn't respond to my message very fast. Usually I'd have to wait for a 3+ days to get a response. In several occasions I didn't get any acknowledgement that the artist received my message. This time I asked and after a week the person hasn't responded.

My current dilemma is that I really like the art style and quality, but I'm afraid if this keeps going then my game release dates will be very uncertain, and worst case in the future if I can't continue to work with the artist due to this communication problem then I need to find someone with similar drawing style (which is quite hard IMO) to make the game consistent, or have the new artist redraw a majority portion of the game art, which is a waste of money.

Any advice on whether I should continue working with the artist for future drawings? Should I just accept the sunk cost and find another artist since it's only 3 commissions, or this is normal for freelance artists and I should continue?

 

[anne O'nymous]

The only issue is that he doesn't respond to my message very fast.

No, the issue is that you haven't passed a contract with him and only hire him at the commission.
Therefore he don't feel invested enough, don't prioritize you, and also have no real obligation to continue your relation. You pay him 10 (or whatever, it doesn't matters) by piece of art, it's obvious that he will put you on his waiting list if he got someone who asked him for 1000 pieces of art, or payed him 50 for one piece.

 

[JoGio]

he don't feel invested enough, don't prioritize you, and also have no real obligation to continue your relation.

^^ This

You could try a few other options, besides contracting the artist:
1) Communicate with the artist at predictable intervals. That makes it easier for them to form the habit of checking for your communications.

2) If the artist receives commissions/communication through multiple channels, you could communicate with them on the platform they prefer and check regularly. For example, the artist might check DMs on this website once in a while, but might check their discord/email every day.

3) You can plan your art commissions ahead of time, and ideally, make the commissions in bulk. Communicate deadlines clearly and choose deadlines that are safe for you. Safe in the sense that even if the artist is late you still have time to get your game out at the right time. This will probably take a lot of planning since you'll need to know what kind of art your game needs well before it's needed.

 

[osanaiko]

One more thing to add to this discussion: working with freelancers is by nature a low-trust relationship. They are possibly somewhere far away in the world. They work in circumstances you cannot understand - family trouble, internet trouble, landlord trouble, school trouble, invasion trouble (ukranian devs ). All of these things can add variability to delivery time, so you must build your expectation around that.

 

[anoobj]

Thanks a lot for these advice.

The artist got back to me and it turned out he had some real personal issues. He said he'll finish the current order but he won't be able to take any future orders. I guess it's just an unfortunate circumstance.