When people think of an artist, typically what comes to mind is an over zealous French man with a mustache and a baret, but the common artist is nothing of the sort. Most artists tend to just be everyday people, not typically uncommonly, moody, or French, but regular people that have a stronger love or talent for art more than the common public.

Some artists are even talented and/or lucky enough to have people ask them for commissions (commissions are when people ask an artist to create then something, whether be draw/paint/etc. and they pay the artist in return) but what is never foreseen with these commissioners is the plague of art hoarders.

I started taking art commissions a few years ago around 2012, drawing digitally on my laptop for a couple bucks here and there. It was so exciting to see people willing to pay for something drawn by me, and I quickly got swept up in the ‘celebrity artist’ mindset. Instead of drawing for myself, I totally enwrapped myself in others’ art wishes.

It was fun at first, but then the art hoarders quickly arose to my attention. This typical digital artist term “art hoarders” refers to commissioners who commission in an incredibly large and unnecessary amount, and tend to abuse the artists that  they commission. These art hoarders would ask to commission an art piece either so large and extravagant that it would take years to complete, or they would commission so many things that I would have a list of pieces to do so long that I could go wrap it around the earth twice. Imagine you come home to a massive list of chores your parent gave you, and you grudgingly start to work, then just about when you finish your parent comes in and tells you to go clean your neighbors house the same way. This is how these art hoarders made me feel. It was just adding more and more work for the same measly cash amount.

These ridiculous requests for a bit of cash quickly killed my passion for art. I just slowly stopped drawing, I would no longer enjoy it, while before commissions I lived to draw. I closed up commissions soon after my passion died and went a few months dreading drawing; art class was a stress and hassle.

But as I spoke to other artists I quickly learned these art hoarders were more prevalent than I thought, for almost all of them experienced the same grief with the hoarders. After hearing this it sparked a deep annoyance and lowered my faith in the art community. So I drew, I let my emotions be expressed on the page and after drawing for myself for the first time in months I fell back in love with art.

It seems if you make your passion be taken over by someone else’s wants it will make your love turn sour. I have yet to take any more commissions, and don’t believe I will be taking more anytime soon. All I ask for those who read this, please never be an art hoarder, many ragged and worn artists will thank you.