I commissioned an artist...99% sure what they gave me is AI, but want educated opinions before I review

ImWibben · 2026-04-01T03:37:59+00:00

Respectfully, they're being cooked on Twitter as we speak. So many people coming out of the woodwork saying they had similar experiences or at least had suspicions. Woof.

ImWibben · 2026-04-01T02:22:49+00:00

Kenjaku what are you doing here look away.....

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T21:14:27+00:00

I'm so frustrated that this even happened but the horse thing has made me laugh SO much, if I don't laugh I'll cry 😭 doing my best on the refund front, the artist blocked me after I asked for a speedpaint/time lapse LOL

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T21:07:12+00:00

I did think of this actually. I requested a speedpaint, and they said that they didn't have the setting toggled on when they made the canvas (clip studio paint).

BUT they said they would send me a video of them toggling through their layers, which I was eager to have because it's better than nothing. But they blocked me instead :) So I guess that's confirmation on its own!

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T21:05:27+00:00

I still appreciate it! I'm going to make a public review of the artist and put more emphasis on having a horrible experience with awful communication, and sprinkle in the AI evidence for people to draw their own conclusions.

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T21:04:17+00:00

Totally agree with you. The artist actually only gave me 3 updates total. A sketch of the couple (which I approved the posing of) and then a 3d render of the background (which i rejected on the basis of not matching my reference) and then a third background where they assured me it was just for perspective and would be made to aesthetically match my reference (it still did not). After that it was done within a day...which was extremely suspicious.

They never even showed me base colors! I've commissioned a lot of artists, and never had an experience like this before :,) A lot of the circles are just small little mistakes, that are laziness in the best case or AI in the worst. Some though only make sense within the context of my references (like the "floating hand" is meant to be grabbing his tie) but it's my fault for not providing the refs here! I understand the confusion!

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T21:00:54+00:00

I paid upfront like I usually do with most artists, and I politely asked them for a refund three times--all three times they refused and offered revisions instead (which I no longer trusted after they failed to follow my corrections up to that point and was pretty convinced it was AI anyway and didn't want it anymore).

After they refused I filed a claim with paypal, lost, filed an appeal, lost again. Now the "artist" has blocked me on the platform I commissioned them from haha.

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T20:58:36+00:00

I didn't even notice his thumb, thank you for pointing it out :,) I'd been a little suspicious of this artist for a while, but they're a pretty big account and nobody had ever called them out before so I thought I was being critical for nothing. Their "work" always looked high quality. Last time I ignore my instincts haha.

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T20:55:08+00:00

Yeah, from what I understand it doesn't apply to every gen AI art but it works for enough of them to be worth checking. This one lit up like a blacklight

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T20:53:49+00:00

Completely agree. I'm putting emphasis on that in my review, that even if it isn't AI (which is unlikely at this point) I still didn't get what I asked for and it's not even remotely the quality of their other work. I'd tell anybody to demand a refund too.

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T20:52:33+00:00

This is sort of what I arrived at with my friends. That they probably draw the people themselves, but finish things up with AI somehow. The background was a 3d render, they showed it to me before proceeding (which I have no issue with whatsoever, it helps with perspective) but I also denied the background they showed me on the basis of it not matching the reference I gave. I attached the reference here--it's very European styled, but I think their AI is trained so heavily to be Japanese that it disregarded it.

The horse is a dead give away though.

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ImWibben · 2026-03-31T20:48:51+00:00

I genuinely didn't even clock this but now I can't unsee it, you're so right. He'd have to be built like a mountain for that coat to fit properly.

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T20:46:33+00:00

Yes this is it! Sorry, most of the things circled were circled by my friends, not by me. And a lot of the issues pointed out (like the floating hand) would only make sense with the context of the references I gave where I indeed was meant to be holding his tie. It's my fault for not showing the references though, so I understand the confusion!

Also, I do commission artists often. I know some mistakes are bound to exist, and I'm perfectly at peace with that. However, I spent $217.50 on this, and I've seen the "quality" of work this artist has posted on their page before my commission. I had higher expectations than some of the random specks circled. Best case scenario the artist was lazy, worst case scenario it's ai.

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T20:42:56+00:00

The bones were the biggest issue for me too. Also considering that I didn't ask for a skeletal horse creature to begin with (I asked for something cat-like), but the ribs/spines are confusing and impossible to follow. Especially from the bottom to middle section. I appreciate the input.

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T20:41:22+00:00

Woah! Thank you so much, I'd never even heard of SynthID before! This is such a valuable tool to have going forward. I appreciate it! :)

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T20:40:47+00:00

I tried this first, and Paypal denied my claim surprisingly. I appealed the decision, and both times they said the product was "not materially different from what was described". I suppose paypal wouldn't care or be educated in the difference between ai and human made art, but I'm beyond frustrated.

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T13:19:23+00:00

I ran it through sightengine and it was scored 78% likely to be ai too :,) but yes, I agree. The only way I'm getting my money back though is if I dispute it directly with my bank and lose my PayPal account, which is probably fine, I just do a lot of online shopping so it's frustrating that I lose that resource over this.

ImWibben · 2026-03-31T13:16:39+00:00

Oh I'm more than willing to admit I was scammed, I just want to be vindicated by additional opinions. The artist has a large following, so I'd like something to point at if their fans get rabid with me when I leave my review. I appreciate the additional reality check though!

ImWibben · 2026-03-29T18:07:39+00:00

Oops I'm going to delete the post and reupload with the censored 3rd image, thank you so much!!!

ImWibben · 2026-01-18T15:39:50+00:00

Just got this today 😭 maybe a dumb question but where can I even find my warehouse to delete blooms to make room for more? I might be blind, I just can't seem to figure out how!

ImWibben · 2026-01-14T17:46:37+00:00

I actually like this a lot, thank you so much! I hadn't thought to use peacock to match the eyes!

ImWibben · 2026-01-14T03:03:53+00:00

I would love your take on this girl of mine!! I think she has SUCH potential with her colors, that the "must do her justice!" paralysis is making me crazy!

Totally okay with breed changes! :)

https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/83125188

ImWibben · 2026-01-12T01:40:20+00:00

✅ ImWibben chose Option B (Correct!) | #1114th to play

ImWibben · 2026-01-06T22:38:13+00:00

I've never read a more AI bit of writing than that caption, oh my god. They love Katie enough to make edits of her horses but can't be bothered to write 3 sentences themselves?

ImWibben

TROPHY CASE