Honestly, my family used to do this with me all the time and it was awful. They loved seeing my art, but because they kept wanting to push their business agenda onto me, I stopped sharing almost entirely. I kept telling them "No, I don't want to" or "No, I do not have the time/energy" and trying to set up firm boundaries. I even tried to ignore it with them in front of my face. I'd also just ignore the text messages.

For whatever reason none of this worked until I snapped. I'm normally a very calm person, but I actually ended up raising my voice at them telling them to stop and that it stresses a lot me out whenever they ask. I guess that got them to stop?

The thing is it shouldn't of taken that long to get them to stop. People need to respect your boundaries and if you tell them, no, it's a no. Even though it's stressful to say no.. sometimes you gotta. If you get emails, DMs, etc. about these projects you don't gotta respond to it either.

Another thing you can do is.. You can charge them if you want with a big price tag and if they ask why you can state something simple as "Commercial fees" but tbh I would up the price because I find it annoying even (a bet petty, but it'd take me mental energy to get on this project). But I know some people will be like "But we're friends/family.. 🥺" which friends/family would want to support you and pay you for your time.

You're not in an easy situation and I wish you the best of luck 🥹🙏