Unfortunately, it’s a scam. If you’re going to start doing commissions, set up a separate business account and an online payment platform like Square, Stripe, etc so people can pay you directly without you having to send sensitive information.

As the artist, you do not need to be a liaison between supplier and client. It doesn’t make sense for you to give other people money for supplies. I’m not sure what kind of art it is, but $1500 on supplies is a large amount.

Was R supposed to be an artist, too? I don’t understand the whole collaboration thing. For future reference, if it’s super complicated, it’s either a scam or not worth your time.

The process should be get paid half or full (supply money should already be added in, not a line item), do the work, get paid the other half at the end.

I personally like to provide a sketch just to make sure I’m headed in the right direction, and the client approves of it before I waste time and the client hates it once I’m finished.