What to Expect

Please read these terms in full. Failure to read them does not exempt you from them.
By contacting me, you acknowledge you have read and agreed to these terms.I (the artist) am available to arrange commissions any time the above status indicates my commissions are open. To inquire about a commission in that circumstance, please contact me through Discord or Email. You (the client) may reach out to me on any platform with an inquiry, but for convenience's sake, I will ask that we move the discussion to the aforementioned platforms if possible.Before contacting me, please review the information above regarding what I am and am not willing to draw. I will not make exceptions to those guidelines, so please do not inquire about a commission containing content I have explicitly stated I will not draw.Once you have explained what kind of piece it is you are wanting me to create, I will give you a price quote. Quotes are based on my estimate of how many hours it will take me to complete the piece. If my estimate turns out to be inaccurate, you will not be charged extra, and I will honor the original quote regardless of the time actually spent on the piece. Please see above for my current hourly rates.I require 100% of the payment to be made in full before I start working. I use PayPal invoices, and will require a PayPal address from you to have somewhere to send the invoice. Unless otherwise stated, the invoice will include a $5.30 consultation fee, and a 2.9% transactional fee (all prices listed here are in USD). The client's position in my queue is not guaranteed until after the full payment is received; I typically work in the order of first payed, first served. I reserve the right to deviate from this and work out of order if I deem it necessary, but I will generally uphold this structure.I will be in frequent communication with the client to inform them of the estimated wait period, as well as any setbacks that occur. If a specific deadline is provided, it will be noted on the invoice. Otherwise, the commission will be addressed at my earliest convenience. Deadlines that are requested after the invoice has been sent and paid are not guaranteed.For larger pieces that require more check-ins, I will send the client periodic screenshots of the in-progress art to get their approval and make any adjustments they request. If the client would like a small detail changed in the finished art they receive, I can usually do this for free, but please keep in mind that significant changes may require additional payments depending on how much longer it will take me to work on the new changes. Edits that are required due to a misunderstanding on my end will always be handled free of charge. Likewise, edits requested based on details that were not disclosed in the original consultation and are being added well into production, or even after the piece is completed, will almost always be subject to additional charge.You may receive a second email at some point from PayPal regarding the "shipment" of your order. Please disregard this email. I have to tell PayPal that your order does not require physical shipping and has been successfully processed as digital goods, or else I can potentially get in trouble for "never shipping the order". It's a technicality that will not affect you, and I apologize for any confusion!

Usage Rules

Commissioning me does not mean you own my art. You are buying the rights to use it within the limitations I set. I will always be the owner of my own creations, and I ask that my customers respect that.• Please respect the art/artist. If someone asks who drew it, please answer honestly. I provide finished commissions with very unobtrusive watermarks, so please leave them intact and do not move/edit/crop them out. It's simply a common courtesy to not deny an artist credit for something they worked hard on.• Never re-upload my art to any gallery, blog, social media platform, etc. You are welcome to reblog/share my original post. "Even if I credit you?" Even then, the answer is no.• Please do not edit my drawings without my written permission. If you'd like something changed or added, please ask me to do so, and do not change anything yourself. This includes coloring my lineart and other similar edits; I ask that you do not change my work in any way. The only exception to this rule is that I do allow the customer (and only the customer) to use my cropped art as-is for an online avatar or similar use, provided they agree to follow the rest of my usage rules.

Refunds

If you would like a refund and I have not in any way begun work on your commission, I will happily return your payment, with the exception of the consultation fee, which is non-refundable. You are allowed a full refund once. If you continue to commission me, only to immediately ask for a refund, you will be entitled to exactly half of your payment back. If you continue to do this even after this penalty, you may be subject to being blacklisted, and I will no longer agree to work for you in any way.I do not, under any circumstances, provide refunds once I have begun work on your commission. If I have started on your project and you would like to cancel it, you may do so--but no amount of your payment will be returned. However, you will receive whatever art I have completed at that point.

Deadlines

If you have a specific deadline you need a commission done by and it gives me a reasonable amount of time to complete your project, I will do everything in my power to get your art to you before then. Life is unpredictable, but I will prioritize your commission as much as possible to get it to you in time. If you have a deadline, I need to be aware of it before payment. I will make note of the requested deadline on your invoice.As stated above, I do not provide refunds for any reason once I have started work on your project--and that includes refunds for missed deadlines or "taking too long". I will do everything I can to avoid such a mishap, and I will contact you as much as possible to notify you of any delays. That said, you will still be receiving finished art, which is what you paid for. Since there is no added fee for a deadline, there would be nothing to reasonably refund.

Blacklisting

If I have reason to believe my customer is attempting to scam me out of art by disputing the transaction or issuing a charge-back, the customer forfeits all rights to the art and there will be no refund. Please note that I will be able to provide proof in the form of screenshots with time stamps to show any and all relevant communication between myself and the customer, as well as any files that were successfully delivered.I have a one-strike policy for scams; you will immediately be blacklisted, and I will not do business with you again. Please note that the blacklist applies to the person, not the username. Contacting me through a different alias does not circumvent being blacklisted. I also reserve the right to share my reasoning for blacklisting you for the purpose of protecting other artists from potential future scams. Please also note that being blacklisted excludes you from all future events, promotions, auctions, sales, etc and includes my drawn art, my dice, and anything else I may produce.

What to Expect

Please take a moment to review these! Failure to read them does not exempt you from them.
By contacting me, you acknowledge you have read and agreed to these terms.

Payment

I require 100% of the payment to be made in full before I start working. I will direct you to a commission listing in my shop to purchase for payment. Unless otherwise stated, the price will include a $6 consultation and transactional fee. The quote I give you does not include shipping, which will be added automatically at checkout. This transaction is conducted via Ko-Fi commissions and may require you to have a Ko-Fi account.

Timeline & Deadlines

Each commission individually will typically take 1-2 weeks on average, so wait time will depend on how many commissions are in my queue, as these timelines should be presumed to run consecutively. In some cases, however, I will be able to work on multiple commissions concurrently, which will expedite that timeline. In all cases, all clients will be kept fully informed as to expected wait periods and any setbacks that occur.If a specific deadline is provided (and gives me a reasonable amount of time to complete the commission), it will be noted in the shop transaction, and I will do my best to honor it. I cannot guarantee meeting deadlines, so I do not charge a fee for deadlines; consequentially, I do not offer refunds for missed deadlines.

Communication

I am willing to hold communication via either Discord or Ko-Fi. I'm also willing to communicate via email as a last resort. You can specify your preference when filling out my inquiry form below.For communication via Ko-Fi, you must create an account if you do not already have one, or else you will not be able to reply to any messages I send you. On my Ko-Fi commission tab, you can click the 💬 icon under the commission listing to initiate DMs there. You will receive email notifications when you get a DM on Ko-Fi, so you aren't likely to miss messages.I will be in frequent communication with you to inform you of the estimated wait period, as well as any setbacks that occur. Communication (beyond the initial consultation) will include sharing work-in-progress photos and videos to ensure the commission is coming out as intended.

Fees & Refunds

It may take multiple attempts to cast dice that I feel fulfill the commission properly. You will not be charged for this. If this happens, I reserve the right to finish and sell any "failed" casts.For projects where the design is intended to be my interpretation of a provided moodboard/etc, I do not typically offer redos of the design itself, as my artistic liberty is an intended part of the process.Commissioned work is not eligible for refunds, unless I have not yet started on your commission whatsoever--in which case, you are entitled to a one-time refund of 80% of the commission's cost (not including the consultation/transaction fee). Repeatedly commissioning me only to cancel the commission may result in blacklisting.

Usage Rules

• In virtually all cases, I will post the finished dice on my own social media (primarily Instagram and Tumblr). Please share/signal boost/link to the posts I make instead of reposting my content on your account; it helps a lot!• If you would like to take your own photos and share the dice I made for you on social media, I kindly request that you tag me (accounts to tag are here!) in the post so I can spotlight it! If the platform allows external links, crediting me as Daarka.com is also helpful!• You are strictly prohibited from making molds of my dice in any way, for any purpose.• I ask that you do not resell my dice for profit (more than what you paid for them). If you see someone reselling my dice, you are welcome to contact me to verify if the price you're seeing matches what that seller paid me for them.• I do not do wholesale arrangements.

About Me!

I'm Daarka!
♀️♋🏜️🎨🎲☕🦊I'm a freelance artist and crafter of handmade dice. Yes, this is my "real" job. I use she/her pronouns, I've been a legal adult for many years now, my sign is Cancer (and every description of that sign ever fits me like a glove), and I'm in a long-term relationship with my art, my bestie (Dakota), and coffee. I'm very neurodivergent, very gay, very tired, and the owner of two guinea pigs that are wanted in several countries for various war crimes. (And a lizard who has never done a bad thing in her entire life ever.)I live and breathe D&D, and DM a couple games as part of that; I've been doing literary roleplay almost my entire life, and so breaking into TTRPG was a natural and wonderful evolution of that (on that note: we stan Critical Role in this house). It's my philosophy that you don't get extra credit points for forcing yourself to play D&D races/classes just for the sake of being diverse, so I will be playing clerics (and aasimars) until the government physically stops me because I like being happy.I think cake is better than pie, but ice cream pie is better than cake. "Caltrop" d4s make my hands sad to touch them, and I cannot, for the life of me, decide if I like rhombus d12s. I love very oversized hoodies (and weather cool enough to let me wear them) and I collect novelty mugs. I've got a thing for Vulture Culture, and most of the space in my freezer is dedicated to dead stuff I've brought home and not had time to properly clean up. Similarly to the distress of those who live with me, I have a tendancy to adopt things like black widow spiders, tarantulas, scorpions, and centipedes (many times having originally found them in my backyard), and that tendancy, as well as the uncanny way in which ridiculous wild animals end up in my literal hands has earned me a reputation as a ratchet Disney princess who can only summon wildlife of the rat/snake/creepy-crawly variety (whether I want to or not). I live in Arizona and am deeply in love with the Sonoran desert (which some quite aptly consider to be "Australia Lite"), and ever since I was young, I've been the go-to person in the household for relocating the highly venomous rattlesnakes that semi-frequently show up on our property. I grew up a chronic Horse Girl™, and have been riding since I was about 4 years old; horses have likewise been one of my autistic special interests my entire life, though that comes up very little in online spaces.If my username somewhere is "DaarkaArts", you can rest assured I'm pissed about "Daarka" being taken, and that I constantly scheme about how to amend that somehow.And that's me in a nutshell!♡
Trans Rights Are Human Rights
Black Lives Matter
Sex Work Is Real Work
Rats Are Super Cool Actually
Therapy Is Good For You
Resin Dice Are Balanced Fine
Don't Be A Weirdo
♡

Got a question? Check out my FAQ!

♡ About Me ♡What program do you use?
Primarily Procreate on my iPad. While drawing on my PC is very hard on my carpal tunnel, that was my default for a long time, and any work done on my PC is in PaintToolSAI v2.0.What tablet do you use?
iPad (7th Gen.) + Apple Pencil; Wacom Bamboo Capture when using my PC (rare).How long have you been drawing?
My whole life, really. From when I was old enough to hold a pencil, I've been doodling constantly, and I never really stopped.Do you have any training?
Nope. I'm self-taught. I've never taken any actual art courses, and most of my techniques are consequentially pretty simplistic. I'm not able to attend college due to disability, so I make do with the tools I've got.Where can I learn more about the dice you make?
Info is posted here, and you can browse what I have available for sale at Shop.Daarka.com!Are you open for commissions?
You can check the present status on the Commissions page! (Or this page for dice!)Are you open for art trades?
Not usually. I will consider art trades with friends / mutual followers, however. I do my best to participate in Art Fight every year, though!Are you open for requests?
No. Please do not approach me asking for free art; the answer will be no, and I will be disinclined to even do paid work for you after that.Can I post your art somewhere online?
No. I am grateful for reblogs and shares, but please do not re-upload my work anywhere yourself. That includes art I may have created for you on commission. "Even if I credit you?" Even then, the answer is still no. If you'd like to share my work on social media, please reblog/retweet/etc where I myself have posted it (you can see where to find my social media accounts here!)Can I trace your art for practice, or color your line art?
I ask that you do not. I can't stop you, but I do not support doing this unless an artist has explicitly granted you permission--which I have not. If you're inspired by my art, I am genuinely flattered, but people tracing, coloring, "finishing", or otherwise adding to my creations makes me uncomfortable, and I do not give my consent for that. Above all, please do not post traced/drawn-on art of mine publicly; I will ask you to take it down.I want to know more about the characters you draw!
Most, if not all of them, will be listed here! If you have specific questions, I would love to answer them! Feel free to send those questions as asks on Tumblr!Do you happen to be a part of Art Fight?
Yes! I've even had my character, Daarka, on the banner for several different years! My profile can be found here, and I'd love to see you at the next fight!
A long time ago, I made profile icons for Art Fight that a lot of people seemed to enjoy using; you can find those here, as well as under Art Fight's official user-made resources! I may or may not continue making those in the future, but I've included resources to easily edit your own custom ones if my set is missing something you want!