FAQ for Customers:
1. How do I create my personal artwork?
Step 1: Select an art style you like.
We have an incredible community of talented artists and art styles to select from. You may sort by Art Style, Subject or Price range to find what fits you. You may also use our search to find a specific style you are looking for.
Step 2: Upload your Photo
You may upload up to 3 photos and add any instructions the artist may need to create an art piece to your liking. The artist will notify you if your photo is not high enough quality for reference. Any photos or requests deemed inappropriate (i.e.: nudity, offensive content, etc.) according to our Terms may result in cancellation of your account and a ban from the site.
Step 3: Payment and Commissions
We offer an escrow service; i.e., you pay us initially, and the artist receives payment from us after they have delivered the artwork to you and you have approved of its quality. If the artist does not produce the work within the agreed-upon period or you don’t agree with the result, you can cancel your order and receive your money back.
Step 4: Quality Control
You will receive a link to review and approve the artwork before final payment is transferred to the artist.
Step 5: Delivery and Download
A high resolution version of your digital artwork will be ready for download immediately once you have approved the artwork. You will also unlock the option to post your artwork to your social networks such as: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest.
Step: 6: Order Print
You unlock the ability to order high quality prints of your artwork once you have approved the artwork. We have custom canvas and posters printing available.
2. Where can the physical print orders be delivered?
We currently only deliver physical print orders to US.
All customers will receive a high-resolution image file of their custom artwork that they may download and print wherever they desire.
3. How do I make safe payments?
We use PayPal as our secure payment gateway.
4. May I also print my own pictures?
At the moment, only artwork created on our site can be printed.
5. May I get reprints of finished work?
Yes. In ‘My Account’ you can visit ‘My Purchases’, ‘Completed’ and click ‘Order Prints’ of your order.
6. May I cancel my order?
Yes, but it is preferred that you cancel the order before the artist begins work or if you are completely unhappy with the artwork you have received. We recommend using the Project Tracker to communicate any small changes to ensure both parties are happy with the results. Frequent cancellations, abuse of our platform or complaints filed by artists will result in an investigation by our Platform Security team.
7. What if I am not satisfied with the digital art?
Sketchmob has a money-back-guarantee. If you are unhappy with your results, cancel the order and you will receive your money back. The digital artwork will be removed from our system in 48hrs. Frequent cancellations, abuse of our platform or complaints filed by artists will result in an investigation by our Platform Security team. If we determine that you have deliberately abused our system then your account will immediately be terminated and existing balance forfeited.
8. Is there a time limit for me to approve the final artwork delivered by the artist?
Yes. You are obligated to respond to the artist within 5 days after the final artwork has been delivered. After the 7 days, if there is no response then the project is automatically marked complete and the money is transferred to the artist.
9. What if I am not satisfied with the printing results?
If the print has obvious errors or shortcomings, we ask that you contact us immediately and we will help you. Please do not immediately send the print to our office address.
10. How may I use the result image?
By default customers are granted the worldwide, royalty-free, rights to use the resulting artwork for personal and noncommercial use only. You may download, modify, print and distribute your artwork in places such as social networks and blogs, but may not commercially resell the art. If you wish buy the full rights, you must contact the artist to discuss this option.
11. Is my artwork public for anyone on the site to see?
Before approving the artwork, you can select to make the artwork ‘Private,’ so that the url to the final art is only visible to you in your ‘My Purchases’ page and the artist’s ‘My Sales’ page. If you do not set your art to private then your artwork will display in the ‘My Collections’ tab of your Profile page along with the ‘Recent Works’ tab of the artist’s profile page. In either case only you and the artist will ever be able to order a print from the artwork through our site.
12. How can I delete my account and all my data?
You may request to delete your account and all associated data from our contact form.
13. What is the service fee?
To help cover the costs of running Sketchmob, we charge clients a service fee every time a commission is ordered. The exact amount of the service fee is displayed before clients confirm their commission. This fee helps cover the costs of operating the website for clients and artists. Some of the costs to run Sketchmob include: facilitating secure transactions, developing our products and services, providing cloud hosting for high resolution digital artwork and 24/7 customer service.
For further questions please contact us via our contact form.
FAQ for Artists:
1. What are my fees?
Membership and service listings are FREE of charge. We only deduct 15% from completed transactions. PayPal fees may apply during withdrawal.
2. How do I join the Sketchmob?
Step 1: Register here: Sign up as an Artist
Step 2: Visit your ‘My Account’ page and ‘Post an Art Style’ with example images of your art style and preferably the photo(s) you used as reference to create your art. Ideally, the photo should be of a person, pet or common object.
Step 3: Your Art Style posting will be reviewed for content and quality. We will assist in clarifying your description and fixing grammatical errors. If you are approved, your art style will go live and your services will be available for anyone to order.
3. How do Payments work?
1) Client pays for their custom art order (via Paypal)
2) Payment goes into escrow (we hold onto the money)
3) Artist gets photo, creates and delivers final high res art and raw file.
4) Client receives a low res proof to review and approve.
5) If the client is happy with the art -> Payment is released to the Artist minus our 15% processing fee.
Client can download High Res image and Raw files, share with their social network or order prints.
5b) If the client is unhappy -> Payment is refunded to the Client
Client cannot download their high res files, share or print their artwork.
4. How must an Art Style listing appear to be approved?
Two extremely important principles of Sketchmob are inspiration and standardization. With good (before/after) sample images, the customers should always be aware of what can be done with their photos. At the same time, the offer should be as concrete as possible. Therefore, you should avoid using “everything is possible” or “send me your inquiries” in your instructions. With standardization we can make it possible for the customer to obtain his/her dream image. The Artist avoids the risk of having to submit multiple drafts in advance which the customer may not like and for which he will not pay. In no way do we want to restrict the creativity of the artist, which should develop through creation and placement of new offers. What we desire to do is give the artist the opportunity to make money quickly and easily by using their skills.
5. May I change my art style once it’s made?
Yes. Under “My Art Styes” you can edit all of your art styles, temporarily deactivate them or delete them. Any edited postings will require for it to be reviewed before getting listed again.
6. Must I always be available?
No. To avoid being overwhelmed, we ask that you deactivate all your Art Style listings if you are temporarily unavailable. All this can be done under “My Account”. You are expected to deliver on an art order if it is placed.
7. May I reject a request?
You may always cancel an order in the event of illness or if the customer provides a photo or request that does not comply with our policy or the service you offer. In the event of illness, vacation, etc., we suggest you deactivate all your listings. In this case, your services will not be listed until you reactivate your listings.
8. What do I do if the source image is unsuitable?
Please contact the customer via the Order’s Project Tracker. You may request for a new image from the customers or mutually agree to cancel the order. The customer will receive a full refund.
9. Am I bound by the purchase order?
You are expected to respond to the orders you receive. Failure to response in 48hrs will result in automatic cancellation of the order and your art style posting taken down indefinitely. To avoid having your art posting taken down, please be sure to follow up on your orders as soon as you receive them – by either “Accept” or “Cancel” Non-deliveries may also result in negative ratings.
10. What happens if I don’t deliver on time?
Many orders on Sketchmob are intended as gifts. As you can undoubtedly imagine, it is very annoying for customers if they do not receive the result image on time. Therefore compliance with specified turnaround times is very important. You may receive negative ratings from the customers thusly. If you exceed deadlines repeatedly, we may revoke your membership to Sketchmob. Therefore, please ensure that you plan enough time when you accept orders, and if necessary increase the anticipated completion time in your Art Style listing. A customer cannot help but be pleased if he receives the result earlier than anticipated!
11. In what data format and resolution should I upload Final Artwork?
To be flexible with print options, the finished result image should be at least 4000px x 4000px (size may vary based on orientation). Templates will be provided based on the clients order. The higher the resolution the larger print the customer can have. Please use the .JPG format with little to no compression and sRGB color profile embedded. You are also expected to deliver the Raw files (ZIP, PSD, PDF, AI etc).
12. What happens if a client does not respond after I deliver the final artwork?
If the client does not respond After the 7 days, the project is automatically marked complete and the money is transferred to the artist.
13. A client has cancelled a commission unjustly. What can I do?
We take the security of our site seriously. Please immediately contact us via our contact form to file a complaint and include your project # for reference regarding suspicious activity. The project will be reviewed and a fair resolution will be determined. Frequent cancellations, abuse of our platform or complaints filed by artists will result in an investigation by our Platform Security team. If we determine that a client has deliberately abused our system then their account will immediately be terminated.
14. How and when do I get paid?
After an order has been delivered and approved by the customer, your listing price minus our 15% transaction fee will be credited to your account. You may go to My Accounts > Payments to withdraw money to your PayPal account. A minimum of $10 is required for a withdrawal request.
15. How is my fee calculated?
The fee is 15% of the price you list for your service.
16. What rights do the customers acquire in work I create?
By default customers are only granted the worldwide, royalty-free, rights to use the work you create for personal and noncommercial use only. They may download, modify, print and distribute their artwork in places such as social networks and blogs, but may not commercially resell the art. If you wish to grant users full rights, you must include this messaging in your description.
17. Do I need a trade license?
Please ask your local authorities to find out if you need a trade license. Depending different country laws, you may need to declare your revenue with the tax office if it exceeds the yearly allowance in any given year.
18. Must I pay taxes?
Please inform your local Tax Office when and if you have to pay taxes.
19. Is there a specified membership period?
You can cancel your account with Sketchmob at any time without the need to specify a reason. Please use the contact form and include “Cancel Account” as your subject line. We only ask that you complete any existing orders first.
For further questions please contact us via our contact form.
