monoxology - Tumblr blog

[monoxology]

Also new pfp just dropped because it’s too good to not do it 😭

[monoxology]

yall know the meme

[monoxology]

True freedom is shitposting abt ur oc gang

[monoxology]

Andrew having to sleep on the couch - part 6748473

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Trying out a new brush to see if that will cure my art block (spoiler alert it didn't) so I decided to draw my sister's oc Dynesta 😋

[monoxology]

I should make one of those fancy height charts with all my ocs in it to show how big Cas is cause i feel like i havent stressed enough that shes GIANT

[monoxology]

Just some little sketches to keep me sane while I suffer through artblock 👍

Anyways I love Morr and baby Creature together I feel like I don’t appreciate her enough 💔💔💔💔

[monoxology]

pls does anyone get my vision 👁 👁

[monoxology]

wait

wait guys

i have an idea........

[monoxology]

Don’t do drugs kids 🫡

[monoxology]

Artists, let’s talk about Instagram commission scammers

There’s been a huge rise in commission scammers recently, mostly on Instagram. A lot of new artists don’t know what to look out for, so I figured this might help people.

How they begin

Usually the scammer will write to you asking about a commission. Something deceptively cute - mostly I encounter asks about pet portraits, with one or two photos sent. They’ll probably try to sell you a sweet little story, like “It’s for my son’s birthday”. They will insist that they love your artwork and style, even though they don’t follow you or never liked a single piece of your art.

What to look out for:

Their profiles will either be private, empty, or filled with very generic stuff, dating at most a few years back.

Their language will be very simple, rushed or downright bad. They might use weird emojis that nobody ever uses. They will probably send impatient “??” when you don’t answer immediately. They’re in a crunch - lots of people to scam, you know. 

They’ll give you absolutely no guidelines. No hints on style, contents aside from (usually) the pet and often a name written on the artwork, no theme. Anything you draw will be perfect. Full artistic freedom. In reality they don’t really care for this part.

They’ll offer you a ridiculous amount of money. Usually 100 or 300 USD (EDIT: I know it might not be a lot for some work. What I mean here - way higher than your asking price, 100 and 300 are standard rates they give). They’ll often put in a phrase like “I am willing to compensate you financially” and “I want the best you can draw”, peppered with vague praise. It will most likely sound way too good to be true. That’s because it is.

Where the scam actually happens

If you agree, they will ask you for a payment method. They’ll try to get to this part as soon as possible. 

Usually, they’ll insist on PayPal. And not just any PayPal. They’ll always insist on sending you a transfer immediately. None of that PayPal Invoice stuff (although some do have methods for that, too). They’ll really, REALLY want to get your PayPal email address and name for the transfer - that’s what they’re after. If you insist on any other method, they’ll just circle back to the transfer “for easiest method”. If you do provide them with the info, most likely you’ll soon get a scam email. It most likely be a message with a link that will ultimately lead to bleeding you dry. Never, and I mean NEVER click on any emails or links you get from them. It’s like with any other scam emails you can ever get.

A few things can happen here:

They overpay you and ask for the difference to be wired back. Usually it will go to a different account and you’ll never see that money again. 

They’ll overpay you “for shipping costs” and ask you to forward the difference to their shipping company. Just like before, you’ll never see that money again.

The actual owner of the account (yes, they most likely use stolen accounts to wire from) will realize there’s been something sketchy going on and request a refund via official channels. Your account will be charged with fees and/or you get in trouble for fraudulent transactions. 

You will transfer the money from your PayPal credit to your bank account and they will make a shitstorm when they want their money back, making your life a living hell. They will call you a scammer, a thief, make wild claims, wearing you down and forcing you into wiring money “back” - aka to their final destination account. 

Never, EVER wire money to anyone. This is not how it’s supposed to go. Use PayPal Invoice for secure exchanges where the client needs to provide you with their email, not the other way around.

You can find more info on that method HERE.

What to do when you encounter a scammer:

Ask the right questions: inquire about the style, which artwork of yours they like, as much details as you can. They won’t supply you with any good answers.

Don’t let the rush of the exchange, their praise and the promise of insanely good money to get to you. That’s how they operate, that’s how they make you lose vigilance. 

Don’t engage them. As soon as you realize it might be a scam, block them. The sense of urgency they create with their rushed exchange, and pressure they put on you will sooner or later get to you and you might do something that you’ll regret later.

Never wire money to anyone. Never give out your personal data. Never provide your email, name, address or credit card info. 

Don’t be deceived by receiving a payment, if you somehow agree to go along with it. Just because it’s there now doesn’t mean it can’t be withdrawn. 

Here is a very standard example of such an exchange. I realized it’s a scam pretty fast and went along with it, because I wanted good screenshots for you guys, so I tried going very “by the book” with it. 

Please share this post, make it reach as many artists as possible. Let young or inexperienced artists know that this is going on. So many people have no idea that this is a thing. Let’s help each other out. If you think I missed any relevant info, do add it as an rb!

Also, if you know other scam methods that you think should be shared, consider rb-ing this post with them below. Having a master post of scam protection would AWESOME to have in the art community.

[monoxology]

My little baby boy I wish I could hold him gently and tell him he did good 💔

[monoxology]

The stinkiest of stinkies

The grumpiest of grumpies

It’s creature 😈

I swear I’m done playing around with his design (lies) but anyways I’m very happy with this one more than all the other ones so if it’s lucky it’s gonna stick

[monoxology]

Ok since y’all liked creatures weird eyes I GUESS I have to explain some lore oh this is such a tradgedy….😈😈😈

Ok so basically

Az likes to use a certain special neurotoxin like drug on his closer workers that is kind of based off devil’s breath where in smaller doses it basically makes them do anything he wants them to and they have barely any recollection of what happened. He only uses this on his verrrry special workers when he either doesn’t want them to remember what happened and claims he did it to ‘protect them’ from what he does which in some cases (cough creature cough) is actually true but in majority of other cases he just does it because he knows they will probably refuse to do what he asks and he can’t afford to risk that.

In larger doses it does what the small does does however it also triggers the fight or flight response which most of the time ends up being fight bc that’s how most monster brains are hardwired which comes in very handy in the ring if you’ve placed a lot of money on a fighter and want them to win lol

However if too much is used it triggers too much of a survival response and the sheer amount of adrenaline that’s produced just stops the heart so u gotta be rlly careful

Long time use of the smaller dosage has a damaging effect on the cardiovascular system as well as the central nervous system and can cause shitty stuff like hallucinations and seizures and blindness cause the drug either completely dilates the pupils or shrinks them depending on what sort of monster it’s used on. It can also cause something the dealers call a ‘void eye ’ where basically the pupil dilates so much it exploded and the whole eye turns black and usually turns the user blind and causes immense pain whenever the eye is moved so in most cases of this happening the void eye is removed

Ik that’s not realistic and would never happen but idrc bc it’s cool and also it’s fantasy 😋

It also causes the eyes to change colour due to damage to the veins in the eyes cause of excess dilation/ shrinkage which is why creature’s eyes look like that. He also has problems with depth perception and colour blindness occasionally

Creatures eyes are very similar to Cas’s eyes because she used to be a fighter Az worked with for a while. Her nickname used to be Ms Meathooks bc honestly look at the absolute gutters she has

She also has problems with her sight but some of them are just caused by old age lol

Anyways yeah that’s why their eyes are so funky but feel free to ask if u wanna know something else 😋😋😋😋🫶🫶🫶🫶

[monoxology]

Quick closeup of Creature’s eyes before I dissapear off the face of the earth for a while

One like and I will lore dump about why his eyes look like that

Edit: I made the post u can find it here 🤙

[monoxology]

The stinkiest of stinkies

The grumpiest of grumpies

It’s creature 😈

I swear I’m done playing around with his design (lies) but anyways I’m very happy with this one more than all the other ones so if it’s lucky it’s gonna stick

[monoxology]

The stinkiest of stinkies

The grumpiest of grumpies

It’s creature 😈

I swear I’m done playing around with his design (lies) but anyways I’m very happy with this one more than all the other ones so if it’s lucky it’s gonna stick