Difficult Clients?

[Michele Rushworth]

Alex is right. Clients are not trained to see proportion problems or angle problems, they just know something isn't right. And quite often if the problem seems to be a particular feature (often the mouth!) the real problem sometimes ends up being everything that's around the mouth but not the mouth itself.

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

That's true, but she wasn't even telling me whether it was the face or the body that bothered her - although I assumed it was the face, since it usually is. It helps if I have a general idea of where the client thinks it's off-kilter. Of course once you fix the mouth the naso-labial folds will need correction, and so forth, but personally I need a starting point at least. And as you said, Michele, sometimes they think it's the mouth, but it's actually the contours around it, or the jawline. That's our job to figure out once we've been alerted to a problem. But sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees after I've been focussing on something for awhile.

I've been working on the painting this morning and will try to have something to post today or tomorrow so I can see whether I'm on the right track.

Thanks again.

Leslie

[Tom Edgerton]

All of these are good suggestions....

First, always show a color study of the entire painting, and have them sign it as approval for you to go to the final painting. The major compositional changes are avoided by doing so. Then, get a deposit--most artists charge anywhere from 30 to 50 percent--so that you don't have to dicker over "what's fair" in the unfortunate instance that the painting is refused. As the artist, you're the one that determines what's fair. If you state the deposit amount and policy on your website, somewhere in your portfolio, and on your contract, there shouldn't be a lot of argument around it, as the client already has been informed about the deposit and has agreed to it.

In the not-uncommon situation you're in now, where you're trying to determine the source of the client's discomfort, having the client in and looking at the painting together is a good place to start. As already suggested, ask a series of non-threatening questions to try to both eliminate the areas that she's not worried about, and to identify the areas that do concern her. I sometimes ask the client to just point to areas that "just don't look quite right," and ask them to describe how the painting seems off, or doesn't feel right, and generally what feels wrong about it. I never ask them what specifically to do or change, as Alex rightly points out, as the solution is often different from what they think should be done. For instance, an eye that doesn't look right may actually be improved by working an area next to it. Then bend over backwards to try and accommodate them, as long as you don't compromise the quality and integrity of the work. You may have them sit at that time to observe the problem areas from life. Checking the areas of concern against the client is often a lot more illuminating than checking them back against the photo.

If you have to work from photos, finishing from life is always preferable.

Good luck....you'll get it right.

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

Tom, I haven't heard from the client since I spoke to her last weekend, but I've been working on the portrait based on some excellent suggestions I got from Alex, Michele, and more recently Allan Rahbek after posting the painting and the reference photo in the Works in Progress section. I have to tell you that in this case the client was right - there WAS "something wrong about the mouth." I'm still wrestling with it but I think I'm getting closer. I didn't have the objectivity to see where I went awry with her face and was concentrating on the husband's, which I saw as much more challenging. It took some fresh eyes to point out what wasn't working.

My fees are generally much lower than the rest of yours, and I don't charge enough for it nor do I like doing a color study first. For me the painting loses its freshness and its fun when I'm doing it twice. But I do show clients the blocking-in stage so they can see the composition and the general look of the painting and can decide whether it's what they had in mind when they selected the reference material. I don't proceed until I've gotten an okay at that stage. That didn't help me here, but a color study wouldn't have either; where the painting got into trouble was in the delineation and placement of the woman's features which is more of an end-stage aspect.

Do you find that your clients are willing to pose in the studio so that you can paint from life? The few times I've worked from life I haven't been happy with the expressions I got; also, since I paint people mostly in outdoor settings it would be hard to recreate the lighting in the studio. I will sometimes have the subject down to my studio and do some touchups with him or her in front of me, both to use as a model and to have them validate whether the changes I'm making are making a significant difference in their opinion. But that's as far as I normally go.

I am definitely going to start getting a deposit; I think the client would be more committed to working with me that way. As it is, now that the current client is not happy with the painting I'm wondering whether even the most accurate of portrayals, should I be able to make the right changes, would make her comfortable with it. In the past I've been able to work through situations like that, but the clients didn't seem to feel as awkward about it as she does!

Thanks for taking the time to comment on this thread. I think it's been very educational for me!

Leslie

[Tom Edgerton]

Leslie--

I WISH...

The amount of finish I get with the client from life is pretty much as you describe it, just some final adjustments when the painting is mostly finished. If it's a local client, I can schedule some interim work from life if I can get them in, which always ends with a superior result.

Sounds like your handling of the nuts and bolts of the commission is pretty well in place and working. But you're right in sensing that getting a deposit makes it a "real" commission, and the client sometimes is more engaged, paying better attention, and is more dedicated to a successful outcome when some money is exchanged up front. They tend to work a little harder to give you what you need to succeed.

All the best--TE

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

I never thought about being able to get a superior result by throwing in some actual work from life. I'll bet you're right, though. I often sketch from life when I'm at a meeting or concert, or anywhere else where people stay still for protracted periods. It's definitely a challenge because of course they move, drat them, so I have to wait for them to get back into position or try for a blend. But lots of time I can capture them that way, and it's fun. They're usually pleased and surprised when they see that they've been sketched.

I will have to try incorporating some checks from life with clients who seem to lend themselves to that. Obviously that excludes young children, though! Or do you manage to do that as well?

Leslie

[Tom Edgerton]

Well....

Some kids you just can't get to sit still long enough. But you can sometimes let them relax and do their thing in the studio floor, as long as they'll get up on a stool when you need 'em and give you a five to ten second check on a given area. A rare few will actually sit. I've know some artists who let them watch TV and zone out, if all one is checking is color or value and not expression.

Attempting to intimidate them into compliance won't work, and it'll just make everyone upset, including you.

Best--T

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

You're braver than I am. The last young child I did - I think he was about four - was hard enough to get a good photograph of, let alone trying to get him to sit still for a check on anything later. It's the first time I'd ever dealt with a child who was deliberately uncooperative and it was very hard to remain calm and friendly, especially when the parents were helpless in their dealings with him. But my background as a psychologist stood me in good stead there! And I finally got some material I could work with.

It took awhile before I could actually start the painting, and I got an email from the dad asking whether his son really looked like that when I shot the pictures. I sent him the reference photo and he responded, "Yup, that's the kid!" Apparently the boy had changed significantly since that time, so I was glad I had proof that I was painting the same child! I was also relieved that he wasn't going to be another difficult client.

Leslie

[Chris Saper]

Dear Leslie,

I think that every one of us has at least occasionally, had the feeling that "Difficult client" is just redundant in the Department of the Redundancy Department

You might look at three-part pricing structure - several hundred down for the photo sitting, 40% or so in order to start the painting, (both non-refundable) and balance on delivery. When I handled all my own local business, I used to break up the payment method this way, and even though I told the client the % down was non-refundable, I would refund the $ anyway if I couldn't make him or her happy.

You're right, there is nothing worse than a client who has a portrait on the wall, and who is ready to tell any and all, "I paid this artist, and got this horrible painting". The second worse thing is to have your client say," I paid this artist and hated the painting and she kept my money and the painting."

I realize that my approach is very un business-like, but at least with the local people, I was out a few hours of time, and had some $ to compensate for the photo shoot. Now that I work mostly out of state with brokers, they handle all the contract and $ issues. Even so, I recently had a situation where I had already conducted the non-refundable sitting, and realized that there wasn't any way I could please the client (having just painted the older child), and I sent the whole deposit back, no questions asked. Writing that check took a huge weight off my shoulders.

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

Dear Chris,

Thanks for sharing your experiences and your feeling about deposits. One of the reasons I have never accepted one in the past was that I didn't want the pressure of feeling that I had to please the client, even if I found it wasn't possible. But with the current situation, I have put many many hours into that painting and I realized that I would have to depend solely on the client's good will to recoup anything at all for my efforts, and that it was possibly not the best way to continue working! This is especially true since I have another painting on an easel which is awaiting completion until the client's visit and on-site reactions, at her request, and she seems in no hurry to show up. This was a woman for whom I had already completed one portrait with which she was very pleased, so I had no expectation that she'd be a problem. You just never know, do you?

I like the idea of charging for the photo shoot and then asking for a percentage once I've blocked the painting in and gotten the client's conceptual approval. This also gives me the opportunity to present a document which details the pricing, which might be an easier way to approach it.

I am especially aware of client reactions to a less-than-acceptable painting because I once got a commission from a local person who had had a posthumous portrait done of his wife by another area artist who is quite accomplished. He hated it and spoke very disparagingly of it and of the artist. He even wanted me to paint over her work, which I refused to do, of course. When I saw the picture I understood why he was dissatisfied; somehow the other painter hadn't caught the subject at all. I ended up doing a double portrait of him and his wife from an old photo and he was so pleased that he had me do another of his wife and their daughter as a toddler. But people will talk, and I don't want anyone talking that way about me, as you also observed! So sometimes it's better just to call it quits and forget about the money.

The other day I got an email from the current client saying that she had looked at the painting and now was satisfied with the way it was progressing, and so was her husband. I'm wondering if she hadn't checked out the latest version that I had sent her just before I saw her at the end of May. I responded that I had made a number of changes since then and I thought she'd be even more pleased with it when she returned from her vacation.

Thanks again for your suggestions!

Leslie