Summer Dragon Studios

Fursuits and art

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Summer Dragon Studios - Terms of Service

These are the terms of service for our fursuit commissions. Please read the document thoroughly before commissioning Summer Dragon Studios.

To request a quote, please contact us through any of these platforms:

Email - summerdragonstudios@gmail.com
Instagram - @summer_dragon_studios
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/summerdragonstudios

Summer Dragon Studios reserves the right to change these terms of service whenever necessary. It is the customer’s responsibility to make sure they read an up-to-date version.

Rules -

Projects we can and will do include:

Projects we will NOT do include:

We reserve the right to refuse any project if it makes the maker uncomfortable or we don’t feel confident we can accomplish it well. Asking for a project strictly against our rules will result in a temporary ban, continued behavior like this will result in a permanent blacklist.

Features -

All of our suits include:

Pricing -

Our base pricing for fursuits are as follows (all prices in United States Dollars)

Please note that all prices listed here are base prices, actual cost depends fully upon project complexity. Prices listed here do not include shipping cost, which will be included in the quote for the project based on where you live (We will ask for your state or province when you inquire about a quote).

Asking for us to lower our prices because you cannot afford them is not acceptable, and will result in a temporary ban. Continued behavior like this will result in permanent blacklisting.

Add-on pricing -

We have various add-ons available for our suits. The prices for these are fixed and do not change with the character design.

Options for these add-ons will be available on the commission form. We can do a few different eyelid shapes for different emotions. We can do other magnetic accessories like plush jewelry upon request.

Regular Commissions -

A regular commission is one where We make a suit of your already-designed character based on a reference sheet you must provide. This type of commission is best if you want a suit of your specific fursona. To get a regular commission, You must send us a reference sheet of the character and we will calculate a price estimate based on material costs and labor involved. We reserve the right to make small changes to fit our suit making style and bring the character to life in three dimensions.

Artistic Liberty Commissions -

An artistic liberty commission is a bit different from a normal one. Instead of providing an exact reference sheet of an already designed character, you give an idea, and we work together to create a design that you are 100% happy with before we begin building the suit. You would come to us specifying the species and some very basic characteristics such as the primary color.

We will then work to design a character based on your idea, checking with you every so often to make sure you like it. Once the design is finished, we will begin working on the suit in the same way as we would a normal commission. This type of commission is best when you aren’t fully certain what the suit you want looks like. Artistic liberty commissions also come with a full digital reference sheet as a product of the design process.

To get a quote for an artistic liberty commission, we will ask for the basic idea and whether you would like the character to be simple or complex, how many colors, etc. We will then calculate the cost from there.

WIPs -

WIP (work in progress) photos and updates will be made available to you during the process of your fursuit build. We will use them to show you how it’s going, ask questions about next steps, or verify that you are happy with the current step before we continue.

That said, please do not ask for WIPs during the process. They will be provided to you at any relevant time, at least once per week. But providing more WIPs than necessary slows down the process and uses a sufficient amount of our time. If we do not send you WIPs at a given time, it is because no significant progress has been made on your suit that is worth documenting, or the suit is at a stage where it isn’t clear what’s happening or is unrecognizable.

We reserve the right to share WIPs from your fursuit project on our social media page. If you would not like these photos to be shared, you are free to tell us and we will comply. You must explicitly tell us that you do not want your WIPs shared online. We use WIPs from fursuit projects online for various reasons. For instance, we may use it as an example of our work or to show a special feature we offer. They are also sometimes used to make tutorial videos on specific steps or techniques.

In these posts, we will explicitly state that the character belongs to you and that the suit is a commission. If you don’t mind us sharing your WIPs, but don’t want to be mentioned/named in the post, please tell us and we will comply with your request.

Reference sheets -

Fursuit commissions require a clear reference sheet with 2-3 views of the character, as well as 2-3 pieces of additional art. If the reference images you provide are not clear enough, we will ask you to give us more images. We may also ask you to remake your reference using one of our fursuit planning sheets, depending on the situation. We will also make sketches of the character if we need to clarify marking placement or other details. We have a few free reference sheet bases available upon request if you would like to remake your reference sheet before applying for a commission.

A clear reference sheet shows the character from the front, back, and sometimes the side. It should also show front and back images of both paws if those are included in your commission. A view of the entire tail is also important. If you are commissioning a partial suit, you can even draw a reference that doesn’t include the body and focuses on the head, paws, and tail.

Design change policy -

The character design of your suit can only be changed before we begin work on your suit. We do not accept design changes after the building process has begun. This is to ensure we don’t have to start over with your commission and lose time and materials. This excludes small changes that come up when we show you WIPs and you want to change a tiny detail before we complete it, such as the shape of a carve on the base or the location of a marking before patterning.

Communication -

Because of the nature of the fursuit commission process, it is absolutely necessary that we stay in contact with the customer throughout the project. Usually, a method of contact is established as soon as you reach out to us. We can use a variety of platforms: DMs on our social media, email, and messages on our Etsy page are ideal. We must be able to send images as well as text through whatever platform we use. We ask that you use a platform that you can easily access and check often so that we can complete your commission efficiently.

If you are going to be away and unable to contact us for a period of time during your commission process, please let us know so that we can save any questions for once you return. Absences like this may delay the project as we are not given the opportunity to check things with you as we work.

No contact policy -

If we have not heard from you for a long period of time (20-30 days) without prior notification, we will send you a warning. Once you have received this warning, you have 30 days to contact us again before we consider you No-contact. When this occurs, we will refund up to 50% of the cost for the project (actual amount will be based on how far we have gotten in making your suit) and consider your order canceled.

If we do not have a way to refund you, and you do not make contact, we will simply not return the payment to you. In either case, the materials for your suit will be repurposed to make a premade suit and sold to the general public.

If you have already warned us about an absence, you are exempt from this policy.

Project Selection -

When Summer Dragon Studios opens commission slots, the slots are limited. The number of slots in a given queue will be posted in the announcement on our instagram. We will be open for applications through a certain date and after that we will select projects. If we have more applications than slots, we will base the selection on a few factors.

The first factor is payment. We have three options for payment plans. The projects that are paid in full upfront are given priority in the selection. More details on payment plans below. The second factor we consider is the references you have given us. We are more likely to pick projects with clearer, easier-to-follow reference sheets. Unclear reference sheets present us with the extra step of clarification. More info on reference sheets below. Character design is also taken into consideration when selecting projects. Priority will be given to projects we feel confident we can complete well.

Payment -

Summer Dragon Studios uses either PayPal or Square to send invoices and process credit card payments. The customer does not need an account with either service to pay for your commission. These services allow the customer to pay via credit card and protect both us and the customer from fraud.

PAYMENT PLANS: plans can be discussed on a case-by-case basis and we are able to be flexible in this regard. That said, the 33% down payment policy is non-flexible. All payments must be made before we mail your suit to you. More information in the next few sections.

Down payment and claiming a slot -

Once we have selected you for our queue, you must make your first payment within 30 days. This payment must be at least 33% of the entire project cost and is fully non-refundable. If you choose a payment plan in which you pay more upfront, the remainder of that cost can be refunded if you decide to cancel before the project starts.

The 33% down payment secures your slot in the queue and allows us to begin ordering materials and building your suit. If the down payment is not made within 30 days, your slot is no longer secured and is subject to be replaced by another project.

Cancelation and refunds -

Summer Dragon Studios greatly discourages canceled orders. Fursuits are one-of-a-kind art pieces and they are built to represent your original character. For this reason, they cannot simply be finished and resold to the general public. We highly recommend heavy consideration and financial preparation before commissioning us. Customers who have canceled orders in the past are less likely to be selected for slots again.

You are free to cancel your slot any time before you make your down payment. Once you have paid the 33%, that payment is non-refundable. We use this payment to purchase materials almost right away, and it cannot be returned to you.

The other 67% of the payment can be refunded before we begin work on the suit. If the suit is close to finished when you cancel your order, then a maximum 50% can be refunded.

If you would like to cancel your order while the suit is being built, there are two options.

The first option - we can refund 67% of the payment and repurpose the materials to make a premade suit instead. This option is available up until we have cut out the fur for your suit.

The second option: we can refund 30% of your payment and ship the unfinished suit (including pattern pieces that have been cut and/or sewn) to you at your expense. This option is available at any time, and is what we will do if your suit is too far along to be repurposed.

NOTE: if your suit is almost finished, we have already spent many hours on it and can only refund 15-30% of the cost.

Return policy -

Summer Dragon Studios does not accept returns on finished fursuits. However, if there is a genuine problem with our craftsmanship and the suit breaks quickly after arriving (or in transit), please contact us and we can work through the issue. Refer to our repair policy for more information.

Age policy -

Summer Dragon Studios generally only accepts commissions for individuals 18 years old or older. This is for a variety of reasons.

The first being the fact that fursuits are original art pieces and a luxury item and they hold emotional value to the maker, and would be wasted if they were to be damaged because they were owned by a young child.

The second reason is that minors are less likely to have the funds available to afford custom fursuits. We do not want to be involved in a situation where a customer cannot afford to complete the payments for their suit, and this is more likely with minors. We have also had incidents where minors have stolen money from their parents or guardians to afford a suit, and we wish to avoid those scenarios as much as possible.

The third reason is the fact that children will grow. We don’t want our customers to buy a suit from us just to outgrow it in a few years. We highly recommend waiting until you are done growing before buying a fursuit of any kind.

If we are in doubt about your age, we will ask for proof. We will have you take a photo of your ID (drivers’ license/permit, non-driver ID card, passport, etc), cover up personal information such as full name, height, weight, etc. You must have at least the date of birth showing. We will have you write two random words (given to you when we request this proof) on a sheet of paper, as well as your username, and have this included in the photo. We will ask you to specify which date format it is written in.

Working with minors -

If you are under 18 and would still like to get a suit from us, you must do it through a parent or guardian. An adult must make first contact with us and negotiate the commission. Once this is done, we will either talk to the minor or the adult (your preference) for the remainder of the process to talk about design and other choices. All payment and policy discussions will go through the adult during this process.

Fursuits made for minors will be made to fit an adult body, to ensure that the owner will not grow out of the suit. If the suit owner is 16 or 17 years old, we will use their approximate measurements. If not, we will make the parts to fit the average adult. We will not make fullsuits for ANY person under 18.

We generally will not agree to make a suit for anyone younger than 13 years of age (even with parental contact). This is to protect the suit from misuse and to protect the child from various risks associated with fursuiting (see below section). Even if you are over 18, you should know about the risks.

Risks of fursuiting -

Restriction of breath - A fursuit head is a mask that covers the wearer’s entire head. It has multiple layers of material and is not fully breathable. There is a hole in the suit behind the mouth that allows for some airflow to make it into the suit, and we do our best to make it comfortable, but it does not allow the same airflow as you would get without wearing it.

Individuals with asthma or similar breath-related health conditions are advised to be cautious and possibly consider a safer alternative. Even those without such conditions should be cautious and notice when they need to take a break and breathe. If you become dizzy or short of breath, remove the suit as soon as possible and take a break.

Overheating - Fursuits have many layers of material and will easily trap in heat. The faux fur and foam are very thick and are not made to be breathable. Though we do our best to use comfortable, breathable fabric for the lining. Body heat trapped in a fursuit will cause the wearer to sweat and become dehydrated. It is important to drink lots of water during long periods of wearing the suit. In extreme cases, it can cause heat stroke or other similar issues. Be mindful of your reaction to the heat and take off the suit as soon as possible when you need to.

Limited visibility - fursuits have eye holes that are smaller than a human’s field of vision. Peripheral vision is extremely limited, and there is a blind spot directly in front of the wearer. The mesh used for the eyes will render your vision a little blurry and may have some blind spots as well. Caution is advised when walking around in suit, and it takes some practice to adapt to the limited eyesight.

Allergic reactions - although we do not have dogs or cats in our fursuit workspace, fursuits still produce a lot of dust. Dust from the workspace, shedding from the faux fur, and other small pieces of material we failed to clean up can end up on or inside your suit. This can cause allergic reactions for some people.

Your suit WILL shed for some time before settling down. If the dust from it is causing allergies, you can use a vacuum cleaner in the space to try to keep it from affecting you as much.

The material used to line the suit can also cause an allergic reaction on the skin to some people. If you are allergic to any textiles or materials, please let us know so we can avoid using them on the parts of the suit that will touch your skin.

Repair policy -

If your suit has sustained damage that is possible to fix, and you are unable to fix it yourself, there are two possibilities. The first option is for us to guide you through the repair process through tutorial videos or verbal guidance. The second option is for you to mail the product back to us to be repaired. The only cost for sending it in for repair is the cost of shipping (both ways).

If you would like to send a fursuit back for repair, please contact us and we can decide the best course of action together. Please note that damage such as stains or missing fur (which are usually caused by mishandling) cannot be repaired. When you are mailing a suit to us for repair, we will instruct you on properly and safely packaging the suit.

We will not repair suits made by other makers, as those suits are made in their styles with their methods. We are not comfortable taking the risk of altering or ruining a suit made by another maker because we do not know how the suit is built.

Packaging -

We package our suits to protect them as well as we possibly can. Suit parts are individually sealed in plastic bags to prevent moisture damage, and empty space in the box is filled with packing material to protect the suit when it gets thrown around. If a suit has any fragile parts we will take extra care to protect that part.

Additionally, our suits are pretty durable. They can handle being tossed around, temporary wetness, and some level of being squished. They are not invincible, though, and some suits have more delicate pieces.

That said, we are unable to predict every possible situation that could happen in the mailing process. If a suit is damaged in a way that we could not protect against, we cannot be responsible for that damage. We can still repair your suit if it does get damaged in transit. If something does happen, please tell us. It is important for us to know how to improve our process and how we can help you restore your suit to a like-new condition.

Feedback and reviews

Any feedback on our work is greatly appreciated, it helps us to learn from past projects and grow as a maker. Whether you contact us directly with feedback or leave a public review on social media or Etsy, any method is acceptable. We love to see our suits being used as well, so don’t hesitate to tag us in posts featuring them!

Thank you!

We appreciate that you read our T.O.S. before commissioning us. Thank you for your time and we hope you consider letting us bring your fursona to life!