Alright — I'm going to ask about something that's been going on for a long time. A few months ago I got a comment from someone offering to draw artwork of characters from my stories for money. I asked for more details, but I only got referred back to their social media accounts, such as Discord and Instagram.
The reason I asked for more details is because I found it suspicious: a person who followed me the very same day, never commented on or liked my posts before, is now offering to draw art. Someone else saw that I commented on their account and shares the same concerns as me.
At first I gave the benefit of the doubt, but I never replied to the person again. Months later, I feel like at least once a month someone random starts following me out of nowhere and then offers to draw artwork the very same day.
It doesn't help that all of their messages sound the same:
“Hello, my name is insert name, and I'm an artist with experience turning stories into vivid visuals. Your writing is fantastic — I'd love to bring parts of it to life.”
It sounds very ChatGPT-like, where the messages keep starting with an introduction, explain who they are, and use overly fancy wording no regular person on this site would say — especially not in my comment section. No shade, but a lot of you make a lot of spelling errors, and as a dyslexic, I can relate.
I thought it was just a coincidence at first, but at this point I feel like I'm being targeted by bots or scammers, and I'm not giving the benefit of the doubt any longer.
Are there any other writers/people on this site who have had the same experience as me? If so, please comment — I'm legitimately curious.
And if you're a legit artist who actually wanted to draw art, sorry, but I have no interest. I'm sorry I lumped you in with scammers/bots.