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It's been my experience that whenever I have politely asked an artist to either redo the layout sketch or touch-up a finished piece, it hasn't been pleasant. I have tried the direct approach, the kiss-ass approach, and the polite approach -- with little luck.
One time, I asked an artist to paint the following in a cartoony fashion: A deliciously playful and homicidal Harley and Joker wearing jail clothes standing in front of the Arkham Asylum gates with the heads of Batman's rogues gallery resting atop the spires of the gates, with blood drooping down on to the ground. Nothing that original, but I thought this artist would excel with that kind of visual work. I also asked that we be able to see Arkham Asylum in background. I sent all sorts of reference material. The artist agreed. To note, this artist has done lots of gory work of this kind in a cartoony style, especially with the Joker and Harley.
Months past the deadline, the artist finally sends me a scan of the finished piece. To my great surprise, the artist dropped the entire agreed upon Arkham + Rogues gallery theme. It was simply Joker and Harley (looking all in love) in costume (not jail clothes as asked) standing underneath a huge full moonlight. While the piece was still nice, it wasn't even close to what I asked the artist to do. My first thought was that this must be someone else's commission. After complimenting the artist (I've learned that this is generally a must with artists before asking or discussing anything), I politely asked why he didn't follow the theme of the agreed upon commission? He then said, he no longer felt it made sense visually. Okay. Perhaps. I then asked why he didn't contact me earlier so we can discuss other options? Why knowingly do something I didn't ask for? No direct reply to that save to say he'd redo the piece if I asked. I took him up on his offer and asked (i.e., however, in my mind, there was no redoing of anything as he didn't do it to begin with).
The artist never replied again. Later, I bumped into his agent (he eventually became more in demand and required representation) and asked if he could ask the artist to contact me about that once promised Arkham commission. All this to say, the commission was never revisted. Take from this example what you will.
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