>>7782568
Depends on the complexity of the piece and the amount of work the artist has on their plate. You have a nuclear option available to you, but it's ultimately your decision wether or not to go that route, and that's to fuck with his kofi/PayPal account.

>Ask for an update
>If you hear nothing after a week ask again (and warn them you're considering reporting him to PayPal if you don't hear back after a week.)
>If you still hear nothing after a week you should flag the payment on PayPal and request a refund

You're probably not going to get your refund I'm sorry to say.
But this will completely fuck their PayPal account up (maybe permanently) and you'll make the artist regret the day he ever chose to ghost you and take the money and run.
This whole commission freelance thing runs on blind trust between patron and artist. Anyone who fucks with the social contract deserves to be pushed out of the arena. And I say this as an artist who can't stand hearing from people about how they got scammed by jeets on fiverr or how they're all queueing around the block to get a comm on vgen or skib, because western artists can't be trusted.
That artist isn't just fucking with you, he's fucking with the collective reputation of all western commission artists when he does this.