Got a little commission problem...advice would be appreciated

[Dr. Otto]

There's an artist I've met online, whom I've commissioned for a TF comic sequence. Unfortunately, I seem to have dug myself into a hole.

English isn't the first language of this particular artist, and there's been a misunderstanding between us regarding the price for the commission. When I initially asked for the cost of a single comic page, the artist came back to me with an estimate of $120. The script that I sent him contained exactly six panels - I kept it as short and sweet as I could.

He then sent me a sketch for a "first page" - basically the first two panels of my script, extended into three larger, more elaborate panels. This confused me a little, but the art was terrific, so I couldn't really complain. I assumed the artist was simply adding his own flourishes to the story, which was fine by me. However, I then discovered that the artist expects to be paid $120 for each subsequent page, three in all...which would come to $360, way beyond what I thought was our agreed price! As I currently have to be super-conscious of my budget, doing the occasional TF commission was foolish anyway, but apparently I've made an even bigger fool of myself.

(I should add that the artist DID send a note stating he would only do the comic for $120 per page, but the sentence he wrote was slightly garbled, so I ended up misinterpreting it. As the script I sent him was for a single comic page comprised of six panels, I simply assumed we understood each other, which was my mistake.)

What to do next? I would be devastated to cut my losses and abandon the commission, as the artist has already taken $120 of my cash, and as I said, his stuff looks great...but going on with the commission is also unwise, as I have Christmas to consider. I've pissed off another artist before due to a similar clusterfuck, and I don't want to piss this guy off either.

It's a real pickle to be in, and all because of language barriers. The real tragedy is that I'll have spent $120 for an unfinished comic...