Alrighty. Some may remember a thread from some time ago in which I inquired regarding Gene Espy (and Greg Laroque).
http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=148701
I've wanted to commission a piece by Gene Espy for a fair amount of time as I'm a fan of his style (which IMO is somewhat wasted with the pron esque pieces he seems to regularly put out as they've slowly become his normal thing over the last few years).
I finally commissioned him some time ago and last week received my piece. Both linked to and uploaded for viewing pleasure.
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryP...?Piece=1345950
The characters are Superman/ The Prime Superman from DC One Million and the villain of the one shot Superman: Last God of Krypton, Cythonna Krypton's Devil God of Ice and Death.
It always amused me thinking that in Last God of Krypton Cythonna was tricked into being stuck in the Sun as it weakens her (as she's ice/cold powered) just enough to not allow her to escape its pull.
And Superman in DC One Million eventually in his future evolved into a living energy god whose base of operation was the Sun.
So it amused me as a concept that Cythonna still bitter and annoyed over her defeat spent the millennia Superman stayed in the sun during his evolution trying to taunt or seduce him to trick him into freeing her.
Pros
-The piece actually largely came out as I expected.
-Probably even better than I imagined it in my mind I'll admit.
Now here comes what I figure would be good to know. The negatives. I do still greatly love the piece but I figure it'd be best to have this info out here.
Cons
- Received roughly September 23 despite commissioning it back in March (paying March 4/5).
-After some back and forth we agreed on a six week rough estimate to time of completion.
-Despite said agreement he did not actually begin the piece from all indications until 2 months into the agreement. So he started two weeks (roughly) after the agreed completion date.
-Said beginning on piece seemed to only be due to my message that if I did not see SOMETHING (as we were now two months in) showing work I'd go to paypal to refund my money.
-He replied that he considered that a type of threat. But eventually agreed that he had fallen behind and started work on it providing a prelim a little before 12 weeks into the process.
-Afterwards the only real hiccup was that from prelim to final he did not alter it so that Superman's hand was not on Cythonna's back/butt (though I consider that a simple mistake and it doesn't bother me so much)
Now you may say. Whoa. That's a lot of cons.
Yes and no. I think ultimately my process with Mr. Espy was good (or at least somewhat neutral IE both good and bad). The only real issue was ultimately time. I didn't make this post as a way to deter people from his work. No.
But ultimately to let folks know that I think he does AMAZING work.
He just takes a lot longer than he says he might which fair enough happens but is a bit extreme as a roughly 6 week agreement turned into just about 26 weeks (29 if we count when it finally arrived) so I'd like that to be known.
And though it might not be too soon, I do think I'll commission him again.
I think Mr. Espy just needs to be better at communicating how long a piece might be and to inform the client if delays occur. Otherwise I'd consider this a perfect commission.
