Artist's Experience & Rating Thread

[Titan1977]

-1 Jimbo Salgado
In September of 2013 I commissioned a Black Knight and Sersi piece from Jimbo Salgado. I had asked for the Knight to have his laser sword, not the traditional ebony blade. Everything seemed to be going smooth, until he showed me the scan and he drew the wrong sword. I complimented the piece, but pointed out that the sword was incorrect. He 'fixed' it be adding a light effect around the sword, which still didn't look right.i loved everything else about the piece, so i just ggot passed the sword problem. The piece arrived in February 2014 (it was supposed to arrive in December), and the package was bent to hell. The art was not packaged securely at all. It was out inside of a thin flat box then that was put into an envelope. I contacted him right away and he said he was sorry, he didn't know how they packed it. 'They' being his family. In order to make up for it, he offered me a commission at a discounted rate, I could pay when the piece was completed, and he would pack it and ship it himself. I agreed to that, with the understanding that it would fall into his current schedule. Months went buy and i would ask about the piece, and he would tell me he's getting to it. Originally it was supposed to be done in March, then June. I asked about it in July and he said he had been swamped with deadlines but now he could get to the piece. He promised roughs right away. I received a few roughs to choose from on August 7 and selected one. In September I asked where my piece fell in his schedule, and he replied that he forgot about it and then sent me 3 roughs to choose from. I reminded him that he already sent me roughs and I selected one. He said okay and would get it done right away. In November, as i hadn't heard from him, I sent a message asking about it. No reply for months, so in January 2015 I posted on his time line asking about it. No answers, so in February I post again, with a little bit more information about what was going on. At that point he messaged me telling me to stop posting on his time line and that he was working on my piece. I say okay, all i wanted was a response. I don't message him or post anything for a couple of months, so in April I ask about it. He said it was coming along. I sent another message at the beginning of June and he said he was going to do the sketch that day, which was June 3rd. All the while he was soliciting work for more commissions. I give up, and cannot recommend him for commissions. It's a shame because the guy is immensely talented.

-1 MC Wyman. I have bought multiple commissions from him over the last ten or so years. First several years no problem. H refuses to provide layouts, so it is hit or miss. My last few commissions were definitely just rushed out, no 'oomph' like previous ones. He even changed the details agreed upon on one of them. Refused a refund or a redo. Obviously doesn't care about what the customer wants and pays for. Don't know what changed over the years.

[Roygbiv666]

+1 Brendon and Brian Fraim. I can only assume they've already been mentioned, but if not ... they are fast, reliable, affordable, professional, open to ideas; they do pencils, inks, and now colors, and lettering.

They've done tons for me, highly recommended.

http://brosfraim.com/
http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryd...aim&GCat=56510

[CJ82]

So if I could add another -1 to Tyler Kirkham and MGA I would. Just got my piece today, and I don't know what shipping method they used (never asked me) but the mail guy showed up with a bill for $83. That's triple the amount of shipping I've paid on any other commission, including ones that came from Brazil and Philippines. Never doing business with these guys again.

[CKinSD]

wolly vinyl - a north carolina artist that has a unique style and is one hell of a good guy to deal with. love his take on characters and style.

Von Randal - a Filipino artist that I've been dealing with for years. I gotten a lot of great pieces from him and his attention to detail is damn cool.

Tony Kordos - one of our own, inker for DC and some Marvel covers. a great guy and does an incredible job for sure.

all three of these guys can take my money all the time for certain

[carlito1978]

Originally Posted by CJ82

So if I could add another -1 to Tyler Kirkham and MGA I would. Just got my piece today, and I don't know what shipping method they used (never asked me) but the mail guy showed up with a bill for $83. That's triple the amount of shipping I've paid on any other commission, including ones that came from Brazil and Philippines. Never doing business with these guys again.

ouch. did they include a statue with that art?

[CJ82]

Originally Posted by carlito1978

ouch. did they include a statue with that art?

Nope.
Though to be fair I'm pinning this experience on MGA. I'm sure Tyler is lovely, and clearly talented. Communication with MGA was horrible, I have a feeling they just didn't communicate my requests and revision note to Tyler. And all these unexpected expenses, if they were going to use a shipping method that cost me nearly $100 I would have loved to know beforehand.

[Ghost9]

Originally Posted by CJ82

Nope.
Though to be fair I'm pinning this experience on MGA. I'm sure Tyler is lovely, and clearly talented. Communication with MGA was horrible, I have a feeling they just didn't communicate my requests and revision note to Tyler. And all these unexpected expenses, if they were going to use a shipping method that cost me nearly $100 I would have loved to know beforehand.

That's a bummer! Not sure what they did there. I got my commission from Tyler as well - shipped directly from him & not MGA. The packaging was immaculate - multiple layers of protection. Shipping on the box was $15 - from Utah to Connecticut. Sorry to hear your experience was so bad. Hopefully the piece wasn't damaged.

[aric]

Originally Posted by CJ82

So if I could add another -1 to Tyler Kirkham and MGA I would. Just got my piece today, and I don't know what shipping method they used (never asked me) but the mail guy showed up with a bill for $83. That's triple the amount of shipping I've paid on any other commission, including ones that came from Brazil and Philippines. Never doing business with these guys again.

not sure I understand....they shipped it then asked u for money at time of delivery? I've used MGA and done deals with Tyler, and I have never had any problems

[CJ82]

Originally Posted by aric

not sure I understand....they shipped it then asked u for money at time of delivery? I've used MGA and done deals with Tyler, and I have never had any problems

Yeah, delivery guy showed up with the package and said there was an $83 dollar charge. Still have the receipt. I don't know if it was because of some USA to Canada GST cost or something, maybe because they listed the value of it? Thats all I can think of. All I know for sure is this one in particular was done differently in some way from all the others, I've gotten several from USA (so far have all just been $25), Brazil and Philippines, most expensive was from Brazil, $35. It also included an additional 9.95 Handling cost on top of what I already paid for shipping. I'd ask them about it but they'd probably not get back to me for weeks and doubt anything could be done anyways. Don't care at this point, it's done. Got better (and cheaper) commissions to look forward to

[dcd747]

I'm sure the shipping agent that covered clearing customs for the art (which is a huge scam in itself) was a lot of the charge. I believe that original art, however, is exempt from either duty or GST (don't remember which one), as long as it's signed by the artist, so if they charged you for the wrong one, you should fight that, at least.

Clearing customs through the mail can sometimes be really easy and other times, it's complete BS. There's no predicting what will happen.