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Old 06-05-2012, 02:02 PM   #101
madmanny
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We need to set the Batfan on him.


NANNANNANNANA BATFAN
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Old 06-05-2012, 02:16 PM   #102
johnclone
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Originally Posted by PureInvasion View Post
actually you'll love this latest email I got from him. Once again this morning I asked him for a refund as he once again never bothered to show any progress after he promised he would. In his usual long-winded rant he went on with this massive email. Its pretty funny he has time to write these things out but no time to either a) do the commissions or b) refund the cash. This guy actually makes me laugh with how much effort he puts into his excuses/long winded responses that have nothing to do with the subject at hand. He straight up gets mad at me at the end for getting pissed with him and demanding a refund since its been over 6 months with nothing to show. Does he still expect me to be perfectly polite after countless lies from him? Anyways read this for a laugh:

i am not giving excuses, and i am wasting 2 minutes i said in my last email i wasn't doing anymore of, playing email tag with people who would rather chat than let me work. Its like going to a mechanic that has been out sick and stand between him and your car for a 2 weeks and still complain he hasn't fixed your car.

I am sorry stuff has piled up in my life that couldn't be helped...but i clearly said in my last email i was setting my own day job drawing comics aside for the next week or so to make sure i got everyone's stuff done. Getting 5 different people emailing me 10 times a day with demands doesn't speed that process up, in fact it cost about 2 days of that week or two, which is why i stuck to my guns when i said, we will talk again when this is done, and its in the mail. Do you really think i am sitting around going MUAHAHAHAHAA i have there money....no, in fact its costing me money not getting them done because i have not taken on ANY side work because i have those commissions. So yes it bit me in the ass cutting my prices in half, or more than half in a few cases and now I have had to turn away the commissions that i charge full price for because i haven't had a second to get the prior commissions done.

I said before I never was a commission guy, not because I had a problem with them, i just always had enough work that I never had time for them. I have been working professionally in comics since the mid 90s, it has been my full time job since around 2004ish, and has given me a good lifestyle, one that afforded me to walk away from a good paying factory job as a supervisor at a company making parts for Toyota.

For me Commissions have been 1 or 2 side gigs a year...usually, it depends, but nothing in chunks.

This last year I had worked on a couple movies doing conceptual art, told my wife i kind of had an itch to do comics again after a couple years off to work in advertising and film, just to recharge my batteries, and because of my film history the first 2 book projects I was on, the funding was cut....which happens often...especially in Hollywood. So i found myself going from 300 dollars a page in November, the last month before the holidays to.....the next project up wont start til early to late spring ( which isnt uncommon in comics either because most the studios decision making shuts down from about the middle of November to the Middle of January.
The studios then get back in action and its anywhere from March to May that gigs get all the kinks worked out. I know when I did the Freddy V Jason V Ash series for DC Comics, I put my life on hold and turned jobs away for almost a full year, just minus a few weeks....and it consisted of, I got a call from the editor, he said you ready to start and heres what we will pay....i said thats a great price, Im ready...lets go, when do we start? We will get back in touch first of the week(this was a Wednesday...and I only remember because it was the day comics come out and I was at the comic shop picking up books and checking to see how the book I was on was selling...and I got a call while in the comic shop literally within 5 minutes from both DC and Marvel.....Marvel wanting me to do a Wolverine book and DC the Freddy Jason book, they both paid the same, but the DC project was going to be 12 books....and they called first.

Every week for almost a year I called at the 'first of the week' to the DC offices and that was after declining a few offers at Marvel because I would call DC and tell them, hey i haven't had a check in 6 months, Marvel wants me to start, its 2 issues...blah blah...and DC would panic....No no......sigh...Monday, first of the week.....and again this went on for just a hair over 11 months.

So when I am told a book will start in Spring, I hear.....Next spring...not this spring..lol.......point to this......I started about 6 days later when all was said and done.

I never gave the commissions I had taken in those 5 days to be a bother because I had no idea life was going to beat me in the ground with legalities, deaths in the family, and family members in the hospital, literally one after another and in some cases at the same time. I am , or was 6 foot 2, 225 pounds...well 225-230.....I bet I am around 190 pounds right now, and the reason is, no sleep, stress which causes me not to eat as much, and literally working around the clock to right everything and get everything back on track. I am literally on the tail end of my little feet, family seems to be running smoother, no deaths, no one sick, the only thing I am really still facing there is the State of Illinois wanting to knock our new house down to add a new freeway...but aside, i am just killing off the commissions so by the end of June everything is caught up, the book will be back on track and I will again begin to fight deadlines as I go around the conventions booked for 2012. I have no choice but to have my life slate clear by that time because the rooms have been booked, i have committed, and I have only had to cancel 2 shows in my life and it killed me because I felt bad because there nice enough to pay my way, book the rooms, meal allowances, whatever is in the package to come.......i really hate then saying sorry, cant make it after they go through all that trouble because you cant help but fear, Great , now they wont have me back next year because I am puking my guts up, or in one of the cancellation cases, I was in the hospital with a light heart attack, and I am just turning 38 in 20 days, so I was just in my early 30s when that happened, and I STILL fought to goto that show so I wouldn't let them down.

As I have said in the past...not sure to who, I wrote so many emails last week on the topic of commissions it wasn't funny, I have never dealt with doing Commissions based off of a website before, because of the unpredictability of the industry and I know I wont do it again either. Not because I am against the web/or message boards, its just to impersonal. I see theres alot of talented artist on there, and many do things for 20 bucks, 30 bucks, and it makes people happy, etc, and they make a few bucks on the side. I dont do quick and easy as I will further explain, and I dont do things for fun or side money, i do it because its how i support my family. All of the commissions i have taken in my life, and its not a lot because I keep steady working, all have the same deal........youll get it when you get it.....they pay, and i take the job and the first moment i get a chance to do it, i knock it out. Some go quick, some take a day or two, but in cases similar to what happened to me in the last 6 months, I had 2 guys in Texas wait over a year.....they didnt care,in fact I had spoke to them both a few times over that year, and I dont recall the topic of there commission ever coming up once, in fact still to this day when they see me at conventions they still tell me how its the best money they spent, they both sent me pics of the pieces framed and hung up. That makes me smile, just because I know they appreciate it, and that means everything to me,because to me everything I draw is a part of me. If there's something on a piece i don't like....i throw it away and start over. There was a page in book I did where I couldnt get the feel of the page right....and i literally did that page, from start to finish 11 times....I did half the book on one page, but i wasnt going to have something half ass that I did published and in print forever, and I literally didnt sleep much and worked on that one page while i worked on the rest of the book...but I did what I had to, to make sure the world got my best.

If someone told me they would give me 500 dollars for a piece so they could rip it up......i dont know that I could do it.

I remember last year or the year before I had a piece, I think a marvel piece, dont remember, i just remember Danny Miki had inked over me, anyway I sold it for around 850.00 dollars and the people handed me the money, i handed them the piece, and they rolled it up and it was like finger nails on a chalk board I almost got sick.....i know rolling is how you handle something versus folding it, etc....but it was still......my studio.....everything is flat and sealed up after I am done with it. In fact if the paper has a bent corner before I start, I wont use the paper. Back on one of the DC projects they would send around 30-40 sheets of DC board at a time, and there was one shipment I got where the paper corners were bent from bad packing when it was shipped. The point was, I called DC and told them I couldnt use the paper, and i sited my reason, and they said sure no problem, well get you some more out today, you will have it tomorrow, the next day they sent me close to a 1000 sheets of board for this little project.....on a funny note 5 years later I think i still have about 10 sheets of that 1000 left


The point to all of this, and I apologize for the ramble, honestly I had to just to think happy thoughts so I dont get into a bad frame of mind causing me to lose work hours, not a good way to start the day......the point, I am again sorry for the inconvenience, i don't have time to jump through hoops playing email tag or proving myself....trust me, i have a wife on my ass because she knows I am turning things away but she also knows it cant be helped, but every-time there's a spare 5 minutes i go into the house , dont think shes not asking me how the commissions are going so i can clean my work plate....and i say fine hun, I just came inside so i can get something to drink and take a sandwich back out to the studio with me.....i have to eat something...lol..or the biggest one, since i have been going around the clock keeping everything moving, work, and commissions.....the difference is that commissions are fitting equal to my day to day page work which i haven't done before because as i said earlier, i try to make the published stuff the best i can do, using every second i can on the page, and I havent been doing that...but I will admit that in a week or two after all is said in done, if they haven't been colored or lettered yet, there's a good chance ill go back and rework or retweek a few things on the pages.

Just please I am asking nicely..again...emailing me hourly, daily or what have you doesn't speed things along, I told everyone I HAVE to have everything done in a week or two because i have a couple things i have to do before I goto my first con of the season at the end of the month....and I would like to be able to goto bed with my wife once or twice since I get up around 4am and goto bed around midnight. Since she works for the Government(which used to be a cool job, but now, there getting screwed just like the rest of the working world...Hell my brother is a high ranking officer in the Navy, 14 years in, 10 years to go, and even his nice retirement package is down to nothing, and he is on a top secret boat, risking his life everyday only able to communicate with his wife kids and family once or twice a month....so ya, that's a whole 'nother rant on government and politics...lol) , but she is in bed around 9, but on a happy note we both get up at the same time so I go get to see her a little then without work or kids ...at least for a moment.

All i am asking is just be patient a little while longer......after the last few months, days should be nothing, but I have stuck pretty much to my word...i have not been on that site since we last emailed each other and I am only replying now, when i said in my last email i wouldnt do until the job was done, is to rest assured it will be...because I wont lie, 90 percent of everyone emailing me ended being cordial and understanding, but you just kept on, and i ended up losing a day emailing, and trying to get back into a frame of mind to work, so yes, out of that anger, your stuff went to the bottom of the pile, and that was wrong and i apologize, but I just want to work, and get this stuff done, not defend myself or explain myself. I have done this for many years, and this is my first experience being talked down to like i am some kid who popped on a message board in hopes to rob everyone. I have professional friends that are names in the industry, and i always hear them joking about finally chizzling away at there commission pile that's stacked up over the past year.....i dont want that to be me...i dont like being behind on anything because i try to give everyone 110 percent, giving them the best i possibly can and like with what happened at DC i dont like to be in a place where i cant make descisions because I am behind, or someone else is, which again is the main reason i dont do commissions normally, leaving myself open for my job and my family....i have gotten to where i dont ever like doing them at shows....ill do them for the hour or two a day i sit at the DC booth or where ever, but going to shows is the few times i get to get out and see all my buddies in the industry and i dont like to spend it in my hotel room doing commissions, id rather be down at the bar with Silvestri shooting pool

in closing, i apologize for this long rant, but I will say I am not upset anymore with the fact i started the morning with a demanding email, and even though i said i wasnt replying until it was done, i ask...please....just a short bit longer, everyones at the finish line and there spazzing out on me, and ill take the heat for it but i cant work, just like the mechanic cant work if your standing between me and your car

theres no reason to reply, i wont read it, its not me being rude, its simply me saying i dont have time to play email tag because it never ends, i write, you reply, i write, you reply and do on.....i have stayed off the message board for that same reason...but all will be happy when i am done, and i apologize for the immaturity of putting yours at the bottom of the stack last week but again, i have never done a commission no matter how long its taken and been talked to like i was, and for that i do apologize, im sorry.....back to work i go, we will talk soon...i promise


Jason Craig
cool story bro.

Seriously, all he has to do is deliver one finished commission to start with, right? Then at least, you'll have some reassurance.
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Old 06-05-2012, 02:19 PM   #103
joefixit2
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so what convention is he going to? Maybe there will be some SF brothers in arms going there.
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Old 06-05-2012, 02:20 PM   #104
johnclone
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Originally Posted by khazano View Post
i forgot how entertaining this forum is...

As for the artist at hand... WOW!!! Ive seen some ass holes with excuses before, but this guy`s emails are worthy of a publication.
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Old 06-05-2012, 02:23 PM   #105
Mean Green
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Originally Posted by johnclone View Post
cool story bro.

Seriously, all he has to do is deliver one finished commission to start with, right? Then at least, you'll have some reassurance.
Or progress shots at least?
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Old 06-05-2012, 03:25 PM   #106
oceans11
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I think everyone is sympathetic to anybody who has various life issues come up. That being said, there has to be some progress shown on this. Jason constantly says he's working on these but in turn shows absolutey nothing. Maybe he should work on only one, finish it, and then post it. If there was any sign of progress being made, then I am of the opinion that people would be willing to be a little more patient and wait for theirs to get done.

Lack of progress and long rambling e-mails with lenthy stories, excuses, life issues, and promises of getting the art done doesn't instill confidence in anybody. It's the cliche'd saying of a picture is worth a thousand words.

(just to note, I don't have anything tied up in this but I've been following it as I was interested in seeing the finished pieces and I feel for those who are stuck in this loop)
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Old 06-05-2012, 03:34 PM   #107
nbr3bagshotrow
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If this guy has a day job, does he not show up for work for 6 months and tell his boss his life story and says he can't work because of various issues?

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Old 06-05-2012, 03:58 PM   #108
snappahead
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Good god..well, if nothing else, I think it's safe to say this guy wont get another dime from anyone on this board again. Spread the word fellas. This cat shouldnt be anywhere near the commission game.
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Old 06-05-2012, 05:03 PM   #109
PureInvasion
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See I'd be fine If he posted some progress but he never bothers. What irks me the most is he says he started them in April. So in 2+ months he hasnt had time to snap a photo or take a scan?

I have no idea what my commission will look like and I honestly don't care at this stage. If a legit business pulled a stunt like this they'd be out of business fast.

I've been plenty patient with people doing artwork but the difference is that these people didn't only pop their head out of the sand when I called them out. They initiated contact. They gave me progress shots no matter how minuscule. They ran their commissions like a legit operation not some juvenile operation

Everyone has pity on people when life gets in the way. As mentioned a ton now though, you have to make your customers happy and this guy is doing anything but, especially with his outright refusal to give refunds on pieces that were paid in full and he can't produce a preview after 6 months.

Sadly all stuff like this does is impact future commissions from no names who pop up on this board
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Old 06-05-2012, 05:27 PM   #110
patrickwm68
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So he started taking commissions in November and 7 months later he hasn't produced one single piece? Un-frickin-believable.


He's on Facebook if anyone is having trouble getting a hold of him.

https://www.facebook.com/find-friend...17985044902481
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