This week on Love It, Hate It!...
Love It!
1. My Fantasy Life. If you're not playing this you should buy it. A bit text heavy, but it's an incredible, immersive game.
2. Homage to the gimmick arrows on Arrow. This week's episode showed the classic boxing glove arrow, though it was accidental, it was still awesome.
3. Couplescraft. YouTube super-boyfriends, Will and RJ, team-up in a new Minecraft series. My only complaint: I wish the episodes were longer than 10 minutes!
4. Justice League 3000: Yesterday Lives. Volume one compilation of the series is one of the best things to come out of the New 52. It's harsh and violent, but the characters really grow on you. And the twist at the end...
5. Grayson #4. Great art, great fun, shirtless Dick - nothing else matters.
Hate It!
1. Dumb and Dumber To trailers. I'm so sick of seeing this trailer every five minutes online and on TV.
2. The Pied Piper costume. I think Andy Mientus is adorable and the perfect choice to play Hartley Rathaway, but who designed this awful costume?
3. The Bane Chronicles. I picked it up because Magnus is one of the only good things to come out of that terrible series and I want to support of having more mainstream LGBT characters out there, but this book is historically horrific. Perhaps Clare should do her research from someplace other than Wikipedia.
4. Black Friday on Thanksgiving. As a former retail slave I speak for those poor souls now forced to work Thursday night. How about giving them ONE day to spend with their family before sending them off to battle? (When exactly did Thursday turn into Black Friday Preview Day instead of Thanksgiving?)
5. BAM. I love bookstores and I'm sad that they seem to be slowly disappearing. I traveled an hour away to the giant Books A Million store hoping to pick up 6 books that I've been wanting to read for a while now and they had none of them. Zero. Sure they could order them from their warehouse, but if I want them shipped to me, I'll get them from Amazon.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Bad Artist
If you follow me regularly, then you know that I have commissioned A LOT of art over the years. I've worked with dozens of different artists from all over the world thanks to our friend Mr. Internet. There have been a lot of amazing artists that I've had the chance to work with (and continue to work with) and some that I never want to lay eyes on again.
As a professional artist myself - and someone who has worked in the realms of the advertising world for more years than I want to say - I feel I'm totally in my rights to stand on a soapbox and make my voice heard. There are two simple rules that every artist, including myself, should have to live by:
Rule #1: NEVER PISS OFF YOUR CLIENT!!!
Rule #2: If you don't agree with your client, see Rule #1.
I've recently had the misfortune of "working" with three of the most awful artists. I'll refrain from giving their names or blogs because A) it is completely tacky to name names and B) I'd hate to give them traffic/advertising of any sort.
The first "artist," kept me and my project dangling for over three weeks. I passed on working with a few other (more talented) people because I was already contracted with someone else. So, three weeks in, no peep and I finally email him only to discover that he has "decided to pass on the project in order to work on something else." WFT?!? And when exactly was I, his current client, going to be informed of this? Apparently never. I wrote a polite, but scolding, reply to which he responded that he felt I was "guilting him into doing it."
Artist number two wasn't much better. I chatted with him several times through his Livestream and, after being closed for a period, announced that he was finally opening slots for commission pieces again. I was so excited, he agreed to do my piece and he told me to email him the details. I took care of everything that very night and sent it along. And never heard from him until I saw he was streaming again a week later. I asked if he was still interested and he told me he was so busy he hadn't checked his email in a while. Understandable. He looked things over and even started working on it in that very stream. I was so excited to see him doing it live and then he made an error with my character (minor, but important) and I asked him to please change it. His response was to delete the entire piece and then ban me from the room.
The last is perhaps the worst. Due to his popularity, I understood that I would have to patiently wait my turn. Suddenly, just after I sent him all of the specs and reference pictures, he decided that he was only having a single slot open and that people would now have to "compete" for the chance to hire him. After frantically emailing him for over a month attempting to win a slot, I finally succeeded in nabbing one. Only to get an email 15 minutes after his original telling me that I didn't respond fast enough and he passed the slot to someone else on the list! Apologies, I didn't realize that I needed to sit patiently by my computer desperately hitting refresh waiting for a reply from you.
I spent a decent hour deleting every piece that I ever reblogged or favorited from any of them on any site that I could think of. It may sound petty, but why I should I give these horrible artists any support or free publicity. I didn't even know it was possible on some of the sites, but I found a way. Why would I support artists who don't appreciate their clients or fans. I try to be understanding of every situation. I know all too well that real life gets in the way of things and plans are forced to change.
These are three very extreme (albeit recent) cases. For every bad artist, there have been a dozen great ones that I loved working with. If you're interested in working with an artist you've never worked with before, get some feedback from their former commissioners. Ask them in advance about their work ethics and communication process. Do they give you any updates or progress reports, if not, can they? What is their process from payment to completion? And if anything doesn't jive with what you want, DO NOT HIRE THEM. Often times that nagging bit of doubt is telling you not to do something for good reason.
As a professional artist myself - and someone who has worked in the realms of the advertising world for more years than I want to say - I feel I'm totally in my rights to stand on a soapbox and make my voice heard. There are two simple rules that every artist, including myself, should have to live by:
Rule #1: NEVER PISS OFF YOUR CLIENT!!!
Rule #2: If you don't agree with your client, see Rule #1.
I've recently had the misfortune of "working" with three of the most awful artists. I'll refrain from giving their names or blogs because A) it is completely tacky to name names and B) I'd hate to give them traffic/advertising of any sort.
The first "artist," kept me and my project dangling for over three weeks. I passed on working with a few other (more talented) people because I was already contracted with someone else. So, three weeks in, no peep and I finally email him only to discover that he has "decided to pass on the project in order to work on something else." WFT?!? And when exactly was I, his current client, going to be informed of this? Apparently never. I wrote a polite, but scolding, reply to which he responded that he felt I was "guilting him into doing it."
Artist number two wasn't much better. I chatted with him several times through his Livestream and, after being closed for a period, announced that he was finally opening slots for commission pieces again. I was so excited, he agreed to do my piece and he told me to email him the details. I took care of everything that very night and sent it along. And never heard from him until I saw he was streaming again a week later. I asked if he was still interested and he told me he was so busy he hadn't checked his email in a while. Understandable. He looked things over and even started working on it in that very stream. I was so excited to see him doing it live and then he made an error with my character (minor, but important) and I asked him to please change it. His response was to delete the entire piece and then ban me from the room.
The last is perhaps the worst. Due to his popularity, I understood that I would have to patiently wait my turn. Suddenly, just after I sent him all of the specs and reference pictures, he decided that he was only having a single slot open and that people would now have to "compete" for the chance to hire him. After frantically emailing him for over a month attempting to win a slot, I finally succeeded in nabbing one. Only to get an email 15 minutes after his original telling me that I didn't respond fast enough and he passed the slot to someone else on the list! Apologies, I didn't realize that I needed to sit patiently by my computer desperately hitting refresh waiting for a reply from you.
I spent a decent hour deleting every piece that I ever reblogged or favorited from any of them on any site that I could think of. It may sound petty, but why I should I give these horrible artists any support or free publicity. I didn't even know it was possible on some of the sites, but I found a way. Why would I support artists who don't appreciate their clients or fans. I try to be understanding of every situation. I know all too well that real life gets in the way of things and plans are forced to change.
These are three very extreme (albeit recent) cases. For every bad artist, there have been a dozen great ones that I loved working with. If you're interested in working with an artist you've never worked with before, get some feedback from their former commissioners. Ask them in advance about their work ethics and communication process. Do they give you any updates or progress reports, if not, can they? What is their process from payment to completion? And if anything doesn't jive with what you want, DO NOT HIRE THEM. Often times that nagging bit of doubt is telling you not to do something for good reason.
Friday, November 7, 2014
Love It, Hate It
It's that time again.
Love It!
1. Daniel Radcliffe rapping. Old news, but this clip of Dan doing "Alphabet Aerobics" is amazing! It's like magic...
2. "I Ate All Your Halloween Candy." My professor actually showed us this clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live in class, and I still think it's hilarious watching it again today.
3. This week's Gotham. If you didn't see this week's episode, you have to watch it. I was on the edge of my seat the entire hour.
4. Diversity 2 with Stacy and Cupquake. I loved the interaction between these two as they struggled through the challenges in the original series. Now they're back for another round, and I'm hooked already.
5. Packages from Dean Draws. I posted about him before when I received my first commission pieces from him, and I was surprised again with my most recent order. Expect another post soon showing off my swag.
Hate It!
1. The "Alex from Target" buzz. I have no hate for the kid himself, but this media frenzy surrounding him is ridiculous. Leave the poor guy be, I'm tired of seeing him every time I turn on my phone or computer.
2. The Flash in reruns. Seriously, CW, the series is only five episodes in and you start replaying already?
3. The Simpson's Tapped Out. OK, not the whole game, but this final run of the "Treehouse of Horror" event. Seriously, the price (protein strands) of the prizes for this final run is ludicrous. It's an obvious ploy to get us to spend money buying donuts to get them.
4. Christmas movies the day after Halloween. It doesn't really need more elaboration...
5. Being the last to see a commissioned piece. I don't mind an artist posting a piece of art that I've commissioned on their blog or whatever, but at least send it to me before you post it for the world to see. Am I wrong in thinking that?
Love It!
1. Daniel Radcliffe rapping. Old news, but this clip of Dan doing "Alphabet Aerobics" is amazing! It's like magic...
2. "I Ate All Your Halloween Candy." My professor actually showed us this clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live in class, and I still think it's hilarious watching it again today.
3. This week's Gotham. If you didn't see this week's episode, you have to watch it. I was on the edge of my seat the entire hour.
4. Diversity 2 with Stacy and Cupquake. I loved the interaction between these two as they struggled through the challenges in the original series. Now they're back for another round, and I'm hooked already.
5. Packages from Dean Draws. I posted about him before when I received my first commission pieces from him, and I was surprised again with my most recent order. Expect another post soon showing off my swag.
Hate It!
1. The "Alex from Target" buzz. I have no hate for the kid himself, but this media frenzy surrounding him is ridiculous. Leave the poor guy be, I'm tired of seeing him every time I turn on my phone or computer.
2. The Flash in reruns. Seriously, CW, the series is only five episodes in and you start replaying already?
3. The Simpson's Tapped Out. OK, not the whole game, but this final run of the "Treehouse of Horror" event. Seriously, the price (protein strands) of the prizes for this final run is ludicrous. It's an obvious ploy to get us to spend money buying donuts to get them.
4. Christmas movies the day after Halloween. It doesn't really need more elaboration...
5. Being the last to see a commissioned piece. I don't mind an artist posting a piece of art that I've commissioned on their blog or whatever, but at least send it to me before you post it for the world to see. Am I wrong in thinking that?
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