Shuu Shuu Buttons

[obliviousally.livejournal.com]

A small follow up to this post. It seems like Loish got word of what happened with Shuu Shuu:

on another note, i recently received some news about shuushuu buttons. for those who don't know, this was an online button store that i made designs for. the website suddenly disappeared and tons of people contacted me about orders that never went through, so apparently things weren't going so well for the girl running the business.

then i get a note the other day. turns out the girl who owned shuushuu buttons decided to give all her buttons away, saying she wanted nothing to do with them anymore. they got passed over to some random company that wanted to sell them off for a dollar each with no profits whatsoever to the original artists, or if they couldn't be sold, just give them away. THANK YOU SHUUSHUU for treating my buttons like cheap pieces of crap to be sold off by some random people i've never heard of in my life. i guess i can comfort myself with the thought that i'm not the one who embarassed myself by setting up an online website that FAILED miserably.

From her DA journal here.

EDIT: I thought I'd add this bit, as well. Apparently the company who the buttons were sold to contacted her and did initally ask to sell the buttons.

*** The above MAY be only a rumor. I'm only passing along information that I've read. If you were involved with Shuu Shuu, or bought buttons frm them, read below for Lindsay's (wetnosebaby) DA journal on the matter. ***

EDIT: And, another bit about the people Lindsay (who ran Shuu Shuu) initially planned on printing the buttons with....

EDIT: As mentioned in the comments, she's deleted her LJ, and she's pulled all her work from DA. I'll post her DA journal entry behind the cut, in case she removes it, as well.

Journal Entry: Thu Mar 13, 2008, 8:39 PM
Due to recent accusations and internet rumors I'm removing my work and myself from DeviantART. It's been something I've wanted to do for a while now so this is just the final push. I don't see this situation getting any better and I can't afford to have my work stained like this. All comments (related to shuushuu or not) from now on will be hidden. If you have ANY problem please e-mail me directly at lc.illustration@gmail.com. I have absolutely NO way of checking the previous business e-mail at shuushuu.buttons@gmail. I'm more than happy to talk to you about what's going on. Shutting down the business because of personal reasons was not a smart idea. But I'd just like to say that ALL the leftover buttons are currently sitting in my basement. I have NOT given/sold them to a company in the US. I have made no unfair profit off the artists. I would really like to understand this as much as you do! Also, if you believe I owe you money PLEASE send me a refund request through paypal. I'm more than happy to pay it. I never refused this. For about two months the business was in limbo and all orders were filled by a second party. I had no way of doing this myself. I'm not getting into the reasons publicly because it's not appropriate for a internet journal, but I'm happy to tell you one on one. Don't hesitate to e-mail me.

I'd just like to add that I'm happy to see people concerned about their fellow artists. I would be pissed to if I heard these things. If I didn't know better I would think I was a monster too. But that's the internet for you and unfortunately when you don't deal with people face to face information gets passed down and messed up. You all have your opinions and I respect that deeply...just don't always believe what you hear.

Thank you to everyone who has supported my work on this site for so long. You guys are wonderful and I appreciate it more than you know. Please keep in touch and check the website (www.lindsaycampbell.org) for updates.

Peace be with you.

Lindsay.

EDIT: From Loish's DA Journal:

about the whole shuushuu fiasco: lindsay contacted me and we're in the process of sorting it all out. if you don't know what i'm talking about, don't ask, it's over!

That being said, if you had business with Shuu Shuu, contact wetnosebeby on DeviantART, or via the e-mail above, under the cut.

Comments

[emmycic.livejournal.com]

Arrg. I did buttons for them and never heard from them after they disappeared. If it's true that she sold out everyones buttons, then that REALLY sucks :(

[sunhawk.livejournal.com]

That is beyond rough and irresponsible to boot. She owes those artists a full refund!

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

That's unlikely to happen, apparently http://everydaycolor.livejournal.com/ is her journal, as you can see, she's begging for money in it. Whether she's in financial straits or not? It's unlikely anyone who used shuushuu will see money back.

[sunhawk.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm you have a point. Apparently she had an AA table at one of the cons I also genereally get an AA table at, and from the pic she has on her devart account, she looks vaguely familiar to me...

Either way, I've passed on this new info to those who attend the con in question because I believe other artists there also bought button orders from her :/

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

I wonder if she'll turn up next year, if she does and hasn't paid people back then there are likely to be issues.

[sunhawk.livejournal.com]

I'm sure if she does, someone will mention her past transgressions to the people in charge of the AA. What they do with that information is anyone's guess, though if it were me I would remove her to avoid any chance of history repeating itself or, as you say, people confronting her about buttons owed.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Definitely but then again, nobody's really stopped starfinder from selling at various conventions, so that might not happen.

[sunhawk.livejournal.com]

This is true. Oh the problem of trying to prevent drama while not creating drama in the process! Also, I guess it's not really any convention's business the details of a contract between artist and customer. Since I have discouraged people from trying to play middle man in those situations, it would be unseemly for me to change my tune now. No easy task, getting involved or not getting involved.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Thing is no legitimate convention should want these people selling there because it gives the con a bad reputation if they're ripping people off.

[vdrake77.livejournal.com]

I keep hearing about this starfinder person. Who is it?

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Just scroll down in the artist_beware listing, there's a huge post on her.

She's an artist who has taken a lot of people's money and not provided the art they paid for. She's also recently been outed for tracing/copying copyrighted photos without the owners permission.

[badenbaden.livejournal.com]

lol deleted~

[digivolution.livejournal.com]

O_O Wtf. That's just sleazy :/

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

I notice a lot of people are saying they trusted the business owner because she was an artist and wouldn't misuse other artist's rights.

Seems logical to me though that someone who didn't respect the rights of the anime/manga companies enough to refrain from profiting from fanart (she was selling fanart buttons of several popular shows, you can see them on the dA site) isn't necessarily going to respect the small guys rights either.

I guess the lesson to be learned is that just because someone's an artist doesn't make them trustworthy. Get everything in writing and make sure you have an offline contact for people before you do deals like this.

[emmycic.livejournal.com]

Good advice.
The thing is, I never dreamed a button company could be so large. I figured I'd make 5 bucks off buttons tops and that it was just a fun little thing to do.
I made over 100 dollars and started to wonder if I should propose a contract.
Then it was too late :(
So yeah, I guess the moral is never underestimate a situation involving money.
Get a contract, even if you expect to make a tiny amount.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Definitely, the minute money gets involved get a contract, even if it's only a tiny amount. Hell even if money isn't involved you will probably still need a contract.

[emmycic.livejournal.com]

Haha. Well I'm glad I've learned something from all this, if anything!

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

It sucks that you had to learn it by getting burnt though.

[emmycic.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Life lessons don't come free, I guess.

[wolf-nymph.livejournal.com]

Wow... So THAT'S what happened. =/ Thank god I never got in on that action (or lack thereof).

[jinyjinjin.livejournal.com]

-_- She still owes me 63$US!!!
but i gave up on her. no response from the emails and her deviant art account. which is sad cause i had buttons made from her for AN last year and it was pretty decent. i ordered more from her but then everything went poof.

Its sad cause I met her at the dealers room at AN07 and she was nice ...
but its ok. i got my own button maker now. thanks to her xd

[emmycic.livejournal.com]

63 bucks?? Thats awful, man. I'm real sorry!

[jinyjinjin.livejournal.com]

>.< thanks. it would be nice if she returns it...one day. but its life xd

[frazzled-niya.livejournal.com]

What a lovely way to burn your fellow artists ~_~;.....Thats just low.

[emmycic.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking this entry should probably be privatized for a while until the whole story comes out.
I'm getting allot of info telling me this whole thing was a horrible rumor :(
If that is the case, we've done terrible damage to this girls reputation, and the accusations should be put on ice.

[obliviousally.livejournal.com]

I'm only passing along information, I actually had no involvement in Shuu Shuu whatsoever. I'm obviously not trying to smear her name, I've never dealt with her at all. I just know that there were many people involved with Shuu Shuu, and many people who bought from Shuu Shuu and this was the best place to post for word to get around of what I had recently heard about it.

However, this is something she should have handled in a much better manner. If she was going to shut the business down, she should have sent out e-mails to the artists involved. How she handled this was extremely unprofessional and, even if she had personal issues, she still has an obligation to the business she was running. As well as her customers, and all involved parties.

The part about refunding money? I'm more than happy to pay it. I never refused this. This should have been posted publicly somewhere. Possibly on the Shuu Shuu Buttons DA (http://shuushuu.deviantart.com/) page. The last update there was from 02/07. Or even in a mass e-mail to the artists.

She had many venues of informing the people involved of what was going on. And she should have.

[emmycic.livejournal.com]

Thats true. But she is trying to fix things, and that counts a great deal.
I'm not sure what the best thing to do is, but I think there should be more emphasis on the original story being a possible rumor.

[obliviousally.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely. I'm not holding it against her. It's not the way I would have done things but, hey, there may be a situation in my life where things go haywire and, for some reason, I'm unable or don't contact my commissioners.

I added a small disclaimer to the original post, as well.

[setsuna22.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that if this whole thing was false and just a rumor then she wouldn't need to take all of her artwork of DA and HIDE every single comment pertaining to ShuuShuu. I would think that if I had nothing to hide, I would keep those comments public to help solidify my innocence.

But maybe that's just me. :/

It doesn't really matter what her reasons were. If you have a business agreement with someone then you need to inform that person if anything in the agreement changes. It's just responsible really and to do otherwise is bad business ethics.

Recently, I was sick for over a month and I didn't work at all. (not on art nor at my day job) Did I just disappear and not let anyone know about it? No, I made a public statement letting all of my commissioners and watchers on DA know that I wouldnt be available that whole time. It's not hard to do! Even if it was an overly personal problem that she didn't want to declare to the world, she should of made some sort of statement to the artists and clients declaring that she was having issues! It's not like anyone would of been pissed off by that, b/c we all have personal problems that mess things up.

Either way, this could of all been avoided if she just would of been responsible and honest.

[silvertiger.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. Even if the rumors are just rumors, they came from the fact that she just disappeared and didn't say anything until now. It's unfortunate, but she could have avoided this whole mess if she would have let people know what was going on - even a simple "there's a lot of shit going on in my life right now, and I can't run the business anymore" would have been sufficient.

Unless something was seriously wrong and she couldn't get to a computer or have someone else post a message for her, there's no excuse to just leave everyone hanging. That's just bad business practice. Removing herself from DA seems weird to me, but whatever - we're different people and I know if I was in her situation I'd do my best to clear up everything and get it all sorted out in the open rather than say "this won't get any better so just e-mail me" and then hide everything.

[uniformgrey.livejournal.com]

The whole situation is ridiculous and the post that she made (the journal entry above) doesn't wash with me at all.

The fact that it took THIS LONG for ANYTHING to be said regarding this whole mess, any clues as to the state of the buttons, what happened to all the orders, and all after what? 9 months or so of inactivity? Come on.

She gets no sympathy and the "I can't afford to have my work stained like this." is a sign that maybe you should have taken your responsibilities more serious when you're handling other people's designs and money.

Is she fixing things with Loish? According to her DA journal they're working something out, but she also seems to be the first and so far ONLY shuushuu artist that she's even bothered to contact. But if anyone needs to know etc. they have to contact HER? Excuse me? Shouldn't you been sending out a mass forward to all artists and customers you have yet to refund? And how is she going to know who needs to be refunded since she apparently "I have absolutely NO way of checking the previous business e-mail at shuushuu.buttons@gmail." ??

Bottom line: she took off, left customers high and dry and the participating artists with no word on what was going on. People tried to contact her for the longest time any way they knew how and still got nothing. If not for the public DA journal by Loish about contact with the shuushuu owner recently about the buttons I highly doubt that wetnosebaby would have still said anything regarding the failure of shuushuu.

She gets no love from me for acting like such a coward throughout all of this.

[pixel-8.livejournal.com]

So where is Lindsay now? lindsaycampbell.net .org and .com no longer work, she doesn't seem to be on LJ, we all know she left dA. Anyone know where she ran off to, what she's doing these days?

[obliviousally.livejournal.com]

Google search gives me:

http://www.lcillustration.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31776420@N08/sets/72157608303983152/

But that's about all I know.