Bad commissioner: paintballberfection/Christopher Watson

[crossmirage.livejournal.com]

He replied to my thread in the Job Services forum and asked me to draw a pair of cyborgs/androids for his paintball site. I happily agreed to draw for him and reminded him to check the pricing list and my ToS (in case he can't afford it or something, he can tell me and I can give him a small discount, it's my first commission). I sent him sketches for approval and everything went smoothly so far: I made some mistakes but I corrected them as soon as I can.

I completed the lineart for the (very rough) sketch I gave him, and sent him a screencap/low res preview of what I've done so far. He didn't respond for some days, which I find odd since he's been prompt with responses before. I send him an e-mail asking if he's received the preview.

Here's where the BEWARE part comes in. He tells me that he's "found a [sic] artist" - wait, what? He has been hiring others behind my back? At this point my scam radar goes nuts. He may not be paying the others for the work they're doing as well. Oh wait, he's suckered not just one, but  multiple artists.

I e-mailed him again, stating that he should pay everyone for whatever work they have already done.

This was the response I got and I'm not sure what to make of it.

ಠ_ಠ
Yes, I know I should have gotten him to pay first before doing anything, lesson learned, etc.

lol edit: Some people have called him out and he's hiding/flagging everything now.

Comments

[lashiec.livejournal.com]

What a douche :I Time is money!

[punbeing.livejournal.com]

I've seen stuff like this happen a lot on CA.org, it's a really well known/major scam that people do, especially with artists new to the business. Apparently.

I have no idea what he's trying to say in that last email, though.

[punbeing.livejournal.com]

..Ha. I wonder what sort of nasty piece of work would actually do that to other artists.
And then I remember what kind of community this is in the first place.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

There are artists who are less than ethical, I've known more than one in my time who went behind other artists backs and sabotaged them to get a job.

Unfortunately talent and skill doesn't make someone a decent person.

[malik-chan.livejournal.com]

It sounds like he's saying you should have said you wanted to be paid before hand, it's hard to read though because he doesn't know how to use a freaking comma. He is also saying that he did this so he could choose which artist could capture his vision better, because it's totes hard to look at an artist's work before commissioning them.

[crossmirage.livejournal.com]

lmao

Next time I'm going to copypasta my ToS instead and sign a contract of just linking it because it seems like they can't ever read.

[malik-chan.livejournal.com]

Reading is hard! Everything is hard!11

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Writing is hard! Being a somewhat decent person is hard! Doing business legitimately is haaaaaard!

As are the bricks I'd like to hit him over the head with >_>

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Eh, I'd suggest next time not doing any work before they've paid you something O-o. If they're unwilling to commit to a full commission but want "samples" have them pay for the sketches and go from there!
Money first, then art!!

[crossmirage.livejournal.com]

Yes. It probably makes me look like a dick but yes, I will have to do that from now on. No exceptions.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Look like a dick? Hardly! More like professional :)
I never do work without being paid unless I'm okay with not being paid for it at all :P

[werewolfofwater.livejournal.com]

lol what a douche

It definitely has the reek of a scam. How much you wanna bet he goes around getting other artists to "sample" their work and not paying them, then he just takes the line art and uses it for whatever.

You should do what I suggested earlier and just take the line art and turn it into a personal thing and post it :P

[crossmirage.livejournal.com]

idk XD I might just use it for coloran practice.

[megumi-kitten.livejournal.com]

I'd change it enough so that he doesn't yoink it anyways, though with that you'd have a serious case on your hands.. (not that you don't now, but proof that he stole your artwork? Get him!)

I do hope that made sense. ^_6

[crossmirage.livejournal.com]

Makes sense, yes. :>

[kiwihunter8.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how entitlement-minded some people can be. I had a similar situation happen at work (in house design firm). They had me work on a logo, making several sets of changes. Then after a few weeks of back and forth, they let me in on the fact that they also *paid* a contractor to work on the same project, and they were going with their logo instead! So basicly...they wasted a ton of company money paying me to engage in this little 'art contest' which I had no idea was going on.

Even worse this was a client I had a long time relationship with; and she had no idea why my attitude toward her changed after that.

Anyway, TL;DR, I totally empathize with your situation. It's obvious this guy thought he was some kind of "awesome opportunity" and you and other artists would be banging down the door just for the chance to submit some sketches. What a self centered jerk!

[crossmirage.livejournal.com]

D: Wow, that's terrible, no one should betray your trust like that.

[underthebed.livejournal.com]

I've heard this sort of thing SO many times, particularly from CA.org and Craigslist. My hard and fast rule, which I instituted after being burned one too many times? Cash first, THEN you get art. If I don't have money in hand, you get diddly. Too many people out there consider art a 'hobby' or not a 'real' job. Screw that. A freelance artist can put in twice the hours a 9-5 office worker does on a single project. And if we don't meet the deadline, there's no 'manager' to go to to ask for help/an extension.

This sucks, and my sympathies. From this point on, I'd say payment in hand before they get to see ANYthing, even a rough sketch. Unfortunately for every awesome, responsible commissioner out there there's another who is a total douche, and there's often no way to tell one from the other until it's too late. :/

[naminess.livejournal.com]

WAT!? that is lame. :/ i'm sorry and i don't know what to read into that e-mail. hes crazy.

[wereblood.livejournal.com]

It's a scam, I've seen it before and no doubt it will happen again and again. Sorry this had to happen, just remember to always take payment beforehand now :D

[crossmirage.livejournal.com]

Yeah I will do that :D