Am i the only one?

[tanek-eros.livejournal.com]

Hello ladies and gents,

i'd like to post up something for those who might be experiencing the same thing. i feel like i might be the only one in this ordeal but if there are others that have commissioned this artist and got the same results, please provide any thoughts / help on how i can either get my money back, or the commission in question completed

WHO: Gideon (FA http://www.furaffinity.net/user/gideon/ )

WHERE: Midwest Fur Fest : Dealers Den, Chicago, IL

WHAT: traditional sketch commission : 60$ - two character sketch

WHEN: Midwest Fur Fest : Dealers Den , 2010

PROOF: only proof is my word on the situation as there was no exchange of receipts, or contact info other than my room number

EXPLAIN: i commissioned Gideon, a well-known artist among the furry fandom, for a 2 character, traditional sketch commission back in 2010 while i attended Midwest Fur Fest 2010 in the Dealers Den. the exchange was quick and easy, and i provided him with all of the necessary details of the commission of the two characters (One of my own characters, and a friend's character). i gave him "full artistic freedom" in order to free him of the burdens most artists experience when a commission comes onto their plate and is detail-detail-detail.

i had commissioned him Sunday morning, and he said he would most likely have it finished by the end of the night (end of the con that night) and would gladly stop by my room to drop it off. i was up until 2am waiting, no art was delivered.

i sent a series of notes over the span of this year since, both with a follow-up request, and another note on FA with the finer details of the commission that i had requested to remind him of which. I paid up front IN CASH 60$ from the start and i was even willing (after MFF 2010) to provide an additional 5-10$ (depending on cost of shipping) to have the original artwork sent to me via normal mail.

still, no responses were given in regards to my notes.

i  ran into Gideon once again while at Anthrocon 2011 (just recently) and chatted with him to remind him once again of the details of the commission. he seemed shocked at realizing that i was the commissioner from a little over a half a year ago. he said it was done and requested my email address. i wrote it down on a scrap piece of paper along with the details of the sketch, the price, along with my alternate email. he stuffed that piece of paper into his wallet and apologized profusely. i told him i understood as he probably was busy and thanked him for the time.

since Anthrocon, i have not received any emails to either of my accounts, and the note i sent him a week or two ago on FA is still showing as "un-read" on my outbox link.

-- -- --

if anyone has any idea on how i can get a legitimate contact through to Gideon to handle this situation? i would really like the art i paid for but at the same time, if it was merely a ruse to get money then i would like a refund from him. Midwest Fur Fest 2011 is coming up...and i would hate to have to deal with the situation in front of other artists that he might be sitting around. i would handle the situation as i have thus far; in a calm and mature, adult-oriented way, but having been waiting a year for a mere sketch of two very easy and unrestricted characters, i would say that i was jipped by this artist.

if anyone has any tips or recommendations, or any contact refs that i could get a hold of Gideon directly outside of note attempts on FA, it would be greatly appreciated. my friend and i would like to see this commission sometime soon or at least to see me get my money back to put towards an artist that will deliver.

thank you all for your time
*Tanek*

Comments

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately you are far from the only one:
http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/tag/artist-gideon

Honestly if it's not to you by MFF I would make a public stink :P Meaning, politely but persistently ask for it every day. In public.
Also I would warn him ahead of time to bring it or this is what you will do.

... no it's not nice but his irresponsible behavior towards commissioners is far worse.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

PS - was the note you sent on FA read?

[tanek-eros.livejournal.com]

no, the note i sent on FA was not read

[maryseif.livejournal.com]

O_o I could have sworn there were more entries about him than that...

[stormslegacy.livejournal.com]

Gideon is very nice and well-known which is why it's so unfortunate he has such a bad track-record =( If you get your things while you're there you're set but from earlier posts here you can see he's bad at homework.

[tanek-eros.livejournal.com]

he is a great guy in person. and it's a shame some artists cant just jot down their work in a planner and manage their time. though im kinda bad at it too (confession)

[gideon-hoss.livejournal.com]

I hear you on all counts, just making a planner for such things would help me. I let something slide and then it jus snow balls.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

Something that might light a fire under his rear is if you contact Club Stripes owners (MIu or Midori) regarding this. He works there and honestly if he's getting a bad rap for slacking on his commissioned work then perhaps that should reflect the site he works on as well...since he seems to have work updated there on a regular basis (And probably on his own paysite). If he can deliver for a paysite, then he damn well should deliver for a paying convention customer as well.

Other then that, I'd poke at him quite publicly.

[tanek-eros.livejournal.com]

thank you for that tip. i will definitely try to get into contact with them. it's obvious he's making quite a bit of money on the side working for them while at the same time still posting and drawing commissions for others.

if it rolls the ball along on if they'll do something about it or not well that's their deal at that point.

60$ for a sketch that hasn't been brought into light for a year is beginning to become a bit of a loss. thank you again for that info.

[frazzled-niya.livejournal.com]

Not such a good idea not getting a receipt....but then again you think you won't need one because he said he's be finished by X....

I agree though poke his publically and politely and hopefully you will get and answer.

[garrwolfdog.livejournal.com]

Ugh, i've been waiting on a commission from him since 2007. he stopped responding to any comms ages ago; i've kinda just written it off as a loss at this point. :(

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

So even after he came to your AB post ( http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/234630.html?thread=6398342#t6398342 ) and said he'd finish it, he...never did? For petes sake. Thats ridiculous.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

That's what he always does (he owes me a commision from around 2007ish too). If anything happens that draws public attention to his inability to complete comissions, he'll right a very nice response promising to turn over a new leaf and get right to it, but a week later he'll be back to his old ways.

[tanek-eros.livejournal.com]

well hopefully if the three of us team up and walk in there (if you and Garr go to MFF) then maybe he'll realize that there's a situation that he needs to take responsibility for.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to MFF, but to be honest, I have no expectation he'll ever finish my picture. I just want to make sure other people don't make the same mistake I did by trusting him with their comission money when there's so many other RELIABLE artists out there who could use the work.

[featheredragon.livejournal.com]

Gideon owes me art from 2009, so, I have the exact same problem. I'm going to MFF 2011 so anyone who wants to team up and confront him together for refunds at MFF contact me please.

I sent him another message yesterday but I'm not optimistic that it's going to produce results since all the other ones didn't. In fact, if I don't hear from him by next week I'm going to make my own AB Gideon thread. :/

[gideon-hoss.livejournal.com]

Actually I did work to fix this. I did the sketch Long with studies of both characters which he appreciated and let me know. I was given final fixes and did them. I contacted him months back and did not receive any communication. It can go both ways Neolucky, trust me on that. Does that help me totally, nope. My time management skills can really stink. I try my very best, sometimes with con schedules it can be tough and I let one thing slide and it snowballs as here. Now I take no con homework to avoid this and give fans a good fun sketch at the con.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

I realize it goes both ways - but you have to realize how this looks when multiple people are complaining about the same issue. It's good that you recognize the problem and are trying to fix it, and I hope you do! I know you aren't being malicious about it, and don't intend on the outcome...but it's best to just finish whats owed and wash your hands of it. Taking no more con homework is the best idea, I stopped doing it myself.

I hope you can work it out with everyone, as it seems to have really made a negative impact on them =\. I can see why they'd be skeptical or angry.

I've been through the con circuit for many years, so I totally understand how crazy it can be. But sometimes it's worth it to NOT go, and finish overdue work just to have that clean slate.

[tanek-eros.livejournal.com]

yeah i read your posts about his owed work. sorry that it happened to you as well.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

It's happened to lots of people, and I don't even mean just the sketch comissions he does at con. I'm one of several people I know who paid hundreds of dollars for full on comissions from him that did get what we paid for. I won't be suprised if his total owed backlog is in the thousands of dollars.

[gideon-hoss.livejournal.com]

I actualy tried contacting you months back on this but never received a reply. Just toss me an e-mail on my g-mail account.

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

that is unfortunate. gideon is a very nice fellow. i'd like to think he was merely overwhelmed (a lot of us suck at email correspondence) but that doesn't excuse not contacting you in return at all and that certainly doesn't excuse the run around you've gotten.

you're a good dude to do work for tanek, and i do commend your level headedness here. i hope you get your artwork or a refund.

[tanek-eros.livejournal.com]

thank you Likeshine. it was great to have met you and worked with you. this commission i had got from him was for a friend...and its sad that nearly a year later, my friend is still waiting (who happens to be a big fan of gideons)
i understand that some artists do get overwhelmed and i have forgiven him on more than one occasion, but a year-long wait for a mere sketch just seems a little out there to believe he merely got overwhelmed. i even titled the notes "MFF 2010 Sketch Commission" as a plain, easy-to-read reminder of what he owed.

[gideon-hoss.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get home and if I let the homework slide it just compounds itself and I get even more late with it. I've pretty much stopped taking any homework at all and make sure now to finish all con work at the con. Look forward to seeing you at a con soon too!

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Think he's at EF right now, if you have any friends who are there, ask them to print out a note from you and give it to him? ;)

[tanek-eros.livejournal.com]

it was just a regular pencil sketch commission. so i doubt he would have taken it all of the way to EF

[torikonero.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd have to agree that you are at the point where "extreme" (but polite) action is warranted. Warn him ahead of time using every contact method you have for him, and then if there's no art by MFF politely ask him about it every couple of hours, or every day. If he's annoyed by you, then he should have done your work (and not lied to you about having done it all ready). He seemed nice enough at AC when you talked to him, but a nice liar is still a liar.

I would definitely also agree to contact any sites he is working for. People don't seem to realize how far-reaching bad word-of-mouth is, so maybe his employers need to be alerted to his reputation. I know I would never pay for a site that is updated by a person who can't get one piece done in a year - what does that say for the likelihood that the site will be updated regularly? He is not the only artist, and he probably updates often, but from his personal track record you'd think the opposite.

Good luck. :/ Get a receipt next time, but honestly it sounds like that's not even very helpful in this situation. He's not telling you he never agreed to do the work, ne? He's even telling you it's done. How classy.

[tanek-eros.livejournal.com]

yeah...the receipt would have been handy for when if he doesnt deliver while im at MFF i could have asked for a refund. which i will be asking for one any way because its been a year since commissioning him and my friend (who wanted the commission with me) would like his money back as well.
its a sketch, not a digital or painting. so it could have been done at his home and easily mailed to me, as i would have gladly paid for shipping costs.

[gideon-hoss.livejournal.com]

Just sent you a note and I hope we can get this situated. I have been very bad at taking "homework" and have been making sure to get to all the unfinished work I owe.