Tim Hutchings, verything is dolphins . is it true?

[kuwaizair.livejournal.com]

I got a note on DA from Tim Hutchings, for a book."everything is dolphins". is this this safe? a scam? there were supposed to be links in the note, but they just said [link]


Hey there,

My name is Tim Hutchings, I'm working on a project called "Everything is Dolphins". It's an art book which uses a mixture of different sorts of artists, collecting artwork from them on the theme of "underwater dolphin adventure". The accompanying text is an RPG game called "Everything is Dolphins".

Here's a similar project I did a while ago:

[link]
[link]

I'm interested in including your above artwork in the project.

Just to let you know that I'm serious about this: I'm a professional artist. I have representation with a fancy NYC gallery, the I-20 Gallery (i-20.com). I've shown around the world, lectured and taught at universities, etc. The last project I did like this turned into a show at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art. There will almost definitely be a book release party in a gallery somewhere in NYC for this project.

The book will be printed in cover, and should be a hardback 8.5" x 11" in size.

Participation FAQ:
Does this cost me anything? No, of course not.
Do I get paid? Nope, this isn't that sort of thing - none of the artists are getting paid. You will get a free copy of the book, though.
What do I need to do? You need to get a high res file of the artwork to hutchingsonian@gmail.com by November 15th. If it's larger than 10mb, use dropbox or wetransfer.com
What else do I need to do? When you confirm participation, I'll send you a contract. I'll need you to sign and send it back to me by Nov 15th as well. If you are under 18, you'll need to have a parent or guardian sign it.
If I do all this am I guaranteed to be in the book? Actually, no. There's a slight chance that any artwork might be bumped out of the project when layout starts.
Will you change my artwork at all? Probably not. There's a chance that text might get laid over part of it, or that very slight croppings might occur. If anything egregious occurs I'll get your approval before printing.
Why are you doing this again? The book itself is an art project, the whole game of the book is to curate together an interesting group of image makers who may or may not be professional artists, who may or may not be trained to make art, but all of whom have managed to hit an awesome button somewhere in the back of my brain. If I'm sending this to you, it's because something I saw of yours on DeviantArt stuck with me.

(email removed on request)


Best,

tim h
www.timothyhutchings.com
www.plagmada.org

is this something or not what it is?

Comments

[slyminera.livejournal.com]

Scam or not, I wouldn't do it since he has no intention of paying you for something that's going into a book to be sold to other people.

Also sidenote: usually when a link shows up as just [link] on DeviantART that means the text was copy+pasted exactly as it was posted elsewhere on the site (without copying the actual link, just the hyperlink that says 'link').

[ducttapeninja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the fact that the [link]s indicate he just copied and pasted the note from elsewhere comes off as really sketchy to me. If he's supposedly the real Tim Hutchings, and is a real professional artist, he'd know that when you're propositioning someone to contribute to whatever project you're doing, to double-check what you're sending and make sure the links to your examples actually work.

I really doubt this guy is actually Tim Hutchings, if the only proof he has is two broken hyperlinks and the URL for Hutchings' professional website.

OP, do you happen to have the DA username of the person who noted you? It might be worth it to go through their account, look at the date it was created and go through their submissions, descriptions and journals and the like. This could very well be an impersonator.

[kuwaizair.livejournal.com]

http://ozark100.deviantart.com/

yeh. I guess with username as that, it is a fake? or he is a go-between?

[thaily.livejournal.com]

"Do I get paid? Nope, this isn't that sort of thing - none of the artists are getting paid."

Bye :I

[lurkerwisp.livejournal.com]

This. :|

[ducttapeninja.livejournal.com]

What Slyminera and Thaily said-- He wants to use your work to benefit himself with with no compensation given to you or any of the other artists involved. Don't do it.

[genkigami.livejournal.com]

He's expecting you to send him free art for something he's going to profit off of and you won't see a dime of? If he is as illustrious as he proclaims, he'd know he's screwing artists over. And no, ~*FREE PUBLICITY*~ doesn't fly.

This sounds a lot like the Poetry.com scam. Don't do it.

pass pass pass

[sunhawk.livejournal.com]

Oooooo a "free copy" of a book with what may be questionable art that may make you feel embarassed or confused as to why your art is stuck in there as well, SOUNDS AMAZING! WHAT AN HONOUR TO BE CHOSEN BY SOME RANDOM DUDE LOL

I bet he ends up charging a shipping price that magically is exactly the same amount as the book! :X

[findmealone.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised he didn't throw in the old "It's good for your portfolio" trope in there, just to polish off the shit sundae of artist exploitation.

[eveshka.livejournal.com]

A quick Google of his email turns this page up:

http://www.skowheganart.org/?page=art-registry&art_work_selected=2659

Which links to this website:

http://www.timothyhutchings.com/TH/Timothy_Hutchings.html

His fancy art gallery in NYC looks like pretty much every other art gallery that fancies itself in NYC, which is to say that if you don't know it is there, you probably miss it amongst all the others sandwiched into a building between a bar and a smoothie joint. (I only wish I were kidding. I looked it up on Google Maps: http://g.co/maps/kke2d )

In summary: Downshift, pass on the left.

[poizenkat.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I know that general area and I never noticed the gallery XD

[houndofloki.livejournal.com]

He's asking you to let him use your art for free in a book that's going to be sold. The only way this would be okay is if he were donating the proceeds to a dolphin charity or something and you're fond of dolphins, but that doesn't appear to be the case anyway.

I'd say no way.

[dreamerdragoon.livejournal.com]

"This isn't that sort of thing" - what sort of thing? You mean, legit work sort of thing? XD

No pay, no good :) About sums it up really.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

XD I'm gonna go against the grain here a little - I get the impression he contacting you for a piece you already made, not asking you to create one?
Unless the contract signs over exclusive rights to the image, if you are interested and okay with the terms, why not? You don't lose anything and may get a pretty book. :P

Just make sure the contract doesn't exclude your rights to use the image for whatever your own purposes may be.

Just don't expect anything out of it other than the free book.

[frazzled-niya.livejournal.com]

ROFL....

Do I get paid? Nope, this isn't that sort of thing - none of the artists are getting paid. You will get a free copy of the book, though.
So the "free publicity" and the "free copy of the book" is supposed to cover the work you did...and who knows how many books will sell for possibly $20-30ea...

Hell no, I wouldn't do it.

[epiceternity.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that made me facepalm too! XD

[epiceternity.livejournal.com]

Basically he wants free art to create a book. I'd be asking the question of whether the book will be available free to everyone or if it's being sold for a price which means there is profit involved. If there's profit, who is getting it? It sounds awfully like he wants to profit from others work...

There's also the issue of copyright/moral rights and how this going to get assigned. Last thing you want to do is accidentally give these away.

Work in print is good but not if someone else is going to make money off it and you're not going to see a penny. Free publicity? Well as i've done the whole do things for free cos it'll look good in portfolio/ free publicity when starting out and have yet to benefit from any of it so I'm a bit jaded on that one.

I guess there's too many unanswered important questions at this point!

[kawaiipiepie.livejournal.com]

I have nothing useful to say, but 'a fancy NYC gallery' made me laugh

[protocollie.livejournal.com]

EVERYTHING IS DOLPHINS.

EVERYTHING.

[alpharaye.livejournal.com]

This made my day.

And to echo everyone else... No cash, no way.

[hebitheivan.livejournal.com]

Not only do I agree with most of the people, but there is something about his writing that seems to be kind of odd....how should I describe it? It doesn't sound very formal to me? If you are doing business with somebody, I don't think you should write ways like these.

Just the way he started with "Hey there." That sounds already like you are his friend/doesn't sound very formal and I don't know...shouldn't it start with something like "Dear ___"?

Or other way he says:

"I am serious about this. I am a professional artist." - How does he proof he is a professional artist? If he wold mention some kind of degree he has gotten or something else. The I-20 gallery and whatever doesn't tell me anything about himself really.

"I have shown around the world, taught at unis, etc." - Doesn't tell me anything. It's just too wide explanation to me.

"I have representation with a fancy NYC gallery, the I-20 Gallery (i-20.com)." - When he mentions so much information/corporations/galleries, I think it should be mentioned what those are about. I know that everything can be googled now, but heck, if you write some letter to a random artist with an offer, I think everything should be included. Every little piece of information. And "fancy" NYC gallery doesn't tell me anything either. I would be satisfied if he would say more something liek this: "I am an artist, whose art was shown in I-20, which is a gallery of art in New York City, US." or something along this.

You understand what I mean? I mean from the way he writes, he seems very untrustable and this is not including the part where he says you won't get paid and so on.

[ocelotish]

My thought is that while payment and such is important, he doesn't cover any of the copyright issues and that's almost as big as whether money will change hands at all. To me that suggests that there might be something he doesn't want to say, or that this is not a legit project and the emailer doesn't know what he's doing.

[karthegrax.livejournal.com]

Echoing everyone else in that it seems to be a scam. Maybe the email was legit once upon a time and the user who sent it to you copy pasted it, but I doubt this one is.

Besides, if it is the real guy, do you really want your art in a book next to http://www.timothyhutchings.com/TH/artworks.html#27 ?

His gallery leaves much to be desired. Damn I hate impressionism.

Or maybe this quality oceanic-themed piece. *facepalm*
http://www.timothyhutchings.com/TH/artworks.html#67

[luna-lena.livejournal.com]

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but I just wanted to point out a few more red flags here. I've gotten emails like this in the past too.

The informal greeting - others have pointed this one out, but if this guy liked your art so much he wanted to include it in a book, you'd think he would have at least cared to use your name.

Generic email - there are no reasons given as to how he found you, no specifics of what he liked about your art (do you have a nice piece of dolphin art or something?). Did he even reference a specific piece?

I checked the Contact section of his website, and got the email address ozark1@hotmail.com. If I were you, and I wanted to be super-sure, I would email the Hotmail address with the note you received, and ask politely if it is indeed something he sent. It may actually be legit - I Googled "Indianapolis Museum of Art" and "Timothy Hutchins" and got this: http://timothyhutchings.com/Site/Cursed_Chateau.html , so obviously the real Timothy Hutchins has done projects like this in the past. But on the other hand, that may be why an impersonator would select his name to use to scam art out of artists.

I suspect someone is using his name to get artists to sign over the rights to their work, then sell it for profit. The fact that there's not even a "percentage of the royalties" thing going on tells me that he's going to sell it, but has no intention of sharing the profits. And even if you were to sue him, he would have a contract stating you knowingly waived your rights to see a single cent of profit from this. I almost wonder if Chad Love Lieberman (or someone else) learned from his earlier mistake of simply stealing art from dA, and is now trying to legally acquire the rights to sell others' art without paying them for it so he can continue his "business."

[sigilgoat.livejournal.com]

Some of the art on that compilation is terrible! I would not be super happy if I put my stuff in a group like that and it ended up to something of this caliber: http://timothyhutchings.com/Site/Cursed_Chateau.html#16

I'm not meaning to talk about the art quality persay, but he's trying to come off like this is a very professional thing, when there are obviously not professional works going into his projects.

[karthegrax.livejournal.com]

O_o http://timothyhutchings.com/Site/Cursed_Chateau.html#18

What is this I don't even...

[kuwaizair.livejournal.com]

oh wow. I wonder how he got to anything. I need a good agent.

[sigilgoat.livejournal.com]

That's not his art, that's the art of other people in his themed gallery or whatever.

I think people are more hung up on the quality, when I meant to show how people should check everything else a person has done, so their work doesn't end up NEXT to that XD

[kuwaizair.livejournal.com]

oh. i see now.

[kuwaizair.livejournal.com]

define "nice"?

my dolphins are decent, but I'm not like that Lassen guy

This is Tim Hutchings, happy to answer questions

[timhutchings.livejournal.com]

Hey folks,

I'm Tim Hutchings, the guy putting together the book. I'd love to address some of your concerns.

The original poster emailed me at the ozark1 address on my website, checking to see if it was really me or not. A commendable caution. I wrote back with an email addressing her concerns, I'm a little sad that it didn't turn up here and help settle some of the debate.

Here's the email I received:

"I am a member/user at Deviantart.com

allegedly you sent me a note about a book with dolphin art.

I'd pefere money, and more money if you want the rights to my art. I don't know how much rights cost, but if you make money off of it, I'd like more than normal, out of the chance of irony that someone makes money off of my artowrk that is not me.

so no.

no new dolphins, no old dolphins.

I will pile up my plastic dolphins and take a photograph of them. that is all."

Here's my response:

"Hi [name redacted though it's in the posters handle],

(Are you Kuwaizair on DA?)

Yep, I'm organizing the "Everything is Dolphins" project. Curating together a catalog of dolphin adventure imagery wrapped around a game text about dolphins. Good fun.

None of the artists are getting paid on this, it's not a commercial venture like a magazine or a proper book - it's more like a catalog. I'm the guy printing and selling them and I'll be surprised if I break even, there isn't much of a call for books that straddle the line between art and gaming and dolphins. I'll do a bit of math, just because I want to see it for myself:

press setup fees = $200+
shipping book copies to 30 artists = $450+

If I sell copies for $20 then I'll make about $8 per book. That's 80+ copies I need to sell out of my own hand to break even, I'll probably get $3 a copy if I sell through a reseller which skews it even further.

But this isn't about profit, it's about an art show in a book. It's also not about illustration, it's about taking non-illustrators and hijacking their art in an interesting way to make people think about the line between art and illustration.

I won't pressure you to participate. I do want to make it clear that you would be assigning me non-exclusive rights to the image, you can turn around and sell that image to whomever you like as many times as you like.

My better email is [redacted].


Best,

tim h"


Like I said in my reply above, this isn't a profit making magazine or etc. It's an art catalog disguised as something else. Not all of the artworks are illustration quality, but that's because it's about art and not about illustration. The Cursed Chateau project had drawings by artist who weren't the sort who normally made drawings, some of them were amazingly well done and some were amazing for other reasons. Some of the artists were looking at early D&D books and emulating the untrained style you find there, too - it's important to remember that it's artists creating artworks that are looking at a history of illustration.

One of the great things about the DA community is that there is a tremendous range in the style and method of artmaking. You have people there who are completely self-taught, or are in the process of teaching themselves, and they are making things that are just as interesting to the eye as the illustrator of fifteen years experience. Sometimes more so because they have a vim to them that more experienced artists have to fake.

I am coming at this from an art world perspective, people don't tend to get paid for catalogs and art exhibits. They make their money out of the selling of the work, everything else helps with that. And like I said in my response, there literally won't be money in this to pay anyone what they are worth - it's not a profit making venture.

And I will say that I am embarrassed that some of the links died. I did copy and paste the invite, sometimes the link worked and sometimes it died. Ach. Also notice that my DA account, ozark100, is similar to the address on my website, ozark1. It helps keep things simple to keep the names related, and ozark1 was already taken (!).


Best,

tim h

Re: This is Tim Hutchings, happy to answer questions

[timhutchings.livejournal.com]

Oh, and here are the broken links in that email:

http://kuwaizair.deviantart.com/art/Celestia-12643518
http://www.indymoca.org/2009/11/the-cursed-chateau/
http://timothyhutchings.com/Site/Cursed_Chateau.html

Mod Note

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

It was fine enough to come in and explain your half of this last year but linking your Kickstarter now? No thank you. It's been screened.