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June 25
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Fake Commission
Recently I found out that one of the commissions I undertook a while back was, in fact, a setup. It was hired by forum members of Encyclopedia Dramatica, one of whom I actually use to talk to and have good discussions with. They pooled their resources to pay for it, sent me the info and money, and then proceeded to sit back and document everything I did or didn’t do per their highly specific criterias. The user in question then posting a lengthy take-down (though through a disclaimer on the top of the journal it’s clearly not a takedown! lulz!) here on DA.

Here is the commission:
Samus V Ridley by TomPreston

The journal in question talks at great length about my seemingly lack of transparency. IE: that I don’t communicate every little facet of what I’m doing to them, such as the number of commissions I have, what my “job” is, what my home schedule is like, etc. And honestly? This is WHY I’m not transparent. Things like this are why I don’t talk about my personal life, especially not to my clients. Because, frankly, I can’t trust anyone. Nor is it really anyone’s business what I’m doing in my private life. I’ve been trying very hard to keep my professional and private lives separated, and it’s kinda hilarious that these uses are angry because I won’t freely divulge information anymore about my situations.

The user also goes into length about how my commission methods are “flawed,” but curiously the fact that I was getting happy responses with what I was producing gets ignored. While there were a few suggestions to fix thing (some of which I did, some of which I didn’t per my own artistic aesthetics) there was never any outright demands or insistence that what I was producing wasn’t to their liking. Most of the time when you commission an artist to draw something, you give them a bit of free reign to draw however they want. Had I known that this was going to be judged on a stricter level I would have worked with them a lot more. So I can’t help but feel like the whole point of this was to set me up to fail, and that they deliberately went out of their way to achieve the desired results they set out to get.

The End Result
I could go further into detail explaining or arguing with the user and debating their journal but... I really don’t want to. It’s done. It’s over. I got paid. I finished the job to what I thought was a mutually satisfactory conclusion. The only reason I’m even bringing this up now is because there’s likely to be an influx of hateful comments coming from Encyclopedia Dramatica forum users, and I feel the need to, at the very least, address the fact that this happened so that my fans don’t run blindly into those threads.

So yeah... I was duped. I don’t like being tricked, even though I think the end result was still one of my better works that I’ve produced in a long time. I already have trust issues because of dubious behavior because of guys like them, and this clearly isn’t going to help me get over those issues anytime soon. I have about 4 commissions left to finish, and now with this latest incident I don’t know if I really even want to take commissions ever again. Could I use the money? Absolutely. Is it worth the effort never knowing if it’s just another scam for trolling purposes? I don’t think so...

PS: I am not linking to the DA journal in question because, frankly, I don’t think the users who tricked me deserve the notoriety. I’m also going to respectfully ask that if you are familiar with the journal that you don’t link to it here on my page. By all means do so on your own pages, or discuss it with them on their journal... but please do not bring that stuff here.
  • Mood: Shame
  • Listening to: Lindsey Sterling - Shatter Me
  • Watching: King of the Hill
  • Playing: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
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:iconaclockworkkitten:
AClockworkKitten Featured By Owner Edited Oct 30, 2014  Student Digital Artist
You know, most artists would actually learn something from an experience like this.

Also giant foreshortened hands is not a style.

"Had I known that this was going to be judged on a stricter level I would have worked with them a lot more."  Are you kidding me?
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:iconwhetsit-tuya:
Whetsit-Tuya Featured By Owner Sep 16, 2014  Student Filmographer
I'd commission you but I don't wanna wait 4 months and 8 days for something that has 4x less quality than the previous version of it that wasn't commissioned
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:iconquill-of-wonder:
Quill-of-Wonder Featured By Owner Aug 8, 2014  Hobbyist General Artist
Oh, that piece! I loved that one. It was most definitely one of your better ones, and one of my most favorite ones you've done. I'm sorry you got duped. That's absolutely terrible.
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:iconkillerwolf1020:
KillerWolf1020 Featured By Owner Jul 14, 2014  Hobbyist Digital Artist
That sucks. I go on to encyclopedia dramatica sometimes, but more to laugh at the pitiful things that can be said and what kind of stupidity they like to certain words such as linking a full sentence to one word "page description" of something that they are trying to link it to, such as linking "crying over the fact that they [the artist] couldn't have complete and total corporation form the customer" linked to the page "jerk"

I feel the whole thing can be a bunch of baloney and while its funny to read sometimes it can be really hurtful to those like the Tom who are trying to make an honest living, or those that did bad (not mentioning anyone in particular) things and are trying atone for the wrongs they had done.

While fun to see how low people can go with their bottomless shame and hate holes, I think that site is a little much to be considered "truthful" or a "reliable" source to learn anything about the person on ED.
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:iconbyondrage:
ByondRAGE Featured By Owner Jul 3, 2014
You were paid to do a commission, nothing more, nothing less.
Sure would be nice if you would take this lesson to heart more than complain people outed you for not doing your job as a professional artist.
You're only hurting yourself by doing this.

Unless you improve yourself  you will be the joke of artists out there, Though im sure you wont like hearing that and you will ignore this and block me and-.
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:iconreligion0:
Religion0 Featured By Owner Jul 5, 2014  Hobbyist Photographer
Just out of curiosity, did you actually read the journal or just skim out a few words at random?
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:iconbyondrage:
ByondRAGE Featured By Owner Jul 26, 2014
I saw both sides of this story.
Nothing more than a commission, along with the process of the commission.

Honestly, I'm not trying to be an asshole here, I'm simply pointing out the obvious.
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:iconreligion0:
Religion0 Featured By Owner Jul 27, 2014  Hobbyist Photographer
Not saying you were trying to be an asshole (although it does kinda look like it), but it just didn't seem like you were responding to anything he presented in the journal. It was more like you skimmed it and got "Someone made a commission, complained afterwards, now he's whining about the whining, the appropriate response must be "STOP WHINING!"" and called it a day. Which is why I asked if you'd actually read the journal.
There was, apparently, no issue with the product, but with transparency of Andrew's private and professional life, which has you come out saying "Stop whining and just tell people where you do your shopping!" rather than "Suck it up, they didn't get what they paid for and wanted to have some petty revenge."
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:iconbyondrage:
ByondRAGE Featured By Owner Aug 6, 2014
Just to be sure i didn't actually miss anything, i re-read the journal.
The commission was a setup, and there's no denying it. However, the setup was to show preston's standards of art creation for a paying customer for those who were curious. I don't really agree with this method though, It's an invasion of personal business between two people, but at the same time, you are free to discuss this with another person since it's not revealing any private information.
I could quote preston on a few things that didn't match up with the other person, but i shouldn't have to.
the important thing here is that preston only bothered to work on the picture when his commissioner contacted him asking when he would update, which was months at a time.
I will quote preston on one thing though, since it seemed unthoughtful.

"While there were a few suggestions to fix thing (some of which I did, some of which I didn’t per my own artistic aesthetics) there was never any outright demands or insistence that what I was producing wasn’t to their liking."

If a commissioner wishes you to fix or replace something, during the sketch phase, you are obligated to do so as an artist providing art for their payment. As an artist who works hard to make sure every commissioner is satisfied, I don't hear what they say and ignore it by putting in my own "artistic aesthetics". I agree to fix every mistake i've made. Though you can argue this would require more work and would cost more, but that's between the commissioner and the artist to discuss, you can haggle the price when they ask for something, you draw it, and they want something else now (And also, you would ask if you can put your own sense of "aesthetic" in the picture rather than just do it yourself without them allowing it in the first place).

in short.
If tom here thinks every commissioner is going to troll him with fake commissions, but he still wants to do the commissions for money, he should just do them and try to satisfy his commissioner. Making a journal post about how your own flaws were put on the net will only hurt you, all you can do is improve yourself as an artist and a person.

Trust is very helpful thing, and maybe if you actually cared, you would be trusted too.
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:iconkurostarsunny:
kurostarSunny Featured By Owner Jul 3, 2014  Hobbyist General Artist
In the end you got money and a new piece to be proud of. Also, the experience that comes with creating it. They got... nothing really. That's why they do stuff like this. I'm so glad that's not my life. :P
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