She said, "Home, James," and he hit the gas.
Well, I know I had written earlier about how stoked I was about the turn out of a commission project-- it didn't fall through. The client claimed my work was too 'cartoonish,' which was insulting enough, but when I explained to him it was impossible to make adjustments (since I use traditional media), he threw an actual insult my way. I had to blink at his abrupt and unnecessary outburst and think of the best way to approach it from there. You can only do so much with someone who is obviously not rational or at least a logical thinker.
Let me explain something here. This person commissioned ME to do work for them. He discovered me on twitter and through that, was able to find the link to my Devianart account. When he asked if that was my work, I of course said it was, and he gleefully told me he'd love to have me do a cover art for him. I was beyond ecstatic. Now, one would think the person who picked the artist would chose someone whose work really speaks to them, work that they know will well represent their idea.
I don't know what he expected, but my work is all done in the same style. A style I've created over my years of doing art. It's heavily influenced by manga, especially Kazuya MInekura. Seeing my work, you can see the Japanese style influence and it's 'cartoonish' nature. One would assume he wanted this in his work, since he specially asked ME to do the cover art.
When I did start on the project, I asked him for a description of what he wanted. Here is what he gave me (edited so his identity is safe as well as the origin of the project):
[silhouette of woman] has to be very sexy in her body.... [main character] like a typical American. slim.. but handsome. and how ever you want to draw it. blue yes. light blonde (not too short but not too long of hair a little shorter than Caiden from your picture) hair... blue eyes.... have some kind of mystery in the picture.....show her hot body but her face a mystery just a vague outline or something.... show brightness in [main character's] eyes...... etc...
I don't know about you, but that's a fairly vague idea. But I ran with it. I sent him a sketch of how the main character would look-- he okay'ed it. I then set to work on actually doing the piece. Now, a silhouette of a woman isn't difficult. A woman's shape is easy to define, but I couldn't place her entire body on the page because she'd be much too close to the main character and ruin the effect. So she's half way off the page, but it looked like she was kind of floating away from him, almost like she were this tantalizing object he could only fascinate about and not touch. I was trying to depict that in the piece. I tried to get the theme of what he wanted in the piece. I thought I did a pretty damn good job.
Apparently not. Not only was it 'too cartoonish,' but he claimed the woman looked chunky. Considering you could only see half the woman's body, I can't even begin to imagine how that's possible unless she had no curves but round lumps.
It gets worse from there.
He asks me if I can change the woman and make another thing larger. Well, as much as I'd love to oblige, I'm a traditional medium artist. Which is says, right on my Deviantart page. When you're hiring someone to do something for you, you should really know what you're doing. This guy obviously knew nothing about art. He said several times, "I know you can change it, if you really want to." No, sir, I cannot. Though it may be on the computer and we're in the age where art can be on the computer, I AM A TRADITIONAL ARTIST. I do not know how to use photoshop well enough to use it on a picture that's already complete, especially one that's done in a different medium. It would look tacky and be obvious. It was look simply like a picture someone tried to fix up with photoshop. When people look at my art, that is not what I want them to see.
My medium, specifically, are manga pens. I use TRIA and they're amazing, but they're a very difficult medium to work with and there is no room for error. Once something's been put on the page, it's permanent.
He then says he can fix it on his computer himself. This is a down right huge NO. I don't know any artist who would allow someone else to actually change their finish piece, ESPECIALLY someone who is NOT an artist. That is like someone who knows nothing about literature picking up your manuscript and changing things in it without real knowledge of the craft. Um, no. Big, huge no.
At this point, I realize we're getting no where. We're talking through Twitter messages, which is horrible because you've got a slotted amount of character usage. So I had to send him an onslaught of messages, saying:
When you commission an artist, be sure to choose one whose art you think will represent your idea well. I asked you for a description of what you wanted and you gave me very limited information to work with. I work with based on what you give me and that's what I did. I'm sorry it's not to your liking, but you shouldn't have commissioned me if you thought my art was too cartoonish. I am inspired by manga work and that's all my art is, so next time choose someone else. I'm sorry this didn't work out, especially now that I wasted that time and ink on this.
He replied: I think your arts should be used as you draw them... but no way that you could draw for someone else... IMPOSSIBLE.
Rude. Rude. Rude.
I was being absolutely polite and professional this entire time, even though he was being extremely difficult and then he goes here? I was really taken aback by the comment. This man has no idea the work I've done for other people or seen ALL of my work in it's entirety, not to mention, he gave me a crappy description to work with. After a moment's thought and taking a deep breath, I replied:
There is no need to be rude. I cannot see into your mind and know exactly what you wanted. I apologize, but you've lost nothing out of this and there's no need to be like that. I'm sorry it wasn't to your liking, but I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors.
His attitude immediately changed after and then he claims he needs work for another project. He asks about my art and vampires and I tell him everything is on my Deviantart, but, at this point, I've already decided doing any kind of busy with this man is out of the question. He's not professional about it and I don't appreciate being talked down to simply because he didn't get exactly what he wanted.
His last attempt to buy my work was really sad, too. He asked if I'd be willing to sell the entire thing to him, including it's rights, so he may change it in any way he wants. Now, I don't have to re-explain the pride of an artist. I, of course, said no. He messages me back, saying he respects me, but I should be more open because it'll get my farther.
Right. I'm open, sir, just not to big-headed idiots. Next time someone wants work from me, if they can't form a sentence correctly and give me coherent and concrete descriptions, it's a no-go.
Yeah, no, people like that bother me. You rarely to never get exactly what you want. I worked for almost five hours on that piece, used the last of my black coloring ink, and wasted a piece of my awesome paper. And for what? Absolutely nothing. I'm proud of the piece, but there's no point to putting it on Deviantart. I strained my back doing it, as art is difficult for me to do still, and I pushed aside another project to get this done as soon as possible.
This is what happens when you're too nice.
Here are my stipulations if you want a commission from me--
Browse my Deviantart FIRST and make SURE it's MY art you want to see.
Give me a FULL BLOWN description of what you want-- I'll let you know if I can do it or not
I work for fifteen bucks an hour, which you'll find is cheaper than most artists, and I usually spend four to six hours on a single piece. If it's more detailed and requires more, it'll take me longer and, therefore, cost more.
That's about it. I'm down to do commissions. I love bringing other people's characters to life.
I'm just disappointed with how this turned out. Not only am I not getting the money I anticipated, but the man was incredibly rude, which was unnecessary. It's been a bad week, too, so this was no help. Some money in my pocket would have been nice, too. Gas in my car and possibly get some new pens (I'm out of black and Aurora's pink in her hair). Get some lunch. See my chiro. Not gonna happen anytime soon, now.
Hopefully someone else will ask for a commission.
Or-- dare I say it?-- an agent actually signs me on.
Sigh. One can dream.
Let me explain something here. This person commissioned ME to do work for them. He discovered me on twitter and through that, was able to find the link to my Devianart account. When he asked if that was my work, I of course said it was, and he gleefully told me he'd love to have me do a cover art for him. I was beyond ecstatic. Now, one would think the person who picked the artist would chose someone whose work really speaks to them, work that they know will well represent their idea.
I don't know what he expected, but my work is all done in the same style. A style I've created over my years of doing art. It's heavily influenced by manga, especially Kazuya MInekura. Seeing my work, you can see the Japanese style influence and it's 'cartoonish' nature. One would assume he wanted this in his work, since he specially asked ME to do the cover art.
When I did start on the project, I asked him for a description of what he wanted. Here is what he gave me (edited so his identity is safe as well as the origin of the project):
[silhouette of woman] has to be very sexy in her body.... [main character] like a typical American. slim.. but handsome. and how ever you want to draw it. blue yes. light blonde (not too short but not too long of hair a little shorter than Caiden from your picture) hair... blue eyes.... have some kind of mystery in the picture.....show her hot body but her face a mystery just a vague outline or something.... show brightness in [main character's] eyes...... etc...
I don't know about you, but that's a fairly vague idea. But I ran with it. I sent him a sketch of how the main character would look-- he okay'ed it. I then set to work on actually doing the piece. Now, a silhouette of a woman isn't difficult. A woman's shape is easy to define, but I couldn't place her entire body on the page because she'd be much too close to the main character and ruin the effect. So she's half way off the page, but it looked like she was kind of floating away from him, almost like she were this tantalizing object he could only fascinate about and not touch. I was trying to depict that in the piece. I tried to get the theme of what he wanted in the piece. I thought I did a pretty damn good job.
Apparently not. Not only was it 'too cartoonish,' but he claimed the woman looked chunky. Considering you could only see half the woman's body, I can't even begin to imagine how that's possible unless she had no curves but round lumps.
It gets worse from there.
He asks me if I can change the woman and make another thing larger. Well, as much as I'd love to oblige, I'm a traditional medium artist. Which is says, right on my Deviantart page. When you're hiring someone to do something for you, you should really know what you're doing. This guy obviously knew nothing about art. He said several times, "I know you can change it, if you really want to." No, sir, I cannot. Though it may be on the computer and we're in the age where art can be on the computer, I AM A TRADITIONAL ARTIST. I do not know how to use photoshop well enough to use it on a picture that's already complete, especially one that's done in a different medium. It would look tacky and be obvious. It was look simply like a picture someone tried to fix up with photoshop. When people look at my art, that is not what I want them to see.
My medium, specifically, are manga pens. I use TRIA and they're amazing, but they're a very difficult medium to work with and there is no room for error. Once something's been put on the page, it's permanent.
He then says he can fix it on his computer himself. This is a down right huge NO. I don't know any artist who would allow someone else to actually change their finish piece, ESPECIALLY someone who is NOT an artist. That is like someone who knows nothing about literature picking up your manuscript and changing things in it without real knowledge of the craft. Um, no. Big, huge no.
At this point, I realize we're getting no where. We're talking through Twitter messages, which is horrible because you've got a slotted amount of character usage. So I had to send him an onslaught of messages, saying:
When you commission an artist, be sure to choose one whose art you think will represent your idea well. I asked you for a description of what you wanted and you gave me very limited information to work with. I work with based on what you give me and that's what I did. I'm sorry it's not to your liking, but you shouldn't have commissioned me if you thought my art was too cartoonish. I am inspired by manga work and that's all my art is, so next time choose someone else. I'm sorry this didn't work out, especially now that I wasted that time and ink on this.
He replied: I think your arts should be used as you draw them... but no way that you could draw for someone else... IMPOSSIBLE.
Rude. Rude. Rude.
I was being absolutely polite and professional this entire time, even though he was being extremely difficult and then he goes here? I was really taken aback by the comment. This man has no idea the work I've done for other people or seen ALL of my work in it's entirety, not to mention, he gave me a crappy description to work with. After a moment's thought and taking a deep breath, I replied:
There is no need to be rude. I cannot see into your mind and know exactly what you wanted. I apologize, but you've lost nothing out of this and there's no need to be like that. I'm sorry it wasn't to your liking, but I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors.
His attitude immediately changed after and then he claims he needs work for another project. He asks about my art and vampires and I tell him everything is on my Deviantart, but, at this point, I've already decided doing any kind of busy with this man is out of the question. He's not professional about it and I don't appreciate being talked down to simply because he didn't get exactly what he wanted.
His last attempt to buy my work was really sad, too. He asked if I'd be willing to sell the entire thing to him, including it's rights, so he may change it in any way he wants. Now, I don't have to re-explain the pride of an artist. I, of course, said no. He messages me back, saying he respects me, but I should be more open because it'll get my farther.
Right. I'm open, sir, just not to big-headed idiots. Next time someone wants work from me, if they can't form a sentence correctly and give me coherent and concrete descriptions, it's a no-go.
Yeah, no, people like that bother me. You rarely to never get exactly what you want. I worked for almost five hours on that piece, used the last of my black coloring ink, and wasted a piece of my awesome paper. And for what? Absolutely nothing. I'm proud of the piece, but there's no point to putting it on Deviantart. I strained my back doing it, as art is difficult for me to do still, and I pushed aside another project to get this done as soon as possible.
This is what happens when you're too nice.
Here are my stipulations if you want a commission from me--
Browse my Deviantart FIRST and make SURE it's MY art you want to see.
Give me a FULL BLOWN description of what you want-- I'll let you know if I can do it or not
I work for fifteen bucks an hour, which you'll find is cheaper than most artists, and I usually spend four to six hours on a single piece. If it's more detailed and requires more, it'll take me longer and, therefore, cost more.
That's about it. I'm down to do commissions. I love bringing other people's characters to life.
I'm just disappointed with how this turned out. Not only am I not getting the money I anticipated, but the man was incredibly rude, which was unnecessary. It's been a bad week, too, so this was no help. Some money in my pocket would have been nice, too. Gas in my car and possibly get some new pens (I'm out of black and Aurora's pink in her hair). Get some lunch. See my chiro. Not gonna happen anytime soon, now.
Hopefully someone else will ask for a commission.
Or-- dare I say it?-- an agent actually signs me on.
Sigh. One can dream.