Ugh I have a bad feeling that I'm being scammed.

"E. Julius" (soonerfrommi) 04/26/2015 at 06:10 • Filed to: I am an idiot

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For my girlfriend’s birthday, I paid to have a custom drawing done by somebody, but like an idiot I didn’t do a very good job vetting the person before I put my money in escrow because I was so captivated by their “style”. I get the first of their drafts back, and instead of a cute scene with two animals, it’s one animal clearly traced from the reference photo I provided next to another animal that, for all I know, could be a stock image. In a completely different style no less! They also said “it’s hard to see because the lines are too light for my scanner to pick up”, but I’m pretty sure the image they sent me is just a carefully cropped and aligned iPhone photo.

Maybe it’s an honest person thinking I’ve got low standards and that they can make their money quick and easy, but it seems like an actual artist who’s passionate about their work wouldn’t pull this shit on me. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), I paid for three revisions, so I’m going put a little pressure on them and see if they can deliver. This might end up going in the “good judgment comes from experience” books though. Do your homework when you hire somebody to do something folks.

pip bip - choose Corrour > E. Julius 04/26/2015 at 06:20

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hopefully it all works out for you.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > E. Julius 04/26/2015 at 06:20

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This pisses me off. I hate it when “artists” pull shit like this. In fact, I keep my drawings cheap ($65 for a 9x12, framed, 20+ hour drawing) because I dont want my art to become about the money. After I cover my materials cost, I barely make $20 off my drawings. Its about the passion to create something beautiful, not to become rich.

I’m sorry you have to deal with people like this

E. Julius > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 04/26/2015 at 06:31

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I should have just came to Oppo first and had you do it! Your commitment to your ideals is admirable. Fortunately, even if they gave me the first draft they did so far I think my girlfriend would still like it, I just think I waaaaayyyyy overpaid for what I’m getting. Right now I’d say it’s worth about $5. After they colored and shaded it, and gave me a print quality file I’d say maybe $10, but there’s no way these apparent tracings are worth what I paid for a custom illustration. Hopefully if I get them to go through these three revisions, I can bring it up a bit, but unless they seriously step up the quality I’m going to feel like I was scammed.

E. Julius > pip bip - choose Corrour 04/26/2015 at 06:32

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Thanks

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > E. Julius 04/26/2015 at 06:35

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What was it of, if I may ask

E. Julius > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 04/26/2015 at 06:41

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My girlfriend and I have little pet names for each other (puffin and bear) because we’re disgustingly cute, so I wanted to get a drawing of a puffin and a bear being cute together. Honestly, I know even a shitty drawing would mean the world to her, so it pisses me off thinking that this bullshit “artist” might actually create something that somebody loves and cares for greatly. I guess as long as she’s happy it will be worth it, and in the end it’s just a little bit of money, but it pisses me off thinking about it not being genuine.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > E. Julius 04/26/2015 at 06:44

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I really like that idea. If the “artist” ends up disappointing in the end, feel free to look me up. I’d be happy to do one up for you. BTW, A real artist shouldnt be giving you a rough draft. If hes not confident enough in his work to give you the final drawing right off the bat, then he shouldnt be drawing things for hire.

E. Julius > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 04/26/2015 at 06:51

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Thanks, it means a lot. How long do you think it would take for you to do something like that? I’m going to miss her birthday while I’m in France so I want to have something ready when I come home on May 19th, and I still want to wait and see if this person can deliver something of usable quality considering how much I paid them. Also considering how much I paid them, if it doesn’t work out and I can’t get my money back I’m not sure I’d want to shell out for another drawing, since I sort of blew the budget on this one and I already have another gift as well (I chose the scents for a handmade perfume here —> 1,000,000,000 boyfriend points).

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > E. Julius 04/26/2015 at 06:56

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Something simple like that? Probably 10 hours accumulatively, But I’d have to work around my school schedule so what that would be in actual time, I dont know. I would obviously try to get it done as expediently as possible, but Life happens. How much did you pay if you dint mind me asking?

E. Julius > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 04/26/2015 at 07:04

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This is the worst part, and I’m honestly pretty embarrassed to say—close to $100. Reminds me of an old story of my dad’s. He bought a VCR out of the back of a van from a guy in NYC in the early 80s. The guy told him that if he opened it up, he probably wouldn’t be able to get it back in the box and take it on the plane easily. My dad believed him, and then on their cab ride home he opened the box and it was full of newspaper and two bricks. He promptly threw the entire box out the window of the cab in rage.

Stuff like this always seems so obvious and stupid in retrospect, but when you’re in the moment sometimes it’s easy to get taken. I thought I was decent at avoiding crap like this too, but I guess love has a way of blinding you.

Agrajag > E. Julius 04/26/2015 at 09:36

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I’d be happy to do a piece for you if it doesn’t work out with this guy.

agrajag4213@gmail.com

OPPO member discount would apply :)

E. Julius > Agrajag 04/26/2015 at 11:29

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Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind.