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Elixiink
Feb '20
2

Today has been a really dark day for me so I uninstalled all my social media except my messenger for important reasons.

There was a guy looking for an artist and I my friend asked if she could suggest him to talk to me if I was okay with it. I said yes but I received some terrible news (something unrelated to this and why I uninstalled the social medias) afterwards so I was extremely demotivated. Regardless I still wanted to discuss the guy’s project with him even if a bit since I had already taken up the offer. I have no social media presence but I thought I shouldn’t use this as an excuse to be “unprofessional”.

I tried compose myself and asked him about his project because my first move is to ALWAYS learn about the project and the author first. Not money.

This guy,

Just ignored everything I said and asked and went “Artstyle first. Can you draw like this?”

He sent me pictures of Warrick Wong’s artwork.

WARRICK WONG

If you don’t know who he is, his art style is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous, he’s a legend, I love his art and did I mention I love his art?

I appreciate people who have a crystal clear idea of what they are going for and what they want but this?? It was a one way communication. I doubt he even read the messages I was sending. Its like he expects every artist to produce the same kind of quality content.

I try to reason that Warrick Wong is a whole different league and you just can’t FIND someone like him to work for you!

He says ok and continues to send me more PROFESSIONAL LEVEL art work that are all pretty much hyper realistic. He was giving off the vibe of “What about this? Can you do this? I mean you’re an artist right?” clearly not interested to answer my questions.

You might wanna note he hasn’t even said the NAME of his project yet.

I was starting to get angry and this was just another stress piling up on the load.

He asks me to send one of my art because he’s sure he’ll find something for me to do even if I can’t be Warrick Wong. I don’t know why I sent an artwork and he just goes like, “this is great! Can you do the concept art blah blah blah” (blah blah cause I was too angry to read the rest properly and this is all I remember) already going about what I should start doing first without even answering my queries.

I was so angry I wanted to spew every single curse word I learnt even that one word my German friend taught me. But my mom had always told me to never be rude to your elders and respect them. This guy seemed older than me so instead I messaged this.

“””Well on second thought, I don't think I'd like to take part in this collaboration to be honest. You probably don't know this but as someone who's been in the art community for years, we approach collaboration projects because either because we're curious about the story itself and we want to bring the story to life or we admire the person in general.

When I asked about your project you right off the bat asked me if I could draw like Warrick Wong of all people and proceed to send hyperrealistic art that most of the time only professionals can do. You neither bothered sharing your story nor tried to check my capabilities first so I'd like to politely decline.

In all honesty, I've been in a collaboration before and I was treated like a machine to pump out art and this feels like one of those. I'm not saying it is, I could be wrong, but I feel like this conversation started off at the wrong foot so I hope you'll find someone who has what you're looking for.””””

Although I’m a bit worried… Do I seem to disrespectful in the reply? I really tried to restrain myself. And the fact that I used the word “art community” I’m worried if I was wrong to represent such a big community like this since it might not be my place to do so. Do tell me if I sound petty here…

I don’t want to make the same mistake again.

That’s it for my rant…. Really wanted to get this off my chest. It made me so fucking angry because it didn't feel like a collaboration. It felt like "do this for me now. No buts." kind of thing

EDIT: Just to clear the confusion the sequence went like
I said yes to a random guy for collaboration
I received the terrible news
THEN I received the message from the guy
So I couldn't say no to not talk to him at least

EDIT 2: Thanks for all the feedback/response guys! Honestly now that I think about it, it's wasn't really as bad of a situation as my mind me think. I guess there's still a lot left for me to learn but I really appreciate all of you here ^-^ you guys really help me grow as a person. I'm ready to tackle anything I lack head on so again, thank you for the honest feedback.

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    Feb '20

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    Feb '20
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DokiDokiTsuna
Feb '20

I wouldn't call it petty...more like 'dismissive'. Not in a bad way, though; there's a time and place for dismissal and this might very well have been it. =/

If you want my advice, I feel like it's more professional to lay out your terms and ask for exactly what you need (especially when you feel you might be dealing with someone shady/flaky). Like saying:

"I don't want to entertain any more questions about my art style or capabilities until I know what kind of story you want me to illustrate. Please give me at least a sample of your ideas; otherwise, I don't think we can work together."

...Worded more strongly or gently of course, at the user's discretion~

potatogirl
Feb '20
1

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

Elixiink
Feb '20
DokiDokiTsuna

I did ask him right at first about his project and what kind of story it was although I admit I didn't ask what kind of help or contribution he was looking for in an artist.

I think the fact that he replied to that statement with "art style first" is when I started to feel uncomfortable. I may be wrong but I had a feeling I'd be stepped on in the collab because of the way he presented his words afterwards.

I think my problem is that I'm not firm enough with my words... I'm pretty giddy and "uwu" with my words most of the time so maybe that's why people don't take me seriously or think I'm not serious enough..

Elixiink
Feb '20
potatogirl

Haha you're right. The first para especially. I should learn how to "suck it up" it seems.

I'm usually not affected by these kinds conversations but something about the his wordings ticked me off. Oh well time to grow a thicker skin

ar-ninetysix
Feb '20

Quite frankly, lots of people have unrealistic expectations of artists when they don't know the entire process that goes into it. It's super unreasonable, and you're entirely within your right to be pissed at him. Even more so if you explain why you can't fulfill the highest requirements and he lowers the bar just barely.

Bottom line, you asked about the project, and he responds by demanding to see if your art is meets his vision?? Ummm, get the hell outta there! Find a more suitable partner if you really wanna collab lol god knows we got plenty of writers here looking for an artist

DualDragonsMaster of Yeet
Feb '20

Sounds a bit like some of those new people here that post a collaboration thread for the first time. Some of them believe their story is "amazing" and therefore they don't want to share it because they are afraid of plagiarism.

But I do see your point. If I were to consider a collaboration with a writer I would want to know as well what kind of story the writer has planned. Purely because some genres connect more to certain authors than others. Also mutual respect is key.

There are plenty of other writers on the internet who are willing to collab with you. And I think the reply you wrote is fine. I don't see how it would be disrespectful as long as it is clear.

SleepingPoppy
Feb '20

You would be totally within your right to have just explain something came up and you're not in a place where you can discuss a project, and either A. postpone the discussion, or B. turn it down outright.

Frankly if he responded badly to that, it'd just mean you dodged a bullet.

On the other hand, the guys actions don't make me that mad? Of course I wasn't there, but I feel like I would have just said "no, this is what I do" and if he was happy with that, we could continue discussion. Non-artists often don't have a real understanding of what artists are and aren't capable of, but if they're not unreasonable when you lay that out, then it's not a problem. It sounds like he was perfectly happy with your skill level, so you could have continued the discussion, but it's also okay that you were put off and just didn't want to continue.

I don't really want to critique your response to him. I think an "I'm sorry, I think I'm just not feeling up to this" would have sufficed, and you could have gone into more detail if asked. But maybe he'll learn something about approaching a collaboration in the future from what you said, so no big deal either way. ^^

Luminosophy
Feb '20

Doesn't sound petty at all. If you're wanting to collab with someone you don't know you need to set hard ground rules and I agree with DokiDoki, I would've worded it more strongly (professionally, with no insults of course.) However even just sending a legendary's work and asking me to replicate it is sending off red flags that this guy has no clue how it works on my end and very likely won't end up valuing my time or effort. I'd expect him to ask me to re-do just about everything.

Honestly though I see some of those kinds of people crop up here time to time when asking for collab partners where they want legendary quality on time every time for exposure bucks. Brother, you don't understand what leverage is. You have to something of equal quality first.

rajillustration
Feb '20
1

Chances are this guy was hella young in order to think that it's completely normal for artists to just draw like Warrick Wong for free. You were right to let him go.

See the thing about Warrick Wong--he gets paid a LOT of money to draw like that.

Personally when I get demanding stuff in my inbox I say a very blunt "thank you for time, and I hope you find another artist" because I'm not their mother. I don't have to explain to them how social interaction works. You never have to explain yourself, so don't worry about it. You worded it the best you could and kinder than I would have done.

ISNEKO
Feb '20

Sounds like someone who probably had one paragraph of a story and wanted sweatshop artists for free.

AVXP
Feb '20
1

OH MY that image in your thread is awesome.
Very nice artwork.

That said:

I think an artist needs to lead off everything with their portfolio.
That eliminates 99.9% of these problems and weird situations.

Other than that, if you're not in a proper head-space....

If you are not in a proper head-space, why are you conducting business and interacting with potential clients?
Or doing anything that requires a level head?

Pick a lane- personal or business.
If you've been doing this or done this or intend to continue exploring collaborations, you need to slide more towards a business mindset and attitude and well, move like a business. lol

I can give you more advice about that, but I'm not sure if that's really where you're trying to go.

lorphis
Feb '20

I don't think you have done anything wrong. He should have share the story first. Since (I'm assuming) he went to you instead of the other way around.

AVXP
Feb '20

It's actually about who is hiring. If HE HAS A JOB to offer, he already went first by creating the job.
When you sit down at a job interview, you slide them your resume and hope you are a good fit for the job.

And when we start with other made-up employment opportunities and scenarios, none of those fit here, since the artist in THIS CASE did not submit a resume or portfolio or work history so there was no demand for their talent.

A DEMAND for your WORK is the only scenario where employers are vying for your services.
This aint that.

Aside from that, THEIR FRIEND is the one that linked them so unless there are new details, no one knows what your friend told them first- especially about you and your art and your abilities.

Do you know how many JOB OFFERS slide across people's desks from friends trying to do them a favor?
=
=
Use your own imagination and describe your art to someone who has never seen it.
It probably sounds like a perfect fit for any and every story.

Overlord_Venus
Feb '20

From your perspective, what you did was reasonable(Not the best way to decline but still was polite enough). But from his perspective, since he was so demanding and had such unrealistic expectations, maybe he thought his story was worth that and was also ready to invest accordingly?

Even though it might have annoyed you, he might have been one of those big fish? Could have asked about how much he's willing to pay per page,etc before declining (If it still didn't suit your tastes)

Who knows, even if his character didn't mesh with you well, maybe his project is something you might have enjoyed?