Not that anyone has heard. Email to the site is jacked up, and other addresses aren't being acknowledged or replied to right now.
If I had a street address I'd swing by and see what was up, but I don't.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
You in the same town ST?
Dallas Metroplex, yeah.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Out of curiosity, is it that people just won't be able to order because they've dropped off somewhere, or have people even put down deposits and can't get a hold of them?
It's people who have commissions in various stages that can't get ahold of them.
Huron: "...with Coffee primary / Attitude secondary"
Charnage: "Please. Think of the poor defenseless desks."
"The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. It failed... In the year of the Praetorian War, it became something greater... our last, best hope for victory."
Well due to the fact that I placed an order several months ago, the website has not been updated for months and nobody here, even friends of theirs can reach them by email, or phone got me a bit spooked so I have asked for a refund on my deposit.
I honestly wish MMO ART nothing but success because I think Gill is a very talented artist, but this veil of secrecy for what ever reason doesn't make me feel very good as a paying customer.
Bah, that sucks =/
I really hope everything gets worked out for everyone.
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Bah, that sucks =/
I really hope everything gets worked out for everyone.
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I agree--they're too talented to let this become such a mess. I hope everyone can get it worked out.
well, it's not the first time it's happened with them... there was complete lack of communication on their part for like, a year and then they said, "hey, we're back.. sorry" and offered refunds for those who wanted them
have they now gone *poof* again??
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well, it's not the first time it's happened with them... there was complete lack of communication on their part for like, a year and then they said, "hey, we're back.. sorry" and offered refunds for those who wanted them
have they now gone *poof* again??
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If so they will not make any new customers or keep existing ones with service like that. It's sad really because Gill seems like such a nice guy and is a very talented artist.
Maybe he should hire someone with some more business savy to help him so he can concentrate on the artistic side of things.
If it was just the one commision (a contest entry) I'd not be as concerned. But I paid to upgrade it, plus put a deposit down on a second piece that I've not seen so much as a scratch of graphite on paper for.
So yes... 'concern' is the operative word here.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
I think people don't realize how hard it is to run a home business before they start one. Gill is a very talented artist, but he may not have the business sense to run things smoothly and successfully.
Goodbye, I guess.
@Lord_Nightblade in Champions/Star Trek Online
nightblade7295@gmail.com if you want to stay in touch
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If it was just the one commision (a contest entry) I'd not be as concerned. But I paid to upgrade it, plus put a deposit down on a second piece that I've not seen so much as a scratch of graphite on paper for.
So yes... 'concern' is the operative word here.
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*nods in agreement* There have been long, long lapses in communication, email problems that keep recurring, etc, etc.
I should consider myself lucky that I was able to get the physical prints after the last resort option of filing a dispute with Paypal. It sounds like others haven't been so lucky.
I don't like bashing people in a public forum so I've withheld my experience with my commission pieces until now. I think Gill has a lot to learn on the business side/backend of running a business. He's got the art side of things down as he produces beautiful work. But I don't think trying to sweep things under the carpet and ignoring them if there're delays/setbacks/whatever from a business perspective is healthy, nor is it fair to the clients who have paid hefty sums of money for a product that they may or may not see.
Huron: "...with Coffee primary / Attitude secondary"
Charnage: "Please. Think of the poor defenseless desks."
"The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. It failed... In the year of the Praetorian War, it became something greater... our last, best hope for victory."
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.... or have people even put down deposits and can't get a hold of them?
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This is me, for about a year(?) or so...
My Deviant Art page link-link
CoH/V Fan Videos
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.... or have people even put down deposits and can't get a hold of them?
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This is me, for about a year(?) or so...
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Holy banana boats >.<
Home businesses are scary. All I want to do for a living are my commissions and freelance illustration, but fortunately I have a husband who brings in the steady income, health insurance, etc. Our budget is based almost entirely from his salary, so if I go through income fluctuations, we won't have to scramble and end up living in a van down by the river. Subsisting on a diet of government cheese...
And if he has job issues (works for the state though, so unlikely) at least he'd qualify for unemployment.
OK in all fairness we don't know WHAT is going on.
It could be anything. Remember Gill hired at least one artist to help out, and last Id' heard his wife was handling the business side of things. I don't know if either of them have regular 9-5 gigs, or what.
But yes, it does look as if things are rapidly falling apart, and frankly I'm less concerned for the cash people have fronted up (although that IS a major concern, because if this continues someone's going to haul him into small claims), but mainly for his and Nikeisha's well-being as a family. Because I'm SURE they're stressed to the max over all this. I would be.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Oh yeah, I doubt its taking money and running or intentionally bad business practices. I'd be concerned that something personal must have exploded, too. Its just something I happen to think on too since I want to have my own arts business of sorts.
Bad situation all around, and worrisome =(
Yeah. The most important thing is to remain in communication with your clients. We are all people, we all have bad things happen, delays, whatever. But it's the dreadful awful silence that is the most disturbing. If he would be able to post or reply to someone and say 'hey this is what's going on' then i'd leave it at that, no problem. But no communication always puts anyone in a bad vibe.
So Wassy yeah just remember that. If you have unforseen delays, just let your clients know and you will be alright, nothing to be scared of. 
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OK in all fairness we don't know WHAT is going on.
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And there in lies the problem.
The problem is NOT that it takes a certain amount oftime to get a piece done. And it's definately NOT the quality (Gill's work is outstanding).
It's the fact that people don't know what's happening.
So Gill, if you can read this but can't post, email me at efoychuk@hotmail.com and I'll post it up here (on the off chance your account is busted).
I've reffered a lot of people his way (if it's too tough a project for me), and I'm starting to worry about that.
Starting to worry about Gill actually.
I hope all is well.... but something's wrong.
This issue needs to be fixed.
Yeah i wanna send out my concern for Jomaro, Nekiesha and their family as well. I have been pretty good friends with both of them for quite a while now as well. I have also been a customer with MMOart since it opened up. At one point i was even working for MMOart helping em out.
I hav'nt heard anything from them in quite a while now either. I have repeatedly tried every way i know how to get a hold of them. 5 emails from MMOart, his personal email, his business and personal yahoo ID's, the 2 phone numbers i have for them, DA and Myspace. All with no responses, out of order. So i am a lil bit concerned as well. Not only because i paid for commissions in full over 3 years ago and waiting on them or that i am waiting on a print of the 'Deathdealer' piece but because i am a friend to both of em.
A while back now we had a falling out and thats when he completed the Deathdealer piece. At that time i offerred MMOart help in dealing with the business end and communication and was turned down over and over again. I think overall Jomaro tried to take on too much all at once. They were all over the internet MMO scene at one point and had 5 websites planned. As far as i know the artist(s) they hired wound up doing what he is doing by sitting on the pieces and so he fired em.
All i wanna know is if they are ok at this point....then i'll do my griping 
.
I also know what it is like to be in a financial pinch and not be effective in communication as well. I totally do get that but from a business standpoint, well ya know. All i can say is that this experience escalating over the past 3 years or more has me not wanting to get commissions even when i am able to afford it again. I have about 15 artists besides MMOart that i have paid in full up front over a year or more ago and hav'nt seen any linework at all from. At this point and how financially strained the economy is, i don't think i can afford to take that risk anymore.
If anyone hears from Gill or Nekiesha let em know i am worried about em and to get in touch with me?
TA
It's stuff like this that makes me compulsively email my clients. I'm pretty sure by now they're all thinking, "It's okay, dude. Take a week off; there's no need to email me!" but I'd rather they know I've not forgotten them!
Of course, I'm not pulling down the numbers Jomaro is/was, so I can afford to be so hands-on.
Hopefully, everything's alright with them and this is slowly working itself out. Protip for them, though: gmail and hotmail are free and don't expire. It's not as professional, but you'll never lose your connection to the interwebs.
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All i can say is that this experience escalating over the past 3 years or more has me not wanting to get commissions even when i am able to afford it again. I have about 15 artists besides MMOart that i have paid in full up front over a year or more ago and hav'nt seen any linework at all from. At this point and how financially strained the economy is, i don't think i can afford to take that risk anymore.
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Blah, that's terrible! One of the biggest art community supporters getting burned multiple times =/
Even I have a lovely piece from MMO Art that was completed a while ago and I love dearly, but I cannot support an artist that takes money up front and then neglects the contract he signed into. As much as I like Jomaro, he needs to really get out of this business. It's unfortunately obvious that he can't handle it for whatever reason.
Once is understandable, but this is a consistent pattern now.
http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Massacre_Melanie -the original Fire/Dark Corruptor -
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=115217
The Guide to BURN
And things like this are why I'm just a little stingy when it comes to commissions. I've been burned badly in the past when making online purchases, so now I rarely buy from anyone unless it's a big box retailer.
I have one commission out there (not MMOart) that is a little lingering, but I also know the artist is going through some troubles at the moment. I just wish they posted a little more or left a note saying they're still on it.
And this is also why I don't do commissions. I know I don't have the time to devote to this kind of commitment, so I don't even bother. If I can do free/gift art, I will, but as it is it takes me over a year to finish one piece (and I stress over it the whole time). Most customers would despise me by now.
"If I fail, they write me off as another statistic. If I succeed, they pay me a million bucks to fly out to Hollywood and fart." --- George A. Romero
"If I had any dignity, that would have been humiliating" --- Adam Savage
Virtue Server: Kheprera, Malefic Elf, Lady Omen, Night Rune, La Muerte Roja, Scarab Lafayette, Serena Ravensong, Kyrse, and Arachnavoodoo among others.
Anyone have any idea what's going on over there? The last update to the website was in April and nothing since then.