From someone who's been watching this mess for a while:
If he had any sense - not just business sense - he'd refund everyone's money outright, and start fresh period.
He's known that there are issues about late art for what, 3 years? Three years and he's *still been taking commissions*. That right there is as unprofessional as you can get.
I hope he's healthy, safe and reasonably comfortable, but honestly no one should have to wait this long for anything. I've got a guy I met at the comic con last year I'm still waiting on but hopefully he'll be there again this year and I can browbeat him for it. But this is inexcusable. There is nothing wrong with admitting defeat and saying "I'm sorry".
There's no excuse for not communicating with the people he's at least taken money from, either. There's this thing it's called a "library" and they usually have computers with an internet connection. Friends have them. Businesses have them. There should be exactly nothing stopping them from communicating with those who have been waiting.
But for now, the fault and blame land squarely on an unprofessional attitude that could be changed as easily as a single post in a forum. But it goes way past that - money has been leeched from people for too long, and nothing to show for it.
It shouldn't sour people from purchasing commissions from other more reputable artists, but it should warn folks to stay alert and keep appraised of every single dollar you're spending on these things.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
Shoot, I have two free sketches to do and I feel daunted!!! 
I can't imagine having been paid for them!
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I've been envious of Juggertha's, Graver's, and Gil's ability to list long lines of people clamoring for their work, but I can also see how that level of committment can leave an artist overwhelmed.
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I agree. Right now, I actually have four in queue and I haven't been able to work on them solidly for a few weeks. It's why I don't take money upfront until at least the roughs are finished.
Which shouldn't deter anyone from contacting me and getting on the list! agentfoodotcom! 
After about a two months of time with no communication on a commission, my brain starts in on little neurotic worrying loops. I know personal communications can be an exorbitant time sink, but it's not even necessary in most cases; being able to access a regularly updated queue is usually enough to stop my fretting.
I have commissions open with several artists atm, and if the lot of them were half as communicative and friendly to work with as Wassy has been, I'd easily have double the amount going. The frustration commissioners have after dealing with that kind of problem gets between too many artists looking for their dinner. =/
Awww, thanks. I do what I can ^.^
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Awww, thanks. I do what I can ^.^
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It's true, you were an absolute joy to work with--great final product--and giving the commissioner something they would like was foremost in your mind.
I've only paid for one other commission myself and that was Alex--and he too was great to work with, and we can all agree on the quality of his final work--I'm certain of that.
Thank you again Wassy. Your piece is hanging over my desk with my other heroes.
Part of me really wants Gill to post... so that we all know he's alright.
The other part is thinking... um... maybe that wouldn't be so good.
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Part of me really wants Gill to post... so that we all know he's alright.
The other part is thinking... um... maybe that wouldn't be so good.
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Yeah i hear ya Juggy. I agree with ya.
Something everyone should know for these forums anyways is that Gill hasn't had a Coh account for quite some time. He went on to Wow as a gamer. I only know because he was trying to get me to play it with him and Kiesha. Gave me a 14 day trial thing. I tried it but it just wasn't for me lol.
Anyways yeah he can't post here because he doesn't have an account. He may be reading this though and i really hope he is. Gill, your still my boy, my offer to help in the communication front and business end still stands. I think you know that i'd do anything to help. I still love your art and I know you're a great guy and have just fallen into something. Let me help out! Just get in contact with me. You have all the contact info for everything from me but in case ya lost it:
Email: rigamortis72@yahoo.com or michaelpoe77@yahoo.com
deviantart: thorsassassin.deviantart.com - send me a note
Yahoo IDs are rigamortis72 and michaelpoe77
myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thorsassassin
I've sent my phone # to everywhere i have contact info for ya too.
Just talk to me brother and let's work it out together! I'm here for ya. We'll work out my pieces somehow if you just talk to me about it. Hate to see ya go down like this with nothing but dead ends on our side.
WoW.
That would explain it. I've had friends sucked in by the evil that is WoW. One is a fantastic painter who can't even back away from it long enough during a convention so he can concentrate on painting.
CoH is the only MMO I've played. I'll look into Champions when/if it comes out, but there is no way WoW will sucker me in.
"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.
I gave WoW a long try, but it never really sucked me in. Just wasn't compelling enough!
Likewise.
"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 tried WoW for about five minutes. The character creator made me cry, since CoH was the only MMO I'd played at that point. Not being able to really design my character was such a drag, I uninstalled it and never looked back. (LotRO did suck me in, of course, but I put up with the more limited cosmetics because it's Middle-Earth.)
I hope everyone involved in this situation manages to come out of it with a happy outcome. *crosses fingers*
Busting heads since 1938
Character references * My DeviantArt gallery * I am an altoholic
I'm calling the book closed on this thing. It makes me sad that it turned out like this but i just can't keep stressing out over it. it's been over 3 years now and i'm still owed 2 pieces, they were multicharacter pieces and you all know how much they charged for those. It's alot of money to walk away from, especially in todays economy and my current financial situation but enough is enough.
So unless by some miracle he contacts me i'm gonna close the book on this. I'll prolly never get the canvas print for the Deathdealer piece either but [censored] it. Joe if you read this the offer still stands for helping you guys out in any way i can but otherwise thanks for great talks, the 2 pieces of art i'll always cherish and the great memories! 
Busting heads since 1938
Character references * My DeviantArt gallery * I am an altoholic
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it's been over 3 years now and i'm still owed 2 pieces, they were multicharacter pieces and you all know how much they charged for those.
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http://www.mmoartstudio.com/pricelist.php
That'd be tough for me to walk away from.
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it's been over 3 years now and i'm still owed 2 pieces, they were multicharacter pieces and you all know how much they charged for those.
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http://www.mmoartstudio.com/pricelist.php
That'd be tough for me to walk away from.
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Why ya think it's went on for as long as it has? It is hard to walk away from trust me. Especially coming from this addict who absolutely loves to see his characters done up. When i ran out of funds i kept telling myself "thats ok, you still have those 3 bad [censored] pieces coming from Jo". Well 1 out of 3? Bah 
Yah... I think I'm out too... The Soul Train pic that he was doing was looking oh so sweet... but definitely not done... kind of an anticlimax for all the wait and all the cash. I'm just glad I didn't sink as much in as TA did.
But yanno what? I've got a lot done by other folks, and while there's no Jomaro in there, its all good anyway.
"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."
It's sad to see such a good artist fall by the wayside like this, but if you can't take the commitments and do the work (it is a job, after all) then don't do it.
I gave up a long time ago trying to do "hobbies" as a job. It took the joy out of it (which is why I don't take nearly as many pictures anymore, except of my kids).
And I will never draw for money unless I have to make mortgage payments and put food on the table. In that case, ya'll know something dire went wrong since my job is very secure.
"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.
There's 29 people in the MMOArt queue that have probably paid some sort of deposit to have their art peices drawn. If you assume that each one placed a $200 deposit with them, then that's almost $6,000 in STOLEN money if he never finishes them. You guys should exchange e-mails or something and threaten him with legal action if he doesn't honor a refund.
Uh... Jiggly.... let me set something straight, OK?
First off... GillBates has always been a friend of the CoH community, especially the art community. He's also been through some rough times (suffered a chemical burn to his lungs last year) and is probably having to deal with a lot of financial problems as a result. Which means even though a lot of us are walking away from the commissions, we're not gonna tar and feather the guy, until at the very LEAST we know what's happening.
And, doing the en masse "we're gonna sue" maneuver will probably be the last resort... for one, inflicting lawyers on your buddies is uncool, and for another, we'd rather we all get our money back, not pay for some law firm's power lunches with it.
"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."
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It's sad to see such a good artist fall by the wayside like this, but if you can't take the commitments and do the work (it is a job, after all) then don't do it.
I gave up a long time ago trying to do "hobbies" as a job. It took the joy out of it (which is why I don't take nearly as many pictures anymore, except of my kids).
And I will never draw for money unless I have to make mortgage payments and put food on the table. In that case, ya'll know something dire went wrong since my job is very secure.
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I know where you're coming from with this because I had the same thought before going through with my decision to hop back into commissions full steam. I did a few several years back, but it kind of got to be too much since I was working full time and supporting my husband through college. But all my frustration came from not having the time to do what I loved and having to spend it all at a job that wasn't my passion.
So now the tables have turned and my husband has his degree and a career, and I'm able to do what I want with my life and I kissed the have-to job goodbye. It took months of really hard work to get myself back out there and build my site. The pay-back was huge when I launched and started doing the Mini-Portraits... I LOVE it. Sure, its a bit more on the work side than the hobby side, but when you can do what you love and make a career from it, there's no better feeling. I feel very lucky.
Well, maybe you can write it off on your taxes as a loss...
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Well, maybe you can write it off on your taxes as a loss...
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No, you can't. Just because you do not get services you've paid for does not mean you can write them off for taxes. The artist, however, does have to pay taxes on that money he made, in full, without any kind of loss involved because there was no product delivered, thus he incurred no loss for materials used nor postage for mailing the originals. Whether he has claimed these amounts on his Schedules C and SE are questionable, and I really don't want to know the truth because then I would be obligated by law or risk losing my job to report him.
The only recourse is to take them to small claims court (in which case you can represent yourself) to try and get your money back and make them pay court costs as well. If he is suffering from a medical setback, this could be costing him a great deal of money, which means he is unable to make refunds, which might also be affecting how much he can work (or even if he can), and causing him large amounts of stress which in some people can make them basically try and run away from their problems instead of confronting them and dealing with them.
When dealing with friends, especially someone who has been so good to the community, it's very hard to want to take them to court and risk losing that friendship or causing any more hardship that he will have to deal with. Also, if he doesn't have the money, it's going to be kind of hard to squeeze water from the stone. In that case, everyone loses.
I hope everything is okay with Gill. Just like I hope everything is okay with the other people I have commissions from. Haven't heard from them in a few weeks.
"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.
Actually, the queue on the site doesn't tell the complete story. Anyone who commissioned with MMOart Studios is also out. My Frankie Carter pic (which is incredible) came through the Studio (never got the print).
My commission from last October was also through the Studio as well as a commission a buddy and I submitted together (he put down the downpayment for that one). So, he and I are both out as well. I have no idea how many folks have gone through the Studio side as no queue is listed.
Happily, I have some really great art from some other outstanding artists. I plan to add to my collection. It just won't be through MMOart. Deposit lost, lesson learned. Moving on. Now, it's just a matter of deciding which great artist I want to commission next.
That's the trick, innit? There's so many.
Has anyone heard from Poison lately? Is he still doing art as rpvisions.com? Cos he's freakin' amazing too.
Then there's:
russ platt,
john becaro,
gammaknight,
dualmask,
ebony-chan,
deviant graphics,
guildhelper,
bobby aquitania,
scott blair,
daggerpoint,
bakanekonei,
pixeltease does amazing colors...
you might get some yummy sequentials or covers/pinups from Martheus Wade or Janet Wade (co-creators of the Jetta comics)...
photomanipulators like Rocinate...
and of course, our very own Brandon McKinney!!
EDIT: Was advised that Ed Benes isn't commissionable (although his brother and sister are.) Wishful thinking? Perhaps. Then again, I'd kill to have Hajime Soryama draw my Mastermind...
"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 feel for Gil. I don't know what's caused him to go silent - personal issues, burnout, company mis-management - but it's rough to see such a fantastic artist generate dissatisfaction from his loyal fanbase.
As an fellow artist, I know it's hard to turn away the offer of cash for art, especially when it's your main source of income. I know I don't take as many commissions as I could, but I want to be certain I can deliver in a timely manner. As a result, I try to only have 1 or 2 on my plate at a time. I've been envious of Juggertha's, Graver's, and Gil's ability to list long lines of people clamoring for their work, but I can also see how that level of committment can leave an artist overwhelmed.
Gil, I hope you can pull things together and come back in force.