"Welcome to the Party, Pal!"

Much the same, my life. Work's gotten even worse, but crossing my fingers over a job interview (interview #2 is Monday) that, even if it puts me in much the same stress situation, will at least get me back to 40 hours a week. Praying for a life again. As some of you might have read in the Nice Guy newsletter, had some bad news with my uncle passing on Christmas Eve, so New Year's and thereafter was spent with a lot of family in town, some staying at my place. My place became kind of home base for everyone, and my sister and I did a lot of planning of the service--working up the PowerPoint photos presentation, helping people with the eulogies, etc. Sad occasion, but glad I was there for my cousins, who spent a lot of time over here. Good service, if there is such a thing, and a chance to see a lot of family, and some friends I haven't seen in over 20 years. What are the chances of a girl who was hot in eighth grade being even HOTTER as a mother of three? It happened.

My PC continues to frustrate (at least it's working...that wasn't the case for a few annoying days there...which cost even MORE money to remedy), and is starting to make me lean toward replacing it with an iMac. BIG decision, switching to Mac. It's a whole new lifestyle. I'm working with my buddy Tony on that (who works for Apple, as you may recall), so I'm not only getting sound advice, but if I go through with it, I'll be able to use his employee discount (awesome...). I was going to wait until summer, but I may have to think about it sooner than later. So we'll see where I'm at on that by next time.

Not too much else to bore you with, so let's cut the chit-chat, A-hole! (Anyone know what movie I just quoted?). And let's get on with geeking!

This Time Around

Hey, I was about to say no Forge again this time around, but...oh, wait! There IS Forge! Yeah, little by little I kept chipping away at it with my hour or so available at night, and finally got it done. Hope anyone remembers who the hell Forge IS at this point.

So after all the lead-up of Mist trying to put a team together to combat the spiraling bad guy problem in San Francisco--and the VERY long previous chapter where all her selected heroes (Anvil, Nightshift, Max, Heatspell) made their decisions about it and decided to sign up--we now pick up with a not-QUITE-as long chapter that stands as the finale to the Forge origin story. So "Things Change, Chapter Four: If You're Going..." is finally there for your reading pleasure. Now I can look into building a Forge page for the Forte Expanded Universe site! The Forte universe grows!

So this chapter is really about how to build a hero team, as you'll see. Sydney planned and worked this thing very carefully, and hopefully she (and I) covered all the details. So a lot more exposition than character stuff in this one, but I hope you'll have fun being there on the first day of a new hero team and finding out all that goes into it. Hope you like where it's all ended. And I hope Kaye, Randy, and Jeff are okay with what I've done with their characters. Guess we'll see. So pull on your mask on join up with Forge!

And golly gee...new Forte art. WHAT are the chances?

Once again, I'm not going to build links to individual pieces in here, but just comment about the stuff in the order it's in the "latest additions" section at the top of the gallery on the Forte 2000 page. Lots of new stuff...for surprisingly little dough!

First, there's the Otis Frampton Nightsable I mentioned on the board a while back, the one that came in just after the deadline. How cool is THAT? Great style, and a great guy to work with. I look forward to trying him more once he's off his current commission hiatus (busy guy).

I mentioned Jason Nantz last time, when he did three cool and cheap pieces for me. As you just can NOT beat $10 art that doesn't totally suck, I went for three more, trying him out on Moondancer, Nightshift and Thresher. With great results! Very cool, and very cheap. Just like I like my women...

Check out that Luis XIII F2K group shot. Wow. You've GOT to love an artist who's naive enough to say "no limit on number of characters" in his auction. Heh heh heh. So I went for a whole-team shot to get the most for my money. Not bad! He's another Brazilian artist, the art partner of Jean Sinclair. I think that Jean's a little better (based on that awesome Seahawk/Nightsable last time around), but you can't beat a big dramatic team shot, so...cool.

Decided to try out a new guy who's auctions I've seen for a while. Not as cheap as the others, and I wasn't too sure what I'd be getting for my money, based on some of his samples (they're magically booblicious (tm)). But decided to give him a try. Turned out he's a great guy, really fast, and does some really amazing work that he puts a lot of thought into. I've gotten three from him since last time. Started with the Dyna Girl. That might be the weakest of the trio, as I think the head's a bit small, myself, but check out what he did with the background! What a great idea! You can't appreciate it fully without seeing the full-sized original that I've got, but he put SO much detail into the city down below. Love the composition! But then I got the Nightsable. Holy cow. Yeah, make your comments now about "parts" of it, but still...how gorgeous is that? Loved what he did with the portal (below, for a change) and how that translated into such dramatic lighting. Beautiful. And then I got weak and decided to go for one more, recently, just to round out the F2K girl trio, and give him a go at Tinker. I SWEAR...I did not tell him to draw her that way. All I did was give him the link to the Tinker page and tell him to do whatever he wanted with the character. And what a great idea! I love the idea (very cute), and love that fact that he went deeper, obviously, into researching the character on the site, finding out her last name (Toy) and putting it on the jersey...AND making it a Seahawks jersey...and doing the whole Seattle background thing. I really appreciated the extra effort, which he seems to really give. I like how he stays away from just standard pinup poses and comes up with more original ideas for shots. I'm sure I'll be using him again.

Found a guy named Nathan Alexander Getz, more of an anime kind of guy, who works really cheap (I note that K.C. found him as well, as I was over at this page and found an Americana posted there!), so I gave him a try. Fun Dyna/Nightsable shot. I don't know if I'd use him much more for Forte, but I'm thinking of giving him a try on some Windjammer stuff. I think he'd have fun with those characters, and they'd really fit his style. Good kid.

Appropriate for Valentine's Day, I got another Jean Sinclair shot with Dyna and Rainier that ended up--for some reason--romantical. I think I'd actually pointed out in my request that these two AREN'T involved? But...he's from Brazil. The fact that English is his second language is kind of evident from his emails. So what the hey. Fun shot. Not as good as his first, but still fun.

Speaking of good kids...found this guy calling himself "Prez" who works pretty cheap, too. And he's very enthusiastic. Really trying to break into the biz, seeing himself as a future star (even refers to himself in his auctions as "future star Prez"). :) He's not cocky or anything, just motivated. I respect that. Tried him on Dyna and Moondancer, and though he's obviously a REAL fan of both lips and boobs, he's got a fun style, and I like what he did with the poses on both (loved the Dyna boulder touch). Happy to help the kid out and try to get him some more work. Real likeable guy, and you love to work with an artist who's actually excited to do your commission instead of annoyed... I respect that he KNOWS he's a rookie and has an appropriate attitude about that, and is happy to get your business. Hope he keeps working it and does well. Got to catch 'em young. You know...like I like my women...

Okay, this isn't technically a NEW one...but I posted up a Chuck Wojtkiewicz Knightsabre that I got at a Con, like...I don't even KNOW how many years ago (could literally be fifteen years by now). It's an 11x17, but the pencils were extra light, so wouldn't copy right for reducing and scanning. I've been meaning/trying to get Tim to ink it for YEARS, but have kept forgetting. So I finally got him on the job, and as I figured, it turned out GREAT! I know he and Chuck would be perfect together on that shot. After all these years, I'm finally able to share what's probably my favorite Knightsabre shot! Man, I miss Chuck. I stopped bugging him at Cons because I think he was getting worn out on all the gamer commissions (thanks, Jeff... ;) ), and we started connecting on kind of a pro level when I hit pro-badge status, so I didn't want to go back into fanboy mode. Good to just be able to stop by and say hi to him at the Con without having to beg him for art. :) You MAY just end up seeing a color version of this one replacing this later. Thinking of seeing how it would look if I put one of my colorist options on the job. We'll see...

Okay, Martin. After your "where's the beefcake?" question a while back, I took the thought to heart and decided to try to get some more of the guys. The first one I commissioned after that was from a guy named Adrian Rivero. First time I was trying him. So I decided to try him on a Seahawk/Vortex/Moonspider shot. It took quite a while to finally get done. And for me to get it reduced (it was done on WAY too large paper). Well, to answer your question, Martin. Um...there's the beef. :) Didn't realize when I was commissioning him that he was...uh...kind of clearly gay. :) So probably not what YOU were looking for, but hey... Equal time, I say! Got plenty of embarrassing pandering shots of the girls up there, so it's only fair we get something up for the ladies...if for nothing else than to look at this and finally understand what THEY feel when they see our laughably busty shots up there. Okay. NOW I get it. :) So I thought it was kind of appropriate and funny to have that up there. And I'll be looking for more shots of the guys along the way. But probably something a little less...hmmm...prominent.

Remember that guy who did the big Forte gals group shot, Dennis Martin Willman? Okay, this guy was REALLY into the Forte universe and characters. He kept emailing me for clarifications during the time he was working on that one, and kept talking about what he loved about each character, etc. So after the big group shot came back, he had an auction up for some really cheap pencils ($15 each at the time, for up to two characters), so I grabbed a couple more from him. Then his next auction, a couple more. Just couldn't pass up that price. In the end, I bought six, over time. And he took a LONG time to get them done, but I told him to take his time, too (seeing as how I was getting six), and I knew from his group shot that I'd like the work a lot, and he'd come through great before, so I wasn't worried.

So I got all six of mine at once. Sweet! The problem is, even though it was an auction for 9x12 shots, he likes the Forte characters so much he bumped me up to 11x17 on all of them. Which is great and all, except for two things. 1) Too big to scan, so they have to be reduced, and 2) he does so much detailed stuff in graphite, it just doesn't show up on copies. Believe me, I tried. So what I ended up having to do, instead of lose all the wonderful detail and shading (and texture of the fabrics), was scan them in two pieces. So that's what's up with the line down the middle of them and the sort of gray, hinky quality. But if you saw my scans of the copies, you'd understand this was the better way to go.

And what a selection! I tried to mix him up with old school and new school, and (thanks again to Martin for the reminder to do so), I wanted to include a couple of the dudes as well, as Dennis is one of those rare eBay artist who actually DOES draw guys as well. So first you'll see the way-cool Heatspell (from Forge, if you recall). Wow. Look at the cool work he did on the fire in that shot. And his attention to the boot detail (when not fighting crime, she apparently plays bass for Kiss when they're touring...). Made her look VERY cool. And since I wanted to get some old-school Forte art going (think I have enough of the new Forte art yet? Hmmm...), thought I'd try him out on Dr. Jackal and Knightsabre, one of two "Forte couple" shots I wanted. Nice. GREAT work on Jack! And Knightsabre looks way majestic. This is one, like all the others in this batch, where the scan really doesn't come close to doing justice to the original art. I COULD take them all to Kinko's and have them do oversized scans for me, but they also charge you $30 to do that. Uh...twice as much as the art to scan it? Nah. Maybe someday. Speaking of old school Forte...NICE Phantashia, there. Hope Jeff likes. Switched back to later Forte days to have him do Quiver, the heroine from the "Crusade" Earth who will occasionally cross over to Forte and is involved with Lightsedge (she'll get some more use if I ever get around to running this game for Jim, Adam and Randy I have in mind. Maybe with a new job...). Great details on the clothes and tech, and a great interpretation of the Webb costume design...and again, one that looks so much cooler in the original art. Speaking of classic Forte couples, check out the Shrike and Cinco. Sweet! Obviously a photo before Shrike got barbecued and Cinco went NUTS... And, finally, great composition on the latter-day Thresher. Neat shot!

Yeah, I'll be using more of this guy in the future, for reasons besides the obvious. He is just nutty about Forte, as evidenced in this awesome Forte page he did on his site! What a great surprise that was! Going to start getting more classic Forte characters from him, I think, as I'm planning ahead for the eventual classic Forte page I plan to do. One day...

And, finally, the Andy Price shot. Ahhh. Talked about that in the news section of the 'Times, so don't have to do so here, and the essay below, but what a treat. You ought to see it full-sized. Gorgeous.

And speaking of essays...

Blame this long-winded talk about eBay art on K.C. He and I started emailing back and forth about our experiences and gripes with what we've gone through, and I had so much to say on the topic (they were big emails) that I got the idea to punch out an essay on the subject to share with all, just in case you haven't tried it and are thinking about becoming junkies like me and K.C. So we'll close out this edition of Gimme with that. Sorry about the length. Had a lot to say on the subject...

 

EBAY ART COMMISSIONS AND YOU

Your Guide to Spicing Up Your Champions Game with Character Art...Without Ever Leaving Your Home

As you may have noticed, I’ve commissioned a LOT of art. For the Forte site, mostly, and for the Windjammer site as well. And sometimes even for Christmas gifts. Ever since K.C. first pointed out to me that I don’t have to wait around for Comic-Con to get art, but can, rather, go right to eBay and get art without ever having to leave home, I’ve been a bit of a junkie. My God, if I’d had access to this kind of thing back in the glory days of live Forte games and Clobberin’ Times print issues? I’d have been going nuts! One of the great yearnings of any Champions player is to get cool art for their characters or games. Back in the day, you had to actually KNOW an artist (usually someone in your gaming group) to make that happen, or wait for a local Con. Not anymore. EBay has changed all that. Artists who want money to draw don’t have to pay for a table at a Con. Gamers who want action shots of The Double-D Diva (yes, that thong IS an OIF battlesuit with 30/30 defenses. Why do you ask?) can get them whenever they please. Win/win for everyone, brought to you by the magical information age.

And as I’ve been doing this eBay art thing a lot in the past couple of years, I just thought I’d share some thoughts on it…both good and gripy…in case you, too, might want to jump in and give it a go (if you haven’t gotten on the bandwagon already).

HOW TO DO IT

The first step in getting your hands on your character art is, of course, to know where to find it. Pretty simple. Go to eBay. Do a search under “commission art”. You can get more specific and look under comic art and browse around, but this’ll get you in the right direction. You should find quite a few artists looking to do something up for you. Some will be running standard auctions. The bids go on until the auction ends, final high bid gets the work. Some artists give you the “buy it now” option instead and offer several commissions at a time for a set price. Most of them will tell you what you’re getting. Pencil, or pencil and ink, or color. What size drawing (9x12, 11x17, etc). They’ll tell you how many characters you can have in it. And most usually mention the kinds of things they WON’T draw, a list that makes you shudder a bit at the idea that some people actually DO request such things (do you really need to point out that you won’t draw bestiality or child porn? Apparently, you do). Some have set levels of what you’ll get at a certain auction point. If the final reaches $10, say, you get one figure, no background, pencil. $20, you get inks. $30, you get color. And so on. Or some artists will have the basic auction for, say, a single character, black and white, but will give you a list of pricing for additions, like $10 for each additional character, or $10 for a simple background, or $20 more for color. Every artist does it his own way. But the important thing is that if you win…you get some art! Sweet!

You win the auction, you pay your money. Me personally, I am annoyed as hell with artists that don’t take PayPal, and want you to send them a money order. So now I have to take time out of my day and go to the store and get one and then mail it to you, further holding up my art? Too slow! I want to send the money now so you can get started right away (and know that I’m not trying to rip you off). Thankfully, just about every artist is using PayPal as their preferred method. So you pay your money up front. You then email them (the email address for them is generally in the “You Won” email you get from eBay when the auction ends) with your request.

There are a handful of artists out there that will only due established, published characters. No self-made characters. They’ll do you a Batgirl, but they won’t do your D&D character for you. Never quite understood that, but to each artist his own. There aren’t that many that do it. Most of them will be happy to do your character of choice up for you. As long as you have a reference, they’ll do it. This is why it pays to have an existing piece done of that character (or even a Heromachine design) that you can email to the artist when you make that request. Or, my preference, that reference on a web page, so I can just send them a link to it, as some people do get paranoid about having files emailed to them. In the case of the Forte 2000 main characters, I used to send several links to different pieces I had, until I finally realized it was easier for me just to create a gallery page for each of the characters, with all the art I have of that character, and send that one link to the artist.

Also do keep in mind, when making that request, most artists really don’t want to know every single thing about the character you want, so sending a detailed origin of Muscle Man really isn’t necessary. I usually let the references speak for themselves, but might make a couple of comments that might help. Some artists, for instance, have decided to show Nightsable flying. She doesn’t fly. She’s a teleporter. Maybe the cape makes them think she’s a flyer, I don’t know. So I learned to point that out to new artists, and maybe explain about the teleportation portals, and let them know those are optional for them to use if they want. Some notes like that will help you get what you want. And you may even want to make a couple of quick personality notes (the character of Thresher is a girl who’s perpetually pissed-off at the world and has attitude, so I’ll mention that so I don’t get an out-of-character shot of her with a big winning smile, playing with a couple of puppies in a meadow). But they don’t need a psych profile on the character, and they don’t want to read several pages of game moment highlights with the character. I’ve even seen artists restrict, in the auction notes, your request to less than three paragraphs. Artists in general just don’t like to read a lot. So try to keep it simple. They appreciate it.

Once you’ve made your request, the artist gets to work on it. Sometimes the artist will do an initial sketch and scan it and email it to you to get your approval on it. That way you can request any changes before they get too far into it. That’s a nice gesture, when it happens. Some will just email you a scan (or a link to a scan) when they’re done to show you the finished product before they mail it. I like that, if it’s a good scan. Since all my art is used for web page display, this lets me take that JPG file and put it up on one of my sites right away without waiting for mailing. And there are some artists that won’t scan at all, and will just mail your finished art to you, and you see it for the first time when it shows up on your front door. And, hopefully, you’re happy with it. Doesn’t always turn out that way, but usually you’ve got something that either pleases you or is workable. If not? Well, at least in my opinion, that’s the chance you take. Not every one you get is going to be a winner. But more often that not, you’re the proud owner of a cool piece of character art, without ever having to leave the comfort of your own home, or stand in line at Artists Alley at the Con and keep walking by that artist’s table all weekend to see if he’s done. Art on demand. It’s a beautiful thing.

USE YER EYES BEFORE YA BUYS

There are a vast variety of artists working the eBay circuit, ones with very diverse styles. Some do standard comic stuff. Some do more realistic. Some do comic strip cartoony. Some do anime style. Generally the artist will put up a sample of their stuff on the auction, some only one shot, some several pieces (my preference). This will give you an idea of what to expect. If all his (or her…I’ve used a lot of great female artists) stuff is anime, don’t expect him to do a Jim Lee piece for you. If you want something like typical comic art, look for an artist that does that. But don’t restrict yourself. I love getting a variety of different styles when I get Forte art. It’s great fun seeing the characters done in cartoon style, or looking all manga. Try some diversity. It’s fun.

But the important thing to look for here is whether or not the artist is any GOOD. Sounds like a simple thing, but sometimes you have to look a little deeper. Just as with the diversity of styles, there’s a diversity of talent levels. Some artists are really amazing. Some…um…not so much. Often the price range will reflect that, but not always. Don’t just go looking for something cheap. That whole get-what-you-pay-for rule often comes into play (but not always). You may see an artist that’s really great but out of the price range you want to pay. That’s fine. But don’t necessarily jump on the next one down that’s dirt cheap just because you don’t want to spend a lot. You need to shop around a bit. You’ll be able to find artists that are actually pretty darned good charging low prices. I love finding those artists who are new to eBay, or to doing art commissions in general, who don’t yet realize what they COULD be charging for their art. I’ve gotten some amazing stuff for a song by looking around and not just grabbing the first auction that pops up. It’s often worth waiting a few days and searching again if you don’t see someone whose stuff you like (or can afford). New auctions come up every day. Hold out for something good. Don’t just jump on a $10 auction and get disappointed when the art you get kind of blows. Usually you can avoid this by taking a good look at those samples first. If they kind of suck? Your request is likely going to kind of suck, too.

And when it comes to checking those samples, think and look deeper. It’s a simple fact that even crappy artists can get lucky once in a while. They’ve got that one piece that really turned out cool (or at least okay), but the rest of their stuff is fairly lame. I follow the “he got lucky” rule if an artist only puts up one sample of his work. I mean, if it’s a clearly amazing sample, that’s one thing. But if it’s kind of so-so, and it’s all you get to see? Probably best not to trust it. Kind of the same principle with girls on MySpace. If they only have one photo of themselves up on their page (and particularly if it’s clearly from when they were in high school or college), chances are there’s a reason they don’t have more. Everybody’s got that ONE good picture of themselves that turned out well. But you need to see a number of photos to really get an idea of what that person actually looks like. Brutal and sexist, but a good example. I most prefer it when an artist puts a link on the auction to their own web page, or their gallery at Deviant Art, or the like, so you can see a range of what they can do, and if a majority of their work is quality stuff or if quality is the exception in their art. If it’s the latter, that lets you know that you’re taking a big chance on him (or her) having one of their rare good art days when they’re doing your stuff. Too many other artists out there for you to gamble on someone, so I wouldn’t bother if it doesn’t look like the one you’re checking out can’t pull it off on a regular basis.

Other things to watch out for include artists who are clearly copying poses from magazines (often Playboy) and just drawing a super-hero costume over it. There’s one artist I’ve always avoided for that reason every time I see his auctions. His stuff is stiff and awkward (because he’s trying make a photo into hero art), and the fact that he seems to only be able to use references means he can’t come up with his own poses…which means he really can’t draw, he can only copy. So your character isn’t going to look like your character…it’s going t look like Lindsey Lohan (drawn badly) in your character’s costumer. Also watch for artists who don’t seem to understand proportions. Yes, this can include artists who can’t draw a woman without breasts several times larger than her head (always avoid artists who clearly look like they spent their junior high and high school years drawing fantasy porn for themselves and are in a constant state of sexual arousal whenever they get a pencil in their hand. Generally, their art will STILL look like they did it in junior high, and you’re also not likely to get what you want out of the art because they don’t want to draw anything that doesn’t turn them on). But also watch for legs that are too short, heads that are too big, poses that look stiff and unrealistic. I first learned my “he got lucky” rule off an artist who had only one sample up that looked fairly good. When I got my commission back it was so laughably bad that I just had to post it up on the Forte gallery anyway and break my usual standards of posting quality. I’m not going to point out which one it was, but…yeah, actually, I am:

http://forteuniverse.com/forte2000/dynanightsabletinkergarzamed.jpg

If I was aroused by busty midgets, I’m sure I would have been giddy with it…

TELL THEM WHAT YOU WANT…OR DON’T

When you make your request, you may have something very specific in mind. You may want a certain pose, or a certain scene. You can, of course, tell the artist, in great detail, exactly what you want. That’s your right as the buyer. But keep mind that you might not get it quite the way you saw it. Or you may get something completely NOT what you asked for. There are reasons for both.

I’m of the opinion that the more you restrict an artist, the less happy he’ll be doing the art, and therefore the less he’ll care about the outcome. And the less you’ll like it when it’s done. There are times I’ll want something kind of specific, yes. I had this one scene in mind, for example, of Nightsable and Vortex together after a fire, worn out and exhausted, leaning against a fire truck, with a firefighter handing them a bottle of water in a “nice work” kind of gesture. A very kind of Norman Rockwell heroic feel. I would NOT trust the average artist with this idea (the average artist can generally only do a pinup shot of your character, and you start throwing in fire trucks (or ANY background, for that matter), their brains fry). I’d used Eryck Webb enough to know that he could handle this kind of thing. So I asked for that scene, and I even sent references for Seattle fire trucks and Seattle firefighter uniforms for him to use. And he did it:

http://forteuniverse.com/forte2000/firerescuerestmed.jpg

Not exactly the way I’d seen it or completely the way I’d described it to him (I can’t remember the full request, but I seem to recall some details I’d mentioned got left out), but it got the job done, and I got the scene I wanted. Another time, however, I had a scene in mind with a yet-to-be-used Forte 2000 villain named Menace. I wanted three of the Forte characters chained and hanging from the ceiling behind her, bloodied and beaten and unconscious, and Rainier on the ground, unconscious, with Menace sitting on him looking kind of both crazy and sexy. It was to be a pretty scary and shocking shot. I had a clear picture in my head of what that would look like. Unfortunately, it really didn’t turn at all like I’d planned:

http://forteuniverse.com/forte2000/menacewinsmed.jpg

You can’t really even tell who the characters are in the background, and you can barely tell she’s sitting on Rainier. And she doesn’t look all that great either. Two problems happened here. The first, I think, as that he really didn’t want to be drawing this one (and it shows), maybe because of all the work involved, maybe because I put in too much detail, whatever. The second was that I had too specific of an image on my head that I wanted to see, and tried to translate that image into my request to him. He, however, cannot see into my brain. He’s the one that has to try to put what I wrote on paper. If your vision is too specific, chances are pretty good you’re not going to get what your brain expected to see.

Artists are creators. They want to put their thoughts and experience and likes into what they do. They need some freedom to be able to express their own artistic vision. So many of them really resent being told exactly, down to the last detail, what to draw. Yes, you can argue that it’s your money, and you should get exactly what you want. In theory, true. But art is not a Whopper. Art is not a suit you’re having tailored. Art comes from the mind, ultimately, of the artist. And that artist, as I said, isn’t going to be able to get into your head and see what you’re seeing. This is a truth comic writers have known (and lamented) for years. And it’s a (general) fact of art commissions. If that artist feels restricted and reigned in, unable to put themselves into the work, they’re not going to be having any fun. And if they’re not enjoying it, chances are, thanks to pesky human nature, they’re not going to put their all into the work. Worst-case, they’re going to not want to do it at all and will just crank out something to make it, and you, go away (and hope you don’t demand a refund). We, as art buyers, have a choice here. With can either protest this fact, or we can learn to work with it.

The easiest way I’ve found to do so is to just not get TOO specific…and to go into the process knowing in advance that it’s not going to exactly match the way I see it. It helps to have worked with a certain artist more than once, actually. You kind of get to know how they do things, how they like to work. Some artists want to be free to go with their gut. There are some, conversely, who couldn’t draw a straight line unless you specifically told them to. They NEED direction. I’ve had a couple of artists email me multiple times during a work with questions and clarifications. But they’re rare. Most prefer a lot of slack in the reigns. And I’m cool with that, because 1) if it makes them enjoy doing the drawing more, the better the chances of them drawing something we’ll both be happy with, and 2) I realize that I am NOT an artist, and chances are they know a lot more about composition and such than I do, and can come up with ideas that I never would have thought of. I’ve learned things work out much better for me if I keep my ideas very general and let the artist fill in the blanks. On this following one, for example, I think all I asked of Webb was a shot of a smiling Max, signing autographs for some kids. I think at the time his standard drawing allowed for three characters, and then $5 for each additional. I’d wanted three kids, so, with Max, that was four characters, so I paid the extra $5. But when I got the art back from him:

http://forteuniverse.com/forte2000/maxautographinmed.jpg

…he’d had so much fun with it that he just threw in a couple of extra kids for free. I gave him a very relaxed framework and let his imagination flesh out the rest. And since I kept it vague for myself, I didn’t have a set picture in my head of what to expect, so I didn’t have that inevitable disappointment. And I loved what he came up with! That’s one of my favorite shots that he did for me. He needed that freedom to be able to express himself, and therefore had fun, and therefore, I got a great piece of art out of it.

I’ve been talking about scenes here, but sometimes you just want a pinup shot of the character. Here I like to give them almost total freedom. I just send the references, and tell them up front I’m not real picky about pose or composition, that I’d just like to see what they could do with that character, in their style. I don’t specify full-body, hands on hips, right foot up on a rock, etc. I like to let them look at the references, see how their mind and skill interpret the character, and let them have fun creating. I’ve had some mind-blowing character shots come from doing that, with poses and framing my non-artistic mind never would have thought of.

You need to be careful not to restrict them too much, but there are artists you’re going to come across who are completely unable to do it your way…in any way. They will ignore your direction because they want to do it like they want to do it. They’ll change the costumes on your characters because they don’t like them, or because they can imagine a way to improve them. If you ask for a dark, brooding shot of a character, they may not FEEL like doing a dark, brooding shot, and will draw your vengeful character with a big ol’ grin on his face. In general, I think they if you’re an artist, and you don’t want to draw what people ask you to draw, but want to draw your own stuff in your own way? You PROBABLY shouldn’t be taking art commissions. People are paying you for getting what they want. They’re not paying you to sit around and draw what you feel like.

Now, that being said, there have been times when I’ve come across artists like this and have been really happy with their improv. The current Nightsable costume looks like it does because it was designed by Storn A. Cook, who decided, when I paid him for a shot of her based on a reference of the original costume, to change the whole thing. My initial reaction when I got it was to be miffed. I’d paid him for a shot of a certain character, and apparently he felt like drawing another one entirely. However, upon looking at it longer, I had to admit that his redesign was SO much better than what I’d had in mind. It became her new look. Got lucky on that one. Then I tried another one with him that I DID want to match the exact costume on, and again, he completely redesigned it, colors and all. Had to stop using him after that, because as much as I loved the Nightsable, I really wasn’t paying him to redesign all the Forte characters. I was paying him to draw them as they were. And back to Webb. I’d requested kind of a moody shot of Nightshift, sitting on a building, smoking a cigarette, looking out over the San Francisco skyline. When I got it back:

http://forteuniverse.com/images/nightshiftchillsonroofmed2.jpg

Okay, I don’t remember requesting the potato chips and the six pack. Because I didn’t. He just decided to add them in. It changed the tone of what I’d had in mind. However, I also loved it. Not sure why, but his need to improv here gave me something I ended up really liking. As I recall, when I requested the Forge team shot from him, I’d asked for them to be outside, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, to show what city they’re the hero team of. Well, he pretty much just ignored that, and decided to put them in a sewer. The trick with doing this to your customers?:

http://forteuniverse.com/images/forgegroupshot2colmed.jpg

Give them a shot that ends up looking like THAT and they won’t complain. And I didn’t. Wow. But still, when you’re paying money for art and telling them what you want drawn, you really shouldn’t have to hold your breath and wait to see if how them drawing what THEY want will satisfy you. Artists should be professionals, and should practice basic customer service. I’m just telling you up front…not all of them well. Some will frustrate you with their my-way-or-the-highway attitude. And if you get something you really don’t like, best of luck trying to get a refund. I personally have never had to get a refund for this reason (as I’m not all THAT picky and I don’t mind some surprises, and I’d rather just let the occasional disappointment go than waste my time and energy pursuing the matter), but imagine it’s probably a pain in the ass, and the bitter artist will then probably strike back by leaving you negative feedback on eBay. Because they wouldn’t draw what you wanted. Makes sense, huh? Art, and artists, are unpredictable. Expect some unexpected turns between you paying your dough and you getting your drawing. You pays your money, you takes your chances. But sometimes you may just end up with something better than you had in mind. I, myself, think it’s worth the risk.

THE WAITING GAME

Art takes time. Get that in your head right up front and you’ll save yourself a lot of frustration. The amount of time it takes is going to vary with each artist. Some actually draw amazingly fast. Some…well, don’t. Either they’re the type who have to be in just the right mood and have the temperature just so and the stars aligned in just such a way to actually sit down and draw, or they’ve got a day job and can only do art in their spare time, or maybe they do a lot of commissions and yours is just one on a list of many they’re working on. Regardless, buying an art commission is not like buying a Star Trek collector’s plate. Your purchase doesn’t just get shipped to you. It has to be CREATED first.

My advice? Patience. Learn it. And cut ‘em some slack.

It’s just fact that the creative process works differently in different people. Artists—be they illustrators, writers, musicians, whatever—are notoriously flaky. Some have to wait for the “muse” before they produce. I’ve dealt with this in writing (a lot). So I understand it. And frankly, if that artist is NOT in the right mood to draw my stuff, chances are they’re not going to draw it well. I’d rather they take their time and produce something I’m happy with than get it fast and have it be not-so-great.

Some artists will give you a time frame. Brave artist. Maybe they’re the type than can actually draw on demand. Lucky you. You got one of the rare ones. But if they don’t list one, go ahead and expect that you’re in for a wait. I’ve been spoiled by a few. Eryck Webb always had his stuff to me within a week (usually quicker). David Enciso completely blows my mind. I get full-color, really beautiful art from him in generally less than 24 hours…and often the same night I make the request. Other artists must REALLY hate him. Others will take a couple of weeks. Some a month. I think both are reasonable.

Some will, however, take longer. Sometimes a LOT. I’ve had to learn that along the way, and come to accept it. I just keep in mind that ultimately, the finished product is the important thing, not the speed in which it’s done. Though I’ve developed some rules when it comes to my commissions. If they haven’t specifically said “I’ll have it done for you by next week!” or something, I’ll assume they’re typical artist who will get around to it when they do. I keep a spreadsheet for the auctions I win, with, among other things, the date that I paid the money and sent the request. After that date, I wait 60 days. If I haven’t gotten the art or heard anything, I’ll send them a polite and friendly email asking for a status request. Sometimes they’ll respond. They’ll let me know a timeframe, or they’ll send an apology with some reasons why it’s taking so long, or sometimes they’ll just be really honest and say they haven’t been able to get to it, and hopefully will soon. Hey, I’m a busy guy, too. I can understand that. It’s just nice to get an update. Sometimes they won’t respond, which is kind of annoying, but my hope is that at least my reminder made them move me up a couple notches on their to-do list.

Either way, I’ll give them another 60 days before I check in again. By this point, it’s been four months. That’s a lot of time when you’ve paid money to someone and haven’t gotten a return on your purchase price. Depending on the artist (if they’ve responded to me along the way, if I’ve used them before, or their talent level), my next follow up is usually another polite one. If it’s someone I’ve never used before, and someone who hasn’t responded to my emails, it might be more direct and less polite. After that, I’ll either do a 30-day or a 60-day email next. The 30 will happen if you’ve failed to communicate with me. It’s at that point, if they’re in that category, that I let them know it’s been 5 months, and I let them know my 6-month rule. If I haven’t gotten something for my money in half a year, I’m no longer interested in waiting. I’ll be asking for a refund, and calling the whole thing off. At sixth months, in general, I will do so. I’ve only done this once, and I talked about that in this column before, and how the guy got all pushed out of shape and couldn’t understand why I was getting all uptight about him taking my money and giving me nothing in return (while continuing to regularly put up new auctions on eBay). In that case, the refund threat finally let him know how I felt about it, and I finally got the art about three weeks later. I have yet to get to the next step, where after getting no response to the refund request I’ll advise them that if I don’t get it right away, I’ll be reporting them for fraud to both PayPal and eBay. To be honest, I’m not even sure if you can DO that in either case. Never looked into it. But maybe they won’t know for sure either, I can hope.

You’re faced with a problem as an art buyer. You paid your money. You have a right to get what you paid for. So therefore you have a right to get testy if the other party’s not fulfilling their part of the contract. But what you’re getting from them is an item that can either be great or completely sucky depending on a number of factors…including their mood. If you start to “bug” this artist about wanting your art (which in theory you have every right to do), chances are they’re going to start resenting you for it. At which point they’ll either put your work off even further to “punish” you, or they’ll just crank out something substandard just to shut you up and make you go away. So you’re really screwed either way, and very much at the mercy of the individual artist. Sucks, doesn’t it? Yeah, it can.

The trick to making sure you get decent art and that you don’t end up stressing yourself out and wallowing in righteous anger is to be patient, and to assume that the artist has a busy life, just like you do, and is not out to steal your money and run away giggling. People get wrapped up in all the stuff in their lives. Things get put off when other things pop up. It happens. Sometimes a friendly reminder is all they need to make them go “oh, crap, I haven’t gone that guy’s drawing yet!”, and they’ll apologize and get it to you pretty quick. There’s no need to suddenly start jumping all over them after a couple of weeks and accuse them of ripping you off. Maybe it helps to just know as many artists as I have. I’ve seen the whole “muse” thing in action. I’ve seen them stare at a piece of paper and curse it and themselves, convinced they can’t draw and they’ll never be able to draw again…until the right song comes on the radio or they read the right comic and their self-esteem is back up where it should be again. I just accept that the wait is part of the process, and therefore don’t sit around fuming and causing myself undue stress. While I’d LIKE to have the art right away? There’s really no reason in my life that I HAVE to have it right away, unless it’s a gift or something.

And as I said, talent level makes a difference. The cover of this issue of the ‘Times, by Andy Price, is something I waited almost a year for. First off, it said right on the auction to expect in 8-12 weeks. That told me up front that he doesn’t do art really quickly. So I was prepared. And I was also so jazzed by his samples that I REALLY didn’t want to start annoying him and get on the bad side of his subconscious, wish could lead to my art paying the price. I didn’t check in with him for a looooong time. He did respond and apologize when I did, and was in the middle or preparing for his wedding, so his life was kind of upside down. Okay. I was okay with that. Waited for a looooong time after that before checking in—very politely—on the progress. Again, he was kind enough to respond instead of ignore me, and apologized again, and let me know it was almost done, but his schedule at work was crazy, etc. Cool. So I let it go, and before I had to check in again, I got a note from him letting me know it was done and that he’d mailed it, and thanked me for my patience and understanding. He didn’t do a scan (probably due to it being 11x17), so I had to wait until the actual mailing arrived to see what I’d been waiting so long for. Turns out, it was something I absolutely loved. SO worth the wait. And I let him know that, and thanked him for all the work he’d done on it. Now I COULD have gotten bunged up about the wait. That’s a very long time. But I also knew he was a comic professional, and knew how amazing his stuff was, so I wasn’t going to harass him and cry foul. I kept it friendly and understanding, and his guilt over making me wait, I think, made him put that much extra into the work.

Of course, the other side of the coin is the guys that, frankly, AREN’T that good. At least not good enough to get the same kind of slack. I tried out this one kid on some stuff. Not only did I not get the art, but I got no response from him and noticed, finally, that eBay was showing that he was no longer an eBay member. I finally got more direct with him, and eventually got an email that he’d been in the hospital with a serious condition, and was just now able to get back the stuff. I had no reason to doubt him. A review of his feedback on eBay (a handy tool) showed a long string of nothing but positives, and then suddenly negative comments, right about the same time as my auction, saying things like “took my money and never responded” and “no art and no response to emails!”. It fit with the hospital story. And he did finally send me one of my three requests I’d made of him. It was okay. I knew going in that he wasn’t GREAT, but his stuff was kind of fun. And he said my other two were almost done. I’m trying to remember how many months ago that was. Probably at the end of summer. And he hasn’t responded to any emails since. March 27th will mark one year since I sent him my money (which wasn’t a lot, but still…). I’ve been more lax since the possibility is there of ongoing illness, and I’d feel like kind of a moron if I suddenly started threatening a guy who’s on his deathbed, you know? But still…after getting the “I was in the hospital” excuse from a couple of other artists since then? I’m starting to not buy it as much. As I said, his stuff is kind of fun, but not NEAR good enough for me to still be dealing with this, and the aggravation of it, almost a year later. The slack’s about run out, and I’m going to have to drop the refund/fraud threat real soon.

You should be able to expect a certain level of professionalism from artists. There does come a point when the “lack of muse” thing kind of peters out, and the reality of “if you’re an artist, you should be able to draw” comes in. As a buyer, you should not be subjected to this kind of thing. Well…you will be. Not always, but from time to time. But for your own peace of mind, and for the sake of your final product you’ve been waiting for, it’s best to not assume ill will, to understand the sporadic nature of the creative process (to a point), and to just accept that for every few pieces you get, one of them will take a really long time to get done. The only sure way to avoid this kind of treatment and frustration and emotional turmoil is to NOT get any eBay art. And what fun would THAT be?

BETTER THE DRAW-ER YOU KNOW

If you get something from an artist, and you really like it, and he was professional, and fairly quick, and kept you in the loop on what was happening with your request, then by all means…use that artist again. Why take chances on a new guy and risking all the dangers above when you’ve got somebody you can trust? If you’ve found somebody like this, you’ve struck gold. TAP that vein.

As you can see on the Forte gallery, I’ve got a stable of regulars I use. Eryck Webb (before he “retired”). David Enciso. Dennis Martin Willman. Timm Gillette. Hoa Phong. Recently, Jason Nantz and Sean Harrington. These are all guys whose stuff I not only like, but are PEOPLE that I like, and like dealing with. They all have some things in common. First, they really love the Forte characters, and are excited to be working on them. I love it when both the artist and I are jazzed about the request. Fun for all. They’re all (most of them) pretty quick…or at least dependable and consistent if they’re not the speediest. They care about what their customers think of the art. They want to make their customers happy. And they communicate well, not leaving you sitting in the dark wondering what’s up with your art. They’re a pleasure to work with.

I do my best to take care of my artists. Not just by paying right away. I also show them trust, and give them the freedom that each likes. When I get my work, I make sure to let them know how much I like it. One of the biggest payoffs for an artist is that moment of truth when you find out if all the work you’ve done is appreciated. I tell them in detail what I like about it, to show that I really appreciate all the effort they put in. I don’t just say “Good stuff, thanks.” What a let-down THAT would be. They know I’m always grateful for what they do, and I make them feel good about the work, and that, in turn, makes them happier to work with me, and to put in that extra effort the next time I hit them up. They know they’ll be “rewarded” with some valued praise that will make their efforts worthwhile. They deserve it.

Even if there’s the occasional misfire (there are a couple of Webb works I never even bothered posting, because they were totally wrong or really sub-standard), I don’t gripe, because while it’s disappointing, I keep the law of averages in mind. Hoa Phong has given me some stunning works. And in all of them, only one came back kind of so-so. Am I going to gripe about that one disappointment and overlook at the other great ones he’s done, and burn that bridge in the future? Hell, no. Got to look at the bigger picture. The bad Webb ones, for example, were usually ones that came in batches (with his prices, I was, back then, getting sometimes four a week). If I got four pieces at once (knowing that he had to sit down and crank out four for me in just a few days), and three were very satisfying, and one was a dud, I count myself pretty lucky. The exceptions, I will just write off. I don’t expect artist to be 100% on their game 100% of the time. Better to eat the occasional stinker and know that I can keep going to back to them, knowing the next one will probably be a winner.

Regulars are great. Mine will often give me a discount for being such a good and regular customer. Or they’ll do stuff outside of eBay for me. With Enciso, I know that if I suddenly need something (like last issue’s Dyna Girl Christmas cover, which I wanted as a Christmas gift for Aaron), I can just email him and PayPal him some money, and he’s happy to take care of it for me. And, as I said, most of them have done enough Forte stuff that they’re really excited about Forte, and will put links to the Forte site up on their own page, or, in the case of Dennis Martin Willman, create a whole Forte page of their own with the art they’ve done and words of praise about the Forte characters and world. I like this because it lets people who otherwise never would have found Forte get interested, jump over to the site, and maybe become fans, too. The extra marketing is a nice little bonus to go with the cool art.

So if you’re lucky enough to find one of the good ones, keep going back to that well. And treat ‘em right. In the end, they’ll treat you right as well.

SO GET SOME ART!

Champions is about comic books. Comic books are about exciting, colorful super-hero art. If you want your campaign (or just your fiction characters, if you don’t have a campaign going) to really come to life, you owe it to yourself to get some hero art. And it’s now ridiculously easy to do so. Check out eBay. Find an artist that you like and who fits your budget. And get some art! For yourself, or, if you’re running a game, as a surprise for your players to get them motivated for the game. I know, for me, the very first piece of commission art I ever got—a Dr. Jackal by Ron Lim back in 1988 for ten bucks at a store signing—brought that character to life for me. Suddenly, instead of just a hero in my mind, he was there on paper, looking like a character right out of his own comic. A good piece of art can open up the character to you in unexpected ways you never would have considered. It can inspire you to make that character worthy of the fantastic portrait you now have of him or her. Or, if nothing else, it can make your campaign or fiction web page look so much cooler, and lead people to want to know more about the characters they’re seeing, and then hopefully read your campaign reports or stories. There’s never been a better time to do it. So do it!

Next Time...On "The 'F' Word"...

Ok, so Forge is finally out of the way. Could the continuation of the Dawn of Anubis be far behind? Uh...based on all evidence, yeah, it probably could... But we'll see. Also been secretly (sshh!) sneaking in a little work on some other ConTinuum pages, so that's a little project in the works. And still got the whole Del Oeste thing going, so next time COULD be just about anything! Or nothing, if I'm still stuck at the same job... Come on back and find out!

Michael O’Connell
Forte Spokesmodel