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Thursday, February 24, 2005
Okay boys and girls. Pretend, for a moment, that this has happened to you:
You place a cosplay-related item up for sale on ebay. Someone e-mails you to ask you if you have another copy of said item available for immediate sale, saying that they need it right away and that they're willing to pay you gobs of money for it. You're lucky enough to have a copy of said item and you immediately agree to sell it to them.
Same person e-mails you a short time later, asking if you make other cosplay items related to the same series as your posted item. You say yes and then send them an inventory and a price list. They write back to you, telling you of their interest in one of the items on your list. They also imply, in their correspondence, that they wish to have you send them said item for free, since they're willing to pay such a ridiculously high price for the posted item they're thinking of buying from you. You bristle slightly, but realize that even if you DO throw in the extra item pro bono, that you're getting a good deal, so you agree. The deal is sealed.Or is it?... A few hours later, you receive an e-mail from the interested buyer, rescinding their offer to buy the items they had requested from you, since the convention they were planning on going to wasn't as soon as they thought it was going to be. Seeing as how they're no longer under any sort of time pressure, they've decided to try their luck and bid on your auction like everyone else. You, the jilted seller, now have three options... A) Threaten to drag the buyer into small claims court for breach of contract, knowing full well that the court costs and the effort required in suing a buyer who lives halfway across the continent (and whose real name you don't even know) probably wouldn't be worth any settlement you might receive. B). Threaten to bar the buyer from your auction, knowing that eliminating a well-funded and highly interested bidder will probably have a detrimental effect on the final bid price of your item (but at least you'll still maintain your dignity and self-respect. And who can put a price on that?)
C.) Shut your cakehole and grudgingly allow the buyer to carry on with their shenanigans because you're a struggling artist with high car insurance premiums and massive credit card debt-- a debt which currently looms over you like a shiny, plastic-y spectre of death.
If you guessed "C", congratulations. You're a creative entrepreneur. Welcome to the wonderful world of customer service (also known as the wonderful world of "bending down and smooching the ass of anyone who shows even a remote interest in your work.") Of course, I don't mean to imply that EVERYONE I've dealt with in the past few months has been a total knob. For the most part, I've had positive experiences with my customers. ... But every now and again, there are those one or two who like to give me a hard time. And to those people, I have to say that if you ever decide one day that it would be fun to dangle a bunch of dollar bills in front of my desperate face and then snatch it away at the last second like some sadistic child waving a carrot in the face of a starving donkey, then you'd better pray that the two of us never meet face to face. Because if we do, your genitals will be SO kicked...
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Alert visitor Silver recently brought this to my attention: Here's Samurai Girl, a picture posted on deviantart.com by jenniii.
And now compare that to Keela With Sword an artwork by Yours Truly...
Hmmm. A rather suspicious similarity, is it not?
Okay folks. Here's the line I take on using my art. You have permission to do whatever you want to any work that I have made. You can use it as a reference for your own art, you can copy it as an exercise, you can print it out, post it on a wall and throw darts at it. But you CANNOT, under any circumstances, post it and claim it as your own. And you cannot draw your own copy and post it unless you also post a credit to me and/or a link to the original wherever it appears on the web. There. I hope I've made myself clear.
Anyhoo, on to the business of the day, which is to post a link to the beta version of my Edward Elric Automail Armor Tutorial. Take a look, check it out and if you have any questions or comments concerning it, let me know. Finally feeling a little better. Not throwing up anymore, (which is good) although I'm still feeling a little lethargic. (I'm feeling better than my parents, though, who both caught the barfing bug about 2 days after I did and who are no doubt oh-so-glad that they allowed me and my easily compromised immune system to share the same house with them.) I don't have much else to report, except that the weather sucks, which it has a tendency to do this time of year. Rain falling, then freezing, coating the ground and roads with a thick layer of zamboni-smooth ice... (You know, there are times when I dearly wish I had a day job. A regular schedule wherein I get up at a certain hour every morning like clockwork, make my way to a distant site and settle down to a productive task like a contributing, purposeful member of society...) This is NOT one of those times. Enjoy your Monday morning commute, you corporate tools!
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