Well, doesn't that just rust your deathtrap... Adam Hughes ceases convention commissions list

[icon_uk]

As you may have gathered over my time on Scans_daily, I have something of a penchant for collecting commissioned art. It's great fun and when you get it in person you can chat with the artist and end up with some good memories as well as a nice piece of art.

Even when you're dealing with folks via e-mail (which happens a lot with me as I'm stuck in the UK with fewer convention oportunities and fewer big name artists being available when you do (with some exceptions), it's usually a delightful experience, and I think those of us who partake in such experiences would recommend it for others...

However, there's always some bugger making it harder for the rest of us...

Case in point from bleedingcool.com ... the reason Adam Hughes has decided not to do convention commissions

Adam Hughes partner (and also a damned fine artist Allison Sohn commented)

Thank the piece of shit that moaned and practically wept about needing his Wonder Woman sketch, and today it’s on eBay.

Here’s how things will work going forward. Adam was only able to get 3 sketches done this past weekend- and was was for the S.O.B. that turned around and eBayed it. So now Adam will eBay one sketch per convention day. If its a 2-day show, there will be 2 auctions. 3-day show, there will be three auctions. No more $200 and $400 sketches. Sorry. But if Adam has to kill himself drawing so that some lying slime ball can go home and make a profit off of his hard work, then forget
it.

Maybe it seems harsh, but here’s the reality. I can no longer remember who has a sketch, who has been waiting for one for years, and who is a flipper and who isn’t. I just can’t keep all your names and faces straight. And at a show when
there are 50+ names on the list, I challenge anyone else to do it and not screw up. And when we get home, and my failure in my ability to remember everyone and what their deal with drawings is, is rewarded with eBay flipping, It makes Adam angry and disappointed, and he doesn’t want to sketch at all. So the compromise is if eBay is where they will end up, then eBay is where they will start.

I’m sorry for all those people to whom we said “everyone gets one sooner or later”, because now that probably won’t be the case. But honestly, with the number of people that want art, there’s simply no way we can make everyone happy anymore. And its not worth it to me to see Adam miserable trying to make everyone happy anyway.

In further posts, Alison elaborated;

What bothers me most is how annoyingly persistent the guy was. He lingered, hovered, and made all sorts of stories up about how much he really wanted his sketch. Essentially, he lied and he lied a lot, at the expense of real fans. Adam could have spent that time drawing for someone on the list that really DID want the sketch. I hope this guy chokes.

Whilst I should stress that I don't wish anyone actual physical harm, it does strike me as being a supremely douche-y thing to do, particularly the lying thing... I've never had a chance to get an Adam Hughes Robin (in peril or otherwise), but it would have been nice to think I might!


And an interesting aside about a certain artists tracing tendencies...



Northstar's suffers from Sameface Syndrome?

Northstar looks left... and in the hands of Greg Land, does look suspiciously like Jared Padalecki IMHO. (And lord knows I love me some Jared, but I never quite seem him as Northstar)

Here are a couple of the images they use as evidence, there's more details at the link.







For legality. Starfire (and some other folk in the background) by Adam Hughes



And for those who want a little more than pulchritude... Though we have that too...



Click on that image to go to the CAF gallery.

Comments

[jarodrussell]

Hey, I got banned from BC until the 14th for posting to that thread. Did any of my "Fuck you, fucker" posts survive? I'm "Static-Pulse" there. In hindsight, I probably went overboard, but I have NO sympathy for anyone who feels any entitlement for what freebies artists owe them.

Did he say he was giving up commissions completely or just convention commissions? His site says he's not taking them at the moment, but I assume there's a difference in an online commission (where you pay before he produces it) and getting one for cheap/free at a convention.

[pyrotwilight]

Yeah, I'll admit I'm dissapointed, largely because I've gotten on Adams list two times when he's come to the New York conventions since I started collecting art and had hoped to get at least one.

I kinda assumed he'd have done it eventually, this was only the last straw after all, given how people do sell his sketches alot on ebay though most have the decency to wait quite a while before doing so at least.

But in the end it does sound like it'll be for the best. Those who really want pieces will have to go through his ebay in the future since it looks like he'll only be doing pre-con drawings now (though it'll be way too expensive for me now).

[valtyr]

I'm not really au fait with how convention commissions work, but do I understand Adam Hughes has been drawing people custom sketches at considerably less than the prices he could get for auctioning them off? And some people have just been buying and reselling for profit?

If so, what absolute dickishness on their part, and abuse of extremely generous behaviour.

[proteus_lives]

Always weird to see Supes with a five o'clock shadow.

[schala_kid]

What a disgusting and horrible thing to do to Adam, seriously, I can understand why he decided to do that.

It angers me when people do this, especially when I see FREE sketches on the internet, seriously FUCK the people who do that.

Also semi-related but what happened with All-Star Wonder Woman? All I remember was that Adam was drawing and plotting the comic all by himself and said that DC wasn't going to release the whole thing until he was done with it. Never heard news from it again.

[blackruzsa]

In this world, this is why people can't be nice, have nice things, because douchebags exist.

[fifthie]

If an artist is gonna do this they should totally tag every drawing with like, FREE SKETCH or something so it's really clear that anyone who goes and sells it is an asshole.

[sigmund_droid]

I really despise the new ebay subculture that has arisen. The one where unemployed and part-time douchebags spends their time ebaying and craig listing promo stuff and low-cost high-resale items.

Working in retail its really annoying to people make a living off of stuff like that,

[stubbleupdate]

This isn't the first bit of shoddy treatment that he's had to suffer. It's a shame.

[retro_nouveau]

Well, we can take some satisfaction in that he put it up for $500 on May 1 and got a couple of decent bids. On May 3, the price shot up past 1750 and 2340 to 6,777.77. The "Piece of Shit" had to cancel and will probably have some trouble getting a quick profit for the near future. I hope he was moaning and literally weeping at the time. XD

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&_trksid=p4340.l2565&item=320693425894

[thebigapricot]

So I guess it would be cruel of me to post the one Hughes did for me this weekend?

[big_daddy_d]

A case of horrible fans ruining it for the rest of us...just....wow.

[halloweenjack]

File under This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things.

[jelly_ace]

That's just wrong.

[curlyjo1]

I remember a few years ago there was some fan at a con with a huge entitlement attitude and getting all nasty with Rags Morales, and he stopped even coming to the cons for a while.

[tauruschick12]

Much as I dislike Hughes, what this guy did to him was unacceptable and dickish beyond belief. I really, really hope no one buys that sketch from him in protest. Taking advantage of someone's generosity is horrible.

[sindra]

Between this issue, and Apple allowing stolen games to be put on their App store for sale, it's been a bad week for geeks.

[bruinsfan]

Northstar looks left... and in the hands of Greg Land, does look suspiciously like Jared Padalecki IMHO. (And lord knows I love me some Jared, but I never quite seem him as Northstar)

It worked better when he was tracing photos of Paddywhack for Jack Russell in that Werewolf-by-Night one shot. The resemblance was even more obvious there, and more fitting for the character. So I guess Land picks up a Supernatural magazine every once in a while when he's on a Hustler run.