Comics is a field filled with flaky writers and artists. It probably goes without saying that people who draw super heroes, hot babes, fantasy worlds, space ships, aliens, zombies, ninjas, robots, you name it, spend a fair amount of their time in a fantasy world. There’s nothing wrong with being laid back and loving to create artwork and stories. But there’s a business end too. And it doesn’t seem that there is a wealth of artists in the comics industry who have both talent and professionalism in any balanced measure.

I recently contacted an artist about the cover for Sovena Red. I wanted a back up in case my first choice fell through. Well, the guy seemed great, but went nuts this morning after I had apparently asked him to make too many changes and he was unprepared to put more time into the cover roughs to satisfy me. My requests were (repeated three times) for him to change Sovena’s hair from wavy to straight (as it made her look a lot older than 11 years old) and try her face a little rounder. Zooming out a bit on the picture I was prepared to compromise on, but I just wasn’t happy with the look of Sovena from the two rough layout options he gave me.

Well, I soon learned that he was only prepared to give me two options with minor tweaks for the sum I was paying him. I complained this was not explained from the beginning. I have never (until now) had the experience of working with an artist who wanted to charge me more money (outside the agreed upon fee) to try additional layouts… $50 bucks a pop. No way! That’s not what we agreed to. But then he simply flipped and went nuts. After several back and forth emails with me trying to be as professional as possible, he is not prepared to let me withhold full payment. I paid him 50% upfront, fairly standard for a lot of artists. But as I’m unhappy with the services thus far, I do not want to proceed any further. Therefore, it’s over. My right as a unsatisfied client.

He doesn’t want to let it go. Stupid, right? In such a small industry, being a jerk over small money like this just damages your reputation as a professional. He is going to walk away with a stack of my dollars without delivering anything to me, and yet he feels he has legal grounds to get it all. Wrong! Unfortunately he seems to be a bit green when it comes to informal email contracts. While they can stand up in a court of law, they hold much less weight than a true legal document which has been signed by both parties. In addition, the ‘contract’ is so vague that the terms are not presented in one single email. For example, deadline, fee, 50% upfront, terms of delivery, method of delivery… none are stated in a single email. For it to really be binding, it needs to be contained in a single email, with my acknowledgment down the bottom.

Again, an email contract lacks the weight of a signature. So, I sit here, as I type, going through the back and forth with an artist who is making wild accusations and assumptions, like a crazed animal who can’t be content with just one bite out of me. This is the height of unprofessionalism. From what I hear from friends in the industry with whom I have spoken, this sort of unprofessionalism is not quite as isolated as it should be. This experience has really put a damper on my mood and my spirit. And yet, a tiny little light inside me tells me that I’m fortunate that this happened to me so early in my writing career. It means that I’ve just learned the very hard way that I HAVE to watch my dealings with fellow creators very carefully, and keep business as formal as possible. Never trust in an artist’s credibility just because he is popular. Do your research and always write up a clear contract that defines your expectations of each other which you both agree to and sign.

Here’s looking forward to Heroes Con and getting my mind off such crappy affairs.