Thanks, was a really helpfull article. After reading it, I thinks, for my next games, instead of giving a percentage of the profits to the artist, I’ll follow your advices

I love the brute honesty of “Keep them in the dark”

I couldn’t read any further than the first paragraph. The way you encourage people to knowingly take advantage of young artists who have no experience, in order to give them wages way below what is due for their work is sickening. Shameful.

That’s the most horrific and selfish advice I’ve ever seen. I’d rather treat the people I work with as creative partners rather than suckers to be taken advantage of. I hope artists considering working for you find this post and think twice.

Wow, you’re a prick. People who produce quality work deserve to be paid what they’re owed. It’s called being an ethical and honest person. But hey, this article was a good way to let people know to never work for you, ever.

People like you who take advantage of the inexperience of young professional level artists are scum. Your attitude and treatment of people who can produce good work only depricates their feeling of self-worth and damages their path by you treating them with your unnecessary distain and lack of appreciation.

Luckily you publishing such statements is spreading virally so your diseased attitude will be well-known and will warn hardworking people – or “them” as you say – never to give you their time.

People like you are noxious. I hope you never find people to work with.

Wow.

You really have no respect for others, I can’t believe that you would actually post this up as advice. The way you appear to treat artists is disgusting and degrading and I’m prepared to show this article to everyone I know so that no one will ever want to work for you.

Better yet, if you want to save on money, why not just do all the fucking artwork yourself?

Twat.

wow, is this a joke?

What an absolute dick. you should be ashamed to be anywhere near the creative industry, the disrespect you show towards artists is absolutely disgusting. You want to make money off people who have considerable more talent than you, and you’ll do that by pushing them around with this bullish attitude.

all artists have encountered people like you, unfortunately. you’re a skid mark on the industry.

I’m wondering, isn’t there a better system where we just promise to pay but then never pay the artists at all? Best method for this is to hire ones from Asia as it’s not likely they will be able to afford the legal action to make you pay in the end.

That way, instead of paying even $500 when I’m making $10,000 I can take a bath in all that money and maybe even burn some, just to make myself feel better, which is why I assume you give such advice in the first place.

Your ethics are in the sewer.

Guess what, the talent should always get big percentages. Any mook can make a game, it’s only worth making if you have good talent.

The only thing I can think to say is if there is any justice in the world, someone will treat you with the respect and dignity you prescribe (in this article) during one of your future deals.

It’s people like you that make me glad I have nothing to do with the gaming industry.

You may be a good businessman… but you’re a wretched human being.

Wow.

Thanks.

As a working artist I now know what to watch out for. Good to know.

I read an even better article about how to hire fledgling indie game developers to create games for your online stories, and then pay them almost nothing! Those stupid designers and coders don’t even know they’re being screwed and you make a much greater profit! Ha ha ha ha ha!

… oh wait.

Hey,
I find this post to be amazing. We’re doing a feature on RacketMag.com and would LOVE to have you be a part of it. It’s called “World’s Biggest Douchebags: Not Just For The Jersey Shore.”
-The Emperor

I think anyone on Deviant Art will be steering well clear of you now, and quite rightly so.

Scum like you make artist look for underpaid jobs out of their field and waste a lot of talent. I hope someone screws you up the way you do with people who work for you.

Love
xoxo

I hope the space squid smashes your face in with the fury of a thousand stampeding pregnant ferrets. What you have written is not only horrible, but useless information. I would much rather give my hard earned money to someone who deserves it and will respect and love the job they are working on as much as I do. I would not out source my work, Nor would I take advantage of the artist I hire. You are a digusting pig. like I said, pregnant ferrets and what-not. Die in an orphanage fire.

Wow, you’re a piece of work aren’t you?

I’m a writer rather than an artist, but pricks like you make the whole collaborative process a nightmare.

Fuck your shady business practices – I bet everything you produce is shit anyhow.

Jesus, you are such a fucking man-cunt! Aside fromt he fact that you’re obviously a moronic douche for even saying this, you’re just a worthless piece of shit on the bootheel of humanity. I’m glad I followed the link to this so I could see for myself what kind of wretched, foul creatures dwell in the world. Seriously, take a blunt object and beat yourself over the head with it to save all of us the trouble.

Wow, are you related to Bobby Kotick, by any chance?

I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that you wrote something as deplorable as this, or that a number of people that have replied actually AGREE with you.

It’s people like you that are killing the creativity in entertainment media by treating the creative minds like disposable products. You reap what you sow.

Cheating your artists out of what they are worth is going to cost you not only the artist you cheat, but any artists they have communication with. So if you’re planning on scamming people, maybe you should avoid an interactive community like deviantART.

Or you could not be an asshole and just pay your artists what they’re worth, but you don’t strike me as the smart type.

Fuck you, and fuck anyone who takes this advice. I’m an artist, and I’d never work for a dick like you. You want good artwork out of someone? Treat the artist like a person, not fucking livestock.

You know its people like you that make the market for hard working artists so fucking hard. All this sums down to is to take advantage of people who don’t know better and how to get a FAIR price for their time and hard work. Basically you just want to pay as little as you can for quality work and then make the artist look like a greedy asshole for proper payment. Also for saying to “keep them in the dark” You do that and the artist wont work for you! AND upon being ripped off the word will spread like wildfire and negative news about someone spreads easier than positive. I hope anyone who ever does artwork for your so called games milks every single cent they deserve from your stingy little wallet.

Hilarious to think that you continue to get away with this. Here’s how it really works:

-We artists don’t need you. We can make art all on our own.
-You do, in fact, need us. If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t have your game.

There is not enough money in the world for you to ever get me to draw for you. I would rather starve to death.

As someone who has worked as both a game designer and visual artist, I just wanted to let you know how disgusted and ashamed I am of you. I’ve struggled to find artists who are willing to work freelance for game design specifically because of people like you, and as a visual artist I would avoid you like you were lousy with plague.

The kind of manipulative, pig-greedy behavior that you’re encouraging others to engage in is hugely destructive. I’d rather pay a good artist slightly MORE than the market will bear, in order to guarantee that I have them on tap for further jobs.

I hope that the freelancer community learns about you, and learns to stay far away.

I hope you know this is going to wind up spreading throughout all art communities like wildfire. You essentially fucked over any chance of hiring any good artists again.

What?! Taking advantage of artists is NOT good in any way. This is stupid advice. Without artists your stupid blog and your stupid internet browser and your stupid computer wouldn’t exist. Artists are the ones that make most if not all things visually possible. And they should be able to share the success of something they made look the way it does. Not be kept in the dark while idiots like you take all of the benefits. You’re a prick.

Unionize, unionize, unionize.

You suck, seriously.

Besides not wanting to pay people that YOU are hiring, you want to take advantage of their hard work as if it’s worthless. Art isn’t something that you can just turn on/off like a copy machine. Creativity isn’t either.

And besides that, you mention hiring people only 18+
Um. YEAH because it’s illegal to enter into a contract with a minor, in exchange for goods/money, anything. And actually, if you do contract a minor, and try to screw them out of some money or anything, they could sue you, because the contract with an underaged person is null to begin with! I’ve seen it happen on court tv shows all the time. The same thing would apply if they want out, but didn’t deliver to you. You couldn’t go after them.

In any case, if you’re hiring someone to provide you with a service, to further something that YOU couldn’t do by yourself, give them the credit/payment/etc that they deserve. If you’re making an article like this, it’s clear you have no real talent yourself.

I guess it’s a good thing that I’m an experienced artist and designer, so you won’t bother trying to take advantage of me. However, I am going to make damned sure to let anyone I know who is a beginning artist to steer clear of you. There are a lot of creatures like you out there in the world, but not many of them are dumb enough to publicly post their sleazy practices on a blog for anyone to see.

Now I know why some of my freelance jobs have been so bizarre, frustrating, and unfruitful; they were following greedy, money-grubbing tactics like this that treat artists as subhuman stepping stones. Good thing I bailed on them before giving in and giving them what they wanted, (all of my creativity with the least compensation possible). Anyone who follows this logic should be avoided like a plague.

Aw, don’t listen to all those complainers. It’s a dog-eat-dog world right? Gotta take what you can get, when you can get it. Hell, I hear there are plenty of cheap artists living on the streets in India. Now if you could just get over there and start up a nice art sweatshop… you could supply art for all the game developers in the West, and you’d only have to pay them in rice or some shit, right? They’ll work 24-7 for you, no complaints. That’s the no-nonsense approach right there. Straight up business! Nobody’s going to talk to you about ethics when there’s money to be saved!

For someone giving advice to other developers it seems you missed out lesson #1: the industry is a small, small place.
I have heard of several people shooting themselves in the foot and basically delegating themselves to the gutter of development with no reputable professional wanting to have any business with them whatsoever. Christopher Gregorio is now on that list too, thanks to your open and frank display of contemptible practices. Thank you so much for enlightening the industry about your stance. I’ll make sure as many people I know get to read this and put you on their shit-list.

Thanks for your article. You have given me yet another reason to stay on as an art educator. This post has enough ammunition for me to explain to my students how they need to look out for themselves just like you’re looking out for yourself.

Good job, keep it coming, I need more teaching material – kids these days are too trusting and need more real life examples of how they can be exploited before they learn.

lol. in america? a country where we’ve gone to such great lengths to destroy and demonize unions?

Lol there’s a reason “professional” artists exist. They are the ones who gained a clue to their worth and don’t let themselves get screwed over by hacks like you

pft. that last comment was a response to the suggestion of unionizing.

doncha just love capitalism? plenty of people take this approach with more than just artists. anyone doing a contracting job is subjected to these business ethics. educate yourselves and have confidence in the value of your work.

What a helpful, informative article!

I just learned who NEVER to work with(and yes, puddin’, that’s WITH and not FOR), who to warn my VERY extensive network of artist friends against, where to send people for a list of ways NEVER to treat one of us, and naturally whose Flash games(Really? You make Flash games and think you can look down on the artists that make it possible?) never to play, promote, link to, send around or otherwise assist in any conceivable fashion! Neat-O.

You are a cheap, immoral, selfish blight of a person. The creative community which supports gamemakers like you suffers as a whole BECAUSE of gamemakers like you. You are cancerous.

Rectify your thinking, little pimple, or else good luck finding somebody who’s willing to dig far enough into the mud to find your name down in there and decide that you’re even halfway worth the hassle of working with.

How’s THAT for some sound advice?

YOU DUN GOOFED

thanks for all the great tips, one thing I’d like to point out is I think the title should be changed to “how to screw an artist and kill an industry” but it’s a minor point, keep up the great work!

Hello, mr. Asshole. Very smart of you to reveal your asshole secrets. Consider this “article” shared. We’re coming for you.

Good luck searching for artists who will work hard before getting any payment.

All I can say is, what a fucking cunt you are. I am an artist and all I can say is you’re such a worthless piece of shit.

An artist is an WORKING PERSON and deserves to be paid what they work for.

If you applied to a job, say just a job at a takeaway shop and you had been working there for about a month only to find that the entire time you had been undercut in your payment by half. Why? Because the employer thought you didn’t deserve the full payment other employees were getting even though you did just as good a job that they did, even better. How would you feel? Would you be upset? I would fucking bet on it.

Artists are just like any other working person. Your little article is basically saying “If you can find a naive artist, rip them off!” fucking cunt.

Go fucking sort out your priorities, you fucking disgust me.

Why.

Why would you ever think that would be good advice.
It is so selfish and disgusting even. I understand you had intentions to help people but this is complete udder BULLSHIT. I hope to god no one takes your article seriously and sees right through it for what it is, scum, dishonest, terrible.

We artists deserve better. GTFO my Internets kthnx.

People, please stop the stream of angry, stupid comments.

I am an artist, and I really don’t think what he’s saying is so unreasonable. Sure he’s taking advantage of inexperienced young artists, but that’s how they get experience. They’re not innately entitled to be paid a certain amount, and I’m sure many of them are happy for the work. Who’s to say what he gives them is unfair? Supply and demand, people. Young, inexperienced artists work for him at a price they think is fair, and he pays them for their work. Both parties are happy. I don’t see the problem just because he doesn’t want to shell out for an experienced professional who will provide the same product at a much higher price.

If any of the artists that work for him feel dissatisfied with how he does business, they can quit, and they’ll quickly learn not to do business with people like him any more. If he refuses to pay them for their hard work, and the work is of a quality meeting the minimum standards agreed to, they can sue him in small claims court and recover the amount owed if their case has any merit, probably without much in the way of legal costs. I really don’t see what’s so wrong with his pragmatic economical approach. I think that artists should approach it the same way instead of acting like they’re entitled to be treated like royalty. If anything, the honesty he displays is refreshing.

This guy is not doing it for the love of the game, or to be partners or whatever. He’s a business man, and we live in a hard world. His objective is to make a profit. Get the fuck over it.

The only genuine criticism that isn’t rooted in a naive sense of moral approbation for his ever-so-egregious rational capitalist behaviour is that posting this where artists could see it is really bad judgement. When you’re making a self-serving deal with someone, you DON’T tell them exactly how you’re screwing them. I recommend you take this post down and prevent any more damage to your reputation.

So, basically, you want it quick, good and cheap. LOL. Good luck with that.

Why not just simplify it to ‘exploit a young artist, preferably on DeviantArt’?

There. Saved you a lot of wording.

I completely LOVE this article. And how you deliberately dehumanize artists, who’s only wish is to get a job doing what they love, is amazing, to say the least. If I was you, I would have called this article “How To Steal From People, and How To Paint Your Heart Black, in the Process.” The way you take advantage of people is pretty impressive, seeing as you can knowingly take what an artist should have, and not implode from the black hole that is your heart. Your scheming, conniving way’s could only be compared to the great, Richard Nixon. What a man he was, he knew about 250 American’s were, per week, during the Vietnam War, But did he care? I think not, because he was a great man, such as you are.

P.S. By the way, this whole response is written sarcastically. I really think that you are an asshole who deserves to burn in the fires of hell for eternity. This next comment may sound harsh but seeing as you are nothing but a hollow person, I think you can stand you read it. I personally think that Jesus died for us, and to resolve us from our sins, but you were not included in “us.”

Thank you for your time.

Good luck ever finding an artist or designer to ever do anything for you again.

I hope, SINCERELY HOPE for your own sake this was entirely satirical (I have a sneaking suspicion it is), otherwise you’ll forever be known as “that guy who cheats artists, probably doesn’t leave tips at restaurants and has his head shoved so far up his ass he can bite his own liver.”

I’ve worked for people like this. Once. It will never happen again.