Artist Mistreatment Stories — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:02] are unfortunate artists that experience something unsavory. And these are all you show love to all of the affected artists. And with that, let's get into the first story because it's involving an artist and a mural. So, here we have

[00:15] a post by user Taylor Celadon, if I'm saying their name correctly, on Threads writing, "Unfortunate news about the mural I was commissioned to do by the local museum. At least it's a learning experience." So, Taylor writes, "I'm

[00:27] be working on the mural outside of Lynn's Dakota Art in Custer. I was wrongfully sent a termination letter with no prior warning or notice stating that I did not complete the mural by the deadline. Our original deadline was July

[00:40] 4th. I was sent this letter yesterday, June 24th, about 9 days from the original deadline. That's already so odd, but it continues. Additionally, the museum director met with me last week on June 17th, and she suggested a new

[00:55] deadline of September. I was surprised by this. As I said to her, I was more our original deadline. As you can imagine, receiving this termination last week and the director wanted a new deadline of mid-September along with

[01:09] mural, I requested a copy of our original contract and stated I would need to create an addendum with the new deadline date and changes she wanted. The copy she sent me had a note written on it by pen by her that her and I

[01:22] agreed to the September deadline on June 17th. I also want to add that like if you are an artist working in any sort of like money exchanging hands capacity, like money exchanging hands capacity, having a legally binding contract is so

[01:34] helpful to have because it makes sure that you are protected. And contracts protect both sides. But for OP, it is extremely smart that they also asked that the updated deadline was added as an addendum into the contract. Because

[01:46] eyes of the law, contracts are legally binding. So, anything, if they verbally do this new deadline," but it's not in the contract and something goes awry, the the contract said this, you know?" Still not fair they told you something

[02:00] contradicted and made it sound like it works. So, it's so smart they did that. But, they continue. "Unfortunately, this entire experience has been disheartening and disappointing. I wanted to share

[02:12] to circulate within the Custer community. I take great pride in my work family for supporting me. There are other details where I feel like I've been wronged that I will not be sharing for privacy's sake." That's not a good

[02:25] sounding really suspect. They add, "Additionally, we agreed on the size it is now and I have it in writing. The termination letter states I did not follow the contract, making the mural 16 by 32 ft. From the metal piece at the

[02:38] bottom of the wall to the wooden post at top, the wall is 9 ft high. To make the mural 9 by 32 would not have been proportional to the photo I was given. After doing the math to make it fit the wall, they did not measure the wall

[02:51] before deciding on the size of the mural and having me start the project. Oh, well, that's also another mismanagement issue. How do you hire somebody to make a mural for a wall where you didn't measure the wall? They counted on me to

[03:04] measure it and they didn't like that my reference photo wouldn't fit exactly the this was explained to the director and I have in writing that she agreed and understood why it has to be the size it is now. In fact, during our first

[03:18] she stated she wanted the mural to be 10 by 20 ft. Unfortunately, this was changed to 16 by 32 ft the day I went to sign the contract without prior discussion. The mural originally measured around 9 by 18 ft as it had to

[03:32] complaints, I added 2 ft on each side to extend the mural, making it about 9 by 24. All in all, it was impossible to make the mural 16 by 32 ft because the wall is not that size. And here we have an additional photo of the mural where

[03:46] is like a really thin metal pipe running along it and there is this giant wooden >> Yeah, I mean, I don't understand from the museum perspective. How do you ask for a mural for a wall when that is not the size of the wall? Right here, from

[03:59] here to here is 9 ft tall. Where are you getting the extra 7 ft? Do you want your artist I guess, I don't know, over the metal and onto the bottom and then over the wood paneling up to the top? If that wasn't specified and this was the area

[04:11] given, yeah, they're painting a 9-ft tall mural by however wide you want it. [laughter] Oh my gosh. mural looks so cool, but that is so frustrating to have so many logistical

[04:25] you're trying to create. Here's another close-up of the painting process of the mural. Thankfully, people in the comments are completely rioting for this artist being like, "Yo, how can this museum treat you so poorly?" A commenter

[04:38] says, "I sincerely hope you take legal action because this is completely the work you've already done." And OP says, "I was paid $500 upfront out of the $5,000 set price we agreed upon.

[04:50] organizations, hence the set price. The They stated in the termination letter I can keep the 500, but they want the unused supplies. That's honestly absurd. The $500 was given to the artist to buy

[05:05] supplies, so the artist did, but they say the artist can keep the 500, but give them the supplies? If the artist spent the $500 on the supplies and gives it back to you, the artist keeps nothing for a mural that's already half painted.

[05:17] Like this already took a lot of time and effort to complete." A user says, "Since able to get some money for the time you put in. Maybe start looking into small request payment for your sketch, the design fee, time and materials, then

[05:30] escalate to small claims if they don't respond favorably. I'm sorry they "Yes, I did contact a lawyer and they recommended a small claims court. say either party can terminate at any time. However, I don't think the

[05:44] circumstances under which they fired me are accurate." Another person asks, "So, too? Because you could likely contact the grantors to let them know what's most likely going to have somebody else continue the project, which is fine.

[05:57] need to cover it up, especially if they're still going to have a mural there. I let them know they're not to use or continue the work I have done. We comment with a lot of likes says, "I'm sorry, they're upset with you because

[06:10] it's physically impossible to paint a mural that's larger than the wall it's on. All because they were too lazy to take measurements beforehand? Yeah, they owe you money for every minute of labor you put in." Which I personally agree.

[06:22] didn't do your due diligence to measure the wall? And when the artist uses their that they recommend it be, you're mad that it's not 16 ft tall when the wall doesn't have 16 ft of area for you to paint on it. Doesn't make sense. And the

[06:36] Taylor writes, "Last update on my mural fiasco. I sent the museum director a letter requesting they cover the mural. I did not receive a response. I drove by and somebody else is covering it up this morning, which is a relief as I was most

[06:49] without permission. Thank you for the kind words and support. I want to share still proud of the progress I was making. And as you can see, it looks so has to be covered up because they were mismanaging it. But, please go and

[07:04] down below. They are an artist. They do really, really cute artwork featuring a lot of cute little animals, featuring frogs, big fan of frogs. So, show them the love that they deserve. Next up, we have honestly the most absurd message

[07:17] this is posted by simply_katie on threads writing, "Is this for real?" Imagine asking somebody if you can steal their work. I can't believe this is what it's come to. It's a user on Etsy messaging them saying, "Hi, am I allowed

[07:30] to print and resell your books? If so, can I use the images you have posted here?" And OP says, "No, you're not. I own the full copyright for this book, and if you did that, you would be committing a crime. Thanks, Katie." What

[07:42] in the audacity? Look, stealing is never okay, but like having the audacity to steal your stuff?" Another person says, "That's crazy. I got this gem of a commented, "I'm going to screenshot this and print it out. So cool." And another

[07:56] see your work made into products like e-reader cases all over Etsy by various sellers. I tried contacting you about it, but I guess it never reached you. I says, "Thank you. I try my best to get them taken down. I appreciate you for

[08:10] making me aware." And everybody else is so extremely flabbergasted at how this says, "I've had this twice before where people ask me to send them a digital file of my stickers that they can print out." Like, it's honestly so absurd that

[08:23] it sounds impossible, but the amount of people in the comments being like, "Oh yeah, this happened to me, too." Wild. But go check out Katie's artwork. Their artwork is so beautiful. Look at all of these pieces. Wow, wait, this bookmark

[08:36] is so gorgeous. So yeah, go show them some love because their art is so pretty, and stealing people's work is not okay, even if you ask to do it. And another person on Threads author Mary Kinley writes, "POV, you commissioned

[08:48] out they fed it into AI and copied another artist's style. The first is another artist's style. The first is original, the second is AI. Waste of

[09:00] swear to God, I can recognize their art style from a mile away. In the book art space, they are an extremely prolific artist who has a really notable art style. Obviously, it looks like this. And a lot of people steal, trace, and

[09:12] run their art through AI, and it's just so frustrating to see. It It's instantly recognizable. This is the commission piece, and oh, it's it's literally the same thing, just one-to-one. The face, the coloring, down to the rings and on

[09:25] the hands. The same rings on the same fingers, the same face pose. It's thinner, right? The eye shape, everything, the expression, all of that is all the same. Even the shadow, you can see the way the shadow is cut on the

[09:38] face, also has that like a very similar look to it. That is so frustrating on your work stolen over and over and over You commission somebody you thought was a legitimate artist, and you paid them a

[09:51] pretty penny to get some artwork, right? 760 bucks. And just for them to go steal AI, you didn't know, but like, oh my god, that is so frustrating. Somebody says, "Please share the name of the account so others don't use them." And

[10:06] they disabled their accounts." And a commenter says, "Thank god, but I know Another person says, "Woah, that's so similar. That is not a very smart scammer at all. Sorry this happened. Can you get your money back?" And the author

[10:19] too late for a refund and I have to dispute it with my bank." Ah, that's so frustrating. Another user says, "760? How are scammers always charging so much?" And OP says, "It was for three separate character arts." And they added

[10:33] that the artist also charged separately for commercial rights. And another user says, "The fact the AI artist missing a finger is sending me. I am so sorry that AI artists out there scamming people and it's pathetic. I'm sure

[10:46] even better job, and it will be worth your money." On that note, please drop the name so we can block them. And the author adds, "The fact I brought that up other finger." You can see in Frostbite's, right? The pose is like

[10:58] against the temple and two other fingers kind of curled like this. You can see the two fingers here. And in this pose, there's only four visible fingers. Also, it looks. This pinky is somehow longer than the ring finger. But I digress. We

[11:11] and thumb, but there is no index finger here. And yeah, they were they were You would still be able to see the outline of an index finger somewhere, in my personal opinion anyways, based on this pose. Where did the other finger go

[11:25] particular, there were some people that was like, "Oh, well, is it possible that maybe they just both referenced the same image?" Besides the missing finger, I piece that don't make me feel very confident it was, you know, not AI

[11:38] Minus the again very, very long pinky for some odd reason. One thing is again actual elements that are casting the shadows. We have the hair shadow, right? But there's this cowlick up here, we see that. And then there's this curvature

[11:52] in the shadow. And then the hair curl, it kind of curls in an S curl. And in the shadow it curls up again. Like the shadow is not matching the hair. We have inconsistencies between the ear, the left ear and the right ear are both

[12:05] like two lines for the cartilage you can see here, and you only see one of those happening in this ear. And then here, you can see the eyebrow, right? And actually goes behind the eyebrow, and you can see that happening here as well.

[12:17] like paper eyebrows taped on. Here we have more of the bangs going behind the eyebrows. Somebody who renders at this level would put the hair in front of the >> But yeah, like the more you look at the eyebrows, the more chopped it gets with

[12:29] those are just only a few of the inconsistencies you can see here. So the author who was unfortunately scammed out of $760. That's a lot of money to be scammed out of. And also to the artist who keeps having their work stolen. This

[12:44] is like the 300th time, I swear to god, that I've seen their work stolen by AI to all the affected artists. They deserve all of the love. And don't be support your local artist, support small artists, okay? And with that, if you

[12:58] check me out on Etsy. I have digital art there for streamers and creators. I also a free sponsorship guide. And I stream on Twitch 3 days a week, Mondays and Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. PST, and Thursdays at 7:30 where I do a podcast

[13:11] merch, and I did a photo shoot recently, so it's coming out soon. So with that, I hope to catch you guys in one of my streams or in another video. Peace.