RUBINSTEIN Commission !!! 2 days before the end of my ultimatum

[Terry Doyle]

That was a little note of humor in case you believe I'm a GI Joe !!!!

It's strange how you focus on the meaningless and don't be concerned by the major content of the thread ..... Or is my english so poor that no one undertsands ??

Believe me if I go to LA one day in my life I'll have other things to do than bothering Mr "promises and excuses" Rubinstein

 

G.I. Joe?

 

Heck, no . . .

 

I thought you wuz this guy . . .

 

 

" you, Mr Rubenstein!"

[Romain]

(thumbs u

Wish I were !!!!!

[comix4fun]

 

By the way, did you ask Spencer for his permission before posting his personal email to you on a message board? That's kind of rude in and of itself.

I won't email this person anymore ...that exactly what he asks me so what ?

 

 

You two had a private communication via email. Now you are taking what he emailed you and posting it on a message board. Every email I have ever gotten from Spencer specifically mentions, at the tail end of the email, that it is private and that he doesn't give permission for republication of his emails.

 

I was just making sure that in your haste to demonstrate how rude Spencer was that you weren't doing something just as "rude" if not more so.

 

 

[seanfingh]

Chris,

 

I have enjoyed your attempts to interject some rationality into this trainwreck. However, yo may want to do something more likely to succeed. I'd suggest trying make a functional radio receiver out of a Bread 8-track tape and some old Hungry Man frozen dinners or having sex with Mary, Queen of Scots.

[jeremyslawsky]

I agree and think you should consider removing Spencer's email. I have had several dealing's with him over the years and he has always been honest with me. Your dragging him into something that essentially does not involve him. I understand you were reaching out for help in your time of frustration but you might have went about it in the wrong manner.

 

Romain, I think a change of pace is necessary in this thread and it seems like your digging a pretty big hole here. It seems like this has gotten sidetracked from your original intent for creating this post.

 

I have seen a lot of guy's out of frustration create post's such as these concerning what they call "stolen" or "undelivered" commissions. From what I have seen it usually helps that person get their art or what they are owed. I do believe this however, has taken a wrong turn and at this point is not helping your case.

[Michael (OML)]

Romain,

 

First, Spencer Beck is one of the nicest guys in the business and has helped out dozens of people. If you wanted a favor, you shouldn't have made threats about punching someone in the face. Sorry but that is not how to go about asking someone for help.

 

Second, I'm told that Joe has offered you other artwork to tide you over and that he is planning on getting to your commission asap. I've commissioned Joe over 10 times and he always delivers and always delivers tremendous work. I've been told he feels horribly about this and has your commission as one of his top priorities.

 

M

[comix4fun]

In rereading that email exchange I can't help but think there was more to the correspondence.

 

Were there any other emails between you and Spencer?

 

I ask because the first line of his email to you is this:

 

I have spoken to Joe Rubinstein about your issue and could resolve your issue pretty easily.

 

How did Spencer know about your issue already? It sounds like there might be something that preceded this email from Spencer. Is there an email or two that we are missing? That might fill in the gaps.

[Ferran Delgado]

My support goes to Mr. Romain, because THREE years to get his comission done is excessive.

 

Ok, he lost control and he should told his case in other manners including his letter to Spencer, but I can understand that, after so much time, anyone would be so pissed off that he'd lost control.

 

i also think that many people at this thread is more concerned in details rather on the main subject which is an undelivered comission after THREE years and many silly excuses.

 

I know about that, because I also had to wait eight months for a comission by Rubinstein, and I received many of these kind of excuses that makes you feel that he thinks you're stupid.

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=287873&GSub=44762

 

Romain's case is not an isolated case. A spaniard friend had to wait more than TWO years to get his comission done by Rubinstein, while many of his friends received simultaneously Joe's unsolicited inquires for more comissions and fresh cash.

 

One of the things that i find more irritable about Rubinstein and his lack of reliability is that he is listed at the Hero Initiative site as someone in need, side-to-side with cases like Mantlo, who suffers serious health issues:

http://www.heroinitiative.org/Content.asp?Id=11

 

Many people is doing great efforts to raise income to help legends in need, and I can't believe that someone who's fully capable but he is more concerned to get new income than to deliver paid jobs, benefits from these generous people.

 

I find it very sad to write these words about someone whom I admire so much, but enough is enough, and it was about time that someone complained publicy about him, and warned others.

[comix4fun]

My support goes to Mr. Romain, because THREE years to get his comission done is excessive.

 

Ok, he lost control and he should told his case in other manners including his letter to Spencer, but I can understand that, after so much time, anyone would be so pissed off that he'd lost control.

 

i also think that many people at this thread is more concerned in details rather on the main subject which is an undelivered comission after THREE years and many silly excuses.

 

I know about that, because I also had to wait eight months for a comission by Rubinstein, and I received many of these kind of excuses that makes you feel that he thinks you're stupid.

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=287873&GSub=44762

 

 

 

I don't think anyone is questioning Romain's claim to the artwork or his right to be upset over the long delay. We all support that position as many of us have been in that boat or are still there.

 

I think the questioning comes in the form of what was paid, when it was paid, and what the time frame for completion was. Most importantly did Romain actually tell Joe to take as much time as he needed?

 

Waiting for a commissioned piece of artwork, where the artist is communicating with you over that course of time is a valid excuse to threaten physical violence? Really?

 

You make it sound as if, when commissioning an artist it always goes to plan and the piece finds it's way onto your wall exactly when promised every single time EXCEPT with Joe. We all know that's now the case.

 

If Joe would have run off with the cash and not answered Romain back I could see the explosion but maybe it's because I have been waiting TWICE AS LONG as Romain for some artists to make good on my commissions that I just don't see the justification to threaten someone physically when there are dozens of better ways to handle the matter as a mature adult.

 

None of those ways involve pulling an art rep, who had nothing to do with the commission, into the matter the way Romain did. Given the text of the emails I get the feeling we are missing a chunk of what was said between them, which means what was posted here was intended to cast a false light on Spencer who's helped dozens of collectors get their pieces from artists with no compensation for himself.

 

I will be emailing Spencer and asking him exactly what was said. I would hate to think we are getting a small piece of this story.

 

 

I've been told that Romain was offered an additional piece of art as an apology from Joe, IN ADDITION to Joe completing the commission piece for Romain? Is that true? That's a pretty big concession and apology. I WISH any of the long overdue artists I deal with would do something like that.

 

This forum, as well as Comic Art L on Yahoo, are wonderful tools to out artists that have not delivered on their promises and force them to comply with their agreements. This is true because you get the power of the masses behind you to create pressure. However, when you open your story up to the masses you had better make sure the story is 100% complete and you don't splash your anger on the wrong people or those masses will not be so supportive.

 

It's the chance you take when you go this route, the best course to take is full disclosure, without editorial, and let the forum decide and ride to the rescue as they have done DOZENS of times before.

 

No one is going to condone physical violence or casting aspersions on Spencer over what was written here, and once I get Spencer's side of the story I will post it here for EVERYONE to see and decide.

 

 

[Ferran Delgado]

Well, I don't need more details about Romain's deal with Rubinstein because I dealt myself with Joe, like another friend of mine, so I know his ways, and they suck!

 

I don't know how much patience you have, or if you don't mind waiting THREE years to get it done while Joe throws the lamest excuses in the hobby, but I think that it's about time that other people learns about how Joe works.

 

If you don't mind to wait so much time, and you want to deal wth him anyway, great for you, but people must know what to expect. Otherwise, you can find yourself very pissed off, and eventually explode.

 

Waiting for a commissioned piece of artwork, where the artist is communicating with you over that course of time is a valid excuse to threaten physical violence? Really?

 

Of course that I agree with you that there's no excuse to threaten phisically, but when someone assume that he's been ripped off 1k like Romain, I can understand that he gets very angry.

 

You make it sound as if, when commissioning an artist it always goes to plan and the piece finds it's way onto your wall exactly when promised every single time EXCEPT with Joe. We all know that's now the case.

 

As you say, we all know that this doesn't work like this. I'm a freelance and I know that sometimes the main source of work can swamp you unexpectedly, and you must stop other minor jobs to take care of the main source. But there are limits, and THREE years for a two day job is simply UNACCEPTABLE. And pleeeease, don't offend me with the lamest excuses, we're not kids anymore.

 

I will be emailing Spencer and asking him exactly what was said. I would hate to think we are getting a small piece of this story.

 

I don't care too much about this item, because it's distracting from the main point. I don't think that it's the place to start a discussion about it, although I agree with you that Romain crossed the line in his mail to him.

 

I've been told that Romain was offered an additional piece of art as an apology from Joe, IN ADDITION to Joe completing the commission piece for Romain?

 

It'd be a great move if it was an extraordinary situation, but unfortunately it's not. My friend, who corrected me and told me that he also waited for THREE years and a couple of weeks, also received an offer to compensate the disappointment.

 

But when you're pissed off, no compensation is going to remove the frustration. When I see my piece, it has a bitter taste since I can't help to link it to the frustration that I felt back then, and nothing is going to change that.

 

He should save compensations, and start working seriously on his waiting list.

 

[Ferran Delgado]

I also would like to make something clear: I have nothing personal against Joe.

 

In fact, he did a terrific job with my piece, and I had good communication with him after our deal. I even got him a drawing from his hero, Victor De la Fuente.

 

But each time I hear a story like Romain's or my friend's I felt somehow responsible because I didn't tell my experience and warned them.

[comix4fun]

 

I will be emailing Spencer and asking him exactly what was said. I would hate to think we are getting a small piece of this story.

 

I don't care too much about this item, because it's distracting from the main point. I don't think that it's the place to start a discussion about it, although I agree with you that Romain crossed the line in his mail to him.

 

 

 

I completely agree, it is a distraction from the main subject. I have no idea why Romain thought it wise, important, or necessary to drag Spencer into this. However, HE DID drag him into this.

 

I just finished emailing back and forth with Spencer about this topic and he send me the email he sent to Romain BEFORE the email Romain posted. With Spencer's permission, I now post a copy of what Spencer emailed in response to Romain originally and what Romain DID NOT provide us with.

 

 

What irritates me the most is to see all the exposure Joe has for his commissions on CAF or at yours while he just dispise a true and old fan like me just because I live far from him and therefore can't come up and punch him in the face like he desserves ...

 

I will talk to Josef and see if I can work something out for you.

However, I find the above lines from your email excessive offensive.

Josef happens to be a friend of mine and I do not find the comments appropriate.

Especially since you do not know me and we have not had any dealings I am ware of in the past.

In the future, I suggest keeping comments like this to yourself.

They are offensive to make them to someone you do not know.

 

I will tell you that I have worked with Josef for longer than a decade.

Although he has been ridiculously slow and massively late on commissions at time, he has never, to my knowledge stolen a single penny form a customer and returned with either an incredible piece of artwork or worked out terms for a refund.

He is not the thief you make him out to be.

He is simply a human who makes errors and mistakes and runs into hard times like most people are these days.

 

As I said though, I will talk to Josef and see what I can work out for you.

 

Spencer R. Beck

The Artist's Choice

http://www.theartistschoice.com

 

Not quite the Ogre we were made to think he was from the selective email posting made in this thread previously, is he?

 

Seeing this email that was sent to Romain, that Romain chose to omit from the story, and seeing what Romain chose to post instead, leads me to believe that Romain wanted to paint Spencer in a false and incomplete light. That is unfair and manipulative to someone that had no role in the original transaction and to someone that has stepped in to help dozens of collectors in Romain's shoes with several different artists.

 

I don't think Joe is disputing that he owes Romain artwork. He's got a habit of going long over deadline. I just got a piece from him that took several months longer than promised myself. However I don't like being manipulated with less than full facts and what happened in this thread regarding Spencer reflects poorly on Romain's complaint about Joe, regardless of the complaint's veracity.

 

It was a distraction that Romain chose to include, and he has to deal with how that distraction, and the above revelation, affects the ultimate resolution of this matter and how the members of this forum view and judge him.

 

Romain is owed his artwork from Joe, but Spencer is owed an apology from Romain.

[Ferran Delgado]

It was a distraction that Romain chose to include, and he has to deal with how that distraction, and the above revelation, affects the ultimate resolution of this matter and how the members of this forum view and judge him.

 

Romain is owed his artwork from Joe, but Spencer is owed an apology from Romain.

 

I fully agree with you.

 

But let's get back to the main point which is that Josef has not delivered his comission three years later, and he's giving lame excuses.

 

I'm surprised that you didn't coment anything about the fact that Joe is getting benefits from Hero Initiative in spite that he's in full shape and he could get tons of jobs if he was reliable.

[comix4fun]

It was a distraction that Romain chose to include, and he has to deal with how that distraction, and the above revelation, affects the ultimate resolution of this matter and how the members of this forum view and judge him.

 

Romain is owed his artwork from Joe, but Spencer is owed an apology from Romain.

 

I fully agree with you.

 

But let's get back to the main point which is that Josef has not delivered his comission three years later, and he's giving lame excuses.

 

I'm surprised that you didn't coment anything about the fact that Joe is getting benefits from Hero Initiative in spite that he's in full shape and he could get tons of jobs if he was reliable.

 

 

I don't know anything about Hero, and what (if any) benefits Joe has actually received. I don't know what his needs are, what Hero has done for him or if that help was one time or ongoing.

 

It's difficult to comment on something with no knowledge of what specifically is involved.

 

I am looking on HI's site now to see what I can find.

[MedicAR]

I know many on this board are still waiting for sketch covers from Mr. Rubinstein and are now approaching the one year mark. I was content with waiting for my item to be completed until I started getting emails from Mr. Rubinstein soliciting more work back in October. He wrote to me through my CAF account offering to do inks on one of my items. I politely declined, instead asking about my sketch cover and he stated the he would get right on those sketches.

 

About a month later, I got another solicitation. It was for a re-creation if I remember correctly, and I asked again about the covers. That was my last communication with him.

 

I know that sketches and commissions are side items to these artists and I'm content to wait. I would just appreciate updates from time to time. What I would really appreciate though, is that they stop asking to do more work before finishing previous obligations.

 

All that said, I understand Romain's frustration but the way he has handled that frustration is inappropriate. And not giving the full picture has left me hesitant to voice my frustrations with Mr. Rubinstein as well for fear of looking like I support Romain's tactics. I do not. I do agree with Ferran though, in that others need to be aware of Mr. Rubinstein's habits in dealing with commissions.

[Dano]

I know many on this board are still waiting for sketch covers from Mr. Rubinstein and are now approaching the one year mark. I was content with waiting for my item to be completed until I started getting emails from Mr. Rubinstein soliciting more work back in October. He wrote to me through my CAF account offering to do inks on one of my items. I politely declined, instead asking about my sketch cover and he stated the he would get right on those sketches.

 

About a month later, I got another solicitation. It was for a re-creation if I remember correctly, and I asked again about the covers. That was my last communication with him.

 

I know that sketches and commissions are side items to these artists and I'm content to wait. I would just appreciate updates from time to time. What I would really appreciate though, is that they stop asking to do more work before finishing previous obligations.

 

All that said, I understand Romain's frustration but the way he has handled that frustration is inappropriate. And not giving the full picture has left me hesitant to voice my frustrations with Mr. Rubinstein as well for fear of looking like I support Romain's tactics. I do not. I do agree with Ferran though, in that others need to be aware of Mr. Rubinstein's habits in dealing with commissions.

 

All in all, I agree. I've been shopping around for some new commissions, and I will definitely not respond on my CAF or reach out to Mr. Rubinstein. These are ridiculous, IMHO, wait times.

 

Dan

[seanfingh]

I know many on this board are still waiting for sketch covers from Mr. Rubinstein and are now approaching the one year mark. I was content with waiting for my item to be completed until I started getting emails from Mr. Rubinstein soliciting more work back in October. He wrote to me through my CAF account offering to do inks on one of my items. I politely declined, instead asking about my sketch cover and he stated the he would get right on those sketches.

 

You are not the only one, and I think that is uncool. There has never been a better rationalization for paying 1/2 down and 1/2 when received than this type of behavior.

[Mephisto]

I was offered to have a commission done by Joe through my CAF awhile back. I thought it was kind of strange as I rarely hear of artists soliciting people for commissions.

[comix4fun]

I know many on this board are still waiting for sketch covers from Mr. Rubinstein and are now approaching the one year mark. I was content with waiting for my item to be completed until I started getting emails from Mr. Rubinstein soliciting more work back in October. He wrote to me through my CAF account offering to do inks on one of my items. I politely declined, instead asking about my sketch cover and he stated the he would get right on those sketches.

 

You are not the only one, and I think that is uncool. There has never been a better rationalization for paying 1/2 down and 1/2 when received than this type of behavior.

 

1/2 down is too much for some artists. Depending on who it is, I try to go with 10-25% unless I have dealt with them before with no problems or the agent setting up the commission will not release the funds until the work is completed.

 

 

[jonjesper]

 

I will be emailing Spencer and asking him exactly what was said. I would hate to think we are getting a small piece of this story.

 

I don't care too much about this item, because it's distracting from the main point. I don't think that it's the place to start a discussion about it, although I agree with you that Romain crossed the line in his mail to him.

 

 

 

I completely agree, it is a distraction from the main subject. I have no idea why Romain thought it wise, important, or necessary to drag Spencer into this. However, HE DID drag him into this.

 

I just finished emailing back and forth with Spencer about this topic and he send me the email he sent to Romain BEFORE the email Romain posted. With Spencer's permission, I now post a copy of what Spencer emailed in response to Romain originally and what Romain DID NOT provide us with.

 

 

What irritates me the most is to see all the exposure Joe has for his commissions on CAF or at yours while he just dispise a true and old fan like me just because I live far from him and therefore can't come up and punch him in the face like he desserves ...

 

I will talk to Josef and see if I can work something out for you.

However, I find the above lines from your email excessive offensive.

Josef happens to be a friend of mine and I do not find the comments appropriate.

Especially since you do not know me and we have not had any dealings I am ware of in the past.

In the future, I suggest keeping comments like this to yourself.

They are offensive to make them to someone you do not know.

 

I will tell you that I have worked with Josef for longer than a decade.

Although he has been ridiculously slow and massively late on commissions at time, he has never, to my knowledge stolen a single penny form a customer and returned with either an incredible piece of artwork or worked out terms for a refund.

He is not the thief you make him out to be.

He is simply a human who makes errors and mistakes and runs into hard times like most people are these days.

 

As I said though, I will talk to Josef and see what I can work out for you.

 

Spencer R. Beck

The Artist's Choice

http://www.theartistschoice.com

 

Not quite the Ogre we were made to think he was from the selective email posting made in this thread previously, is he?

 

Seeing this email that was sent to Romain, that Romain chose to omit from the story, and seeing what Romain chose to post instead, leads me to believe that Romain wanted to paint Spencer in a false and incomplete light. That is unfair and manipulative to someone that had no role in the original transaction and to someone that has stepped in to help dozens of collectors in Romain's shoes with several different artists.

 

I don't think Joe is disputing that he owes Romain artwork. He's got a habit of going long over deadline. I just got a piece from him that took several months longer than promised myself. However I don't like being manipulated with less than full facts and what happened in this thread regarding Spencer reflects poorly on Romain's complaint about Joe, regardless of the complaint's veracity.

 

It was a distraction that Romain chose to include, and he has to deal with how that distraction, and the above revelation, affects the ultimate resolution of this matter and how the members of this forum view and judge him.

 

Romain is owed his artwork from Joe, but Spencer is owed an apology from Romain.

 

CLEARLY YOU MADE UP THE SPENCER QUOTE AS IT WAS NOT ALL IN CAPS.