D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

Been working all day. Skipped blogging in the morning. An update on various things

The “Will Draw Anything for $2″ feature has been great so far. Lots of funny requests coming in, some that are a bit naughty I guess, but “anything” means anything at this point. Check the link to find the ones I’ve done so far or request your own.

I’ve heard from a great many people over my current situation with Platinum Studios. From past and present employees and creators who are supportive, most of them can’t believe that the situation has gotten to this point, but it is what it is. I’ve heard a lot of interesting stories today, none of which I’ll share unless those people speak up themselves, but it really has me wondering about a lot of things now. Suddenly, there’s a whole lot of stuff that I figured smelled like bullshit, but now has been confirmed as total bullshit. All I can do is tell the truth about my situation, I can’t speak for other people.

I know there are a few people who don’t like me, or the “we told you so” crowd who are getting a lot of enjoyment out of this right now, and I’ll take my lumps, I deserve it. Sure, I could have been quiet and I want those people to at least know that it took a lot of humility to even come out and say anything publically. It’s embarrassing and a bit depressing at times. I’m apparently eating a lot of crow and looking like a big fat idiot to a lot of people, and I’m totally okay with that, because at least I’m being honest here, and I’m not out to “get” anyone, I’m just fed up with bullshit and want my own situation to improve.

I’ve also been getting a lot of emails from Comic Book Challenge “contestants”, past, present and future, asking me for my honest advice or opinion. There are other guys who CARE way more about this who aren’t even involved and could give you a pretty clear viewpoint, people like Kris Straub, who not only have some good advice, but also tips on how you can win!

I’d tell them (contestants) that I knew what I was doing and what I signed, and I willingly signed over and produced some of Platinum’s BEST IP to date (if you look at actual reviews conducted by outside people) - I’m proud of the stuff I did, and I’d like to continue it elsewhere on my own now, but I can’t because of the contract I signed. And, you should read between the lines here on everything that’s going on. Ask yourself a lot of questions first, please. Because if it happened to me, it can definitely happen to you. If there’s no money to pay the past winners who are owed, and creators aren’t happy, I guess you could see the world through rose colored glasses in thinking that by the time you win the contest, the money to pay you COULD be there. But that’s a pretty foolish plan. You could take anyone there at their word that it will totally be okay, but they can change their mind in 5 minutes if they want to. And you can even have it all in writing, signed, dated– and even that won’t guarantee you’ll be paid on time. Ask others.  And not to take the CBC to task here, but it’s my opinion that I find it pretty unethical to even hold the contest this year in light of everything that’s known and all the poor things going on behind the scenes. I won’t tell you not to enter, I’d be a total hypocrite, but it’s only temporary. The people there who might be really pissed at me right now, might have to take a cold hard and very very careful look in the mirror before placing blame over any of this on anybody else buy management. The creators, to my knowledge, but definitly myself, had lived up to our end of the bargains and then some. As one ex-employee just told me recently, Platinum seems to be lacking one important element inside and that would be the HUMAN element.

It’s the reason that in August last year I referred them all to read and learn as much as they could from guys like Seth Godin or Hugh McLeod- I heard in February a couple guys say they listened to an audio book– but I don’t think they read or listened  enough or actually “get it”.  It’s like if I want to lose weight, I can’t just have a couple Slim-Fast shakes and say I’m getting fit. You have to exercise. The BIG things might be the BIG payoff for a lot of companies, but it’s not the most important thing. The most important thing are the SMALL things. The small things are the biggest things. That’s crystal clear right now.