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A warning to my fellow gamers and designers in the eSports community,
My name is Nathaniel Snow (LGSaxon) and I come to you on TL to issue a warning about a specific individual I recently encountered. I just like many out there, I love Starcraft and the community around it and for close to a year I have been pursuing a career in eSports as a graphic designer. On my stream at twitchtv.com, I on a regular basis stream the work I do and discuss the create process I go thru as I work. Recently I have been privileged to become the lead graphic designer for a growing team as well as one of the team’s managers. This opportunity gave me the ability to spread my name out there in eSports and pick up clients outside of the team. This brings me the subject of this post.
Apr 24, 2012 I was approached by an individual named Anthony Girit, who was interested in commissioning a design for his live steams. After a bit of discussion I was happy and eager to accept the job as for one of my first paid commissions. I asked him for all the info I needed and got started on a rough draft. I spent a few days working on the piece and when the rough draft was ready I placed a watermark on it and sent it to him for his approval and to ask if he needed anything changed or adjusted.
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After the first conversation contact with him became erratic. It took days to get into contact with him and I was finally forced to search for him on Facebook to try and make contact again. It was almost 2 weeks later before I heard from him and he informed me he wanted the design changed from Zerg to Terran which was not a huge deal but after the lapse of contact I was slightly concerned about the situation.
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May 7, 2012 I made the final changes Girit asked for and sent him another draft in an email and ask if he was satisfied with the design. Him response was beyond approval and he asked me what the cost was. After giving him the final cost for the piece contact went silent once again and he was impossible to get ahold of. I kept trying to talk to him on Starcraft 2 and then he began a great tale of being completely oblivious to the commission and the design he asked for. He then told me that an individual that works for him used his name and business stating that was who I had been contacting and conducting business with for the past 30 days.
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As you can imagine this was a huge problem. I informed him that even if his story was true, it was commissioned for his name and company so he was responsible for it. The following chat conversation occurred right after this:
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Anthony Girit then paid close to half the amount and I gave him until the 1st of June to pay the rest. On the first I contacted him and he refused to pay and still has not paid the full amount. He has refused to keep in contact and does not accept invoices I send him thru paypal. Now I am here, sending this warning out to stay away from this character Anthony Girit. He is in my opinion the definition of a “swindler” and lacks ethical and moral fiber. He is not to be trusted in business any transactions. In my opinion his actions are equal to maphackers and stream snipers. I am also not the first company to have to deal with Anthony Girit. cheetahhost.com hired him and he was fired for not doing his work and not keeping in contact with the company. I have learned a lesson in all this, that I cannot have such faith in people and now my commissions must be paid partially in advance which was not how I wanted my business to operate. It is sad because of individuals like him I must put these rules into my business. If you have read this far I would like to thank you for taking the time and reading this and to warn you again of Anthony Girit and his business.
Information on Anthony Girit:
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Thank you again for your time. I appreciate those of you who read this. If any of you would like to commission designs for your stream or know someone who would like designs for theirs please feel free to contact me and visit my page
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You have a lot to learn if you plan on doing freelance work... no offense.
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I'm sorry but ... People get scammed all the time ! I mean it's great and all you're telling us about this guy but ... big deal ? A random guy on the internet sent you a mail asking for a design and then didn't pay all of it so what ?
Edit ; the worst this guy can do is scam other people like that, he is not even remotely as annoying as say maphackers.
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He didn't get anything from you did he? I thought you watermarked.
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That sucks man.
And it does really suck, that's quoted to be more than 10 hours of work for what, half of 35 dollars? 3.50 an hour? Though maybe there should've been an estimate at the beginning of the deal rather than him asking how much after all the work has been put in?
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you said u put a watermark on it, how can he possibly scam u that way?
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Well in the end he payed you.
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United States22154 Posts
1.) don't give out personal info
2.) Don't take this opportunity to advertise.
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On June 04 2012 07:03 PR4Y wrote:
You have a lot to learn if you plan on doing freelance work... no offense.
No offense taken thats why I am out there to learn along the way =D
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On June 04 2012 08:04 Xiron wrote:
Well in the end he payed you.
He paid half of it
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On June 04 2012 07:52 Ktk wrote:
That sucks man.
And it does really suck, that's quoted to be more than 10 hours of work for what, half of 35 dollars? 3.50 an hour? Though maybe there should've been an estimate at the beginning of the deal rather than him asking how much after all the work has been put in?
I'm not charging people alot right now because I am so to speak "green" to the community. Like ive said Im very new to this and very new to working for myself.
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Does not gives you the right to go around spreading his personal information.
It could even be considered crime of defamation...
Btw, how much one of those are worth? The stream overlays I mean.
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As someone who is in a similar business model (I charge for my time) let me give you this advice.
1. Give an estimate of cost up front and stick to it (even if it takes longer than you estimated--this will make you get better at estimates).
2. Get money up front.
3. Agree to terms in writing. A formal contract is best, but at least an email exchange (i.e. One email that says the terms and a return email that says "I accept") that sets out the material terms: price (or rate per hour), amount of deposit, date of delivery, terms for late payment.
4. TALK MONEY EARLY--the later the money talk is had, the worse it goes. Having the talk early is great because you say, "It's going to cost X, and I need Y to get started." And they will either say, "Sure, here's some money," or "Oh, I can't afford that." And both are good, because if they can't pay, you don't have to do the work.
Both parties have some blame here.
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On June 04 2012 08:29 Mr. Black wrote:
As someone who is in a similar business model (I charge for my time) let me give you this advice.
1. Give an estimate of cost up front and stick to it (even if it takes longer than you estimated--this will make you get better at estimates).
2. Get money up front.
3. Agree to terms in writing. A formal contract is best, but at least an email exchange (i.e. One email that says the terms and a return email that says "I accept") that sets out the material terms: price (or rate per hour), amount of deposit, date of delivery, terms for late payment.
4. TALK MONEY EARLY--the later the money talk is had, the worse it goes. Having the talk early is great because you say, "It's going to cost X, and I need Y to get started." And they will either say, "Sure, here's some money," or "Oh, I can't afford that." And both are good, because if they can't pay, you don't have to do the work.
Both parties have some blame here.
Thank you for posting this... as i said before Im very "green" to this industry. In the beginning when we spoke things were working out very amicably. I was at fault for not getting money up front. Mostly it was my naivety and having to much faith in the fact he seemed like a decent person. i am well aware that I have things to learn but I think also it need to be pointed out that in researching this guy in an effort to try and contact him i have found that I am not the only person who has had an incident with him.
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On June 04 2012 08:24 fabiano wrote:
Does not gives you the right to go around spreading his personal information.
It could even be considered crime of defamation...
Btw, how much one of those are worth? The stream overlays I mean.
I usually charge clients $50 for each overlay (i.e. UI skin overlay & out of game overlays) unless they client has been sent to me from a mutual party such as one of my teams players. Then I charge $35 for each. It also varies in price depending on additional items added to the overlays such as .gif sponsor ads, flash animations and so on
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That sucks. Saxon is a really cool guy and good graphics designer. 
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Also watch out for Camilla Marshall.
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I'm kind of surprised at how upset you are. It was pretty clear to me almost immediately that this guy was flakey and you yourself are clearly inexperienced about taking money for this type of work (not necessarily inexperienced in the work itself, just merely the financial aspect). As someone said, giving an estimate at the beginning/possibly requiring payment first (although if you want to get payment first, I recommend getting a portfolio/website together if you don't have one already as this makes it more clear that you are not a kid who just torrented PS and looking to sell cheaply made overlays) and generally making it clear the money is not too negotiable. The more clear it is that you full intend on collecting money, the easier it will be to weed out flakey individuals.
I really don't think this guy was trying to rip you off, I think at the beginning he was definitely interested, but over time he thought about it more and wasn't sure if he needed/wanted it in the end.
But yea, main thing I'd suggest is get used to this unless you build a website/portfolio so you will appear more professional/serious than a passing interest in GFX. Also I recommend a set price for different things whether it's a set of overlays for ingame/out of game or a website template or whatever you intend to sell. Generally after you make a few they're pretty easy to make and won't take long.
On June 04 2012 09:49 LGSaxon wrote:Show nested quote +On June 04 2012 08:24 fabiano wrote:
Does not gives you the right to go around spreading his personal information.
It could even be considered crime of defamation...
Btw, how much one of those are worth? The stream overlays I mean. I usually charge clients $50 for each overlay (i.e. UI skin overlay & out of game overlays) unless they client has been sent to me from a mutual party such as one of my teams players. Then I charge $35 for each. It also varies in price depending on additional items added to the overlays such as .gif sponsor ads, flash animations and so on
edit: too bad mannered for me to post I suppose.
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as someone who does freelance work (and has done it for a living) i can tell you you will have to deal with things like this; experience will help you sniff it out (in your description i saw classic warning signs that an experienced freelancer would have picked up on and abandoned the project).
if you can send me your portfolio, i might have some work for you (non e-sports related graphic design).
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EPT
