Luc Latulippe

I also posted this at theispot’s message boards, in the hopes that they’ll respond.
http://arttalk.theispot.com/index.php/topic,98754.0.html
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Scott Thig’s own entry about this can be found here:
http://www.sthig.com/archives/47

wow… so this explains it… I did a google search for myself recently and was surpised at all the Dave Tabler related hits I got.  And I don’t even subscribe to ispot anymore!  thanks for clarifying the situation, Luc.  I’ll be interested to read more as the story develops!

Hey Leif!

long time no see!

Word, Luc. Good call on sad practices. Buzz can’t start from the source and Tabler should know better.

Yep. I started to get annoyed with the iSprain when they used a comment that I made on their message boards as a part of an email blast. Creepy.

Their behaviour towards artists is shameful. Not just for what I posted above, but what many, many people have emailed me with stories similar to Heidi’s.

Companies like theispot and other portoflio sites and directories exist primarily as for-profit entities, to make money FROM illustrators. No one else. If they existed just to help us market our work, they’d either do it for free out of the goodness of their hearts, or at least be like reps and take a commission ONLY if you make a sale.

I’m turning into a grumpy old man about all this.

Latest news in this sordid affair….the ispot is in the process of deleting all their bogus blogs. Their admission of wrongdoing has been tepid in words, but is now loud and clear in action.
However given the way blog entries propagate through the net, will they ever be completely deleted? I suspect not.This is unfortunate for those ispot advertisers who’s reputations may be sullied by association.
Next….will the ispot give Luc Latulippe the public apology for which he is owed?
Stay tuned….

I must say, I’m really disappointed in the behaviour of Ispot in this whole sordid affair. I chose not to renew my account with them because I didn’t get enough work to justify the expense in having a portfolio with them, and now after reading all about this, I don’t think I will ever work with them ever again in the future. In this age of the online community, a company cannot afford to be blase when it comes to one’s integrity.

Hats off to Scott and Luc for discovering this, and bringing it to the attention of the illustration community!

That’s nuts! Good detective work, guys.

I’ve been on the ispot for about five years now. I’ve received NADA from them, just some interviews from students.  I have paid off portfolios.com many times over, as well as my adbase subscription.  even altpick has paid for itself. Heck, I get more work from the free sites than ispot.  Transferred it over to my rep this year, and am going to run it under their name, lets see if ANYTHING comes from it…then, im outta there. 

I find they don’t value the illustrators much either. I let it lapse for a little while two years ago - they made me pay the setup fee again! I guess i’m a sucker for doing so, but i heard from another illustrator that they got work, so i ponied up and paid. 

Pretty much an advertising wasteland.
echo

I hear ya brother! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences with everyone. Let’s hope people use this information wisely and constructively, and that theispot and other such services start making improvements and cutting fees.

I’m glad you’ve gotten work through portfolios.com; I must admit not a single job has come my way from being listed there, nor from my past two stints on theispot, nor from being on AltPick. Out of the three, I still prefer AltPick the most.

I wish there was a way to really measure the results from these sites, but it’s basically impossible to do that. Even if we could see their site stats, that doesn’t tell you how many of those hits are from Art Directors, and how many hits resulted in paying work for any artist.

That’s funny that you say that, Echo, when I was on Ispot, I had a glut of emails from students wanting to do interviews with me. Interesting…

I signed up with Ispot about a year and half ago, and got two jobs that thankfully paid off the investment. And then for the rest of the year….NADA. So when I was asked to sign up again, I simply could not justify the exorbitant price with the risk of not getting any payback. Dave Tabler is very nice, but then…that’s his job to be nice. He was very attentive when he was trying to get me to sign up, and then once I was on, the attention really dwindled. In the end, I think all portfolio sites are like that. It’s hit and miss, and in some ways, cynic that I am, I think it’s a sucker’s game. But you gotta play. So I’ve signed back up with Portfolios.com. They were great when I first signed on, but work from them dwindled over time, too. I feel like I’m torn between two manipulative lovers.

Patricia said:

“I feel like I’m torn between two manipulative lovers.”

Well put! And you’re right: it’s their JOB to be nice to us to get us to sign up. Everyone seems to be overlooking that, or just giving them the benefit of the doubt a bit too much.

I don’t mind that these businesses exist—that’s another thing people forget: they’re businesses, not “illustrators buddies”—but they need to serve our needs, and we need to hold them accountable when they try to pull a fast one ON US. And when they no longer are providing a service that’s worth signing up for, we shouldn’t reward them by continuing to sign up. We should work at finding better methods of self-promotion.

I’m getting the feeling that many illustrators either don’t want to rock the boat in these matters, or choose to think these sites are more useful than they really are,  because if they believe the opposite it makes them feel like they’ve been taken advantage of somehow. And no one likes feeling like a chump. As you said, it’s a sucker’s game.

Wow. This is such a great post. From time to time I consider signing up with these sites since everyone else is doing it. I think I will stick with direct mail…

Search for twitter / davetabler. you will find he now uses tinyurl to cover his tracks

Actually, Twitter automatically converts long URLs into tinyURLs to save on character spaces (Twitter limits your messages to 140 characters in length). At least Dave uses Twitter more appropriately.