BrandonKenney.com

At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, let me clarify a few things:

I have a tendency to over react sometimes, especially when it comes to something I care very much about. My previous post about having heated conversations with Topps was not intentionally meant to reflect poorly on them. In stark contrast, they have treated me rather well regarding this situation, and have surprised me in their efforts to maintain a relationship with me as a working artist. If anyone is to blame for unprofessional behavior it’s me.

After spending an exorbitant amount of time on these cards and running through several scenarios in my head, I started the conflict with Topps by trying to re-negotiate terms after the cards were finished. Although this was done prior to any contract being signed, it was still a miss-step on my part. My justification was that the obvious amount of work put into these cards would garner me the leverage needed to secure a higher rate, and when Topps became defensive, I in turn became upset.

Now that I’ve had a bit of time to cool down and reflect I feel that I can elaborate a bit further. My stance on sketch cards in general has not changed, and putting for that amount of work for the current standard of pay is idiotic, and I will not be doing that again. However I do value my relationship with these companies and to say that I will not work for them again would simply not be a good decision on my part.

Thank you to all those who have e-mailed and messaged me with your support and well wishes, I hope that if you truly do feel the way I do that you will no longer accept work for substandard pay, knowing that by doing so you hurt yourself and the rest of us artists in the process. I understand that the business of art is a fickle and complicated thing, but having pride and integrity is just as important as having talent and professionalism.