Um, what happens if the client doesn't pay the artist for their work? This is why artists ask for some payment up front. It's a way to protect themselves from getting screwed over as well. I like the half-half idea that someone stated earlier, sounds pretty fair to me, but it also depends on the client and artist discuss amongst themselves.

With graphic design work, I read somewhere online that some people take payments in little increments. They do a sketch, get some payment; do the actual work, get some/the main payment; any revisions or further editing, get more payments.

It's seems to be all about communication, which isn't there with this josh person. If I were someone that didn't get any work from him after 30days of sending the payments, I would report him, even if it's just on the site that you found him on like linkdn or other portfolio based sites that help client and contractors find/get work. Start demanding your money back because he didn't send any form of work yet. Even if he's in a tough situation, he should have told you guys ahead of time that getting WIPs may be a a little slow or not promised to do any work for you at all.

Are there any contracts involved with this person? even if you're just an independent programmer or artist, there should be contracts to protect yourself. This might something that should be considered. I'm just starting to learn more about contracts myself, it's something that I didn't know about when it came to freelancing until a few months ago