Alright.
So, for those of you who aren't aware of my history, I've been battling opiate/drug addiction since I was homeless at the age of 17. That's when I started making the mistake of taking money, and not doing the work. I never set out to "rip off" anyone. I always took on the work with the best intentions- always ready to do the work. Unfortunately, the nature of my addiction kept me in a state to where I often felt I "needed" an advance payment so I could purchase the drugs so I could not be sick and actually do the work. Instead what would happen is I'd get the money, get the drugs, start the work (sometimes I wouldn't even get that far) then I'd be sick again, and couldn't sit still or focus to actually get anything done due to the withdrawal (Serious opiate withdrawal is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy). This may sound like an excuse, but it's not. I take full responsibility for what I've done. What I'm doing here is telling the truth. Powerful opiate addiction is a very serious, deadly, and nearly irreversible affliction and it makes otherwise good people, do things they would absolutely never do.
So over the years, this behavior only got worse. Unfortunately, from the time the original post was made in this thread, to when I stopped doing this, no one actually saw any of the art I did complete for which I was paid. For instance, I worked on Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (DS), Hotel Transylvania (DS), etc. for Wayforward, as well as the work I completed for indie developers from about 2009 to 2016. Again, I'm not excusing my behavior, only explaining the other side of the situation.
Also, there have been several claims in this thread (more recently) where people were saying that I "almost" ripped them off, then they saw this post, then decided not to work with me. I can't guarantee that I necessarily would have done the work for these folks because I've only been in recovery for a couple of years, but that doesn't mean that I would've ripped them off.
My addiction, being homeless, along with other environmental factors in my life contributed to this behavior. So. I've been in a place in my life for the past couple of years where I've been doing art, refraining from large advances, which has resulted in many happy clients. I'm not going to go looking for these people to testify to this because I don't think I'm really going to change any minds with this post anyhow. My point here is that I'm clean and I'm trying to live a virtuous life.
As part of my recovery, it is absolutely essential that I make amends with those who I've hurt while in active addiction. There are a lot of people. I don't intend to put the burden upon them to contact me, but if you see this, and I owe you money/work, please contact me so I can begin to make amends. To those who don't get a chance to see this, I'll do my best to contact them as soon as possible and start some kind of payment plan, possibly provide the graphics they originally wanted- whatever I can do within my current means.
Look, the bottom line here is that, yes, I took advantage of people. The addiction thing is no excuse but is damn sure a reason. Whether I intended to rip anyone off or not, really is irrelevant. It happened. I am willing to right these wrongs. I don't have much money, but I can work something out with the people who have been affected by my unprofessional work ethic.
Also, I started going by Robinson (I was born "Joshua Robinson". I was then adopted by the guy who abused me with the surname "Astorian" when I was 8. He ended up leaving and I was stuck with his name) for the most part, to evade this negative feedback I'd brought upon myself. I didn't make up a name so I could "rip off" more people. Again, it was never my intention to do that. I was born Robinson and would've changed my name back anyhow. So that's that.
I don't really expect anyone to understand how being homeless and addicted to heroin/opiates could make a good person do this, but I at least had to ATTEMPT to explain the reality of the situation.
To "janedoe": You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Almost everything you wrote in your post you made up aside from me having a criminal history. A criminal history tends to go hand-in-hand with serious drug addiction. I'm sure you were angry when you posted that but there's no need to make stuff up. I'd say all the LEGITIMATE negative attention I've brought upon myself is good enough to make it so I cannot find work anymore.
Thanks.
Again, Please PM me if I owe you or someone you know money/work.
