AuthorTopic: I am looking for Joshua Astorian. (AKA Joshua Robinson)  (Read 62258 times)

Offline Helm

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Re: I am looking for Joshua Astorian.

Reply #30 on: December 07, 2009, 09:20:17 am
trentg I realize you're upset but should you be posting stuff like that in Pixelation? I mean, the problem exists and the relevant parties should resolve it in private, a public document also exists to serve as warning to whomever needs to be warned, do we need to drag this on?

Offline montonero

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Re: I am looking for Joshua Astorian.

Reply #31 on: October 27, 2012, 10:52:27 am
Eh, I wish I have read this before I paid Joshua Astorian $85 in advance for a mock-up yesterday.
He told me that (quote):
"Joshua: oh alright. well i'll be updating you as i progress, somethng like every hour or two"

Obviously there were no updates since then.

Leaving this message here to warn other people.

There is more about him on other sites: http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7124

Offline Ryumaru

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Re: I am looking for Joshua Astorian.

Reply #32 on: October 27, 2012, 04:19:59 pm
Montonero: hopefully he will get back to you, it's only been a day so far. I really hate when people like him do others wrong. In the future, perhaps make use of the half now half then method? or if that was what you were using you may have to explore as extreme a measure as pay every hour. I'm sure an artist would understand that you've had a case like this before and would not mind if their paypal account lists 4 payments of $12 as opposed to 1 of $48.

Offline montonero

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Re: I am looking for Joshua Astorian.

Reply #33 on: October 27, 2012, 05:03:41 pm
so I haven't recommended him since, and can't in good conscious recommend him currently.

- Adam

You recommended him in 2011 on linkedin. Because of that recommendation I paid him upfront.
Could you please update or delete you recommendation of him on linkedin? That would *really* help other people. I don't understand why would you intentionally mislead other people?

Thanks.

UPDATE:
- sent PM to Adam Tierney asking for removing recommendation on linkedin.
- contacted linkedin and provided them with numerous links to forum posts by people who were defrauded by Joshua Astorian.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2012, 05:46:30 pm by montonero »

Offline AdamTierney

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Re: I am looking for Joshua Astorian.

Reply #34 on: October 27, 2012, 10:03:21 pm
Okay, I just replied to montonero via email, but since he felt the need to bring me into this publicly, I'll repeat here what I told him:

1) In 2009, I was brought into this topic here. I commented, but I have never personally been ripped off by Josh (I've only heard of others' situations).

2) I didn't work with Josh for a while, primarily due to the fact that my company wasn't doing many pixel games for a few years.

3) Last year (2011), my company brought Josh back on for some of our games (including Hotel Transylvania and Adventure Time on DS) and he did work for us. As far as I know, there were no issues.

4) I was asked to endorse Josh on LinkedIn, he was working for us fine at the time, so I wrote the following:

“Josh Astorian is one of the strongest pixel artists in the industry. He contributed character models, environments, and additional illustrations on several of our game projects. I can fully recommend him for any 2D game project that you are staffing. His artistry will elevate your product's visuals.”

Everything in there is 100% true, and remains true. Josh is one of the best character pixel modelers I've ever known.

5) DON'T EVER PAY ANYONE FOR WORK BEFORE THEY DO THE WORK!!!! Maybe this is the reason I've not had any issues with Josh on my own projects. It should be common sense. There is NO LOGIC to paying someone before they complete a task. If you're willing to do that, you should expect to kiss your money goodbye.

6) AGAIN, DON'T EVER PAY ANYONE FOR WORK BEFORE THEY DO THE WORK!!!!

I am not removing my LinkedIn recommendation because it was accurate when I wrote it, it remains accurate, and because I've personally had no issues working with him.

Offline montonero

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Re: I am looking for Joshua Astorian.

Reply #35 on: October 28, 2012, 10:13:21 am
Thanks for the clarification, Adam. Glad you are happy publicly recommending a fraudster/scammer/lier which Josh Astorian is.
He actually uses your recommendation when applying for jobs (quotes):
- " my linkedin account with recent employer recommendations"
- "LinkedIn page (includes work history and references):  "

It looks like that this lowlife  has 10 clients he ripped off for 1 he didn't. AVOID HIM AT ALL COSTS.

Offline Redshrike

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Re: I am looking for Joshua Astorian.

Reply #36 on: October 28, 2012, 03:50:32 pm
@AdamTierny:  I can't say anything novel to this situation, but I find your response somewhat disingenuous.  I would never recommend someone who I thought would accept money and then not produce work for it.

Offline AdamTierney

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Re: I am looking for Joshua Astorian.

Reply #37 on: October 28, 2012, 03:55:45 pm
Okay, here's what I did (and I still don't appreciate your snarky attitude toward me, montonero). You can't edit a LinkedIn recommendation without the person's approval, which I'm sure Josh wouldn't give. So I removed the previous recommendation, then added this one:

Josh Astorian is one of the strongest pixel artists in the industry. He contributed character models, environments, and additional illustrations on several of our game projects. I can fully recommend him for any 2D game project that you are staffing. His artistry will elevate your product's visuals.

Note: Please do not pay in advance of receiving the final work from Josh.


It is up to Josh now whether he wishes to add this to his LinkedIn profile. I hope he does, because he is an incredible artist, and he deserves to get work, so long as he actually does the work.

I'm not being disingenuous. This is a person who can do fantastic pixel art, and continues to do fantastic art for the company I work for. His issue of skipping out on work does not affect me because I do not pay him in advance, which should be everyone's standard practice with ALL artists, regardless of their history.

Offline piebear

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Re: I am looking for Joshua Astorian.

Reply #38 on: October 30, 2012, 03:50:11 am
I'm sorry to you guys, it'll be a couple of weeks or so before I'll be able to refund your money. I was just kicked out of the place I was staying so I've been sleeping outside, and trying to find food where I can. I didn't anticipate this problem arising before I agreed to complete the work. I'm really sorry, I'll definitely give you guys both refunds as soon as I possibly can.

Also, thanks for being so patient. Oh, and in regard to me being arrested- I was trying to sleep on my mom's porch one night and she called the police on me. I'm not a criminal, I just keep getting delt a crappy hand. I'm working on it though.

Hello Josh, it's Andy.
Of course I ended up googling your name since you took £80 off me for a project, and then another £20 when you told me you were kicked out and needed money for a hotel.

I have mixed feeling about this whole situation and am not quite sure how to approach it.

As for people questioning this character I can only say he appears to be genuine from what I gather.
i don't believe Josh is a serial con-artist as I've been careful to google all his claims.
However he has taken money from people and clearly not been able to provide his work which is a negative on his C.V (domestic situation excused if improved finding to be true).
Take all online transactions with caution.

As for Josh, please email the people you have taken money from as not to upset.
After all this link is the first link when your name is googled.
I send you the best and hope your situation improves (if of course you're not a scammer).

Offline chrizt

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Re: I am looking for Joshua Astorian.

Reply #39 on: November 01, 2012, 05:18:54 am
omg luckily i read this thread before giving him transaction code of the money i sent via western union. i think i will just ask for the work to be done first before giving him the code or the deal is off.