WeLoveFine gets called out by artists

When people think of "Pony Tshirts" the first thing that comes to most people's minds is one of several popular shirts sold by Fandom-supply giant "WeLoveFine". They're sold everywhere from Conventions to FYE and at $25 a pop, they've definitely been raking in some dosh. But there is a problem with WeLoveFine's creative process, or at least there is in the eyes of the artists who create the shirts. It basically comes down to one fact, that the artists are getting thoroughly "Loved" by WLF's corporate shaft, and they are not happy.

A series of Tumblr posts, emails, texts, and tweets between the artists responsible for a majority of the MLP artwork tshirts and WeLoveFine has been surfacing over the last few weeks, as apparently the artists have had it with WLF's policies and practices. Among the grievances are complaints over the minimal compensation that artists receive, the company's response to cheating in contests, and a practice of baiting artists along with the possibility of future partnership and employment with the company.

Some of the most relevant posts are here:

http://sherlockhomosisdominating.tumblr.com/post/92695157830/a-work-in-futility-the-welovefine-experience
http://sherlockhomosisdominating.tumblr.com/post/91265201300/horses-and-cheating-in-welovefine

http://steveholtvstheuniverse.tumblr.com/post/92700944115/a-work-in-futility-the-welovefine-experience

http://casualcissexism.tumblr.com/post/92557249992/phantomthelabrat-princestyle-theyre-selling

According to the artists, WeLoveFine has a program called the MFA that allows artists who have proven themselves worthy, to be employed by WeLoveFine and earn a commission on their work, beyond the flat $250 prize that contest winners receive (before the designs are sold as shirts by the company for an absurd amount of profit). Apparently, winning as many as 6 contests in one case is not enough to be considered for the program employment with the company.

Though that practice is technically above-boards and legal, it's also a really shitty move by the company.

Not, perhaps, as shitty as what happened during a recent t-shirt contest.

According to this post, there was an incident of cheating during one of the T-shirt competitions, in which one IP address registered multiple accounts (at least 10 according to the above text message) and used them to downvote the leaders while upvoting another, with that design ultimately taking the prize. It couldn't be proven that the artist who submitted the design was the one responsible for the cheating, so the art was not disqualified by WeLoveFine.

This has done nothing short of pissing off the majority of the fan-artists who have won the lions share of the WeLoveFine pony competitions, many of whom are withdrawing their support of the company and are likely moving on to greener pastures. Here is LeekFish, a popular winning artist, yesterday voicing her displeasure.

Will other artists follow suit? Will WeLoveFine reevaluate their policies with the combined creator backlash building? Is this the beginning of a fanart boycott with the company? Or will WeLoveFine just continue their policy of "lol no fuck you". Probably the last one.

We'll keep tabs on the drama as it unfolds.