Holier than thou.

So my next piece is going up for sale soon, and it's been previewed to the public. As usual (and against my better judgement) I go check out the initial reaction to the image tease.  I'm used to the guys who say "PASS", "EASY PASS", "FAIL", etc because it's just a part of the game.  These guys have nothing better to do than to take the time to read through the comments and then post their feelings on a piece that they *allegedly* care nothing about....kind of ironic, to me at least.  Then there's the more insidious deskchair QB's who take the time to actually deride your work and say how it could have been better if only *this* or *that* had been done in a haughty "I'm superior" manner, as if they had the talent to do it in the first place.  So I read through the comments and find this GEM:

"Too bad Sideshow couldn't give away the ZBrush source file for these as an exclusive, since I have zbrush . That alone would make this more than worth my money."

So this guy is notorious for talking utter shit about everything that I do...and what a lot of other sculptors do, ones more talented than myself, for that matter.  He spends time coming back, making more comments, and never anything good. After I got used to the guy, I pretty much overlooked his comments...until this one.  I think this is one of the few times that I have ever been really GALLED at the gumption of people.  I know where this guy is headed, he wants the ZTool of the piece so he can haphazardly move some parts around with his "superior eye" and VIOLA!  IT'S NOW FIXED AND PERFECT! Look at me! I'm so talented! GIVE ME AFFIRMATION OF WHAT I BELIEVE ABOUT MYSELF SO THAT I KNOW IT'S ACTUALLY TRUE!!! I've run into my fair share of artists, traditional and digital, that wear the word ZBrush as if it's a fKin medal of valor or the last name "Kennedy".  I got news for you, this ain't camelot and you're not Jackie O.  If you were that good, you'd most likely have a resume that shows evidence of that talent in some way. Hell, even a portfolio would be some evidence....but do they ever have one? .....crickets.....crickets.....

The other part that gets to me is that this person actually thinks that he should get the digital file of it for free! W....T...F?  It's called company property, you douche.  It reflects a greater problem of digital art not being taken as seriously, like identity pirates stealing social security and credit card numbers.  If its' native form isn't tangible, then it should be open game...right?  Just because it's 1's and 0's on a hard drive doesn't make it any less of a labor of love. Oh, for the want of a Shatner-esque situation, at some convention, where I could publicly humiliate people like this and verbally reduce them to a weak, blubbering pile of what used to be a person.