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.

Comments (10)

  1. butthurt from Tumblr, is irreverent.

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    1. Normally I'd agree, but it's the artists themselves withdrawing their support, not random Tumblr denizens.

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  2. "Horse News Gets Called Out by Journalists"
    A circlejerk, founded by NashEFN and whatshisname from Bluescreen Bronies.

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  3. I'm not surprised. WLF is a crap company to work with. In every interaction I've had with them they've exhumed an air of amateurism that competes with DashCon. Mis-prints, mis-shipments, pricing discrepancies, and nobody seems to ever want to own up to a mistake and they just keep shifting blame. They got stupid lucky with the MLP license, if only because half of this fandom cares not about where it came from, but what it looks like.

    I feel bad for the artists getting shafted here. I hope they all find success in alternate marketplaces across the web where they'll get both fair compensation and ownership of their work.

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  4. I don't know why these artists are getting so angry. I can understand being upset over the cheating, but in the rules it clearly states you are put into CONSIDERATION for the MFA program. Winning the contests is no promise to a cushy gig with WLF. They probably want people that make designs that SELL, not win contests. Looking at the best selling products on that site, I don't see any of the recent winners of the contest on that list.

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    1. Best selling products tend to fluctuate- some of the previous winners HAVE been best sellers, and they're frequently featured designs at conventions. A Gravity Falls contest winner sold out at ECCC and a MLP winner sold out at Anime Expo. Surely that should say something about how well they sell.

      Besides, some of those contest winning designs are a lot better than some of their usual MFA shit.

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    2. Personally, I was never that angry over the MFA stuff. It was lame to have WLF reps continually leading us on with "keep winning contests!!" when they could've just been straight about it - I think they started to grasp this eventually, as some of their later responses acknowledge their desire for breadth in subject matter from their MFAs.

      I know my Flutterbat winner was on the best sellers list for some time when it was new, and my Luna silhouette was at the very top of the best sellers for quite some time when it debuted. Either way, I don't care about their MFA anymore. My contest entries will remain in the running, because what I ultimately wanted from WLF is still being fulfilled - namely, the opportunity to have my fan art on legitimate, licensed merch. More than prize money or a contributor gig, that's what had appealed to me at WLF, and I'm still happy to have that.

      For what it's worth, around the time that the illegitimate winner was chosen, the contest management was being passed off to a new individual. I've since been in contact with her, and am impressed at her responsiveness and pro-active attitude toward preventing more fraudulent votes. Can't guarantee how much that will amount to, but it's encouraging that someone over there is trying to make it better.

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  5. As being one of the MFA artists...trust me...Welovefine is a pain in the fucking ass to work for at times. Their restrictions on our designs is insane and also for every $25 shirt sold we only get $2.50. I have my shirts up on another website paying me $4 from $20 shirts.


    That's not the half of it cause they constantly keep taking designs down and never put them back up. It only goes on what sell for them only. I don't order my stuff from them anymore....it's too expensive and also you have to tell them a MONTH...A FUCKING MONTH in advance to get shirts for conventions yet the "new" site I use got my stuff within 6-days....and this well into double-digit shirts.


    It's a huge pain in the ass working with them

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  6. If it sucks so much, stop making art for them..... not that fucking hard. If you agree to get paid shitty rates, then it's your fault.

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  7. >steveholtvstheuniverse
    >casualcissexism

    jesus christ horse news stop encouraging the autistic loonies

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