From my blog.

I don't know about you, but I'm having a hard enough time making a living from illustration in the current economy. The ever growing list of crowdsourcing, spec-generating sites like 99Designs has added another to its tally, Cameesa. This is a particularly hard pill to swallow. Cameesa's crowd-funding philosophy was almost an ubuntu-esque, anti-spec treatise. Enter "Operations." "Operations" on Cameesa let entities create requests for designs. From their own copy:

How it works? ... Artists submit their Ragnarok Tee designs. ... Members financially support an unlimited number of their favorite designs with $10+shipping. ... Artists & Supporters are rewarded with ongoing dividends and t-shirts (once a designs hits $500). Read the full details OR Start supporting.

Screenshots from the current system:





Most designers are not picked and spend many hours working for the entity's "theme" for free. They end up with designs for a specific entity that are not applicable for resale in most cases. This is much different than creating personal works that can be used elsewhere should the designs not be chosen for print. How likely is it that a Ragnarok games based design will be usable for another purpose? I have similar issues with Design By Humans' "themed" contests that often require work to be created on spec for large clients. Incubus and KISS, really? Good luck selling the Gene Simmons design elsewhere! I'm sure you won't be sued into oblivion; perhaps that's the final fuck you to the designers leasing their souls one entry at a time?

I tweeted a succinct, if vulgar summary of my feelings on Cameesa's "Operations" program and received a reply from Andrew Cronk, who created a thread on Cameesa to address possible concerns. Let Cameesa know how you feel there.

Designers lose, entities win. Spec-alike, for sure. Crowd-funded? More like crowd-sourced!