Caricature Creation Courtesy of Fasticon.com

Caricature SamplesI wish that I could take credit for designing the neat caricature you see on my website in the "about me" region that appears on the top-right of each page, however the truth is that I purchased it from Fasticon.com.  They offer an awesome package for either $29 [head only] or $49 [full body] where they will create a custom caricature based on photos that you send.  The process offers two separate approval points - the first occurs after the hand drawing is completed, and the second is once the color sample has been digitally created.  You see a graphic that shows the journey my caricature took before it was finalized.  You can also see the side-by-side comparison of one of the pictures I sent of myself on Fasticon's blog post on my caricature.

Upon receiving the final package containing my caricature I was very pleased to see all the different formats included.  Take a look at all of the formats that my final zip file included...

  • EPS (Encapsulated PostScript)
  • JPG 300 (High Definition JPG - 2347x3425)
  • PSD 300 (High Definition Adobe Photoshop)
  • Mac Icon
  • Windows Icon
  • PNG (16x16, 24x24, 32x32, 48x48, 128x128, 256x256)

Not bad!  Not bad at all if you ask me.  In fact, I'm planning on going back and purchasing the full body caricature for a few more dollars (well $20).  And no, I did not receive anything for blogging about this service and I am in no way affiliated with Fasticon.com.  I just think this service is pretty dang cool!

The direct link to their caricature server is http://caricatures.fasticon.com.  Payment is handled online with credit cards or paypal.

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Comments

Posted on 03.9.2008 13:56 PM #

Dan

Dan gb
Hi Danny,

Did you have any issues with communication with fasticon? I have been trying to contact the for over a week and have had no response. Wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience. Their services look great but it's getting to the point I am wondering if they are still going.

Cheers,

Dan

Posted on 03.10.2008 17:32 PM #

Adrian | Rubiqube

Adrian | Rubiqube ro
I placed my order almost a month ago. I received no email for about a week, then someone finally apologized and said they would send the sketch the next day. It's been 2 more weeks since then, and no sign from them. Sure, caricatures look cool, their people skills suck.

Posted on 03.10.2008 19:51 PM #

Danny

Danny us
@ Adrian,
I have not tried to contact them lately, but I experienced one low point in communication where I had to request the results. As far as I know they are still in business though.

Posted on 03.11.2008 03:43 AM #

Adrian | Rubiqube

Adrian | Rubiqube ro
I just sent another email yesterday. Hope I get the "mini me" after all. Laughing

Posted on 03.12.2008 09:12 AM #

Dan

Dan gb
Hi again,

Sort of concerned that you are having similar problems Adrian. I know of someone who placed an order about 2 weeks ago and has had nothing since, not even an acknowledgment. When they claim 2 business days turnaround I would have to agree with your point about their people skills sucking.

Cheers for the feedback both,

Dan

Posted on 03.14.2008 11:06 AM #

Phillip Butcher

Phillip Butcher us
People// i think this issue might be a recurring problem across the board.
I placed an order for my icon about a week ago and still have had no response.

Waiting .. waiting.. and waiting..
I have sent several follow up emails but no response.
I did not even receive feedback from fasticon.com that my payment had been received and they were working in my order. <only feedback from paypal that the payment had been sent.

Even an auto response feature would have made me fell better.

Good graphics.. good business,,, but customer service is going to kill this business.

Phillip

Posted on 03.14.2008 11:17 AM #

Danny

Danny us
@Phillip,
I completely agree. I did not experience these issues and I'm disappointed to hear that this service has gone down hill. I want to clear up that I am not in any way associated with this graphics company.

I will send an email on behalf of everyone that left comments detailing frustrations.

Posted on 03.14.2008 11:24 AM #

Danny

Danny us
Here is the email I sent...

"Very disappointed…

I wrote up a nice post after you created a caricature for me back in January boasting about your service. Now I am receiving several emails and comments complaining about your lack of response - correction, serious lack of response. You can see a few of the complaints on my blog at dannydouglass.com/.../...Courtesy-of-Fasticon.aspx by reading through the comments.

If you can not rectify this situation I will be forced to update my post and recommend people elsewhere."


I will update with any response from FastIcon. Again, my apologies to all experiencing these frustrating delays.

Posted on 03.17.2008 10:21 AM #

Dirceu Veiga

Dirceu Veiga br
Dear Friends,

Our Caricature Service was released in January, it's extremely new and we didn't imagine that would have so much success. We have dozens of very satisfied customer that indicated our service in blogs and websites ( like Danny Douglas ) and for that reason we got overload of work.

We are making the possible to solve the delays ( hiring new artists ) and making an extra effort to maintain the cheap price.
We asked for a more little of patience in that phase, and we will do everything to compensate any frustration that the delays have caused.

My sincere apologies, and thank you for the explanation space

Thank you again.

Dirceu Veiga
www.fasticon.com

Posted on 03.18.2008 16:16 PM #

Gustavo Hernando

Gustavo Hernando us
At least email back saying you'll send me my caricature. Ive been waiting 2 weeks also. It only takes 5 seconds to send an autoresponse.

Posted on 03.18.2008 21:52 PM #

Bob

Bob us
I'm another victim. No icon. No replies to emails. The very least they could do is change their website info... they promise an icon in 2 days when it really should read 1 month. This must be a scam. Has anyone tried getting their money back?

Posted on 03.19.2008 04:48 AM #

Free icons

Free icons us
Nice icons, I like this style

Posted on 03.26.2008 07:01 AM #

seiho

seiho es
Great! thanks

Posted on 04.30.2008 06:36 AM #

Daniel Vaughan

Daniel Vaughan gb
Me too, paid for a full face and body over a month ago and heard absolutely nothing. I just hoping he will get round to it eventually otherwise it is the pain of trying to get my money back.

Posted on 05.5.2008 12:37 PM #

John Jackson

John Jackson us
AVOID THIS COMPANY!!

I submitted an order over a month ago and they won't respond to any emails or contact requests on their website. If anyone has a phone number contact for this company it would be appreciated. I am having trouble getting a refund as well so my advice for anyone else is to avoid this scam like the plague.

Posted on 05.9.2008 05:23 AM #

Daniel Vaughan

Daniel Vaughan gb
Well it is not a scam. I wrote a polite e-mail to the company not a "where is my picture I want my money back one" and got a response in a couple of hours. The next day I got my sketch and it looks good. I am looking forward to the final thing now. He is just stupidly busy I think.

Posted on 05.20.2008 14:35 PM #

John Jackson

John Jackson us
I am glad that you were able to get a response. I am still trying to get my money back or my caricature. I have not gotten a single email from the company since giving them my money. I am probably going to have to fight this through Master Card now...

Posted on 06.19.2008 21:14 PM #

Adam Wallace

Adam Wallace au
I'm pleased i found this post as i was being to think it was a scam. I requested mine on Jun 02 2008 and I've writing a nice email asking when i can expect my first draft but heard nothing back.

Dirceu, it's great that your service is in hot demand however your are damaging your company's reputation by not even responding to emails. You could even set up an auto responder advising that there will be an X week delay which would be better than nothing. It's all about managing expectations.

I will try another 'nice' email today and see if anything is improving.

Posted on 06.26.2008 10:36 AM #

Danny

Danny us
@Adam - It isn't a scam, but at the same time I would not recommend paying for a caricature until they improve their customer service. They have burned quite a few people with this lack of responsiveness.

Posted on 06.27.2008 07:22 AM #

Daniel Vaughan

Daniel Vaughan gb
I got mine and I am very please with it. It took about 2 months though.

Posted on 06.28.2008 11:48 AM #

crclee

crclee ca
Having the same experience here. It's now 50+ days since I was told "12 days" to design some caricatures. Almost every email I send gets no response. The guy is ignoring my requests for a refund. It cost me over $300 (CDN), so I'm getting very angry.

I understand being busy, but I agree with everyone else here that ignoring customers is not a good way to run a business. If he's got that many customers, he can probably afford to hire an administrator to handle things, no?

BTW, has anyone else checked out the designer's personal website? http://www.dirceuveiga.com.br/
I can't understand Brazilian Portuguese very well, but for someone who claims to be super busy, this guy sure spends a lot of time in cafes drawing caricatures of cute women.

Posted on 06.28.2008 18:57 PM #

anothercustomer

anothercustomer us
Another one waiting for responses from emails sent long after payment and photo sent. No response. No drawing. Nothing. Infact, the only communication available is right here on this very blog.

Maybe everyone should post to http://www.dirceuveiga.com.br/ in the comments. Maybe then we'd get a response.

Another solution would be to contact 2Checkout.com and let be aware of the situation. sales@2co.com webmaster@2co.com https://support.2co.com/deskpro/newticket.php

Posted on 06.29.2008 14:00 PM #

crclee

crclee ca
Update

After sending the designer several angry messages (including one to his Orkut account, which is an IM program popular in Brazil) I got a refund today. No message. No apology. No explanation. Just a refund.

It's better than nothing, of course, but I'm still very angry about the way this has been handled. And very disappointed that I couldn't get the icons. I'm doing some research now into alternative sources for caricature icons. If I find anywhere, I'll post it here. If anyone else finds a good source, please share.

Posted on 07.1.2008 10:17 AM #

crclee

crclee ca
Update 2

I have found an alternative site for caricature icons: http://www.caricatureking.com/

This one is based in Australia, it seems, and is a co-operative of a number of different designers rather than just one. One of the artists produces icons that are similar to the Fast Icon designer's work. The others offer more traditional caricatures and a variety of other styles. Promised delivery time is 6-12 days. The price for me was $4 per icon more expensive than the Fast Icon designer, but this is with a commercial license surcharge. If I had needed the icons just for private use, they would have been cheaper.

My first impressions are positive. I received a detailed response to my initial enquiry within 12 hours. Based on this I decided to order, and got a confirmation that my payment had been received within 2 minutes! On a negative note, the site and emails I have received all contain spelling errors, which makes me worry a little about attention to detail, but if the service continues to be this snappy, and the icons look good, who really cares?

I will update again when I have more information / when I receive the finished icons.

Posted on 07.1.2008 18:36 PM #

fasticon customer

fasticon customer us
Still no response! This is ridiculous! It's been several weeks.

I don't know whether or not to request a refund now or wait months later, like others, in hopes that my order will be processed.

Danny, what do you suggest?

Posted on 07.1.2008 18:43 PM #

Adam Wallace

Adam Wallace au
I think I'm going to request a refund and go to http://www.caricatureking.com/ like crclee suggested. This artist http://www.caricatureking.com/brian-samples.php looks like they have a similar clean style.

I just hope that Dirceu Veiga doesn't make me resort to having to send multiple angry messages/comments etc before he acknowledges i exist and processes a refund. This is a great lesson in how to take a potentially good business and flush it down the toilet...

Posted on 07.1.2008 18:55 PM #

fasticon customer

fasticon customer us
On a side note:
I contacted 2Checkout to check their refund policy just to protect myself incase my order is not fulfilled. They assured me that they have a great fraud department...and they said they would contact FastIcon for me and ask FastIcon to respond. I have not heard from FastIcon yet and this was days ago. I really don't want to request a refund because I'd like my caricature, but I will if I don't hear from this guy soon (soon meaning days, NOT months!). It's aggravating! And now today I discover this guy's new website caricaturascafe.com.br! He's obviously available...just not responding to his email nor fulfilling his orders from what it seems. I've even directed him to this blog post to see our concerns. He could atleast respond to ease everyone's minds.

Contact Information For Those In Need Of A Response. GOOD LUCK!

Email Addresses:
caricatures@fasticon.com
client@fasticon.com
quotes@fasticon.com
contato@caricaturascomcafe.com.br

Phone Number:
+ 55 41 36537985

Website Addresses:
http://www.fasticon.com
http://www.caricaturascomcafe.com.br
http://www.dirceuveiga.com.br

Posted on 07.2.2008 13:01 PM #

Danny

Danny us
As much as I would like to recommend this service since I was very pleased with my caricature, I am going to have to recommend utilizing this other service. Do not waste your time and/or money with FastIcon.

Good luck everyone.

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