Croquis Cafe - I WOULD NOT Use Them - Here's Why
I've known about Croquis Cafe for years. I used to follow their Youtube channel, and saw some wonderful model videos. They were a free resource channel running on donations. This was a wonderful channel as an alternative for those who cannot make it to a life drawing class.
At some point, they had free reference photos of many models for us to use, too. The photos were decent. I wouldn't recommend what I saw for hyperrealism study, but they were still wonderful to work with. Light sources were good and all. I remember perusing the archive and thought about using a few. It didn't happen due to my laziness. Then, eventually I lost the few photos I downloaded due to my laptop taking a dump. However, I feel good about being too lazy to pursue projects based off their reference photos and you'll know why as deep as I get into this blog.
At some point, they've became a subscription-only page, and took down the free material. It's fair. You have to think of the cost of models, time spent on the website, paying for domain and webspace, their cost of living, and the list goes on.
It's only $36 a year for an Artist's membership. That's actually a great price for the amount of materials if you think about it AND the right to sell the artwork? Hell yeah, right?! That's just $3 a month. Marvelous deal.
It's $250 a year to teach up to 100 students under your wing. Not bad either.
Here is a list of the breakdown:
They also have an FAQ regarding the usage rights based on membership types.
Artist
Teacher
You are allowed to sell the artwork if you have an Artist membership... But hey, you can't use them to study if you aren't learning from a teacher who paid for a membership. Okay, then...
Now, lets talk about their "wonderful" customer service shall we?
Last year, I was finally ready to start using their resources. I was willing to pay, too. I mean, heck. I've drawn myself tens of times already. I need other people.
I also had a Patreon (which is closed for now until further notice), and I posted 3-minute soundless mini-clips. I like showing people of me drawing. After viewing memberships, I decided to reach out to them via their contact form (so you guys don't get to see my rambling inquiry because it wasn't included in the response). I let them know about the mini-clips on Patreon, and even though they're not "teaching/instructing" I just wanted to be sure that this would mean to use a Teacher's membership or not just because of the video despite how short they are.
Anyway, this is the response I've received from co-founder, Sharyn Pak Withers:
... Alrighty then.🙄 I'm sensitive I'll admit. The tone and certain things being said (ie "or keep walking") was off-putting.
I shared it with Instagram, but I'm not big or anything, hence no big traction. This wasn't near enough for them to go as viral as they did back in November 2023. The response to me is nothing especially compared to the next couple of experiences with Sharyn other people shared.
Months later, I came across this Reddit thread dated about a couple years back of my encounter with Sharyn:
These are the screencaptures of the emails they have received from Sharyn:
The original poster does admit fault in a more recent thread that was held in November of 2023 by another member, but Sharyn's customer service is downright nasty. As I could tell, the original poster was more than happy to right the wrong until Sharyn decided to say things such as "Pretend to be normal until you really are." (and Sharyn apparently doesn't know how to spell "banned" or something).
I mean sure. I wouldn't be happy with chargebacks either on my art or some product, but Sharyn's way of handling is a bit much.
But hey, I just mentioned that there is a new thread in November of 2023. Here's where the proof of their horrendous customer service skills shows.
This original poster, Goob, was accused of something he did not do:
Sharyn, not only wrongfully canceled this individual's subscription and attempted to keep the money, they reached out to the university Goob attends.
Here's some more stuff on Twitter/X, which has more than 3.2 million views at the time of writing this blog and boy am I happy that it went viral:
At some point, they have spammed Goob with multiple emails of the same thing.
Oh, and someone decided to give themselves a 5-star rating on Google (I can't find it now, but maybe they took their business listing off for Google reviews?).
Larry and Sharyn, who are FAR older than these 20-something year olds, are acting like a bunch of rotten children. My eight year old cousins are far more mature than these two. Laurence, my dear, nobody is whining because they were "caught stealing." This entire thread blew up because you guys accused someone of something they didn't do.
Sharyn and Larry apparently were going through people's profiles.
Here is one of the hundreds of quote-tweets that have spoke against using Croquis Cafe's platform.
This individual, Joaquin, said they did not directly reach out to Croquis CAfe, but it appears Sharyn did some digging on profiles, claimed she and Larry worked for Disney Land, and said they sent it to HR (and no, I'm not gonna go into the whole Trump supporter thing).
Sharyn likes to research people who subscribe apparently.
The founders of Croquis Cafe must not have a whole lot of members or something. Otherwise, who would have ALL this time to research everyone that has subscribed to them?
If you look up Croquis Cafe videos, you'll notice there are almost no videos drawing off their stuff, and I believe this is why. Stuff like this is also why I try to stick with my own photos and not use outside sources too much incase the original copyright holder decides to stop giving artists rights later down the line, but that's besides the point.
Now, I know some really want resources in order to hone their skills, but after reading this, I personally would NOT enter my credit card information and let Sharyn handle my personal information. She has proven to be untrustworthy and will stalk you online if she thinks you're stealing (regardless if she's right or wrong) or just because someone spreads awareness of her whackidoodiness. She will attempt to destroy your career over $36 by reaching out to your employer if she knows where you work (or thinks where you work).
Oh, as for my question about memberships, I did give Sharyn a reply to that email from last year:
Trust me. It took a lot of power to hold myself back from typing profanity towards her. I also blocked her at the time so who knows if she responded or not (they have been unblocked recently just for the heck of it). Shortly after their response to me, I unfollowed them on social media, including Youtube. The tone of her response was disheartening. Good job, Sharyn. You lost a sale (and many more after Goob's Reddit and Twitter posts).
I don't know if someone in the past hurt Sharyn tremendously to the point of her becoming bitter or maybe she has nothing better to do in life and is really, REALLY bored with herself. Regardless of the reason, there is no excuse for her abhorrent behavior.
So, what did we learn here? A once free-to-use source becomes a low price of $36 a year, but isn't worth it because they might rob you, claim you're a thief, send nasty emails to you, and reach out to your employer if they can. I wouldn't pay these people my toe-nail clippings nor the Almond Rocas from my cat's litter box even if my life depended on it. I do not recommend them at all.
I finally remembered I had a Reddit and I received a response to one of my comments regarding Sharyn. That's how I ended up stumbling on Goob's thread. Yes, I'm late on this drama, but hey, it's never too late for continuation of spreading reminders/awareness of a business's negative practice.
Thanks to multiple Reddit users in Goob's Reddit thread, there's also a huge amount of resources you can use instead of Croquis Cafe.
I know this post had nothing to do with animal/wildlife art, but after reading that thread, I feel I really needed to speak out regardless of the response towards me being mild.
Also, as Goob has said, please do not reach out to Croquis Cafe to harass them nor pose as Jeffrey Dahmer and send dangerous threats regardless if it might just be "trolling for the lulz" (Come on now. I know Sharyn's not proving to be someone you want to hang out with, but really, people?). Also note that Sharyn wrongfully gave Goob's information to the police over the Dahmer thing. That's just cringe.
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