hi all! I can confirm I did this as a layout- I didn't pay for the stock images because this was a layout (undecided), when layouts have been agreed upon I usually either pay for the images or make an entirely original image to replace it.
So yeah it looks like trash, which I touched up to look slightly less trashy (lol)- plenty of my clients will confirm I send them a lot of rough content when trying to come up with a layout for a design they are happy with.
I can also confirm that since killyou72 has decided to share my DMs (and layout) publicly without my permission that I will not be proceeding with the design edit:let's see if we can wrap this up amicably, I'll admit to not really caring about the layout image sharing, the DMs is just a little rich for me.
He is welcome to keep the layout for someone else to finish the design. While I don't explicitly sign off all my DMs with people expecting them not to post them, I never share them in posts myself and I do expect a modicum of reciprocal respect when it comes to the privacy of direct messages, as do most here I expect.
The truth is I was very busy for all sorts of reasons and didn't get round to his design as fast as I should have- my bad, I admit that was shitty of me and I screwed up. I did apologise to him for this and wanted to move forward. But frankly I'm not interested in justifying myself any further than this post. I think I've answered concerns and questions here. Though I also think the quoted DM is pretty clear too.
I can also understand with killyou wanting to move forward fast and show people for his coin, because we didn't get this started quick enough, but it was just too premature to do out of context and no where near finished.
tldr: I sometimes use copypasted watermarked images for layout before either removing or paying for them + I don't like people sharing my DMs publicly.
Y'all can flame me for using stock images to help with layout and subsequently paying for them in some designs if you like now
cheers
edit: underline