I wanted to take a moment and thank every one of you that made reports and/or left comments concerning the Tiana art theft mentioned in my last entry.

To recap, another member on dA traced one of my pieces and claimed she worked hard to produce it on her own by studying the trailer for The Princess and the Frog. Normally a link is enough to motivate the thief to remove the art on their own, but when I did it this time, she immediately hid the comment and blocked me from commenting further. I wasn't even given a chance to politely work things out with her. And any time another person left a similar comment pointing out the tracing, she did the exact same to them.

To add insult to injury, she altered the piece slightly in hopes of making it look more like an original work. Annoyed at the immature fashion she handled the situation, I then reported the piece to dA, who promptly removed it since it was clearly a violation of the rules.

Lo and behold, about a month later I decided to look up fanart for the film since I was pretty excited about the upcoming release, and guess what I found? She put the same piece back up, once again claiming it was her own work with absolutely no effort to credit me. It was also the only piece in her whole gallery that she disabled comments on . . . gee, I wonder why. I took a few moments to discuss it in my last journal entry, and many of you were kind enough to help out with the reports and comments.

But guess what, we found out that dA didn't give a sh*t this time around. They pretty much told me and everyone else that made a report that she was entitled to steal my work because it wasn't really my work. Uh, come again? I never got any sort of reply from them when I specifically asked why this case was handled completely differently the second time around. Either they don't care because they assumed that I traced the piece from official Disney art (and I invited them to show me the piece I supposedly traced from) or that because it's fanart, it just doesn't count period. Regardless of the character drawn, I came up with the pose completely on my own and it was hard to believe that dA would not only allow the theft, but allow a member to re-upload a deviation that was taken down due to a previous violation.

Regardless, the piece went down soon after, I'm assuming because the member was getting tired of the comments you were sending her (which she'd promptly hide and block) and took it down herself to avoid further conflict. So once again, thank you for all your help with this.

* * *

In other news, in support of Blind Ferret Entertainment I must pass the word along about what is happening at DragonCon. I'll let Ryan Sohmer speak for himself in the link as to why they won't be attending this year: * [link] * . . .

Unbelievable if you ask me . . . to be treated so rudely and to not be allowed back because you politely tried to work something out. Rey and I met Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza at the last SDCC where I picked up a Frog King plushie and got the latest LICD book autographed. Great guys all around, and needless to say we're big fans. It really sucks to see something like this happen to not only them, but all the fans that will be missing out on their presence at DC.

Spread the word, will you? Link others to that forum thread. And take a moment to contact DC and let them know exactly what you think of this fiasco. * [link] *

Peace out.

I thought I should let everyone know I'm feeling a bit better but that I still have a lot on my plate. So if I owe you something, I promise to get back to you ASAP.

In the meantime, please don't trace someone else's work and claim it as your own. It's one thing to trace for practice, but quite another to completely dismiss who the art originally belongs to . . .



Now if that doesn't look familiar, check out a certain piece I did last year:



And if you still don't see it, check out this gif: [link] (Sorry, I know the link is hard to see.)

This same member has already had the exact same piece removed as a copyright violation about a month ago, originally claiming that she studied the trailer in order to get the face right. After I (and several others) pointed out the tracing, she hid all the comments, blocked me from commenting anywhere on her page, moved the piece to her scraps, and altered it slightly in hopes of hiding the fact that it was indeed traced. (See- the arm's different, and there's more make-up! It must be an original drawing now!) And now that dA has removed it on her, she's decided to upload it again but is no longer allowing comments this time around.

And honestly, I really don't like making a big deal about this, but where does it end? One time was bad enough, but to upload it a second time and pretend nothing happened? It's extremely frustrating to unexpectedly see your own work altered or outright ripped-off. People do occasionally find inspiration from my work and I have to say it's very flattering when someone draws from my poses or characters. But tracing without credit is a whole different story; it tends to rip the heart and soul out of the piece and is unfair to the original artist.

I wonder if it would surprise her to know I've worked my ass off to get where I am with drawing . . .

*sighs and goes back to work*

I realize I've still been MIA lately. Haven't felt well so I've fallen behind on projects and just about everything else involving the PC.

I did plow through a simple Toaster pic last night . . . it felt good to at least be drawing something again.



The lettering was a pain in the you-know-what but it was fun overall, lol. I've so been in the mood to watch the movie again ever since it got featured on Once Upon a Win [link] , but I seem to have misplaced my DVD.

Eh, it's around here somewhere. I actually taped it way back when it premiered on Disney Channel in the 80's and didn't quite expect to see such dark material on what appeared to be such a cutesy film; the "Worthless" segment still gets to me to this day. Years later I found out it had a very interesting production history; who would have known back then that many people who had a hand in its production would go on to Pixar!

Well, I'm gonna lay back and concentrate on feeling better. While you're hanging around, be sure to watch out for those evil clowns.

I know I kinda disappeared this past month or so, but it's all good. I've taken a little break from being enigmawing and have been keeping myself busy with RL stuff for a change.

[shameless plug] Oh, and I'm currently working on the coloring for O Girl. You might recall the piece I posted of her before . . .



She's the star of an upcoming title at JKRComix. While it's not up just yet, you can still see other works I've done with JKR if you're 18 or older. And be sure to check out Mindy in Space 2 while you're there. [/shameless plug]

Ok, all this shameless plugging is making me tired. Or hungry. I'm not sure which.

I just received some awesome, awesome news today for Daria fans. The show is finally coming to DVD next year! Click the pic for more info:



No details are known about the music yet, which is reportedly what kept the series from getting released in the first place (aside from the edited movies released in 2002), so be sure to watch tvshowsondvd.com for further updates as they appear.

Regardless, I'm holding onto my bootlegs anyway. Just in case.