Drawponies tracing scandal!

[Suukorak 354]

I honestly couldn't tell that the stuff was traced. True, some of the pictures looked familiar, but I just assumed he reproduced a screenshot, not traced it. It really just didn't occur to me that he'd have done that. I've bought a print or two from him, and now I'm a bit disappointed. I might as well have just printed out a screenshot, and it makes me think my money was wasted. He should be given a C&D or whatever legal action Hasbro wants to press.

That being said, I met him at Ponycon, and I don't think he's a horrible person. Granted, he may not have been honest, but people did like his art, and I don't think he deserves the myriad types of torture people are threatening him with. I actually feel for the guy - he had a whole living set up, and now it's collapsing around him. I hope he can get back on his feet and start making some more, original art. 

And I kind of resent the threats people are making. You're angry, sure, but despite what he's done, Drawponies doesn't deserve to die or be hurt. Knock it off, please.

[NavelColt 22,879]

I'm rather, no, extremely confused. If the dude was clearly tracing things in plain sight in livestreams, why exactly did it take so long for this to get 'officially found out', with evidence, etc to boot? I highly doubt this most recent one is the first time he traced in a stream. Are people really that unobservant? Sometimes I wonder if observation skills are becoming more and more of a super power, because that's pretty funny. Maybe it's an Al Capone type deal, where everyone kinda knew he traced, but couldn't do much without irrefutable evidence, but again, I would think the dude clearly tracing stuff in a livestream full of people would be the equivalent to him sticking a neon sign on himself saying, 'I trace, btw thanks for all the money lol'.

 

I never commissioned or bought anything from him, I've only ever read his comics. But as a fan art commissioner in general I certainly side with those unamused with this turnout of events. If you sell things you traced, even if only partially, you're not in the right, at all. x) Best be finding a new job, bro.

[Honsou 399]

Damn. That is truly disheartening. The article to me proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Drawponies is nothing more than your average 12 year old with a Photoshop system. He simply saves screens, traces around the chars, and does some fill and blur, and profits. Hugely profits. If it was just for fun like forum art and stuff I'd have no issue with it, but that type of art should be OC if he's trying to turn a buck or twelve. 

[Skullbuster 1,906]

It really sucks that some one as big as him turned out to be a fraud, as far as ive seen, he hasnt officially responded, so his response should be interesting

[CandyStrike 603]

I was not familiar with Drawponies so I can't say I knew it all along or that I'm disappointed.  All I can say is this is not cool.  Tracing from the show to make art is common and there are many groups dedicated to such endeavors.  BUT, they always acknowledge that they traced!  Oh, by the way, he obviously traced.

 

I am getting a sick amusement from watching this drama.

[Zhortac 1,474]

It really sucks that some one as big as him turned out to be a fraud, as far as ive seen, he hasnt officially responded, so his response should be interesting

 

He has...it's basically the same kind of spew a politician would spew if they got caught pocketing campaign funds.

[Skullbuster 1,906]

He has...it's basically the same kind of spew a politician would spew if they got caught pocketing campaign funds.

so its got "im trying to save whats left of my rep as i can" written all over it? and it looks fake and ungenuine?

[Eloquence 2,076]

Well this is strange and interesting. As it happens, I'm following drawponies on tumblr right now, yet I never knew he was at all popular in the fandom or that he was selling anything. I just followed him for the fanart he reblogged, and actually found his comics to be pretty meh. They rarely got so much as a bemused grin out of me. I don't understand how he got popular at all, even with the help of tracing his art is extremely unremarkable.

 

All this is really telling me is to stick with the fan-artists I know I can trust, and to never look at horsenews.com, because it may provide some useful info on occasion but wow can I not stand their writing and their comment section is a cesspool.

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

 

 

Maybe it's an Al Capone type deal, where everyone kinda knew he traced, but couldn't do much without irrefutable evidence, but again, I would think the dude clearly tracing stuff in a livestream full of people would be the equivalent to him sticking a neon sign on himself saying, 'I trace, btw thanks for all the money lol'.

 

Footage from the day before:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8nZBlPfR7Y 

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,978]

Well this is strange and interesting. As it happens, I'm following drawponies on tumblr right now, yet I never knew he was at all popular in the fandom or that he was selling anything. I just followed him for the fanart he reblogged, and actually found his comics to be pretty meh. They rarely got so much as a bemused grin out of me. I don't understand how he got popular at all, even with the help of tracing his art is extremely unremarkable.

 

All this is really telling me is to stick with the fan-artists I know I can trust, and to never look at horsenews.com, because it may provide some useful info on occasion but wow can I not stand their writing and their comment section is a cesspool.

Isn't Horsenews basically like a satire version of EqD?

Edited April 21, 2015 by Tsaritsa Luna

[Eloquence 2,076]

Isn't Horsenews basically like a satire version of EqD?

 

If that's what they're going for, then it sure doesn't come off that way 

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,978]

Here is an update from drawponies.

 

Hello everyone, Neil Wacaster here, which some of you know as Drawponies.  You may have heard the reports that I have traced screenshots from the show in my art and that I have been selling traced artwork at conventions.  

 

While I have done hundreds of original art pieces, it is true that some of my art has been traced from the show - particularly for things that we wanted to get out quickly for viewers, such as comic strips. I have focused on selling original artwork at conventions, but there have been cases where artwork was traced. I sincerely apologize for doing this, and for hurting those who have watched me. I also wish to apologize to those who feel they have been cheated by me. I should have taken the time to create art completely from scratch, instead of taking an easy way out to fill a quota or get something done quickly. From now on, I will be doing original artwork no matter how long it takes.

 

Let me address the other points that people are making:

 

Deleting negative comments and banning people for criticism - My volunteer moderator team and I did not delete negative comments made in the last few days. Claims that we did are false.

 

Adapting to Night as traced work - Adapting to Night is an example of work that is created completely from scratch.  Many of the characters, objects, and backgrounds used in the series are referenced from the show, but not traced or copied.  As with all of the art on the page, when we use fandom created assets, it is clearly credited in the description.

 

Despite all this, I will still be going forward, and continue to create artwork for the fandom.  None of the artwork that I will have at conventions will have show assets, and any work with traced assets will be discontinued entirely.

 

I know that many of my followers are angry.  It was a foolish mistake, and I should never have traced pictures for my work.  All I ask is for your forgiveness; if you do not wish to give any, I understand.

 

If you have any concerns about this issue, you are welcome to leave your opinions.  Your frustration and opinions are heard and read, even if I don’t reply.  Please direct your messages at me, rather than my friends, as I’m the one who did it.

 

I love drawing fanart for the brony community, and that isn’t going to change.  I am truly sorry that I let you down, and I hope that you can forgive me.

 

I will at least say that I appreciate his honesty and his promises to work from his own style from now on.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Tsaritsa Luna

[Attack of the Pwns 894]

I really regret having to say this because I love the draw ponies comics to death but, I hope Hasbro takes some form of legal action. There's too many artists that are too good at doing their own unique art in this fandom for a con artist to be leading the pack in sales. Part of me dosen't want to, but I say shut him down. At least we still have Tacohat if Drawponies is no more.

[Suukorak 354]

Here is an update from drawponies.

 

 

I will at least say that I appreciate his honesty and his promises to work from his own style from now on.

Ditto. I'm glad he recognized and promised to correct the mistake, and for that, I'm willing to give him a second chance.

Maybe he won't be able to make a living off his work anymore, but I hope his art is still accepted and judged by its own merits rather than the reputation of its creator. And I really do enjoy his work, so I hope he makes plenty more. Just... make sure it's his own work this time.

[Zhortac 1,474]

Wonder how much it cost to get some PR moron to write that spew for him...

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,302]

Didn't particularly care about them before I ventured into this topic, don't particularly care about them now.  But tracing something and treating it like your own from-scratch work is weak no matter who you are.  Even if I don't know / care who you are. xD

[Dark Qiviut 22,378]

It's one thing to trace for practice or make a quick comic without selling it (and admitting it). It's another to trace, claim it's your own, and sell it. He didn't just plagiarize. He scammed thousands of people! What he did was make his watchers and customers look really stupid. As someone who liked his work in the past and had a good chat with him last year at BronyCon, this is absolutely shameful. The conventions better make sure whatever punishments they dole out really stick.

 

Really, how could he be THAT stupid to trace so blatantly on a live stream?

 

As for promising never to do it again, ever heard of the cliche, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"? This applies. Plagiarizing is a lot like a cheating spouse; when you break someone's trust, it's extremely difficult to get it back. When he played this scheme for three years and suddenly admit it after your drones try to cover it up, you look incredibly weak. Rather than apologizing for doing it, he apologized for the situation. He's trying to cover his plot, and it's stupid for me or anyone else to believe him right now.

 

The anger he's receiving is completely deserved. Plagiarism deserves no love and tolerance whatsoever.

[Banul 3,831]

Disclosure: I'd never heard of this guy until the drama.

 

It doesn't upset me that he traced. Lots of artists do that to learn. What upsets me is that:

 

1. He claimed the work as his own, not giving credit to the people he was tracing. 

2. He profited on the back of someone else's work.

3. He used the traces as commissions, deceiving people into thinking they were buying wholly original work  

 

From the looks of it, the dudes reputation is getting trashed. Frankly, I think he deserves it. I think people are right to be mad at him. I'm not one to wish ill on people, but hes brought this on himself. He had a lot of fans, people looked up to him. I imagine many of them are feeling betrayed. 

 

 

Isn't Horsenews basically like a satire version of EqD?

Not really. They do satire articles sometimes, but they're usually labeled as such. Horse News likes to report on fandom drama that might not always get picked up on EqD. It's run by 4chan users.

[Ianpiersonjdavis 512]

If he's sincere, then great-more power to him. (Extremely unlikely, in my opinion)

 

But, I've had enough life experience with 'friends' who would constantly screw me over, apologize, then go back to doing the same things-only being more careful not to get caught and I always fell for it-because I felt like I was the bad guy for calling them out on abusing our friendship and the cycle continued until I eventually got fed up.

 

That is what this situation reminds me of and why I am so skeptical-it seems more likely to be an attempt to save some face and the followers he still has since this scandal broke out, in addition to potentially get back the more easily forgiving ones.

 

More than anything, I'm surprised Hasbro's legal team hasn't taken any action against him, yet.

[Sir Hugsalot 9,258]

First things first - how didn't anyone notice before? I took a look at pictures Adorkable posted. They were so.obviously.traced that I did not even have to look at original ones. 

 

Now to that guy or girl... 

Tracing alone is not bad if proper credit is given and it is not sold for personal profits. I know, I know, what You all are now saying:

 

 

But seriously - what he did was more than just bad. Someone has spent his precious time on making all the ponies he traced and they were simply, shamelessly stolen, claimed as his own and even sold. It is a crime and I can call him thief. If someone stole for example guitar riff I written and claimed as his own I'd be very angry so if anyone takes him down I'll be last person to protect him. No artist does what he did. People who do it are no artists at all and I hope this will be a tough lesson to him. 

[Ianpiersonjdavis 512]

First things first - how didn't anyone notice before? I took a look at pictures Adorkable posted. They were so.obviously.traced that I did not even have to look at original ones. 

 

It's always been suspected, but the proof wasn't present until the livestream. 

Edited April 21, 2015 by Ianpiersonjdavis

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,978]

Disclosure: I'd never heard of this guy until the drama.

 

It doesn't upset me that he traced. Lots of artists do that to learn. What upsets me is that:

 

1. He claimed the work as his own, not giving credit to the people he was tracing. 

2. He profited on the back of someone else's work.

3. He used the traces as commissions, deceiving people into thinking they were buying wholly original work  

 

From the looks of it, the dudes reputation is getting trashed. Frankly, I think he deserves it. I think people are right to be mad at him. I'm not one to wish ill on people, but hes brought this on himself. He had a lot of fans, people looked up to him. I imagine many of them are feeling betrayed.

I may be more... forgiving? to him but that may primarily be because I never invested in his work... forgiving isn't quite the word I want to use because I wasn't affected. But it must be terrible for many who has invested in him though there still seem to be some who still fully support him. And there is point of whether he apologized because what he did was wrong or apologized because he was caught.

 

Whatever the case, he lost much legitimacy and no doubt his reputation ruined; will be difficult to repair it. And it seems he has cut off his art income with his Patreon page no longer accessible.

 

First things first - how didn't anyone notice before? I took a look at pictures Adorkable posted. They were so.obviously.traced that I did not even have to look at original ones. 

 

 

I wasn't sure whether to believe they were traced or not; I think I more believed they were done himself. The reason is because drawponies isn't the only MLP artist who's style resembles that from the show; most notably Veggie55 (unless it turns out he also traces).

[Sir Hugsalot 9,258]

I may be more... forgiving? to him but that may primarily be because I never invested in his work... forgiving isn't quite the word I want to use because I wasn't affected. But it must be terrible for many who has invested in him though there still seem to be some who still fully support him. And there is point of whether he apologized because what he did was wrong or apologized because he was caught.

 

Whatever the case, he lost much legitimacy and no doubt his reputation ruined; will be difficult to repair it. And it seems he has cut off his art income with his Patreon page no longer accessible.

 

 

 

I wasn't sure whether to believe they were traced or not; I think I more believed they were done himself. The reason is because drawponies isn't the only MLP artist who's style resembles that from the show; most notably Veggie55 (unless it turns out he also traces).

There are some limits. He asked money for those drawings. Forgivness is always an option, but never without his official apology. If he shows no regret for his actions then barely anyone will be willing to show him mercy for them. And instead he hides his head in a sand now. He makes his situation even worse that way. 

 

I can't tell anything about Veggie, but I know that I instantly recognized that Twily picture even if it was slightly altered by adding socks. I saw artists who probably do same thing like him. But none of them asked for money or gave him/herself all the credits for art. 

 

 

 

It's always been suspected, but the proof wasn't present until the livestream. 

I see, thanks for info.

[Guest90210 3,568]

Alright, this is completely ridiculous. Listen up.

 

First of all, people need to seriously calm down. Stop calling Drawponies a "piece of shit" for tracing some damn art, as if any of you have never violated any copyright law yourself. How much art work is for sale, how many games and videos have been made, how much money has been made, all off Hasbro's IP? How many Patreon accounts are set up which are based off MLP which rake in cash off it? Profiting off a giant IP like this is nothing new.

 

Why is THIS of all things getting such an uproar? So he traced some of the show for some of his pieces which were sold at conventions. Who cares? To me it was fairly obvious, and I don't think it's "vile" or whatever. Even if he hand-drew all of the traced pictures, it would have looked extremely similar anyway. All he was doing was saving time.

 

Maybe if he was tracing other small-time artist's work, and selling it as his own, I'd have a solid reason to be pissed. But, I doubt this one dude's art out of the massive sea of copyright infringing works is going to hurt Hasbro in any conceivable way. Yeah he shouldn't have traced it, sure, to be make it more of "his own". It was lazy of him, and he should be selling original content from here-on at conventions. But, he doesn't deserve this much slander.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Rivendare

[Miles 2,512]

I'll be straight up about this.

It's about money.

Which is stupid.  Because, seriously... he makes a few bucks?  A few Benjamins at most? (I don't actually know what he made)...  Whilst Hasbro makes millions of dollars from their stuff.  

*sigh*

Yeah, he shouldn't have done it.  But not because it's stealing; not because it's lazy.  He shouldn't have done it because his artwork should be original.  

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that nobody should care at all.  But why of all things is an artist tracing his work becoming such a huge deal?  He doesn't deserved to be ridiculed the way he is.  He flat out admitted without hesitation what he did.  He's an honest man.  

How many of y'all putting him down have downloaded music, or downloaded videos (ex: episodes of a certain show, wink wink) that were supposed to be bought/paid for, but you got them for free?

*cough* Guilty as charged, your Honor.

But nobody cares!  Shit, Hasbro even used to let episodes remain on YouTube for a while before taking them down.  Why?  It helped attract new folks to the show who wouldn't have otherwise had the chance to see it.  Now, of course, certain levels of piracy go beyond YouTube...

Anyway, Drawponies should receive the shake of a finger, and he should give back any money he got from the traces.

---

A long time ago there used to be a sort of motto or slogan that bronies, or at least the majority, normally abided by...

Can anyone remembe--- OH, now I remember!

Love and Tolerance.

Sure seems like a lot of toleration has gone down the drain... Someone, hurry, get me fishin' line and a hook, maybe I can catch it before it's too far gone!

~ Miles