An event about a Japanese pro artist who copied another?

[Twisted-Eva]

The more detailed question was if anyone knows about some scandalous article about some pro Japanese native artist who was accused of copying another artist's poses or something like that? This was a few years ago when I saw sample photos from the artbook in question where the poses were the same, but the rest of the physical design was not. I thought it was a bit silly since poses can't really be copyrighted due to the general use of poses.

Just a thought as I roughly sketch CG scenes in my notebook and there are some angles I want to experiment, but for the life of me is difficult without a reference.

[EroBotan]

i heard that something like this happen to Prism manga, I read the news in ANN.

I'm not an expert but I think it only become a problem when the artist traced other people artwork.

[teacup]

I remember something like that happened to Kazuaki, artist for the Starry Sky otome games.
She did blatantly trace some things in her artwork, but she also got in trouble for copying off of references. Here's an article thingy about it.

[LVUER]

According to the article, it's not about tracing or using pose from others, but rather illegal use copyrighted photograph?

AFAIK, using pose does not violate any copyright... as long as it's only a pose. Like if I draw my OC posing like Mazinger Z when it unleashes its Breast Fire, I doubt anyone can sue me...

[Twisted-Eva]

You guys are kinda close, but it wasn't what I remembered. It was some artbook featuring girls and big-boobed women that had "traced" poses taken from a different book of similar characters, presumably the scanned pages I saw were all beach-themed. I saw this on Kotaku.com when I used to go there.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

According to the article, it's not about tracing or using pose from others, but rather illegal use copyrighted photograph?

Yeah, that article is about an artist getting in trouble for photosourcing pictures she didn't have the rights to. And her use of them was either the actual photo manipulated or a straight trace of the picture. Either way, it wasn't the tracing that got her in trouble, it's that she didn't have the rights to the images she traced. If you use photographs for your art, make sure they are your own pictures, or are free of any copyright, like some of the images at MorgueFile. Anything you pull up on Google Image search is likely to be copyrighted.

As for copying poses, I'd say it's a tricky subject. After all, there are a lot of iconic poses the human body can make, and artists are undoubtedly going to return to some of the same ones again and again. As long as the general pose is all you are copying, I don't find much wrong with it. However, when it is an unusual pose with a dramatic angle or special foreshortening, and another artist comes along and grabs that for their own work, it is much more dodgy. Whatever the case, the poses should only be used for reference to do your own, never traced over.

The safest way is to learn enough anatomy to know how to pose and manipulate the body as a 3D form in your head, so even when you draw "common" poses, they are unique to you, since you aren't referencing someone else. Until you get that good, use art books filled with models posing that are specifically made for artists to copy, then stylize the result.

[nyaatrap]

It's alchemy.

(He's fired from the company, btw)

[EroBotan]

Oooh!! Nice find Nyaatrap!!

mmm .. can't recognice the girl in the first pic ... the second is someone from Infinite Stratos I think? (I didn't watch the anime), can't recognize the 3rd one too (the girl who has similar look is Maehara Shinobu from Love Hina, but I doubt that it's her), the middle pic is girls from Muv-Luv Alternative Eclipse? (I forget all the names though ... )

[LateWhiteRabbit]

It's alchemy.

50c474bb.jpg

(He's fired from the company, btw)

Oh, wow. That's not copying poses. That's straight up COPYING the other artist's work. All he did was change the hair-styles, otherwise they're nearly a line for line trace.

For this same issue in American comics, take a look at this blog pointing out all the tracing and recycling in Greg "Porn Face" Land's work. Oh, and swiping, which is what that Japanese artist was doing. It really is mind-boggling, even more so for the fact the two major American comic book companies, DC and Marvel, don't seem to care.

[LVUER]

If he already have that kind of drawing skill, I wonder why he didn't just draw his own art? Tracing or alike is not worth it when someone notice it and then you are sued/fired and then your career is crushed in an instant.

[EroBotan]

For this same issue in American comics, take a look at this blog pointing out all the tracing and recycling in Greg "Porn Face" Land's work. Oh, and swiping, which is what that Japanese artist was doing. It really is mind-boggling, even more so for the fact the two major American comic book companies, DC and Marvel, don't seem to care.

That's kind of sad, especially since american comics already has this system where they changed artist frequently for a series .. so if they fired an artist for plagiarism then that shouldn't effect their product much.

Plagiarism seems to be treated more seriously in japan which is good (for obvious reason) and bad (because they will put the manga in hiatus or stop it permanently which is a really depressing news for the fans T__T)

If he already have that kind of drawing skill, I wonder why he didn't just draw his own art? Tracing or alike is not worth it when someone notice it and then you are sued/fired and then your career is crushed in an instant.

my guess is he's in a slump and the deadline is getting near .. or he's just lazy. I agree that it's not worth it though, especially with internet and stuff people nowadays seems to be able to track the plagiarism easily.

[MaiMai]

Oooh!! Nice find Nyaatrap!!

mmm .. can't recognice the girl in the first pic ... the second is someone from Infinite Stratos I think? (I didn't watch the anime), can't recognize the 3rd one too (the girl who has similar look is Maehara Shinobu from Love Hina, but I doubt that it's her), the middle pic is girls from Muv-Luv Alternative Eclipse? (I forget all the names though ... )

The third girl with the short black hair is Sairenji Haruna from To-Love-Ru.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

For this same issue in American comics, take a look at this blog pointing out all the tracing and recycling in Greg "Porn Face" Land's work. Oh, and swiping, which is what that Japanese artist was doing. It really is mind-boggling, even more so for the fact the two major American comic book companies, DC and Marvel, don't seem to care.

That's kind of sad, especially since american comics already has this system where they changed artist frequently for a series .. so if they fired an artist for plagiarism then that shouldn't effect their product much.

Marvel doesn't fire Greg Land because the comics he illustrates consistently sell more, because they look more realistic (because he is tracing the drawings from photos) and the American comic readers love it, and most don't know, realize, or care that he traces and plagiarizes. So the rather shady motivation for Marvel not firing him is that he makes them more money with his tracing than legitimate artists with original drawings do for Marvel. It's sad really. Even more sad because Greg Land CAN draw, and at the start of his career did a lot of good-looking original work on comics - but he only became successful when he started tracing and copying. As an artist it makes you die a little inside.

[RunicV]

There was also a case in which the artist of Incarnate, Gene Simmon's son, copied art off Kubo Tite's Bleach. He even went so far as to copy fanart of Bleach on deviantart. >_>

You can read about it here: http://bleachness.livejournal.com/446299.html, it's very identical. When some people did an overlay of the copied work and Bleach's, it fit almost perfectly.

It's kinda sad how there's so much plagiarism and art theft. Sucks that people can't be punished more harshly for these sorts of things.

[Sapphi]

There was also a case in which the artist of Incarnate, Gene Simmon's son, copied art of Kubo Tite's Bleach.

Oh that guy... It's also cute how he thought nobody would notice the Hellsing plagiarism.

In a way, I kind of feel bad for him. I would really feel like a worthless artist if the art (and plot?) of my comics were dependent on tracing other people's original work... That can't be nearly as fulfilling as putting in the effort to create something you can truly call your own.