(no subject)
So yesterday I found out that Nick Simmons is blatantly plagiarizing the Bleach manga. Yes, as in Gene Simmons' son. I really hope his fame doesn't cloud the issue at hand, which is that the guy practically TRACED several panels of Bleach and even nearly copied the dialogue in places. Hell, he even traced someone's Bleach FANART in one panel. With a series as popular and well-known as Bleach, did he really think nobody would notice? D=
Sad thing is I've heard several stories in the last few years of people plagiarizing and then trying to pass the rip-off art as part of an "original" series so they can make money off of it. A few years ago, a mangaka was caught plagiarizing Slam Dunk. One of the finalists in Tokyo Pop's Rising Stars of Manga one year plagiarized from Blade of the Immortal. Actually, a quick search on "plagiarism" on Anime News Network brought up several more stories.
Picasso once said "Good artists copy, great artists steal". But this is so not what he had in mind. D=
Being influenced or inspired by an artist is fine, encouraged even. There's a lot you can learn from other artists. But not if you just trace their stuff and try to pass it off as your own.
Artists invest a lot of time and effort into their work. I should know, I am one. Regarding comics in particular, there's a lot involved in creating their stories, characters, and artwork. It's not like they sit down one day and go "OH HAY I THINK I'LL MAKE A BRILLIANT COMIC SERIES NOW LOL". No, it often takes years and years of practice, especially if you're like me and want to make sure you have good technical skills in both art and storytelling before you even begin page one of your comic. So for someone to just sit down and trace all of that, essentially taking any effort out of the process, and then sell it for profit, is despicable.
Tl;dr- Plagiarism is bad, m'kay?
Sad thing is I've heard several stories in the last few years of people plagiarizing and then trying to pass the rip-off art as part of an "original" series so they can make money off of it. A few years ago, a mangaka was caught plagiarizing Slam Dunk. One of the finalists in Tokyo Pop's Rising Stars of Manga one year plagiarized from Blade of the Immortal. Actually, a quick search on "plagiarism" on Anime News Network brought up several more stories.
Picasso once said "Good artists copy, great artists steal". But this is so not what he had in mind. D=
Being influenced or inspired by an artist is fine, encouraged even. There's a lot you can learn from other artists. But not if you just trace their stuff and try to pass it off as your own.
Artists invest a lot of time and effort into their work. I should know, I am one. Regarding comics in particular, there's a lot involved in creating their stories, characters, and artwork. It's not like they sit down one day and go "OH HAY I THINK I'LL MAKE A BRILLIANT COMIC SERIES NOW LOL". No, it often takes years and years of practice, especially if you're like me and want to make sure you have good technical skills in both art and storytelling before you even begin page one of your comic. So for someone to just sit down and trace all of that, essentially taking any effort out of the process, and then sell it for profit, is despicable.
Tl;dr- Plagiarism is bad, m'kay?