Just unprofessional or even uglier?
I just witnessed something I deem very ugly, on a social network.
One very renowned and rightly well-regarded illustrator calling out in public a collegue for 'plagiarizing' one of his artworks.
Both artists work on the Game of Thrones IP, both artwork depict the Great Hall in the Red Keep, the lightning, floor, wall behind the throne are different, the only thing that is very similar is the design of the Iron Throne but that's OK with the first painter (after all, when the author himself says that your rendition is how he himself envisioned the throne, it turning into reference is just about a given).
So, given that the first artist is no newcomer and knows how the industry work, why this public attack impugning a collegue's ethics and professionalism? If anything, I'd say, let's tackle any issues privately... that would have been the professional thing to do.
But...an ugly thought raises its head.
This is the second time I've witnessed something of the sort. The first time it was back around 2006 and it was another illustrator (a good one) accusing a brilliant collegue of 'cheating' (that is photomanipulating and / or painting over photos), it turned into a lynch mob. The accused tried to defend herself then withdrew from the Net for the sake of her own sanity, she worked on a movie (wich taxed her even more) and then, as far as I know, disappeared althogether from the art industry.
I don't know how her accuser fares, I hope thoughts of that 'crusade' still haunt him from time to time.
Nine years are an eternity in Internet time, and the world of digital painting has changed, but the similarities in the two instances make me uneasy.
In both cases we have well respected women illustrators accused in public via internet of un-ethical practices.
In both cases the accuser is a (male) collegue, well respected and with a distinct following of his own who...should know how to behave professionally.
In both cases the accused is somehow an outsider in the field, a woman that, at long last, find herself under the spotlight (in the first case as 'the' then master of digital painting, in the second as the first woman to paint a 'Song of Ice and Fire' calendar after the likes of Michael Komark, Ted Nasmith, John Picacio etc.
Do some illustrators feel themselves so threathened by a talented woman that they have to go out of their way to bring her down?
One very renowned and rightly well-regarded illustrator calling out in public a collegue for 'plagiarizing' one of his artworks.
Both artists work on the Game of Thrones IP, both artwork depict the Great Hall in the Red Keep, the lightning, floor, wall behind the throne are different, the only thing that is very similar is the design of the Iron Throne but that's OK with the first painter (after all, when the author himself says that your rendition is how he himself envisioned the throne, it turning into reference is just about a given).
So, given that the first artist is no newcomer and knows how the industry work, why this public attack impugning a collegue's ethics and professionalism? If anything, I'd say, let's tackle any issues privately... that would have been the professional thing to do.
But...an ugly thought raises its head.
This is the second time I've witnessed something of the sort. The first time it was back around 2006 and it was another illustrator (a good one) accusing a brilliant collegue of 'cheating' (that is photomanipulating and / or painting over photos), it turned into a lynch mob. The accused tried to defend herself then withdrew from the Net for the sake of her own sanity, she worked on a movie (wich taxed her even more) and then, as far as I know, disappeared althogether from the art industry.
I don't know how her accuser fares, I hope thoughts of that 'crusade' still haunt him from time to time.
Nine years are an eternity in Internet time, and the world of digital painting has changed, but the similarities in the two instances make me uneasy.
In both cases we have well respected women illustrators accused in public via internet of un-ethical practices.
In both cases the accuser is a (male) collegue, well respected and with a distinct following of his own who...should know how to behave professionally.
In both cases the accused is somehow an outsider in the field, a woman that, at long last, find herself under the spotlight (in the first case as 'the' then master of digital painting, in the second as the first woman to paint a 'Song of Ice and Fire' calendar after the likes of Michael Komark, Ted Nasmith, John Picacio etc.
Do some illustrators feel themselves so threathened by a talented woman that they have to go out of their way to bring her down?