The Case Against kristianabel22
On April 30, 2012, reni_m reported that kristianabel22 had plagiarized a piece of fanart by adavidoff1 in the Merlin fandom. (See original report for screencaps and links.) In addition, the report includes screencaps of art based on another fan's photographs, as well as art based on others' manips. (Please be aware that the manips are NSFW and contain nudity.)
I contacted kristianabel22 and received the following response:
Hi,
I've noticed this report from the when this was posted but decided not to comment until I was contacted by a mod. The picture in question from the beginning I stated was based on someone else's work, I admit I hyperlinked directly to the picture rather than the actual post which was wrong and I should of thought of that and when pointed out I did change the link to the post. As for contacting the artist I did try looking on profile page for any contact information but was unable to find any contact information. I know one member suggested I signed up to the website however it is my knowledge you have to pay for a membership to the site, I'm not sure if that's true or not when I asked I got no response from anyone.
Looking through the comments people have made I would like to say I have never denied to using promotion pictures or screencaps from shows. I have a terrible imagination when it comes to digital painting so I always use a reference. I have always tried to be honest in my posts and am surprised no one has sent me a private message or even in the comments asking about my work relating to whether my work is free hand or not. My last note is the comment made about the amount of time it takes me to create things. I usually create multiple things at once over a week for example and then post them one after another, I don't always post as soon as I have completed a picture mostly because of challenges I have signed up to since they require certain things to be posted on certain dates.
From stop_plagiarism's user info: "The unauthorized reposting of an author's story/art with proper credit to the original author is NOT plagiarism. Even if the original author did not give permission. Even if it's been translated into another language. It's bad form, but not plagiarism. However, if there is not proper crediting, definitely talk to us."
However, changing an image, posting it as your own, and not properly crediting the original artist (as in the NSFW images), is plagiarism. In talking to other artists, altering an image and posting it as your own crosses the line, even if credit has been given. As a result, I will be adding kristianabel22 to the list of known plagiarists.
I contacted kristianabel22 and received the following response:
Hi,
I've noticed this report from the when this was posted but decided not to comment until I was contacted by a mod. The picture in question from the beginning I stated was based on someone else's work, I admit I hyperlinked directly to the picture rather than the actual post which was wrong and I should of thought of that and when pointed out I did change the link to the post. As for contacting the artist I did try looking on profile page for any contact information but was unable to find any contact information. I know one member suggested I signed up to the website however it is my knowledge you have to pay for a membership to the site, I'm not sure if that's true or not when I asked I got no response from anyone.
Looking through the comments people have made I would like to say I have never denied to using promotion pictures or screencaps from shows. I have a terrible imagination when it comes to digital painting so I always use a reference. I have always tried to be honest in my posts and am surprised no one has sent me a private message or even in the comments asking about my work relating to whether my work is free hand or not. My last note is the comment made about the amount of time it takes me to create things. I usually create multiple things at once over a week for example and then post them one after another, I don't always post as soon as I have completed a picture mostly because of challenges I have signed up to since they require certain things to be posted on certain dates.
From stop_plagiarism's user info: "The unauthorized reposting of an author's story/art with proper credit to the original author is NOT plagiarism. Even if the original author did not give permission. Even if it's been translated into another language. It's bad form, but not plagiarism. However, if there is not proper crediting, definitely talk to us."
However, changing an image, posting it as your own, and not properly crediting the original artist (as in the NSFW images), is plagiarism. In talking to other artists, altering an image and posting it as your own crosses the line, even if credit has been given. As a result, I will be adding kristianabel22 to the list of known plagiarists.