Inktober Book Plagerism Accusations

Marta Kitka

I’m not from USA but recentyly I had a talk with a lawyer about owning rights to art teaching methods. He told me that it is impossible to own rights to such a thing unless you invent a very original, previously not existing way of teaching. What’s even more important you cannot own the rights to the order in which you present it nor the way you lay this out in your book.

@Pamela-Ruddy exactly, that scrolling back and forth completelty dismiss Alphonso’s argument that Jake copied the structure of his book.

Jason Bowen

I just checked in and noticed this thread. I watched the video and to be honest it's quite a difficult one. I think if the page with the different strokes didn't look the same I don't think there would be a problem. I think from then maybe he's looked into it for similarities. Maybe Jake could redo that bit?

Nyrryl Cadiz

@Jason-Bowen i think the books are already printed? I’m not sure tho.

Jason Bowen

@Nyrryl-Cadiz I think Jake as been advised to not bring his book out.

Nyrryl Cadiz

@Jason-Bowen yup, so do you have any news if it’s already printed?

Jason Bowen

@Nyrryl-Cadiz no, would be a big loss if it has, hopefully it hasn't been.

Julia

Hello,

I don't want to advocate for the devil here, because there is a lot of emotions in this topic, yet there are things we know and above all we don't know to consider :

First, the motivation behind the video : beyond expressing his disappointment in seeing his ideas, design, etc. in Jake's book and encouraging other artists to copyright their work, Alphonso does not explicitely ask his followers for a call out. Has it been intentionnal or not, we don't know (and it will probably decisive retrospectively if this is looked at by lawers)
Beside we don't know if his work is copyrighted (or can be copyrighted as a matter of fact), which would be the basis of a claim
We don't know if he made a formal, legal claim
We don't know if he has contacted Jake by now or if anyone on Jake's side has contacted him (other than Jake publicly inviting Alphonso to contact him)
We don't know why he didn't remove his video by himself or didn't ask the people to calm down. We can only interpret his actions or lack of actions to our own scale from what we know or what we think we know, and measured it to our own values / ethics / etc.
We don't know if the other party formally asked him to retrieve the video or make a public announcement
We don't know how many parties are involved : Jake of course, but the publishing company without a doubt and maybe all the parties in agreement that were to support the marketing of the book.
what I mean is, maybe Deviant Art did have an agreement and the cancellation of the event is agreed on with their business partners given the circumstances? Maybe they haven't, and are at liberty to do whatever they think best to protect their business and reputation? To my knowledge, they didn't go public on their reasons for the cancellation.
the parties might as well not be aligned on the next steps to take. For exemple, does Jake, who is an entrepreuner and his name equals his brand, wants to be known for the artist who sues fellow artists? Would the publishing company be willing to take a legal action without Jake? This would lessen the case.
last but not least, if by now legal firms are involved, it is in the best interest of all parties to remain silent until a private settlement is found or the case brought to trial. In this case it can take years. Also, it is to be considered carefully : it is costly and not all parties may have the financial means to pay a financial compensation if ruled against them, or even if the compensation would be equal to the damages)

All in all, it is beyond us and people on the internet will eventually switch their focus : it is a matter of time. What damages have been caused will take time to evaluate and are between the parties involved (unless this expands to the topic of copyrights for educational content).

What I mean is, there is very few to comment beside expressing our sympathy for either Jake or Alphonso, depending on where our loyalty stands.

Let's wait until it unfolds.

Julia

Lee White

@Julia I agree that we need to wait to see what happens next. What that will be? I have no idea.

But one thing I fee very confident in saying and a good lesson from all this: be careful with what you say online about other people and try to get it worked out with them personally before blasting them on social media. The video was just launched on an unsuspecting public and that turned into a mob. That seems to be what happens on social media.

That is the worst possible way to have something end well. For either of the parties. It all goes back to basic things our parents taught us. Play nice together and if there is a disagreement, talk it out. I'm sure it could have been handled in a better way than blasting a video accusing someone of the worst possible thing.

Charlie Eve Ryan

@Lee-White 1000% agree! Never should have happened this way.

Julia

@Lee-White absolutely. It is a loss-loss game. Public figures (and one is, as soon as one has a Youtube channel with a substential number of followers) should know better. Unfortunately what is done cannot be undone and this is a terrible situation for the other party involved

Whitney Simms

@deborah-Haagenson my thoughts exactly. Go through the attorneys. But if you do that, you may not be able to talk publicly about it. Which is what the natural man craves. The “see, all these people think I’m right!”

Lee White

another review on youtube. Check it out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUOjdw6Z-Sk

James Toogood

@Lee-White Thank Lee, I've been following you and Jake for some time and I don't feel Jake the sort of person to intentionally plagiarise so I've pre-ordered to hopefully support him. You guys do such a good job of teaching here on svs and its ashame you have to deal with things like this.
James

frankiiij

@Lee-White I’ve gained a tremendous amount of respect from you lee. It originated from the podcast discussing fan-art. In that podcast, you lay down some values that challenge us as artists to rise above and create with authenticity and genuineness.

I am in the center of print artists working on the next fan-based art. So when I heard you on that podcast, I was inspired. Why don’t I spend the next ten years building the archives of my authentic art? So thank you.

In that podcast, I call back on this reference when creating art ...Jed Henry. After looking at his art, you can say that what makes it fan art is a secondary attraction. Everything else is forefront and so powerful. What would be in question, under the idea of plagiarism, would not even be a question with Jed Henry’s pieces.

I haven’t looked at either of the books, but if I were to with the expectation of giving my opinion, then the “Jed Henry 3 point perspective” example would be my reference.

As for the feud, communication will be the key.
If either one stands on the belief that their stance is superior, then peace will not be obtained.

Ultimately they and all of us should practice minimizing that hatred to build a stronger sense of relationship and connectedness.

Everywhere you go, there will be times where people lack conscience. When that happens, they will lie to themselves and others. One true thing is that hate breeds hate. To drive it out requires love.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” -Martin Luther King, jr.

If we all practice this, I think this situation would be resolved to the point of peace.

So my question would be, “are these two books on the jed henry tier of plagiarism?” The way one answers should reveal a lot about their motives, values, and agenda.

I hope this helps lead to peace. I intend to make peace here in this chat and inspire others to do the same.

NessIllustration

@dafoota Well the thing is, the question doesn't really apply because neither book is Jed Henry level. Neither Jake nor Alphonso are reinventing inking. They are teaching the fundamentals presented in the most clear and logical manner, and there's been countless books like them published already. From my understanding Alphonso's book goes more in depth on the technical aspect, while Jake's book has a focus on Inktober and how to complete the challenge. Neither man reinvents the wheel, but Alphonso is trying to claim graded palettes and texture cubes as his own copyrighted material... When they can be found in countless other books that predate his.

djlambson

@pixel-dsp yes. When I initially saw this I thought he would take it down in the morning after he slept on it. But he did not. I'm betting before this is over he will wish he had. Never ever does it work in the end when you lash out in anger. And speaking to that, I'm very impressed with how Jake has handled this vitrol. Hopefully by stepping away. Just such a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Who is the winner. No one.

TessaW

I was impressed with this guy's presentation of the situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDNsHVDHfnk&t=2s

frankiiij

@NessIllustration Thank you for your response—much respect.
I find it kind of weird that this is even a thing then. Maybe there is more to this situation that we do not know. Thank you for catching me up with your insight.

I believe what I said still holds merit. While it may not be reinventing the wheel, I think there is always a possibility of plagiarizing.

What I was trying to communicate with the Jed Henry analogy was the feeling one gets when they take in a piece or project. When we look at Jen Henry, his work, as far as we know, is beyond reproach. At least that is what I learned from @Lee-White in the podcast. If I were to go and examine both of these artist’s books, I would use what I learned from svs and lee. I would ask myself, “What tier would this be?” I would also ask myself, “Are they drawing inspiration, or are they taking what is proprietary from the other artist?” I do not plan to go and do this. I am merely offering a possibility, for whoever reads this, in handling this situation.

On another aspect, if both of them did the same thing, then theoretically based on the values a person holds, they should treat both people the same. For example, If one doesn’t think it is a big deal for one artist, then it should be the same for the artist. If a person thinks this is an outrage and acts accordingly towards one artist, then it should hold to the other. I would hope whatever the response is that it is a gentle and uplifting one. However, we can see how ruthless the internet is.

My initial post was to point out that it looks silly to blast one artist and to favor another over the same thing. My primary goal was to diffuse any of that hatred towards either artist because I believe that there is a appropriate way to handle this. Even as an outside party, I could still do my job in helping to solve a problem. I do recognize that my words are a mere drop in an ocean of a situation, but I believe every good attempt is worth it no matter how small.

Thank you for your time and Patience. Much love!

frankiiij

@StudioLooong Great job communicating this. I should have just upvoted this instead of trying to explain the same thing, but longer haha

frankiiij

@CaseyKinseyArt This could be a possibility. Speculation is a useful techinique in our problem solving process. The same skeptism could be used about jake. It is just a very sticky situation that I believe could have been avoid. I wish they would have handled it behind the scenes. Skeptism: They could have tried and in the process one of them got frustrated and that is why this is a public matter now. Either way I hope the svs community could help work this to a peacful situation for both artist.