Inktober Book Plagerism Accusations

davidhohn

So I imagine the post being referred to by @NessIllustration and @Molambo is Dunn's recent IG post.
As some SVS members may go over and read it I feel compelled to make the same correction here that I did on his post:

POOR MANS COPYRIGHT is a myth. Do not do this. Please research copyright law. It is not hard, and if you are a creative it is the basis of your job.

https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html

I love copyright. The concept of it, teaching it, using it in my job. There's nothing more frustrating than seeing 25,000 people getting fed misinformation about it.

Edit: So he posted the same thing to his YouTube channel. Now there's 600K people "learning" this stuff. . . . sigh. . . .

Norman Morana

@George-Broussard I think they’re referring to Dunn’s new post on Instagram. Unless you are too? I’m not sure if you can arrange comments on Instagram. I’ve been looking at that new post off and on. I haven’t seen a single negative comment on there either. Guessing people that can see that the book is most likely authentic are also more polite.

Venting side notes:

This whole ordeal is incredibly frustrating to see. One comment on Jake’s recent post, shows that someone is sending out misinformation that if you tag a post with Inktober, Jake owns it. Silly. Some people don’t get that it’s only the Inktober logo you can’t freely use, which makes sense. I work with logos in my day job and you can’t just go throwing those around willy-nilly. And then to assume someone who’s been teaching and helping people for years isn’t capable of writing their own book. Also I worry about the implications this could have for anyone wanting to teach in the future.

I haven’t been able to find the book on amazon by searching but I can always still see It when I go to my preorder. It’s always shown the price but today instead of the dollar amount it reads “currently unavailable” hoping thats not a sign of bad news or a huge delay.

This post is deleted!

xin li

I am very frustrated reading Dunn's recent post, and deeply troubled by his last message "Don't be afraid to speak up." I am truely astounished to see how he has created a internet mob to bully another person with an accusation that has no proven evidences, and went to to justify his action by indicating it is somehow a brave thing to do.

I wonder what he needs to see/hear/know/experience in order to gain him some emphathy to see a situation from another person's point of view. Life is not a Superman movie - there is no clear line between good and evil. It is very easy to frame one self as a hero in his/her own version of the story. To be decent human being requires us constently remind ourselves that our version of the story is not the entire truth.

As an ancient chinese saying goes "There are three sides to an argument - your side, my side and the right side".

Julia

@xin-li I was surprised too and share your view

@NessIllustration said in Inktober Book Plagerism Accusations:

@Molambo I just looked up that post, wow... It's a bad trip, but the comments take the cake. Someone said: "You have treated this episode in a very calm way and earned much respect." I really have no words.

well, he made a video and thats it from his side. all the other stuff which happened is caused due to the act of the mob which he didnt directly participated with so when you just follow him and agree on the video i can understand that people might feel that way. its a strange situation but it seems overall to calm down a bit so in a week or two it might be just a light nuisance...when not other things happen.

@davidhohn i am not a us citizen so i dont know the laws of your country and i dont feel the need to actually comment on his profile/account. i keep it to report people who spam/harras the inktober or jakes account when he post new stuff but i guess its always good to try to inform people when you know what you talk about.

@lpetiti said in Inktober Book Plagerism Accusations:

One interesting observation...just browsing around the comments to Alphonsos post. I dont see anyone criticizing him or bad mouthing him. I'm assuming if people dont agree, then they're just not posting. So...why dont those followers pay the Inktober posts the same courtesy?

yeah. i mean i posted on the video in the comments but thats it. dont feel the need to force my opinion on him now on every social channel he has on every post like some people do now with inktober/jake.

George Broussard

@xin-li said in Inktober Book Plagerism Accusations:

I am very frustrated reading Dunn's recent post, and deeply troubled by his last message "Don't be afraid to speak up." I am truely astounished to see how he has created a internet mob to bully another person with an accusation that has no proven evidences, and went to to justify his action by indicating it is somehow a brave thing to do.

Dunn's taken the victim path and presents the morally superior position. This is like catnip to all the artist/activist types that are outraged daily on Twitter about other issues. Most people don't bother doing any research or holding a middle ground position until facts. The clickbait headline of "Jake Parker Plagiarized My Book" is enough.

It's all a perfect storm of outrage. Victim, moral superiority, uneducated maybe young artist types prone to activism and outrage online. Boom!

Will see if Chronicle says anything tomorrow ahead of the weekend. If not, that may be a bad sign, along with the book now being "unavailable" on Amazon pre-orders.

We have about 10 days to see what they do if they are to maintain the original ship date. Every day that passes makes that more unlikely and a delay, cancellation, page changes, or legal action more likely.

Nyrryl Cadiz

@lpetiti they let you know because they want to hurt you, make you feel bad instead of just unfollowing you discreetly. Well, joke’s on them right?

LauraA

I have been watching this thread but waited to comment, because 1) I wanted to be very calm and 2) I didn't think I had anything new to say. Now I do.

I am an American who has lived outside my own country for almost ten years now. I can't quite tell if I am the one who has changed, or whether it's my country, but I'm seeing a tendency across the spectrum to witch hunts, conspiracy theories, and vigilante justice.* These are all dangerous roads, not only for the people they call out, but also for the people who participate in them. History is full of examples. I also see people who are trying to be calm and think through the issues, but our current way of judging a matter doesn't give them much credit. It's very hard in this kind of atmosphere not to keep upping the ante. I hope we learn quickly from our mistakes and move on to methods that allow for more open dialogue.

On a lighter note, I am considering participating in Inktober for the first time ever this year. It really has nothing to do with the current controversy. I didn't participate for years because I too had the mistaken notion that Inktober had to be done in traditional, black ink, and I am neither primarily a traditional artist nor an inker. Also I was afraid of not being able to finish. But mulling around on Instagram this summer, I discovered some lovely Inktober submissions, done in less traditional ways, that really inspired me, and also I'm in the mood to produce work via prompts. So, we'll see...

@danielerossi Haha! I too have an illustration on my Instagram of a boy with his hands (and tongue!) pressed up against a bakery window, shown from inside. It's based on something that made me laugh in real life. No fish, but yes, some scenes are just too classic not to try at least once!

*(I know that this certainly isn't the first time this has happened in US history, and I know some of the frustrating reasons behind the current trend that have to do with people not being heard via traditional means, but I have to limit the scope of this comment.)

danielerossi

@LauraA I say we post a bunch of our similar illustrations on Alphonso’s post and do a mock “you plagiarized me!”, “no, you plagiarized me!”, “no! You all plagiarized me!”, “I’m going to cancel you all for plagiarizing me!”. But we’re more mature than that. Would be funny though

Nyrryl Cadiz

@danielerossi \ this definitely crossed my mind. I’m petty

Kristin Wauson

@Lee-White or anybody, do we know how to preorder Jake’s book now that the direct link to it in Amazon says it’s currently unavailable? I have already preordered it, but some friends are still looking to show support if there is still a way to order it.

@Kristin-Wauson When Lee posted the link above I was still able to purchase it. Now you can put in your email to get notified when it's available again. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/145217041X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It really frustrated me to see the effects of this on the amazon rankings; Jake's book went from no. 1 in the inking category to no. 1 in a category called 'creativity' with more general books that didn't relate. So the search was messed up and I have a feeling Amazon goes by trends more than anything and ended up helping promote Alphonso's book in that way. This is why I normally buy stuff anywhere but amazon if I can help it, because they have these ways of changing my search and changing prices and mostly it benefits them greatly and gets me frustrated. I'm sure Chronicle books will be smart about all of it and not even put out the book if it won't make the money they were aiming for.

I am really not familiar with Alphonso's career. Is he an artist rather than an illustrator? Is this an artist vs. illustrator thing? Does a fine artist have different views about copyright? Or is he mostly earning money as an educator? No one working in a professional capacity with others in illustration or design or art would still believe in poor man's copyright. Is Alphonso making a living from his books and youtube channel, and otherwise not working with anyone? Jake's skills seem much broader to me because I'm more familiar with his work, so if anyone can summarize Alphonso's career maybe that would help me.

pixel.dsp

@carolinebautista In his video, Alphonso said he was a chemistry teacher and had resign from it in order to finish his book. Later he also said that even now he still has a full time job. So my assumption is that he went back being a chemistry teacher after the book was published. But he did not specify what his current full time job is. From the tone of it, it’s probably not art/illustration related.

@pixel-dsp Thanks. Do you know if he sell his work as fine art?

pixel.dsp

@carolinebautista I don’t know... the extent of my knowledge of his work is that his publication consist of those two books and his educational videos on YouTube. He does have an official website but doesn’t seem to have a web shop. I’m not in the art industry so I’m not the best to answer this question...

pixel.dsp

@carolinebautista He has a Masters degree in Fine Art... which makes me wonder why he said it took him 2 months to come up with the term “varied stroke” when Arthur Guptill and many other artists before him used the term “vary your stoke” and it’s variations...

@pixel-dsp yeah, it's too big of a question, but your answer does help, thank you. Trying to watch that video again and look at his work at this point is a little too frustrating for me, so I appreciate it.

@pixel-dsp That is really odd!

One of the things I've noticed is that people talk about a bias for/against Jake in terms of whether they like him. When I talk about bias it's mostly to do with familiarity with an artist's work and who their audience is. It's like people forget that even if they've interacted with Jake, they don't actually know him. What must it be like to have so many people on the internet discussing whether they like you? It's so far beside the point.

This thread has helped me be more generous in my thinking toward Alphonso, and for that I'm really grateful. It has given me a clearer picture of where he's coming from (self-publishing and all the frustrations with that) to temper my anger at his happiness over causing a mob and misinforming his students. I think his behavior is not professional and it seems like he wouldn't have done that if his income depended on his professional reputation.

djlambson

This really does get more frustrating daily. Maybe I'm naive but I tend to think this may be as simple as professional jealousy! The climate of the world right now is not in Jake's favor either, I think that's another unspoken factor.
I used to work with glass..I made glass beads and at least once a year there would be one artist call out another for copying a design. It's the same sort of thing. There are only so many ways can you design a bead without there being some sameness going on. But the perceived wronged one was so passionately indignant that they would stir up a noisy crowd for several days. Then of course, it would die down until the next time. We all want to be a star. An original star. and the thing is, there really is room for all of us. The success of Jake's book would not hurt the success of Alphonso's book. What a terrible waste of energy and I really hope that Jake can continue to just keep rising above it all.