Inktober Book Plagerism Accusations

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Coley

@rafaartstudio we live in very strange times where people invent their own facts. As someone with a university/health/science background, it perplexes me! I still can't believe Dunn has that video up with that title either.

sigross

I noticed when I watched Dunn's video that he had an arm in his book, obviously I thought that cross hatching style and characteristic arm pose was similar to one by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. And there online I found a video of Alphonso copying Rubens exact crosshatch and pose. shock, horror! I mean in his book, he did move the fingers slightly so not to make it too obvious.
But still, this plagiarism is never ending!
It's a shame Peter is no longer with us to defend his original work, crosshatch and arm poses.

Lee White

@sigross Love the sentiment here! But that Rubens drawing would fall under fair use due to it's age. The copyright would have run out long ago. Now, depending on where this image was published, that company may have new rights to it. Gets tricky there. @davidhohn what do you think?

sigross

@Lee-White I thought it was ironic in this video that Alphonso is up for copying what has gone before saying it's the best thing you can do.
As far as I'm aware the book Rubens planned on anatomical drawings was never completed. There's a selection of drawings that could be in the MET collection. I think they're in the public domain.

pixel.dsp

@rafaartstudio I share your sentiment of frustration, and just baffled by how delusional those comments are. 1) If they want to criticize Inktober, then do it on a post of a prompt, but not under a post that was meant to promote other artists who have nothing to do with this plagiarism controversy. It is so disrespectful and to me this should be common sense. 2) They feel entitled to boycott Inktober/JP on the Inktober page and when you disagree with them and call them out, they’ll say: “I wasn’t trying to make you take a side! We can just agree to disagree.” It’s as if they see themselves as the Sweet Butterfly of Truth (with passive aggressive approach) and/or the Hulk of Justice (with outright aggressive attack) with the righteous holy mission to defame JP.
Alphonso wrote in the About section on his YouTube channel that he wishes to leave the world a better place than where he found it. I have to say on this particular matter he left the social media of the art arena a worse place than it used to be.

davidhohn

@Lee-White You know I love questions like this because it means I get to research copyright law! And while it's true I prefer to do this kind of thing at 12:45 in the morning, I'm willing to do so during daylight hours as well.

So here's what I've got:
Because the Rubens arm study was created prior to 1921 the Rubens drawing is in the public domain and anyone can reproduce it.

A new photograph (or copy of any kind) of the public domain original would not be protected by copyright if the goal was to simply record/reproduce the original work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeman_Art_Library_v._Corel_Corp.

BUT

If a new photograph or hand-made reproduction made a significant change (and that is fairly subjective) to the public domain original then the new version could be protected by copyright.

Dima Eichhorn

@Lee-White Hi, I've just read about this. I did not know that this thing grown in that extend. And it is awful. I saw all the hateful comments towards Jake on social media. It is disgusting. I hope Jake is ok. My understanding is that this man just have ruined some of Jake's income and because of that I hope Jake has lawyer. If there is something that we as community can do to support him please let us know. I am sure, that many of us are what they are now, thanks to Jake and all teachers in svs and we are ready to support him back when needed.

lpetiti

I teach a couple of animation classes at the high school level. Each year I always off Inktober as a BIG extra credit opportunity (if they do all 31 days, they get excused from an assignment of their choice). Today, as I brought it up, some students asked about the controversy. We ended up having an interesting discussion about the topic, and about cancel culture in general. I really wanted to make sure that students understood the importance of researching stuff like this controversy on their own, then forming their own conclusions. I gave them my opinion about how I didn't think there was enough evidence to really support a copyright claim, and also told them the importance of handling things like this privately, rather than letting the Internet be judge, jury and executioner, like what's happening right now.

I think the essence of Inktober has always been to develop good drawing habits and inking skills. For me at least, it's not just about Jake Parker (although I love that he created the challenge). It's more about me getting more confidence in my own art. So I told the students if they still want to participate, to definitely do it. I care more about them developing good habits, even if it's through doing a different month long challenge, then I do with them blindly agreeing with everything I say simply because they think they need to.

Anyway, just wanted to share that experience.

Julia

@lpetiti I think it is a great teaching, your students are spoilt to have you

lpetiti

@Julia Aw, that's very flattering! I appreciate it.

Nyrryl Cadiz

@lpetiti this actually made me really happy to know that teachers like you are still out there in the world. keep up the good work. we need more artists who are not only good in their craft but are also good people.

lpetiti

@Nyrryl-Cadiz I really do try. I love being able to show my students that I'm also a "working" artist. There have been many Fridays where I will pull out the Cintiq while they're working and work alongside them. Bit hard to do that right now with Distance Learning but we'll figure something out.

peteolczyk

I’ve not been on here in a good while but thought I’d add some positive support to Jake.
I really admire his professionalism through all this.

I’ll struggle to do Jakes full Inktober but looking forward to playing with ink again when I get a few minutes.

Pamela Ruddy

Ethan Becker's take: https://youtu.be/_Xjli9kzkoU

It's not particularly flattering to Jake (it shows Dunn's accusations and he attempts to compare with other books and doesn't find close matches).

However, he is a bit sceptical throughout and his main takeaway is that just because one side of the story looks damning doesn't mean that is what happened, other explanations exist and this mob justice thing - even if Jake was guilty - is terrifying.

davidhohn

@Pamela-Ruddy I saw this recently too. Weird guy. But also funny? Definitely a YT "personality".
The chart and comparisons were potentially interesting, but he never quite explained it fully. At least in a way that I understood.

More than most opinion videos on this topic, this one felt like the most blatant view grab. And I don't fault him, he was pretty clear from the start of the video that was his goal! He did wrap it up with the commentary on mob justice which is maybe the most important issue to come from this whole situation.

Well, that and the idea that "fuzzy balls" could become a shorthand for an accusation of plagiarism.
As in: "Seems like you've got a real fuzzy balls situation going on here!"

NessIllustration

@davidhohn LOL for someone unfamiliar with this situation, "fuzzy ball" sounds like it could reference something entirely different.

pixel.dsp

@davidhohn It also seemed pointless to have used Loomis’ Creative Illustration as a comparison reference. That book is mostly about composition exploration, not pen technique.

Pamela Ruddy

I only came across this channel when it was referenced by one of the channels who had also had a video about this plagerism situation and this is the only video I have watched of his. It definitely looks like he's on the entertainment side of art YouTube rather than educational

His comments section definitely seemed to be more sceptical about the allegations anyway.

davidhohn

@NessIllustration I'm sorry . . . I can't possibly imagine what in the world you could possibly mean. . .

. . . Tennis perhaps?