artists_beware | (no subject)

WHO: Kee/Kyme/Inarolyn/Iaz/Janks/Len/Neicom

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kee (all the above are also FA accounts that she has hopped between, but Kee is her current).

WHAT: Tracing. Most of the traces are partial and have been "frankensteined".

WHEN: This has been going on for awhile from what I have been able to figure.

EXPLAIN: Again, I was asked to post this here by several people after compiling multiple instances of her tracing of recent. A lot of people felt a public warning should be made, since she jumps accounts quite frequently. She's also traced several times in the past, but I haven't been able to locate the originals.

As an example, this is art from five-six months ago that she drew while living with me:
http://i44.tinypic.com/jzodv.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/jgo415.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/jt5hj5.png
She's never traced while living with me because I had gotten onto her in the past for copying other artists.

These are the traces I've found evidence of:
First example:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6820740/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6820732/    [NSFW]
Traced from:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6595400/ [NSFW]
Overlay:
http://i44.tinypic.com/s1kksm.jpg    [NSFW]

Second example:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6894553/
Traced from:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6577848/    [NSFW]
Overlay:
http://i42.tinypic.com/25r1sh1.png   [NSFW]

Third example:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6898927
Traced from:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6703170/
Overlay:
http://i39.tinypic.com/otfbcw.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/34r617b.jpg

Fourth example:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6898413
Traced from:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6057168/
Overlay:
http://i42.tinypic.com/fljxvr.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/14m5abk.jpg

Fifth example:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6898388
Traced from:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6789179/
Overlay:
http://i42.tinypic.com/2ppzyx4.jpg

Sixth example:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6807846/
Traced from:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5060030/
Overlay:
http://i42.tinypic.com/yyp01.jpg

Edit:
Got shown these ones last night:
Seventh example:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6898399   [NSFW]
Traced from:
http://i42.tinypic.com/aekvg5.png     [NSFW]
Overlays:
http://i41.tinypic.com/ohis69.jpg   [NSFW]
http://i42.tinypic.com/2a7v9c4.png    [NSFW]
http://i42.tinypic.com/wsw93q.png    [NSFW]

Eighth example:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6811551/
Traced from:
http://i40.tinypic.com/zupcli.png     [NSFW]
Overlays:
http://i44.tinypic.com/350nrxh.jpg     [NSFW]
http://i44.tinypic.com/1042nn6.jpg    [NSFW]
http://i44.tinypic.com/kdx5b8.jpg   [NSFW]

Almost all the traces have been of artists whom she's watching, the only exception being my own art.

Suspected traces:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6852690/       [NSFW]
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6898425/    [NSFW]
http://i44.tinypic.com/xdruq0.jpg (from 2010)       [NSFW]
http://i42.tinypic.com/14kifzn.jpg (from 2010)     [NSFW]

There were a few others that were TCBY commissions that I am certain were traced, but I never saved the files.

As is evidenced, her anatomy flipflops from really well done, to filled with errors. If anyone can provide originals for some of the suspected traces, it'd be appreciated as well. NO ONE improves that greatly in a five month period, drawing as rarely as she does. I don't think everything she uploads/draws is traced, but much of it is.

Edit: Here's some more overlays with varying opacity's to give a clearer idea of where the lines are a perfect match.
http://i44.tinypic.com/206fmvt.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/2s9alas.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/2gw7v3o.jpg [nsfw]
http://i43.tinypic.com/1j9nit.jpg [nsfw]

Edit2:
I'm redacting my allegations of tracing, as I really don't want to be involved in any drama with this person to start with.

Edit3: I'm sorry, to make it more clear, I am retracting my allegations as there isn't sufficient evidence of tracing going on. I have posted apologies here and on FA.

Fixed overlays with proper aspect ratio:
http://i44.tinypic.com/rhj09f.jpg

Here it is in 3 different colors, still matching in the same areas. (I rotated it quickly, so it's not the exact same as the other overlays, but I'm too tired to redo all this again just to be perfect for the naysayers).
http://i39.tinypic.com/r0vw4h.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/de6ycw.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/mil4kh.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/nvnzx4.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/15i9g8j.png

There is no WAY any of the above have been distorted, as I did use the shift key as I was told.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

joanmichele.livejournal.com

1 - I'd have thought that refusal to acknowledge or admit would cast more suspicion, since you know, it looks like they would want to get away with it. A person's actual guilt is not predicated on their admission of such.

2 - I don't see the drama here, all I see is Acorn arguing for what she sees, and a bunch of vitriolic naysayers. Also, by citing past history, you've proven my point. Acorn's motives of responding more strongly is due to frustration. I am talking to her right now and this is what I see very clearly from her words. She's frustrated that the general response she got was one of dismissiveness.

3 - Rotating and resizing to preserve aspect ratio is not distortion. Resizing and rotating an image digitally to trace is quite trivial to do. Even if the aspect ratio is changed slightly, that would not necessarily throw out the evidence. If I took several images you did, rotated it, distorted the aspect ratio, and frankenstein-traced small sections of them. Would you then say I am innocent? Because by your standards, I would be.

From:

otherscape.livejournal.com

1) That may be the case, but when someone says "I traced.", that's a pretty definite sign that they're guilty. Kee may very well be guilty, but not saying anything doesn't automatically mean she's guilty either. I'd like to hear her response on all this though.

2) The drama isn't that she has a grudge, it's because of the way she's responding. No offense to Acorn, but her reaction does come off as "AB doesn't agree with me, those meanies!", especially with those journals. I know it sucks when something you thought was going one way goes the complete opposite, but it would have been better for her to just accept that a majority of people disagree and just watch for more definitive evidence of tracing in the future.

3) Acorn accidentally messed with the proportion ratios, so pictures came out elongated or squished. This pretty much says it all. http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/542457.html?thread=20397817#t20397817

And Kee could have distorted the picture first, but no one can possibly know or prove that for sure unless she says she did. If Acorn suspected that this is what she was doing, she would have mentioned it in the original post.

That's the problem with this post. Not enough evidence, too much speculation. As I said before, I'm taking the "innocent until proven guilty" route.

From:

0acorn0.livejournal.com

Of course, I do understand all of that. And I will be keeping an eye out for any future suspicious activities or suspected traces. But I do have a question, how much circumstantial evidence is needed before someone is considered guilty? I don't think she'd be foolish enough to trace something from head to toe.

From:

otherscape.livejournal.com

To be honest, I'm not sure. It's been proven in past posts that I'm not the best when discerning if something is traced or not, but someone mentioned earlier in this post that key features such as eyes, faces, ears, and other major body parts are better evidence and more likely to be traced. Waists aren't a complicated body part, at least to me. They just connect the ribcage to the pelvis are pretty easy to draw believably, even if you're not using references. You'd really have to go out of your way to screw them up. It wouldn't be worth the effort to go out and trace an image of a waist when you can easily draw a credible version yourself. Of course, Kee could be tracing them for some reason and then we would all learn something.

From:

0acorn0.livejournal.com

Alright, well I suppose all I can do is keep an eye out for it just in case.

To mods, should I just edit this post itself as an up to date list if/when it does happen, or wait till I've compiled several new instances and write an entirely new post?

From:

shukivengeance.livejournal.com

That would really depend on how much time passes before you get the sufficient evidence.

From:

ocelotish

2 - I don't see the drama here, all I see is Acorn arguing for what she sees, and a bunch of vitriolic naysayers. Also, by citing past history, you've proven my point. Acorn's motives of responding more strongly is due to frustration.

So acorn and you are allowed to get frustrated with us and use passive-aggressive insults and call the community hypocritical, but it's not okay for us to get frustrated with that response and suggest this may be a grudge post or even that acorn's bias may be coloring her opinion?

3 - Rotating and resizing to preserve aspect ratio is not distortion. Resizing and rotating an image digitally to trace is quite trivial to do. Even if the aspect ratio is changed slightly, that would not necessarily throw out the evidence. If I took several images you did, rotated it, distorted the aspect ratio, and frankenstein-traced small sections of them. Would you then say I am innocent? Because by your standards, I would be.

The problem is that the evidence was flimsy from the start, and when you add in the distortion factor, it gets less believable. I can make two hips from two unrelated photos be right in line with each other if that's the guideline. Given that, it's not conclusive evidence. If she traced it, it doesn't make it right, but there's no conclusive evidence that she did.

From:

joanmichele.livejournal.com

...but there is no colouring of opinion. I did ask and she clarified that some of the examples are provided by people other than herself, people who've had no idea of who Kee is in relation to Acorn until then. If the there is any bias or colouring of opinion, she would have been alone in seeing the line ups.

I would say that I would be pretty confident that one is a trace of the other if that came to be. Tracing art from other works is a lot more common than you think. Only 10% of works that uses elements traced from other images ever gets caught.

From:

ocelotish

Who drew it doesn't matter. Unless you're saying other artists saw similarities and again, you see similarities without it being a rip off.

...I was talking about two photos. ...They can't be traced.

Only 10% of works that uses elements traced from other images ever gets caught.

I'd like to see this statistic please, especially concerning whether it's done it legally or not and how you could possibly know what percentage doesn't get caught.