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helmut

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Staff member
Someone may be stealing your work.


Yesterday I had the most frustrating day I’ve experienced since I joined CF years ago. It’s not the Forum, most of the people here are very nice, get along fairly well, and enjoy the site by doing their own thing. We’re a lot bigger now and that always works against the common good of the group. Any large group has a tendency to attract elements who are not necessarily concerned with being part of a happy group; they come here to get what they can.

While it is one of the less destructive things taking place, the fact remains that a significant portion of these people are here just to take what they can and in return give nothing. That’s why a person who contributes art to this site can’t depend on the number of likes they receive to determine if their work is appreciated; instead they use the number of times a thread is accessed to determine how they are doing. It seems to me highly likely that about 1 in 20 visitors to any given thread take the trouble click the like button for any given work whether it’s graphic art or the work of our writers. They take what they want and go.

Much more pernicious are the actions of thieves who visit our site and steal the work of our contributors and that’s what I want to address today: Yesterday I visited Deviant Art, I go there about once a month, typed in a few words to do a search and the results included work I’d done about 6 years ago. I recognized the images immediately, most of you have seen the sharp detail I like in my renderings and these two pictures were classic examples of my stuff. The first one a picture meant to be a graphic representation of Eulalia with a drum. This avatar was made to represent Eul with her approval so for someone to attempt to steal it was definitely a wrong move, it’s unique. The other shows girls being forced to work as galley slaves on a Viking ship.

The dummy who stole them thought they could remove my signature which consists of the name “Helmut Followed by a year. (i.e.: Helmut 2012 & etc.). They did it to both pictures and took credit for their creation. I complained of course and I was promised my concerns would be assuaged. I intend to take it one step further and repost the altered images next to the legitimate ones on the Deviant Art site.

I also noticed the work of other artists in that collection, Nobel Vulture for one and his signature was also removed, and while I didn’t want to spend a great deal of time on research there were others. This person who tries to pass themselves as an artist is nothing more than an out and out thief!

Sooo………. The point I’m trying to make is this: If you do creative work for CF you need to spend some time checking around to assure someone isn’t stealing your work.

Occasionally someone will ask me if they can use a peace of my work and the answer will vary with their intentions. The time invested in creating an image is often quite significant especially for an old guy like me who certainly doesn’t have a great deal of time left. (The shame of it is I have to expend more of that time trying to fix situations like this.)

One thing that can be helpful is to use the minimum quality it takes to make a reasonable presentation. It keeps file sizes down which should be appreciated by our sponsor and if someone tries to enlarge the image it will pixilate; I use 72 DPI JPG @ about 500 x 700 Dots.

untitled_drawing_by_milenarabinovitch-da14ltz.jpg 283 On the Seaway r1 2.jpg
On the left is the stolen and altered image on the right the original note how sloppily my name was removed.
untitled_drawing_by_milenarabinovitch-da14lnl.png 284 On the Seaway r1 3.jpg

Best regards and good hunting,
Helmut
 
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Someone may be stealing your work.


Yesterday I had the most frustrating day I’ve experienced since I joined CF years ago. It’s not the Forum, most of the people here are very nice, get along fairly well, and enjoy the site by doing their own thing. We’re a lot bigger now and that always works against the common good of the group. Any large group has a tendency to attract elements who are not necessarily concerned with being part of a happy group; they come here to get what they can.

While it is one of the less destructive things taking place, the fact remains that a significant portion of these people are here just to take what they can and in return give nothing. That’s why a person who contributes art to this site can’t depend on the number of likes they receive to determine if their work is appreciated; instead they use the number of times a thread is accessed to determine how they are doing. It seems to me highly likely that about 1 in 20 visitors to any given thread take the trouble click the like button for any given work whether it’s graphic art or the work of our writers. They take what they want and go.

Much more pernicious are the actions of thieves who visit our site and steal the work of our contributors and that’s what I want to address today: Yesterday I visited Deviant Art, I go there about once a month, typed in a few words to do a search and the results included work I’d done about 6 years ago. I recognized the images immediately, most of you have seen the sharp detail I like in my renderings and these two pictures were classic examples of my stuff. The first one a picture meant to be a graphic representation of Eulalia with a drum. This avatar was made to represent Eul with her approval so for someone to attempt to steal it was definitely a wrong move, it’s unique. The other shows girls being forced to work as galley slaves on a Viking ship.

The dummy who stole them thought they could remove my signature which consists of the name “Helmut Followed by a year. (i.e.: Helmut 2012 & etc.). They did it to both pictures and took credit for their creation. I complained of course and I was promised my concerns would be assuaged. I intend to take it one step further and repost the altered images next to the legitimate ones on the Deviant Art site.

I also noticed the work of other artists in that collection, Nobel Vulture for one and his signature was also removed, and while I didn’t want to spend a great deal of time on research there were others. This person who tries to pass themselves as an artist is nothing more than an out and out thief!

Sooo………. The point I’m trying to make is this: If you do creative work for CF you need to spend some time checking around to assure someone isn’t stealing your work.

Occasionally someone will ask me if they can use a peace of my work and the answer will vary with their intentions. The time invested in creating an image is often quite significant especially for an old guy like me who certainly doesn’t have a great deal of time left. (The shame of it is I have to expend more of that time trying to fix situations like this.)

One thing that can be helpful is to use the minimum quality it takes to make a reasonable presentation. It keeps file sizes down which should be appreciated by our sponsor and if someone tries to enlarge the image it will pixilate; I use 72 DPI JPG @ about 500 x 700 Dots.

View attachment 525927 View attachment 525928
On the left is the stolen and altered image on the right the original not how sloppily the my name was removed.
View attachment 525929 View attachment 525930

Best regards and good hunting,
Helmut
I spend a lot of time on DeviantArt, and this issue is grinding my gears more and more. Was the perpetrator in this case someone called "milenarabinovitch"? There are others I've come across, but that person definitely removes artists' signatures and copyright marks, and has (let's say) "re-worked" many drawings by Noble Vulchur. Twice I've approached original artists to tell them their work is being ripped off, and on both occasions they didn't seem to care, which I found very strange. Not only is this practice dishonest, it's poisonous to creativity and originality, and it could even put off real artists from sharing their work.

Thanks for raising this issue. Vigilance is everything, and I believe artists owe it to each other to report any cases they find.

UPDATE... It IS Milenarabinovitch! Hilariously, you can even use the "watch re-draw" feature to observe her obscuring your signature! Wow... You might report this to DeviantArt (if you haven't already), they can have the work removed and even suspend the offending account, but the complaint has to come from the artist whose work has been stolen. I've had fairly strong words with Milena over the last few months, but since she has never appropriated my own work, I have not reported her to DA.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I spend a lot of time on DeviantArt, and this issue is grinding my gears more and more. Was the perpetrator in this case someone called "milenarabinovitch"? There are others I've come across, but that person definitely removes artists' signatures and copyright marks, and has (let's say) "re-worked" many drawings by Noble Vulchur. Twice I've approached original artists to tell them their work is being ripped off, and on both occasions they didn't seem to care, which I found very strange. Not only is this practice dishonest, it's poisonous to creativity and originality, and it could even put off real artists from sharing their work.

Thanks for raising this issue. Vigilance is everything, and I believe artists owe it to each other to report any cases they find.

UPDATE... It IS Milenarabinovitch! Hilariously, you can even use the "watch re-draw" feature to observe her obscuring your signature! Wow... You might report this to DeviantArt (if you haven't already), they can have the work removed and even suspend the offending account, but the complaint has to come from the artist whose work has been stolen. I've had fairly strong words with Milena over the last few months, but since she has never appropriated my own work, I have not reported her to DA.
Yes montycrusto,
You have it right, Milenarabinovitch is the name I recognize and I've been working on Deviant Art. I'll be placing almost the same presentation there that I've made here.
Helmut
 
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I couldn't find the one of @Eulalia with the drum, but there are at least five of your "Viking ship" renders in her gallery.
There are hundreds of pics in tens of styles in that gallery -- it boggles my mind that someone could've expected people to think they all have flowed from the same pencil/mouse. 'Ici je poste principalement des hommages aux grands artistes, retravaillés, ainsi que des pastiches amusants.' Well, perhaps she didn't, she just doesn't care who those 'grands artistes' are and what they would think.
 
There are hundreds of pics in tens of styles in that gallery -- it boggles my mind that someone could've expected people to think they all have flowed from the same pencil/mouse. 'Ici je poste principalement des hommages aux grands artistes, retravaillés, ainsi que des pastiches amusants.' Well, perhaps she didn't, she just doesn't care who those 'grands artistes' are and what they would think.
"hommage" - :confused: - is that what she calls it? :doh:

I know, it is truly mind-boggling. And most people are fooled, because they don't really look closely, or they don't think enough. Or they don't care, which is probably the most likely explanation. :confused:
 
Hilariously, you can even use the "watch re-draw" feature to observe her obscuring your signature! Wow...
I've never noticed that feature before - thanks Monty. It is totally revealing, as you say.

If that feature only appears on work altered prior to submission, it is a good indicator of such frauds.

There are a number of 'art collectors' on the site, although some of them leave the signatures intact or credit the artists.
 
I've never noticed that feature before - thanks Monty. It is totally revealing, as you say.

If that feature only appears on work altered prior to submission, it is a good indicator of such frauds.

There are a number of 'art collectors' on the site, although some of them leave the signatures intact or credit the artists.
it only works because she used Deviantart Muro to make the alterations ;)
 
Someone may be stealing your work.


Yesterday I had the most frustrating day I’ve experienced since I joined CF years ago. It’s not the Forum, most of the people here are very nice, get along fairly well, and enjoy the site by doing their own thing. We’re a lot bigger now and that always works against the common good of the group. Any large group has a tendency to attract elements who are not necessarily concerned with being part of a happy group; they come here to get what they can.

While it is one of the less destructive things taking place, the fact remains that a significant portion of these people are here just to take what they can and in return give nothing. That’s why a person who contributes art to this site can’t depend on the number of likes they receive to determine if their work is appreciated; instead they use the number of times a thread is accessed to determine how they are doing. It seems to me highly likely that about 1 in 20 visitors to any given thread take the trouble click the like button for any given work whether it’s graphic art or the work of our writers. They take what they want and go.

Much more pernicious are the actions of thieves who visit our site and steal the work of our contributors and that’s what I want to address today: Yesterday I visited Deviant Art, I go there about once a month, typed in a few words to do a search and the results included work I’d done about 6 years ago. I recognized the images immediately, most of you have seen the sharp detail I like in my renderings and these two pictures were classic examples of my stuff. The first one a picture meant to be a graphic representation of Eulalia with a drum. This avatar was made to represent Eul with her approval so for someone to attempt to steal it was definitely a wrong move, it’s unique. The other shows girls being forced to work as galley slaves on a Viking ship.

The dummy who stole them thought they could remove my signature which consists of the name “Helmut Followed by a year. (i.e.: Helmut 2012 & etc.). They did it to both pictures and took credit for their creation. I complained of course and I was promised my concerns would be assuaged. I intend to take it one step further and repost the altered images next to the legitimate ones on the Deviant Art site.

I also noticed the work of other artists in that collection, Nobel Vulture for one and his signature was also removed, and while I didn’t want to spend a great deal of time on research there were others. This person who tries to pass themselves as an artist is nothing more than an out and out thief!

Sooo………. The point I’m trying to make is this: If you do creative work for CF you need to spend some time checking around to assure someone isn’t stealing your work.

Occasionally someone will ask me if they can use a peace of my work and the answer will vary with their intentions. The time invested in creating an image is often quite significant especially for an old guy like me who certainly doesn’t have a great deal of time left. (The shame of it is I have to expend more of that time trying to fix situations like this.)

One thing that can be helpful is to use the minimum quality it takes to make a reasonable presentation. It keeps file sizes down which should be appreciated by our sponsor and if someone tries to enlarge the image it will pixilate; I use 72 DPI JPG @ about 500 x 700 Dots.

View attachment 525927 View attachment 525928
On the left is the stolen and altered image on the right the original not how sloppily the my name was removed.
View attachment 525929 View attachment 525930

Best regards and good hunting,
Helmut
Thanks for the warning! I like to post my little drawings here and I ,foolishly, didn't consider the possibility of theft. Your warning sparks much needed caution.
 
What escapes me here is the motivation. I know of one case where someone tried to publish a stolen story on an ebook site-there the motivation is money (though I can testify from experience not large amounts of money). But what is the motivation to put stolen material-art or stories-on a free site? So you get likes and nice comments, but you know they are not really for you and they are under a pseudonym anyway. It makes no sense really.
 
What escapes me here is the motivation. I know of one case where someone tried to publish a stolen story on an ebook site-there the motivation is money (though I can testify from experience not large amounts of money). But what is the motivation to put stolen material-art or stories-on a free site? So you get likes and nice comments, but you know they are not really for you and they are under a pseudonym anyway. It makes no sense really.
Popularity, of a kind, I suppose. Milenarabinovitch has got far more watchers than I have, even though she's done no drawing of her own; at best, she's done a little "re-working" of other people's work. It's completely parasitic. It's why I've gone to great lengths to display my preparatory sketches on my page, discuss my materials and techniques, and stress that everything is my own work. :rolleyes:
 
Hi Helmut. I've added a comment just above yours to the effect that M. could at least repost your pics with the signature intact. While you are here please PM me or email me with your old files which still need to be archived. Hope you are keeping well.
 
Someone may be stealing your work.

The first one a picture meant to be a graphic representation of Eulalia with a drum. This avatar was made to represent Eul with her approval so for someone to attempt to steal it was definitely a wrong move, it’s unique. The other shows girls being forced to work as galley slaves on a Viking ship.

View attachment 525927 View attachment 525928
On the left is the stolen and altered image on the right the original not how sloppily the my name was removed.
View attachment 525929 View attachment 525930

Helmut
Still, it's lovely to see those pics again, and to remember Helmut and Admi's Summer Cruises :D

One point, I'm sure there's no connection between this Milena-whatsit and the deviant named Myrlena
who posts some very lovely stuff on DevArt - she's a model, but takes a very active part in creating the scenes,
and always credits the photographer (and her work gets pirated all over the net).
 
Still, it's lovely to see those pics again, and to remember Helmut and Admi's Summer Cruises :D

One point, I'm sure there's no connection between this Milena-whatsit and the deviant named Myrlena
who posts some very lovely stuff on DevArt - she's a model, but takes a very active part in creating the scenes,
and always credits the photographer (and her work gets pirated all over the net).
you're quite right, they are two totally different people.
 
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