ATTN:Professionals... ANOTHER ART THIEF is attempting to gain jobs with stolen work

[Jason Manley]

i received this email today.

after the whole chris runyon mess I am surprised to hear about another fraudulant artist trying to scam developers.

www.conceptart.org/fraud2 ....this may be some of your work.

ALWAYS CHECK REFERENCES. This is the ONLY way to know if you are being scammed.

here is the email i recieved.........along with a PM sent from the reporting member............................................ ........

Greetings, I need your help

I'm currently a part of a small game development group. Recently an artist has joined us and posted some sample artwork he claims to have done. I became a bit suspicious about some of the paintings but finally today I have some evidence that there is something wrong. He posted an artwork that is the same exact artwork found in this post:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sh...&threadid=11798

I was wondering how I can try to track down some of the other paintings he's submitted to verify he is indeed stealing work from other artists?

Thank you.

..........................

Greetings,

Further investigations have confirmed at least 8-9 pieces having originated from conceptart forums. Here is an attachment of most the pieces he submitted.

The perpetrator's name is Harold Mahuguana. (hopefully the name is real since most of the other information he provided was false) He claims to originate from Manila, Philippines. He links to a website called www.nurvstudios.com.

He has used 2 forum names called nurvstudios or inferno on our boards. (HE IS USER NAME "diablo" on conceptart.org)

Here is the artworks were were able to match up.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...ight=sasquatch

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...0&pagenumber=1

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...?threadid=2215

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...0&pagenumber=2

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...0&pagenumber=4

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...threadid=11656

I would like to take the opportunity to say that conceptart.org is a great community/resource for artists. I love seeing the work displayed on the forums but I would also recommend that some sort of watermark be placed on artworks in the future to prevent theft. Alot of time and resources have been spent by my team dealing with this issue. I want to prevent other companies/teams from wasting valuable time in the future. (note----is it possible to have code that puts a CA logo on the image when it posts on the forums?----jason)

In regards to this thief, he has been ejected from the team.

I thank you for your response and help.

Kanhong

[heiesuke]

that's sad and shameful..a good way to get blacklisted eh

[Jason Manley]

yes it is...world wide. its funny how small the world becomes with the internet. the concept art field is very very very small. this kind of behavior is not tolerated and is easily discovered.


j

[Mysen]

okay its one thing to be influenced by artwork.. but my Lord.. what are these peopel thinking just outright stealing arwork.. duh.. come off it people

Thanks for posting this suff Jason



Jamie McNulty (mysen)

[Joachim]

geez, I didn't know it was that serious. I found 3 of mine in there, I posted these just a couple of days ago and allready he has managed to add it into his portfolio - unbelievable. Wish I had his email adress, so I could do harass him in some way.

Jason, thanks for making sure he didn't get the job.

There's only one thing that always make me a bit more calm when I see stuff like this. I know that if he would get the job, he would make a laugh out of himself once he start creating his own work. Another thing is that if he would have used the art for any printing or commersial context he would be sued by the people that has bought and own the art.

[NOOSE]

man nothing makes my blood boil hotter then this type of thing!

It dosnt take an artist to tell that this guy has way to many different styles in his portfolio.....I was curiose, what is involved in hiring an artist,? step by step? ...I can usualy spot an artist who has inconsistancys at a mile away or even those that borrow from photo`s and not mention it, Ive even in the last few months have seen a handfull 3d modles with photoshop paint overs that were being passed off as fully painted, no refs? and sometimes on a lightly blured photo background,....Ive seen "photo realistic" body`s attached to heads with one eye twice the size of the other,..the kind of mistakes that someone who can pull off a photo realistic body doesnt make.


I think that if you are hireing someone you would make them draw or paint infront of you, or if you are hireing someone over the internet give the guy 1 day to come up with a painting or sketch of an Idea that you pull off the top of your head just to check out his speed and if he can do it without ref,...like say I dont know, maybe a cyborg cow with an army of mutated turnips driving dune buggys made of cheeze behind him,....lets see the fraud fake his way out of that bag! these fakes almost make getting in the industry look too easy!?? and I often wonder about the ones that dont get caught because they can put out just below average art, to sneak by, but got the position based on a hand full of hard working nobodys well above average work?.

I wanst kidding either about the hireing process? how it done or is their a thread here that has a detailed breakdown of whats involved? just to see how these cons get as far as they do!

ahh that felt better ... I think Ill go punch a kitten for a while

.....kidding I like kittens.

[grinn]

What the hell? Again? Do people really think they can pull this off? I mean, does anyone pay attention to the complete inconsistancies in the work? Its amazing how this keeps happening. I am almost glad that my work isnt the kind of caliber people would be wanting to steal.

[al-x]

But this guy must have been really stupid. There are peolple in the game industry visitning these forums, and to steal someones art, like for example Joachims, that's been posted so recently. And in the case of Joachim, I'm guessing is going to or has been published. He's just begging to be caught.

Thank god that these kind of people, for the most part, are slackers and will eventually be exposed...

[adien]

I'm a little stunned that this happened again so fast. much of the art in this guys portfolio was just posted here within the last few weeks.

makes me think that he actually got the idea from the stuff that was happening with chris runyon. but why would anyone steal a scam that was busted and didn't work? doesn't make much sense to me.

the biggest thing that perplexes me, and a few people have mentioned this.. how do they think they will be able to keep the job? The industry that they are trying to scam their way into is a place where you have to prove your ability time and again. If you don't have the skills to back up your portfolio, you're not going far.

Personally, I hope to someday be able to work in the industry, although I think I have many years ahead of me before that will happen. But the thought of stealing others work to create a portfolio had never even crossed my mind. Not only is it not logical, as you are sure to get busted... but from a moral standpoint... Oi

Well, it's reassuring that this guy got caught so fast. Maybe anyone else considering this course will now think twice.

[Carnifex]

i don't get what people expect to gain from these actions.if they're said to do a crazy concept noone has done before they're like sooo caught.what do these people have in mind?don't they ever think of the consequences happening to their actions?i just don't get it.good this one's been caught.

[Payback]

It's sad that people do this since it can make developers want to actually check all the artwork of new artists to make sure they're not posers and thieves...

I hope this "trend" stops, sooner rather than later.

[Kortez]

Artwork thiefs are sad pathetic lowlifes!!

I think someone should do a comic book about a superhero who stops art thiefs and brings them to justice!

I' was thinking of something like "Supermanley".... has a nice ring to it, right?

Art theft makes me :mad:

[faithrenee]

Art thieves have no respect for themselves or others. It makes it harder for every honest person out there to get a job because it makes companies paranoid. This is really common in 3d industry too. How many people really like taking tests to get a job?
An interviewer at a company should be able to determine who is honest and who is not by asking key questions and looking at the work for inconsistencies. Unfortunately, alot of interviewers may not have enough experience to determine this.

I am really glad that this time the interviewer did expose him!
Thanks!!!! You rock!!!

[Jason Manley]

my apologies to DIABLO....this fraudulant user is named diablo. in the confusion I put the wrong email addy.

[darkcult]

BURN BABY BURN!!!
:mad:



P.S. >Jason Manley---->:chug:

[chao]

oh.. not again!!!:mad: :mad: how many people will do this crap things!! oh.. just wondering.. isn't better if people in the industry at least ask for original sample in the interview process.. like just to show something that is original.. (pencil, ink ... etc).... uhhh this issue is getting bad.. thanks for posting this, jason!

[gekitsu]

jason, it's good you make everything public.
enough cases of art thievery ending up in a (almost) worldwide public blaming should teach people not to do.

i love the idea of supermanley, btw i vote for him having a feline companion

[Mysen]

I dunno.. i vote for thw whole. When you interview have a testing process.. get them to do things right then and there.

I mean i would rather have someone come in and show a portfolio.. then give them a test right on thespot. i mean.. shows they can handle pressure. and shows they can do the work they bring with em. mind you ya have to be a tad lenient with them for the time it takes for the sketc/test/whatever...

[Rockman]

Thanx Jason for posting his e-mail...He'll be lucky if he only get 20 or 30 mails a day..

[Atmospheria]

GOD DAMN!!! There are two of my sketches there!!!
elves_sketches[1].jpg and orc_hero_sketch[1].jpg !!
NOW I'M PISSED OFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad: :mad:
Find him immadiately and burn him in hell fire!!!

[chudzta]

edit: wait maybe its nurv not nury. lol. o well . shut up chudds
edit2:did any1 go to nurvstudios. why the hell is he using davi's avatar. what an idiot


RUNYon NURY.. i dunno that looks iffy tho i have no clue who runyon is to begin with other than a bad person.

Thankfully someone caught this one..

[Fisa]

I have no idea where to even start looking, but I have been to sites that do not allow you to copy the images by right-clicking.

If I can find further info or if anyone here has info could they plese elaborate on it?

[Big-Dave]

Frost had quite a clever idea for stopping richt-click and save as. Use a java script to open a new html document with the picture as the background. That way right-clicking doesn't work (hope he doesn't mind me posting his idea)

As for SuperManley, maybe we have an idea for the next Thunderdome?

To the guy that caught him and Jason for letting us know :chug:

[JoshuaTheJames]

Along with many of you I extremely value being able to gaze at the net and see some many artists and watch their progress. As easy as it is to steal artist's work it seems with such competent on-lookers we are in good hands when it comes to catching on to fraud.

Thanks guys,
-Joshua





As for the person who is to blame... if you are reading this..Its sure as hell time to wise up. You know damn well submitting and getting jobs off of work more competent then your own will bring nothing but shame. The work place is ten times more ruff than sitting at home doodling out your our work. And when it comes down to it even a good artist may have trouble preforming under pressure. How actually do you think you would do?

We all make mistakes but, my friend you made a large one. I don't have to tell you the benefits of hard work, just please learn from your mistakes, move on, and progress...

Whelp fella's I'm off to listen to some Frank Sinatra and do some comic book class homework

[McNallyism]

Haha! Joachim, Kress, and Fuzion, you're nobody until someone rips you off, right? I think we need new titles for those who have had their art stolen...its almost a status symbol!

congradulations guys (sort of...)

-Sean

[Atmospheria]

what did u mean by that mcnally?
"you're nobody until someone rips you off"

isn't suitable for a pro...

[tyboogie]

Why dont employers ask artists if they have the original files--or atleast PS and painter files above 72 dpi? if you can provide teh original files then your probably not stealing. i mean how are people getting away with getting jobs with stolen works at 72 dpi? do you just hire someone by seeing some work they emailed you?


this is making drawing tests for jobs sorta inevitable

im gonna post this before i get too profane

[strych9ine]

Atmospheria, I believe McNallyism was giving you a compliment... as in your work was admired and professional enough to be targeted by art thieves.

[McNallyism]

haha...Yeah thats what I meant. They say that immitation is the highest form of flattery, but I think they forgot outright stealing. Of course I acknowlege the negative consequences of art theft, especially the companies and art directors who get duped, but in the end these thieves aren't really fooling anyone or gaining anything (except maybe a free flight, stay in a hotel, and maybe a free meal). When and if they do get a job, they make a fool of themselves and gain a bad rep in the industry. No one can steal talent. Now if they were selling prints, having gallery showings etc. its a whole different ballgame...

But, yeah, what I'm saying is that they wouldn't be stealing your art in the first place if it weren't good. Sorry if I left any of the art victims out in my post.

-Sean

[WildSpruceMoose]

I spit on him. Spit I say. Well another good warning to the community and I think Jason and the guy who Pmed him deserve a nice :chug: