<Personal/Professional> The DrawPonies Tracing "Scandal" · 3:48am Apr 21st, 2015
For those of you who didn't know, I dabble into art a bit in my spare time. I enjoy it, and I try to keep my art as original as possible. One person I often admire and look up to is the famed fandom artist DrawPonies. He has so much incredible art, but recently, he's been faced with a scandal.
I only recently heard about this "tracing" issue.
Honestly...I'll say that I'm disappointed. Neil was (still is!) someone I look up to. I've had to deal with a few people tracing my art, and I didn't like that one bit. I understand the biggest issue here is that he sold things at cons with traced assets. I also understand that that is wrong, and that he shouldn't have done that.
But as others say, the damage is done. There's no need to kick him while he's on the ground, so to speak, especially when you comment on a piece that is actually original work. A large majority of his work has no traced assets, and I think that's enough for me to say that I forgive him for the most part. I love Neil and his art, especially his original work, which is what I fell in love with when I first met him at Brony-Fest 2013.
So everyone, let me say this: even if you think your comment is harmless and simple "sarcasm", keep in mind that a lot of times the simplest words can hurt the most. I have a buddy of mine here on FiMFiction who wanted to quit writing a very popular story of his because A) he had issues that kept him from writing and B) people just kept commenting a simple six word phrase: "When are you going to update?"
My point here is that saying things like "Oh look something original" or "This is sad" or something along the lines is not helping the problem. In no way are you helping someone. Rather, you're kicking a man who hit his low, and if anything, that makes you just as bad.
Neil, if you read this, I want you to know that however sad I am over this issue, I still love and support you, no matter what. I look forward to meeting you again!
I'll be honest, I've acted a little bitter about this too. I was offended when I heard about this.
But after seeing so many people jumping on this guy, completely overreacting to the situation, I realize how bad it would have been if I would have commented on it. Thankfully I haven't yet and will not.
I hope he gets his name cleared somehow.
3002701 Believe me, when I found out, I was very saddened. I mean, I really looked up to this guy.
However, I often try to keep a philosophy of not condemning others for their mistakes. Will I say they made a mistake? Of course. Will I say that act was bad? Of course. But will I condemn them, call them worthless, make monikers of their professional name like "Traceponies" and other malicious crap? You can bet your ass that I won't.
Oh, and it doesn't help that Horse News is jumping on the witch hunt band wagon and trying to claw Neil down bit by bit.
Like, I get it. What Neil did was bad. Heck, more than bad: he sold art to people that essentially had stolen material. But look, the man did all he could which is to say he apologized and is committing to changing. Neither he nor any of us can do anymore, so I say we accept that, because it's the best we're going to get.
Say what you'll like, but I'm still staying behind Neil. He's been too good to me for me to abandon him now when he needs his friends more than ever.
I am disappointed that he'd trace assets in order to get work out more quickly, but I'm proud of him for manning up and admitting his wrongs and taking actions to right them.
On another note, I wonder who that author could be, eh?
