A looong while back, I discovered that somebody (who'd once favourited one of my logos) had stolen one of my logos for himself a few months later, and stuck it in his gallery. In the description, he'd called it a completely original piece, even listing how long it took him to make. I sent him a message, offering him a chance to explain or remove the artwork (seeing as he wasn't a bad artist to start off, assuming his gallery was actually his). He never responded, so I tattled to DA. I don't feel bad about that.

With this other guy, I'm kinda confused. Maybe I'm just being a nosy prick, and since it doesn't really involve anything heinous with copyrights, it's not really a big deal, but I feel like somebody should at least say something. And let me be clear: this guy's not breaking any DA rules in any way.

This artist is a damn good photographer, and seems to enjoy grunge/urban stuff. He apparently likes graffiti, as he's 'made' three amazingly large murals somewhere nearby, on a rough wall. The problem is that the murals are obviously fake. Anyone with a few hours of Photoshop experience can point that out. Again, not an issue... stencil/graf ideas superimposed on walls are widely accepted (I've made a few myself). What bothers me is that the guy is saying that he spent days working on the murals, fighting the rain (explaining the blur around the hair, which should set off some bells straightaway), and he's so proud of himself for having completed these murals so diligently... when he more than likely spent an hour or two sitting in a comfortable chair in front of his computer working on them.

Now what would you do if you were a graffiti artist or street artist of any sorts, took pride in the amount of work/dedication/time/balls that went into a piece, and a man who's obviously faked his prized murals is saying things like:

"The biggest stencil that I've ever made... I'm sooo proud of it."
"6 days cutting the Stencil
another 3 to paint. And day 2, it rainned a bit... So the paint its a little blurry at the hair."

Or had a few dozen casual conversations with his fans in his comment section like this:
"you did bloody good job, I'm shocked! This graffiti is amaizn'!!!"
"Wow, l'm really really glad that you liked it, So.. I really cant express my gratitude!"
"You fully deserve it!"

"i didnt know about ur talent on brushing. damn it looks excellent!"
"I'm not old graffiting, but Its pretty much nice to learn somehting new... If you like, we could do a piece one day? what about?"




I'm sorry, maybe I'm being a little pissy, but it seems to me that if a person is going to go through all the trouble of making a doctored photo of a mural they 'made', going so far as to get a second shot from a different angle, that they should take credit for their image editing / graphics design skills, and not bullshit some incredible backstory about how hard it was for them, and steal the thunder from people who really did work hard at it?

How would YOU handle the situation?

Probably not like the old days where I'd submit something like .5 deviations a day.

But for the second time in almost five years, I submitted a tiny piece of writing. Nothing fiction, nothing complete, and nothing really substantial, but just something. Despite my lack of posting, I have been writing plenty of fiction in my free time, and eventually, I will post some of it. The problem lies with me getting around to editing, revising, rewriting, rewriting, and rewriting. I'd love to just put up a bunch more of my drafts, but I think it's time I started completing more stuff before posting it.

With that, I give you my incomplete second draft of my directionless rant "Video Games Killed the Ice Cream Man".

Enjoy, it could be the first of a bunch of new stuff, or just another unfulfilled promise of repeated gratification.

Congrats, DA.

My buddy Will just set up his new DA account, and he has some really amazing poetry (spoken-word).

Check it out, if you're into that kinda stuff.

[link]

Have any advice for an aspiring author?