Artists Using Doll Likenesses without Crediting [Mijn Schatje discussion]

Agreed with this. The last thing needed is for HER to take the chance to sue YOU for defamation during this fiasco. Lay low, write the article quietly in the background with as much fact and as little speculation as possible, and have it ready for the Grand Slam Home Run.

 

oh my it does look just like them, i'm particularly looking at the thicker outside edges and the nonsymmetrical elements are the same yikes.

 

I don't think so, in many of her pictures she copies all the little light reflections of the lips of dolls and such. Those glasses look realistic (likely traced) but I don't believe thats particularly the image she used.

 

I didn't think they were, I'm looking around to see if I can find the ones she may have used. It wasn't an exact match though. It was just something I noticed.

 

I had posted this in another forum and I thought I'd post it here as well:

I have stumbled up this thread today so excuse me if it's been mentioned already, since I only saw one magazine listed on DoA I thought I'd mention this...

From her facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=104587798997

That article about her is from an Argentian magazine, if you guys need some sort of help with translation to contact the magazine let me know, I'm willing to help.

This article also seems to mention other magazines that have featured her work:
"A pesar de sus escasa edad, Mijn no sólo asombra por lo definido de IIlla estética con sello propio, sino por la cantidad de trabajos publicados en los más prestigiosos medios internacionales: Wear, Blackpool, Blink, Nude, y la consagración en Illustratíon Now! Volume 2 de Taschen, elegida para la edición 2007, donde comparte cartel con 150 ilustradores de todo el mundo, con estilos que van desde lo más tradicional hasta el riesgo en su estado puro, bajo la tutela del editos brasilero Julius Wiedemann. Pronto también formará parte de la publicación a cargo del prestigioso diseñador gráfico Die Gestalten Verla."

This paragraph states that even though she is young she is astounding because she's been published in prestigious international mediums.
Wear, Blackpool, Blink, Nude, Illustratíon Now! Volume 2 de Taschen seem to be the magazines she's been featured in, not all of them are in English so it'll require some help from others so we can contact all of these magazines.

90+10 (in Spanish) http://www.blackpoolmagazine.com/v2/
WeAr http://www.wear-magazine.com/
Blackpool (in French) http://www.blackpoolmagazine.com/v2/
Blink http://blinkmag.wordpress.com/
Nude http://www.nudemagazine.co.uk/
Illustration Now! Vol 2 is a book so I think we'd have to get in touch with the publishing company?
Anyway here's a link to info on the book
http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/design/all/04426/facts.illustration_now_vol_2.htm

Her myspace also states even more magazines she's been featured in.

 

Taschen isn't a magazine, it's a company that publishes art books and the like. A few people on the other forum have already contacted them about this.

 

I know it's a book I mentioned it in my post, I didn't see the company of the book mentioned in front page when I looked, as I thought it would be in the magazine section. I just saw now it's listed on companies.

The rest of the magazines I mentioned are not listed as being contacted.

 

just an FYI: radiotrash's website about her shows up on the first page of results if you google her name. *snort*

update: someone started a thread in the Otakon public Discussion area of the bbs.

 

Wow, yesterday it was on the third page. I think it was on the second page last night.

 

i would think so. that particular design is pretty unique to them (the neon with rainbow laces and white strip logo on the side)

i hope radiotrash got my PM, the website needs to be updated now that we know where the shoe came from.

 

I have a suggestion, I think we should name some (or all) of the comparision images with the name Mijn Schatje(#) so that when people search Mijn Schatje on google images they will show up (hopefully soon be in the first page)

 

According to this article. It states

http://paintalicious.org/2007/10/05/marie-blanco-hendrickx-aka-mijn-schatje/

So I wonder if that Reebok shoe is for some more commerical work.

 

Considering her previous history, I seriously doubt it. But it doesn't hurt to ask. Very few companies take offense to people looking out for their copyright. :P

 

Ditto. I think what else should be done, is the comparison pictures should be posted to communities on Lj and the ilk that allow such things, such as randompictures and related art communities where things like that are discussed. Quite often pictures speak much quicker than tl;dr stuff.

 

Ok, this is sort of a tangent, but if you want to Create your Own Dollie Masterpieces it's easier than I thought! (You don't even need Illustrator, just Photoshop)
Step one is getting your source pic. I took a Poser girl named Bambi who looks a little doll-like, and rendered an image of her with flat lights (so there were no dark shadow on her face. Then I opened Photoshop, and went to Image/Adjust/Desaturate to get a black and white image. That looked sort of dark, so I went to Image/Adjust/ Brightness-Contrast and hiked up both the brightness and the contrast. Then I took an Airbrush and set it to 100% flow and 30% opacity and then re-added the color--you can even work on a layer above so you can erase mistakes, and for tricky places you can select with the lasso tool to keep the edges sharp (like on the eyebrows). Here you can see how it's going:


It actually looks kinda cool, and it's really fast--I got bored after 40 minutes and I have other stuff I am supposed to be doing. The downside is that you do wipe out some detail as you work, because you are covering the finer shadows and gradients..but it's a LOT faster than doing a full Illustrator vector drawing, and if you are working print size it doesn't have to be scaled up. It keeps all the original highlights, too. When you are done recoloring just add a colored gradient in back and flatten the whole thing and there you are!

 

She did use Illustrator(also helps with mega resizing without image quality loss). A couple of days ago she posted a WIP picture with the vectors on Facebook but it's not there anymore :C

 

You can desat an image, toss it in Illustrator and trace it. I'm not sure of how well it'll come out but it will trace it. And the live trace button? Even though she says she doesn't use it (and I can't exactly prove if she does or doesn't) Well it's stupid fast to do it tat way. Select image, click button, profit as the saying goes.

 

Arrgh!!

Haven't they taken theses things down yet?

http://justbecomplex.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=25_255

They still have her prints up on the Website, and I am very tempted to Email and tell them off. but....

Who was the one who first contacted this website?

They need to be reminded again that they could get sued for helping her sell her "Work"

---


OK, with that out of the way, As a BJD owner and an Artist. (I mean that in truest sense of the word, I am not A tracer!!)

I am appalled and offended that that this person has been making so much money off of tracing photos and calling it her "Original" artwork.

If there is an "I hate Mijn Schatje" website, I would gladly join. She puts a bad name on those who are sacrificing blood and tears to survive on their artwork. (Me included, I live off the original paintings that I sell.)

I think that the Doll companies should get in touch with a lawyer in Paris or France to file a complaint. Even thought they are over seas and the laws are different. They do have rights.

Have anyone contacted them to tell them that they could file a compliant?
They are the ones who must do something in order to stop her.
They must be made to understand that We, as individuals can't do much for this position. (Other then spread the word about her "crime")
They must stop her, Please We must do something to convince them that only they *can* do something about this.


I will be keeping up this thread with my fingers crossed and hope that this Thief is brought to justice.

and I hope that Many of the DoA members continue to fight together against this Crime.

 

The original creators of the art that was traced will have to be the ones to contact Sony; we cannot do it on their behalf. Wish we could, but that only muddies the waters.

Now as to her statement that she has talked to a lawyer (several pages upstream): she has already lied about never seeing BJDs, then lied about tracing, then lied about getting permission, I see no reason to believe that she has not lied about talking to a lawyer.

I'll go about quietly contacting the graphic design and art magazines, and if an article is wanted from us rather than having their own editorial people investigate, I'll get hold of Radiotrash about this (waves to Radiotrash) and the two of us will work on it in the background. There frankly is NO rush to do anything about something that will appear in print; this is not a case of planes falling out of the sky, but it certainly could be educational to others who might think this is a good idea.

 

Elysion gear- There is a Facebook group... http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=85573192034&ref=mf