Possible stolen art, can't find original artist

[BingFox]

EDIT: I'm specifically looking for who the original artist is, as I don't believe it's mlp-galore. Sorry for any confusion.

Browsing through deviantArt I came upon this image: https://www.deviantart.com/mlp-galore/a ... -820564971

Not only does it look familiar to me in style and the artist's signature, but if you look at the rest of the user's gallery it seems like a huge jump in skill that seems suspicious to me.

However, I have yet to pinpoint anything with reverse image searches or looking through my own favorites and files.

Artist in question: https://www.deviantart.com/mlp-galore

Any help? If it's stolen I'd at least like to inform the original artist.

[Eka]

Just contact the original artist directly and they can make decision on this. No need for public discussion
.

[BingFox]

Just contact the original artist directly and they can make decision on this. No need for public discussion
.

I do not know the original artist, that's the point of this post.

Do you know who made the original piece?

No offense, but did you just read the title and not the actual post?

[Eka]

Just contact the original artist directly and they can make decision on this. No need for public discussion
.

I do not know the original artist, that's the point of this post.

Do you know who made the original piece?

No offense, but did you just read the title and not the actual post?

Well I did misunderstood what you meant. Yes. I thought you are just looking for the original image. As your post didn't actually specifies whether you are looking for the artist or the image. Sorry! Nevermind me!

[bobbyquentin2]

You're right that the line work looks to be a much different style than most of the work posted on that account. The coloring, though, has a bit of a washed-out quality to it that's also present in a couple of other recent images.

It's possible mlp-galore may have colored another artists B&W image. That may be why you're having a hard time finding the original.

[night22]

Wow yeah the brush settings, proportions, everything is different than their other stuff. I have no idea who the original is but I doubt the poster is them.

[chimcharinsanity]

To be perfectly fair, I think this may be their artwork. Take a look at the other drawings, all of them are from 2017 or even longer than that except the most recent other post from half a year ago. It is plausible that they've been practicing their skills before posting again. Beyond that, if you read the description mlp-galore says the following:


"Hey guys! Sorry for being so inactive for so long"

"In my downtime I've been trying out some new things with art. This took me so long but I'm so proud of it!"

"I will probably return to my past art style because this took me so long XD"


I'm not saying they for 100% certain that they are innocent, but more research ought to be done before ostracising anyone when you have 0 proof they have done what you claim.

I tried google searching the image and came up with no results, so personally I'm gonna wipe them clean of any ill intent until more evidence arises.

[AlluringPredation]

chimcharinsanity, no, it isn't their art.

Regression happens when you don't draw for a while and exists, but the skill variation is too high, and you get to a point where your art won't regress back to the starting block. Even if there was a longer gap in their submissions the artist shows no consistent improvement before nor any attention to aesthetics beyond recognizable shapes. It makes no sense they would suddenly and magically improve then say they'll be going back to crap, artistry skill doesn't poof overnight because you stopped caring, it gets to a point where artistic concepts become intuitive where you don't even need to think to achieve the same results. So to say it takes "more effort" on the thief's part is silliness. You can adopt a simple style to save time, but even then it will retain the improvements you made.

Some people DO manage to get worse, but they have to really work on it and dismantle every good thing in their artistic style, and it's a process that takes time.

[BingFox]

Eka suggested it was Stoopedhooy, but when I noted him/her, they said it isn't one of theirs.

[chimcharinsanity]

AlluringPredation, I get what you're saying but again I am not going to alienate them because a claim was made when the proof is so flimsy. 2 years is not 'suddenly' and even if the previous post from 6 months prior was actually made and uploaded on the same day, that's still a good chunk of time. More than enough for someone to advance by that much.

Also, you said and I quote, "So to say it takes ---"more effort"--- on the thief's part is silliness." When I never mentioned anything of the sort in my post, not even the segment where I quoted the person in question's description.

Again, I'm not saying they are definitely innocent. Not in the slightest. I'm just willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until more evidence arises and if it does I will gladly bite the bullet and conceive.

[soline]

I'm inclined to say this is in fact MLP-Galore's artwork for several reasons. I think this is far more a case of someone actually trying to produce something good, potentially coupled with as much as two years of practice.

I think there's a distinctly visible difference between bad artists and lazy people, same for writers. Lazy creators often wind up looking pretty much identically terrible because all their content is born of "Get this idea on paper as fast, as quickly, as effortlessly as possible.", so they all wind up looking like something a child drew in class. Bad creators can produce equally terrible work, but it's usually visible there's effort put into it.

All of MLP's earlier work looks lazy but not inherently bad, in fact there are the occasional glimpses of understanding of how to do it better buried under the MS Paint blocks. Additionally the quality varies pretty significantly, the second to most recent one looking like it was drawn with a mouse, the two most recent Rose pictures look like they were drawn decades apart (and interestingly, the significantly better of the two is a request for a fan, while the other is just MLP's doodling.). On top of that the newest picture is still pretty simplistic, the biggest improvements to quality look like an early play at pencil brushes, line feathering (idk the actual terminology, those little dashes tapering off hard lines) and coloured lines; all three of which are (or at least were for me) quick and easy tips you pick up all over the place to see a big improvement in picture quality. The signature adds some more continuity too, as older pictures have the same signature affixed in the same way ('running' along a characters body). The signature has similarly improved in quality enormously from the previous pictures, and the lovehearts in the sign and above the character's head are pretty similar; which means if it's stolen MLP must have put a fair bit of work into adding his own signature in an unobtrusive way and matching it to elements of the picture.

While it's entirely possible the picture is stolen, it's also very possible this is just a jump in quality and effort. I don't know if anyone else remembers but NitroTitan waaaaay back when produced very basic 'chibi' style pictures (alongside another artist, I can't remember their name actually ) and then without any growth period at all began producing the high quality work they're known for today. (I remember it being over a matter of months gap, but who knows, maybe I'm wrong.). A more recent example people might remember is the first time CratedCheese posted a detailed picture and surprised all their fans who were used to the simplistic Eve comic strips. (Also since I've name dropped just want to point out I'm not saying the 'old' artwork in either case was 'bad' by any stretch of the imagination. I love their other work. Just saying the change in detail and quality was similarly dramatic.)

I'd support MLP-Galore and see what else they produce in the future. If they are a thief they aren't going to do it only the once, so you'll catch them out eventually. And if they aren't, then you can support a newly focused artist from the very start of their career!

[AlluringPredation]

Chim. It's not a 2 year jump, it's a 5 month timespan from their last image posted here https://www.deviantart.com/mlp-galore/a ... -802787050 You can't just choose to ignore this image because it doesn't fit your theory, and while soline says some good things the misinformation presented kills their comment.

Image in question :

They're the ones who are talking about more effort and taking too long and not to expect this style in the future.

In my downtime I've been trying out some new things with art. This took me so long but I'm so proud of it! I will probably return to my past art style because this took me so long XD

So we'll never see the same art quality from them again? Way too convenient.