Tracing/art theft rule update conclusion.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

We have been in discussion of the results of this post and have come to the conclusion that a compromise would be best. While the first option did gain the most votes, it was just barely, and overall there are more people wanting some kind of change.

So we will be amending the rule to reflect option number 2, which was:

Yes, but only if the person is taking commissions/trades using traced work.

Rather self-explanatory. Posts about your average tracer uploading to Deviantart because they thought Sailor Moon was cool and wanted to trace (but aren't taking money for it) will now be redirected to art_theft.

In practice, this doesn't mean much of a change. We rarely received tracing/copying posts that weren't business-related in some way. We've merely brought the rule more in line with the purpose of artists_beware, leaving the rest to the more specialized art_theft, who are usually better suited to finding originals and the like anyway.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Beware and deleted contact: Yato-girl

[hebilea.livejournal.com]

WHO: Yato-girl/Missoverboard on DeviantArt

WHERE: http://yato-girl.deviantart.com/ (already deleted)
http://missoverboard.deviantart.com/

WHAT: Commissions of one full art piece and seven chibies.

WHEN: STILL from around December 2009 until today.

PROOF: Since this is so long ago, I have only one proof, which is a note from her from August 2011. All the notes and conversations we had through notes on DeviantArt before that were then deleted as I have trusted her and being a part friend to me and thought the notes wouldn't be neccessary. Here is the last contact I have with her, kindly asking how the commissions are going.
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc263/Shiroi-Hebi/yato-girl.jpg

EXPLAIN: 

My name is hebitheivan, or also Shiroi-Hebi on Deviantart. I come to you about a person called Yato-girl that deleted her Deviantart and then just disappeared. I commissioned her a total of one full body colored drawing and 7 chibis, for a total of 30$.

It started with Yato-girl wanting to raise over a hundred dollars, because she wanted to go on a gymnastics class that her mom couldn't pay her for some reason. She said that it was her passion and that she has done it for a few years and couldn't do it then because of financial problems, so that's why she took these commissions. I thought I would help her out and send her money, I thought that her kind of art was pretty interesting to look at, so I commissioned her and sent her money by concealed cash. I know concealed cash is not a good way to have business with people, but she didn't have Paypal and I trusted her, because she was partly a friend to me, we had some very nice conversations here and there, so I thought, why not?

I sent her the money of course and she got it with no problem. That was when I started to wait for my commissions to come. She had me in her waiting list, listed all the things I wanted and she listed also some other commissioners in order. Week by week I did look how the waiting list was going on, it was going at first slow, but smoothly it seemed. Then the problems came that she has been writing journals about how once her artbook with all the art for us commissioners got stolen from her and then more intense journals like her being out of internet for a while because of medical problems (one was about her foot that got really damaged during gymnastics and then had to go to operation because of it). I, from my part to be honest, I got a little sidetracked, she did keep me updated when I asked her, but that was it. I thought I would just leave her some time because of her in real life problems, but I also know it was my fault and should have probably pushed her more into doing them, or asking for a refund.

The note, as I have included in the proof, is the last conversation I had with her. I have even wrote back to that note she has written me, but I got no response after that. I then thought I would let her be again for a while and then when I checked her out, she deleted her DeviantArt, which made me upset of course. 

Now to be honest, I have commissioned a lot of people in the past, I would even say I have commissioned more than 10 people, but I have never had problems with ANY artist, except this case. I am a patient person, I have graduated in high school from art, and art takes time to do. So that's also why I left her the time, but I admit, I have done it also wrong and let her have more than enough time. I have lost contact with her and she disappeared with my 30$.

It wasn't hard to find some of her art, even though she deleted her account, because she has some art listed on dA Groups. Here are some examples:
http://majint-nougami-neuro.deviantart.com/art/World-Full-of-MYSTERIES-Yato-116648565
http://ludwig-germany-fc.deviantart.com/art/Such-a-PEST-by-yato-girl-128067213
http://clay-creations.deviantart.com/art/Deidara-and-His-Creations-77614183
http://germancest-club.deviantart.com/art/Back-to-backby-Yato-girl-127623129

If anybody knows more about this person, or any kind of contact by any chance, I would deeply appreciate it. Thank you.

EDIT: I have found her and I have written a note to her. She has replied back to me, apologizing and that she would like to make up for it. She said she would send me the commissions she has done so far, INCLUDING sending money back to me by concealed cash. I will give her my mailing address and see how it will go.
Here is the screenshot of her note: http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc263/Shiroi-Hebi/missoverboard.jpg

Drago Art, Dawn Donald

[thowra-egypt.livejournal.com]

WHO: "DragoArt" on DeviantART, authoress of Drago Art dot com Dawn Donald

WHERE: DeviantART.com and DragoArt.com

WHAT: Dawn Donald, famous authoress of the tutorial website DragoArt.com, has been revealed to be a tracer. I'm not sure if she has been posted here yet, but i did an hour-long sweep of the community before posting and i didn't see anything.

WHEN: The majority of her tracings of her tutorials happened before 2010

PROOF: Here is a website review: http://www.helium.com/items/2269038-website-review-dragoartcom

A journal deleted by the author about her tracings and showing overlays: http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/8526/neondragonondeviantart0.png

A note, written by a "Dren Harrison" who is, in fact, Dawn under an alias as discovered by outside sources: http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/3186/snarkyreply.jpg

Dawn being immature in the face of a few members of deviantART accusing her of tracing: http://comments.deviantart.com/1/271510684/2323496833

Dawn attacking the artist who posted the journal: http://comments.deviantart.com/1/274827387/2332014820

Larger versions of the overlays: http://wtfkashblog.tumblr.com/post/14799072433/xibalbadance-neondragonart-dragoart-ive

EXPLAIN:  one of my friends one day posted me a link to their argument against her http://comments.deviantart.com/1/271510684/2323496833 Pointing out that this Dawn Donald, DragoArt @ dA, traces. Later that day she noted NeonDragon about their similar names, which led to the journal posted above. Dawn threatened NeonDragon with a lawsuit, under the reasoning that she was "slandering her name and character", when in fact that Dawn had copied Neon's tutorial style in the first place.
Earlier today, i was visiting the site of PortConMaine to check  the dates for a family member when i saw that she was going to be a guest there. I immediately emailed the staff and i am awaiting their reply. She also does commissions, and i suggest deffo NOT commissioning her, although not all her recent work has been traced, just the majority. She is immature and annoying to communicate with.