[BDG] Dawning Star on Temporary Hold Due to Artist Issues

[hellbender]

This is the whole reason why i'm not happy with the above post, claims are made, but there's no material made available to back the claim up. I hated it when SCO did it, i hate it when a rpg publisher does it. Especially when people that are calling someone thief are not the person that claims some one is doing something wrong in the first place or the person the is claimed to be doing something wrong.

Personally i find the black cloud not that someone is supposedly doing something wrong, rather that there are claims made that are not transperent.

The "artist" behind this incident posted the stolen artwork on ConceptArt as his own, work that is clearly that of another artist, yet claiming it was his own. Why you have such a difficult time comprehending this is beyond me. Another illustrator immediately saw the deception and acted upon it. I am also a member of ConceptArt and sadly this is not the only case, it happens all too frequently.

The situation is very black and white, extremely obvious and many people in the realm of art and illustration act upon these frauds, it is called watching each other's backs. The only person you should direct your bile at is the thief that not only stole someone's work and attempted to profit from it, but lied to a company by claiming the art was his, thus creating a situation and delaying a product. The only false claim made was by Gary Simpson, who should have known better in the first place.

To me, notifying people is an extremely helpful act, as it assists other publishers in making decisions and explains why a product is delayed when it is. Would you have complained as much if the product was delayed with no explanation?

 

[hellbender]

But you already have, complete with names, just minus proof.

What are you not understanding? There are threads on two other message boards with proof. Click the links, LOOK. Honestly, I swear you are just being thick on purpose. It happened, someone claimed someone else's artwork. Nothing new. There is more than enough proof for you out there. LOOK for it and quit needling the person making attempts to make it right. If anything, Simpson should apologize for his wrongdoing, why not find him and ask him questions?

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

Why not find him and ask him questions?

Actually, that's an excellent point. You're welcome to contact Gary yourself and ask him for his side of things. If he responds, please post it here. I would love to hear his version.

His e-mail is internalist[at]hotmail[dot]com

For the record, when I tried to contact him myself, he did not return my e-mails and hung up the phone on me.

 

[Cergorach]

What are you not understanding? There are threads on two other message boards with proof. Click the links, LOOK. Honestly, I swear you are just being thick on purpose. It happened, someone claimed someone else's artwork. Nothing new. There is more than enough proof for you out there. LOOK for it and quit needling the person making attempts to make it right. If anything, Simpson should apologize for his wrongdoing, why not find him and ask him questions?

I have looked at the threads in question, the problem is that there's no image of the image that supposedly is stolen (or partially stolen). The poster or moderator removed it, that means that those threads don't 'proof' anything anymore. Now the problem i have besides the public press release that paints an employee/freelancer as a bad picture is that accusations are made without public proof. You might not have noticed but 'facts' on the internet aren't always true, two links to threads to public message boards don't constitute 'proof', neither do a couple of people calling someone thief. They might of course be right, but unless you come with proof (such as the original image and the image that was copied), your no more credible then anyone else...

I don't know how it's in your neck of the woods, but around here it's the accusing part that has to come up with the proof, not the accused party, and certainly not bystanders that say that they don't the accusation for granted without some proof.

Your actually asking me to trust you and not someone else without some context, who knows. Maybe a group of you don't like Mr. Simpson, maybe you misunderstood, maybe your right, i don't know.

 

[lmpjr007]

I don't know how it's in your neck of the woods, but around here it's the accusing part that has to come up with the proof, not the accused party, and certainly not bystanders that say that they don't the accusation for granted without some proof.

Your actually asking me to trust you and not someone else without some context, who knows. Maybe a group of you don't like Mr. Simpson, maybe you misunderstood, maybe your right, i don't know.

Having been "SCREWED" by Mr. Simpson (AKA Hive) in the past I personally warned Justin when he started working with him. I told him that he was completely unreliable and to be careful dealing with him. Mr. Simpson and I made a deal in 2001 to have him make a cover for my RPG core rulebook, Haven: City of Violence. Like with Justin, I tried repeatedly to get in touch with Mr. Simpson who never answered back. Till this day I have never seen any work or heard from Mr. Simpson on the material that I was promised and any time I hear about Mr. Simpson is working on a project in the RPG I directly contact those people and tell them my story.

Cergorach I do not know what your connection with Mr. Simpson is, but my feeling are simple: Mr. Simpson is NOT TO BE TRUSTED IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM. If you come into contact with DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME DEALING WITH HIM, HE IS NOTHING BUT TROUBLE AND WILL CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR ANY PROJECT YOU ARE ASSIGNING HIM TO.

 

[hellbender]

I have looked at the threads in question, the problem is that there's no image of the image that supposedly is stolen (or partially stolen). The poster or moderator removed it, that means that those threads don't 'proof' anything anymore. Now the problem i have besides the public press release that paints an employee/freelancer as a bad picture is that accusations are made without public proof. You might not have noticed but 'facts' on the internet aren't always true, two links to threads to public message boards don't constitute 'proof', neither do a couple of people calling someone thief. They might of course be right, but unless you come with proof (such as the original image and the image that was copied), your no more credible then anyone else...

I don't know how it's in your neck of the woods, but around here it's the accusing part that has to come up with the proof, not the accused party, and certainly not bystanders that say that they don't the accusation for granted without some proof.

Your actually asking me to trust you and not someone else without some context, who knows. Maybe a group of you don't like Mr. Simpson, maybe you misunderstood, maybe your right, i don't know.

If the .pdf preview is still available you can easily see the proof that you need. Look at Travis' originals and the .pdf preview and you have proof that cannot be disputed. I saw the pictures that Gary Simpson removed from ConceptArt. I hadn't even heard of him until this incident, however it is a pretty low thing to do.

Sadly, this happens way too often and each time a fraud is found they must be exposed, because you are partially right in your first post, a person's income is being affected, just the wrong person's. Travis does excellent work and doesn't deserve to have this happen to him. However, Mr. Jacobson gave you the email address, I suggest you find out for yourself.

In the end, with the damage done, I do hope that Gary Simpson one day comes around and releases some good work, because you know what, more than anyone else involved, he let himself down by altering someone else's work and claiming it as his own. He stole from a great artist and was deceptive in claiming it as his own to Mr. Jacobson, but deep down, he always knew what he was doing, and he did himself an enormous disservice.

 

[Cergorach]

Cergorach I do not know what your connection with Mr. Simpson is, but my feeling are simple: ...

I have zero connection to Mr. Simpson, before this post i had never heard of the man.

I just think that the way that information is presented in this thread is not as... 'politically correct' as it should be. I have a bad experience with an rpg publisher, i'm not going to start posting that to this board, unless someone else starts a thread over similar problems with the same publisher. And even then i'll be very carefull with making accusations, not because i'm afraid of lawsuits or anything, but because my experience could be a fluke, there could be extenuating circumstances, etc.

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

I have looked at the threads in question, the problem is that there's no image of the image that supposedly is stolen (or partially stolen). The poster or moderator removed it, that means that those threads don't 'proof' anything anymore. Now the problem i have besides the public press release that paints an employee/freelancer as a bad picture is that accusations are made without public proof. You might not have noticed but 'facts' on the internet aren't always true, two links to threads to public message boards don't constitute 'proof', neither do a couple of people calling someone thief. They might of course be right, but unless you come with proof (such as the original image and the image that was copied), your no more credible then anyone else...

I don't know how it's in your neck of the woods, but around here it's the accusing part that has to come up with the proof, not the accused party, and certainly not bystanders that say that they don't the accusation for granted without some proof.

Your actually asking me to trust you and not someone else without some context, who knows. Maybe a group of you don't like Mr. Simpson, maybe you misunderstood, maybe your right, i don't know.

One last time with feeling: I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone. I issued a press release about one of my company's products.

 

[Cergorach]

One last time with feeling: I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone. I issued a press release about one of my company's products.

Then we're back at the original point: Press releases about a product aren't the place to vent displeasure with a freelancer. When was the last time you saw Hasbro stating that the new My Little Pony was delayed due to Mr. Jerry Smiths failure to do X?

I think i'm not the only one on this forum that thinks this a wee bit inappropriate and this will probably color my view of your company in a negative way. If instead there was a seperate thread where you warned fellow publishers my view would probably have been a lot more positive.

 

[lmpjr007]

Then we're back at the original point: Press releases about a product aren't the place to vent displeasure with a freelancer. When was the last time you saw Hasbro stating that the new My Little Pony was delayed due to Mr. Jerry Smiths failure to do X?

I think i'm not the only one on this forum that thinks this a wee bit inappropriate and this will probably color my view of your company in a negative way. If instead there was a seperate thread where you warned fellow publishers my view would probably have been a lot more positive.

I thinking you are missing one of the most important issue of what is going on. Mr. Simpson commited a crime. What he did was was infringe on another person copyright for his person gain. This is HUGE prioblem. He broke the law to make money off it. And the worst part of it all, Blue Devil, not Mr. Simpson would be liable for it.