Stolen Art Work

We have someone that is using a bunch of other peoples work including mine on their website - check out: http://www.ginagraphx.com/facepainting.htm

I have sent her a serious cease and desist letter and a personal comment on her webiste. If you see your picture on this website you need to send her a cease and desist letter. Not sure if Gary Cole of Snazaroo will be doing anything about this. Most of these pictures were taken directly from the snazaroo site.

Kathy Oros

Someone already wrote about this on the Where's the Beef board

crazy! I wonder if anything on that site was hers?

Geez, that's a bit extreme isn't it?
She has stolen EVERY photo....
Some people have no shame.

P.s. I'd steal your stuff too Kathy if I thought I could get away with it......hahahaha just kidding......... at least she knows to steal from the best!

Kathy, I love your work & while I practice it all the time I'd never want someone to expect me to reproduce it exactly.
Thievery is the best form of flattery in the face paint world!

lol while Im sure its not the kindest thing to use someones work as your own, we all know about the whole issue and it's been going on forever, yack yack yack. I think the poster is making WAAAAY too big of a deal about it. Yet another face painter who thinks she's just the bees knees and overly protective about every little thing. TALK ABOUT PARANOID. It's funny because I guarantee you she copied many designs from other people and face painting books herself, the only difference would be she didnt post them as her own, or pehaps she did? Seriously, a cease and desist letter???? TOO FUNNY, get over it hun, tomorrow will come. Please tell me you arent really planning any legal action, if so you really need to step back, look at your life and reprioritize it. It's not like any action can even be taken unless you've had your designs issued a copyright or trademarked and if eveyone did that, all creativity would cease due to paranoia like this being shown. Who has the time to browse every single website to make sure no one is using "your" work? As far as the Snazaroo situation on this persons site, the photos do have the snazzaroo logo clown on the bottom of each photo, so she's really doing nothing wrong, I highly doubt that will care even a little bit. Someone ha WAAAY too much time on their hands. Just my opinion

Ahem... you may keep your opinion.

As a professional my images, and those of the other professionals who are MAD about being stolen from AGAIN, are our livelihood. We all have a right to protect our property and those images ARE our property.

The fact that the Snaz logo is still on the photos proves they are a thief... If you cared to read the Snaz photo pages it clearly says that all the images are the property of the artists and protected by copyright.

Copyright LAWS have been broken, as well as a so called professional artist misprepresenting their ability/work, and it is fraud to say the least. Leaving the logo on the bottom simply proves what a bottom feeding thief they are as they didn't remove the "price tag" after shopping lifting at the store!

The use of photos without permission is a breach of the law and their ISP provider, when notified will be legally required to remove the site from the intenet.

All because they were too damn lazy to paint and take their own photos and post them.

Illegal is illegal I don't care if it is "just a photo"... when your rights have been violated you are entitled to take action. When some lazy naughty word so-called face painter uses my photos you bet I send a cease and desist letter... and if they are not removed the appropriate parties are informed.

Painting a design that you copied, taking your own photo and using that photo is entirely legal... using a photo taken by someone else IS NOT! Unless that have permission of the owner... and I guarantee this twit DID NOT get permission as so many of the actual owners are furious!

I suggest that might want to read up on copyright law as it applies to the internet and ownership of photographs and images, etc. before telling victims of crimes that they are being too sensitive when, again, other people are trying to use their work to make money.

UNREAL! You are completely justified in protecting your work, just like any other artist or designer out there. It is 100% illegal, and quite pathetic to say the least, to post someone else's work in your portfolio or anywhere without permission for that matter. Good for you for not letting them get away with it!!

PaintFrenzy wrote:lol while Im sure its not the kindest thing to use someones work as your own, we all know about the whole issue and it's been going on forever, yack yack yack. I think the poster is making WAAAAY too big of a deal about it. Yet another face painter who thinks she's just the bees knees and overly protective about every little thing. TALK ABOUT PARANOID. It's funny because I guarantee you she copied many designs from other people and face painting books herself, the only difference would be she didnt post them as her own, or pehaps she did? Seriously, a cease and desist letter???? TOO FUNNY, get over it hun, tomorrow will come. Please tell me you arent really planning any legal action, if so you really need to step back, look at your life and reprioritize it. It's not like any action can even be taken unless you've had your designs issued a copyright or trademarked and if eveyone did that, all creativity would cease due to paranoia like this being shown. Who has the time to browse every single website to make sure no one is using "your" work? As far as the Snazaroo situation on this persons site, the photos do have the snazzaroo logo clown on the bottom of each photo, so she's really doing nothing wrong, I highly doubt that will care even a little bit. Someone ha WAAAY too much time on their hands. Just my opinion

Shannon said it all...

PaintFrenzy wrote:lol while Im sure its not the kindest thing to use someones work as your own, we all know about the whole issue and it's been going on forever, yack yack yack. I think the poster is making WAAAAY too big of a deal about it. Yet another face painter who thinks she's just the bees knees and overly protective about every little thing. TALK ABOUT PARANOID. It's funny because I guarantee you she copied many designs from other people and face painting books herself, the only difference would be she didnt post them as her own, or pehaps she did? Seriously, a cease and desist letter???? TOO FUNNY, get over it hun, tomorrow will come. Please tell me you arent really planning any legal action, if so you really need to step back, look at your life and reprioritize it. It's not like any action can even be taken unless you've had your designs issued a copyright or trademarked and if eveyone did that, all creativity would cease due to paranoia like this being shown. Who has the time to browse every single website to make sure no one is using "your" work? As far as the Snazaroo situation on this persons site, the photos do have the snazzaroo logo clown on the bottom of each photo, so she's really doing nothing wrong, I highly doubt that will care even a little bit. Someone ha WAAAY too much time on their hands. Just my opinion

You do realise that nobody has a problem with looking at a photo and then painting it themselves to take a photo for a site - the issue is when you simply lift a photo of someone else's work and call it your own - it's misleading.

Shannon is very right on this. This person only took the time to steal. Many of the artists stolen from have invested years of training, practice, paid photo shoots, etc. for their work & photos. Now this thief is getting the credit as the general public will only see the pics & think, "Wow! She's/he's good!" & hire her/him. Then the client will receive work that looks nothing like the originals. It's bad business & another reason why the general public doesn't respect face painting.
How would you feel if you saw a menu at a restaurant & it showed fancy, high class dishes & you order your food & they bring out tv dinners?

PaintFrenzy wrote:lol while Im sure its not the kindest thing to use someones work as your own, we all know about the whole issue and it's been going on forever, yack yack yack. I think the poster is making WAAAAY too big of a deal about it. Yet another face painter who thinks she's just the bees knees and overly protective about every little thing. TALK ABOUT PARANOID. It's funny because I guarantee you she copied many designs from other people and face painting books herself, the only difference would be she didnt post them as her own, or pehaps she did? Seriously, a cease and desist letter???? TOO FUNNY, get over it hun, tomorrow will come. Please tell me you arent really planning any legal action, if so you really need to step back, look at your life and reprioritize it. It's not like any action can even be taken unless you've had your designs issued a copyright or trademarked and if eveyone did that, all creativity would cease due to paranoia like this being shown. Who has the time to browse every single website to make sure no one is using "your" work? As far as the Snazaroo situation on this persons site, the photos do have the snazzaroo logo clown on the bottom of each photo, so she's really doing nothing wrong, I highly doubt that will care even a little bit. Someone ha WAAAY too much time on their hands. Just my opinion

You might want to rein back on YOUR 'tude a bit until you properly digest the situation. There is a big, no HUGE difference between recreating a design and stealing photos of another's work and presenting it to the public as your own! Some of those "bees knees and overly protective" painters have gotten releases to post photos of OTHER PEOPLE's children on THEIR websites...the thief had no such permission granted! Your defensive tone leads the rational mind to wonder about how far you've tread into the same waters yourself...to be honest. I'm the last person to blast a new member to the forum, but when you come here and on your first of second post tell us that we're all paranoid for wanting to protect our work, you've pretty much bent over with a big 'ole bullseye on your behind.

We aren't talking about designs; most are posted to inspire. What we are talking about is outright theft of intellectual and electronic property. I suppose that in your opinion, the movie studios are blowing the whole piracy thing out of proportion as well? I mean...it's not like the movie thieve are all stealing them to sell...they just don't want to go to the theater, right?

The best word of advice that I can offer you is to step back and reassess your opinions before you decide to jump into the fray and challenge a long standing struggle that has copyright laws to back it up. It's not about being 'better' than anyone else or being paranoid...it's about being respectful to fellow painters; unfortunately, there are a lot of people who see the dollar signs and don't want a little thing like training and ethic self marketing to get in the way of their money dreams. In short (as if)...I totally agree with my Canadian buddy.

PaintFrenzy, here's my two cents, for what it's worth:
I am basically a mediocre painter. I have learned tips and techniques from people who are "bees knees" painters that willingly share information to help others be better painters. These techniques make my faces sooo much better, and customers perceive that as talent. I could never achieve the level of painting that I am at if it weren't for sites like this one where people share freely. I appreciate those who help and encourage me along, even if they do not realize they are doing it. I would never think to return their gracious help by representing their work as my own in any way. I believe, indeed, that would constitute theft.
Also, misrepresenting myself to a client is wrong, no matter how you slice it. I think Psalm's restaurant analogy is right on the money. Maybe this painter can recreate the stolen designs and is just too lazy to take her own photos, maybe not. But I believe the customer should be seeing what they are really getting when they lay down their hard earned money.

PaintFrenzy:

It's like this: Don't show me a picture of a steak dinner and then serve me a hamburger with with fries because that's what you know how to make AND expect me to be happy because you charged me steak prices for hamburger quality.

Does this person have the nerve to put a picture of Sistine Chapel in the mural section, no! Why? because she can't produce those results. If I'm paying you, I want to see what you've painted and what I can expect, not what some of the top face painters have painted, I mean come on.

And no offense to hamburgers and fries, it's a family favorite in my house

I wrote on the guest book of the site as well. If we keep innindating him with posts....maybe he will take them down. Better yet, maybe he will try and paint those designs and post his own fricking pics.
What a manipulative person.

I just think PaintFrenzy is one of those who takes the pics and claims it as their own, hmmm?

Yes, I don't think anybody has any issue with someone looking at another's work and painting their own version, and taking their own photo. There are two issues here. One is a legitimate legal one: stealing an image from someone else's website. The other is an ethical one (and maybe legal too): misrepresenting your face painting skills by leading customers to believe that you did the work on your website (which is generally assumed!). I agree that it is also very wrong to post photos of other people's children on their website without parents' permission!

It's very unfortunate that some some of our peers are so disrespectful of each other, not only to swipe images like this without giving credit to the original artist, but to then insult those of us who find it offensive. It makes our profession look bad. The type of painter who would call you "paranoid" and tell you to "get over it" are exactly the type of people who likely perform this plagiarism...those who have no respect for the profession or fellow artists. It's too bad people take your willingness to inspire and share your ideas via online images and use it illegally to misrepresent themselves. Very sad.

BluAngL83 wrote:I just think PaintFrenzy is one of those who takes the pics and claims it as their own, hmmm?

hmmm... me thinks... most likely... otherwise...why such adamant defense of something so blatantly wrong?

PaintFrenzy wrote:lol while Im sure its not the kindest thing to use someones work as your own, we all know about the whole issue and it's been going on forever, yack yack yack. I think the poster is making WAAAAY too big of a deal about it. Yet another face painter who thinks she's just the bees knees and overly protective about every little thing. TALK ABOUT PARANOID. It's funny because I guarantee you she copied many designs from other people and face painting books herself, the only difference would be she didnt post them as her own, or pehaps she did? Seriously, a cease and desist letter???? TOO FUNNY, get over it hun, tomorrow will come. Please tell me you arent really planning any legal action, if so you really need to step back, look at your life and reprioritize it. It's not like any action can even be taken unless you've had your designs issued a copyright or trademarked and if eveyone did that, all creativity would cease due to paranoia like this being shown. Who has the time to browse every single website to make sure no one is using "your" work? As far as the Snazaroo situation on this persons site, the photos do have the snazzaroo logo clown on the bottom of each photo, so she's really doing nothing wrong, I highly doubt that will care even a little bit. Someone ha WAAAY too much time on their hands. Just my opinion

*Ahem* You OBVIOUSLY don't get it. You don't understand what really goes into this artform we are all so passionate about and devote so much of our time and money to strive for perfection, or at least simple beauty. You must have a LOT of nerve to come in here and be so rude and presumptuous for only your SECOND post on this forum.

And who are you to say that you GUARANTEE the original poster of this thread copied most of her designs and passed them off as her own? And let me ask you this: Where did the people from the books get their ideas? It's a process, but the point is, they REPAINTED THE DESIGN THEMSELVES and didn't misrepresent what their quality of work was. What this person is doing is nothing short of FRAUD and it IS ILLEGAL and persecutable by law. Not only that, she STOLE those designs from artist on a site that protects those designs under copyrite law, and the fact that the images still have the logo on them just shows how STUPID this theif is.

I have had my work stolen before with out my consent and I can tell you I was seriously pissed off! This is a REAL issue and for you to laugh at it and the rest of us as you do is just about as maddening. You need to step back and learn a thing or two about what this artform really means to *most* people on this forum before you go and insult all of us for being PROUD and PROTECTIVE of our work. Because quite frankly, by the way you defend this theif so much, I have to agree that it sounds like you've committed this same form of fraud and theivery and wouldn't be surprised to find out that this is actually your website. Not that I'm saying it is, I just wouldn't be suprised.

*deep breath*....

As for the rest of ya'll, I agree with Glitterfly that we should all go and post comments on his/her board so he/she will take down the photos or so their prospective clients know exactly what they're NOT going to get if they hire this company.

Here is the link for the guest book if anyone is interested to go and leave comments for the website.

http://www.ginagraphx.com/guestbook.htm

I left my thoughts on the guest book.

It is truley sad and illegal for her to do this. At the end of the day, if she does get hired by someone and they see how she truley paints, she will be humiliated. You reap what you sow.....

-Metina

wow - I'm a little shocked at Paint Frenzy's view.
Ignorance is bliss I guess.

im sure its just some troll trying to get a rise out of ppl... I am sure she/HE is just sitting there gigggling about how riled up they got everyone..

If that's the case it is ignorant. We don't need that sort of behaviour.

Anyway... the offending site has taken down all the photos, and has an "apology" at the bottom of the page if you scroll down.

BTW the guestbook has been removed too... and I did read some of the comments that were there. Some were scarey... really scarey! While it is a hot topic some of those messages were bad enough that I would have reported them to the police if I'd received them directed at me! Some were very very aggressive and over the top.

I think she got the message.