Art Thief

You guys might have wondered what the purpose of the pixel art challenge was. Well, it's to show that in ALL of the pixel art out there - ALL of it - you will NOT find any work at all that is as similar to my pixel art, as the stuff that is based off modifying my work. Like, say, a comic created by stealing my copyrighted work .

This comic will not update while this bastardization of my hard work is found anywhere on the internet. If you would like to make an empassioned plea on behalf of this comic, it's author, it's readers, and the law, please direct it to Blake Lewis.

• This is "his" comic.
• Blake Lewis's email Address

I'll still make the comic. I just won't post it. Is this punishing you, the reader? Yes. And that's why I owe you guys an explanation. But first, if you are wondering whether or not he has really taken my work, modified it, and created a comic out of it and claimed it as his own, I assure you he did. He has a history of it, and even his previous comic, which he has assured me is completely 100% his, was made by ripping off stuff from videogames and the fine folks of Pixelation. This is not a trustworthy person. I'd also like to point out that I would not be doing this if I was not absolutely certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was stealing my work. I would have nothing to gain by accusing an innocent person and everything to lose.

So he stole my work. So what? Well, he hasn't been the first. In the past year, I've had to shut down about 8 or 9 sites which have stolen my work. Since the beginning, over 20 websites have stolen my work. I have to deal with this at least once a month (sometimes far more), and I typically deal with it quietly and effectively without involving anyone else. In this case, this is the third time that Blake Lewis has tried to pass off my hard work as wholely his and I literally can not take it anymore. I've been pushed passed the boiling point and I refuse to shoulder this responsibility alone any further. Pixel theft is not just my problem. It your problem too.

Why not just let him make his crappy comic? I mean, my comic is superior in every conceivable way and his comic is so jaw droppingly wretched that literally, only Blake Lewis could find it enjoyable. It's that bad, so I should have absolutely no fear what so ever with letting others run rampant with my artwork, right? Well, no. You see, Blake Lewis isn't the first and the needles piercing my brain seem to indicate that he will be far from the last. If I had let those 20+ people use my artwork without consequence and get away with putting their comics on top lists and advertising, there would probably be around 50+ comics on the internet using my work.

My art is better. Of course it is. I drew it in the first place, so what's there and good, I can replicate. They can not. It is a rare case when someone steals my art and actually makes a decent effort at modifying it. Most of the time, there is such a difference in quality between what has been taken and what has been produced from scratch that the stolen comics are an eyesore. However, that's not what matters.

The artwork of this comic is its unique selling point. When I first started, I had a HARD time getting any sort of respect in the webcomic community because they thought that AMD was a sprite comic. I fought long and hard to erase that notion and instill in them, and in you readers, the fact that pixel art is original work. As much as it pains me to admit, I wouldn't have the readership that AMD has based on the writing alone. These little pixel people are attractive. People pay me money for shirts that feature them.

If there were 50+ comics out there that all freely took artwork from me, I wouldn't be able to make that claim that the pixel art in AMD is original. Though I would be the original source of all this art, and would still be capable of producing it myself, I would have competitors that took market value away from my comic. Let's say that you somehow see Blake Lewis's comic first and then mine. Would you believe that AMD was original artwork, or would you think that I copied him? Worse yet, would you buy a t-shirt with Ruby on it if you first saw his comic with a character that is essentially recolored Ruby? No, you wouldn't. Especially not if you already bought his character on a Cafe Press t-shirt - which, I might add, I wouldn't see a single penny of.

There are other concerns as well. When two independant pixel artists decide to draw a person, there is absolutely no way way that they would blindly create something identical. However, when two pixel artists working in the same style, using the same template, create the same character, they may still create different looking works - but they'd share so many things in common that most people would consider them identical. Let's say that I create a pirate character using my template, which I created from scratch. He's go a hook hand, eye-patch, bandana, and a peg leg. Now say that Blake Lewis, using a template which is only a slightly modified version of mine, creates a pirate with a hook hand, eye-patch, bandana, and a peg leg. It would look fairly close to mine.

Now, let's say that he created his pirate first. Despite building off my work, he would have every reason to develop a little righteous indignation when he saw "his" character appearing in my more popular comic. He'd get upset, and he'd attempt to take it out on me. Now, let's say that I try to sell a t-shirt that features my pirate. He'd be even more upset and it's very likely that he'd try to either prevent me from selling those shirts or trying to get some of the profits off every shirt sold. Blake Lewis is an asshole, and I certainly wouldn't put such behavior beyond him. However, even if he didn't, if there were 50+ other comics out there, that's 50+ more people who could decide that I'm ripping THEM off.

I have to protect myself and I have to protect my comic. You guys may see this as just a comic that you pop by every couple of days, but I've put in literally thousands and thousands of hours of hard work doing just under a thousand comics. Maybe all it will be is a stupid webcomic, and maybe not. I'm fine either way, but I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot and guarrantee that it can't ever be anything more than a stupid webcomic.

I don't know what it is about webcomics, but nobody else has this kind of problem with pixel art theft. Actually, I do know what it is about webcomics, and I'm pretty sure it starts with an 8-Bit and ends with Theater. Pixel art is in constant peril in the webcomic field, which wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't actually making a webcomic. If I was doing a videogame, who cares if some dumb ass takes the sprites and makes a crappy webcomic out of it? But I'm not making a videogame. I'm making a webcomic. And the effect of competitors using my own artwork against me, destroying my own chance for success, is direct and eminently dangerous.

I'm proud of my pixel art. I'm proud of all pixel art. I really like it and I've spent years and years studying it. I can trace back modified pixel art to its unmodified original source. I can tell you that the grass from Blake Lewis's Fixnation comic was taken from Seiken Densetsu 3 - because I know what the grass from Seiken Densetsu 3 looks like at a pixel level. I respect pixel art. I think you guys do to. That's why you saw this comic and you started reading it.

Being a fan of this comic is not a passive thing. You have to defend it, because it will get attacked and it's impossible for me to handle alone. I can't do it. I need your help, and you know that I wouldn't ask if I could do it without you. I can't even afford to ask right now. I have to demand your help and hope you'll forgive me later. Not updating this site is a stupid thing to do, but for the sake of all the other dumb asses who are thinking about stealing my work, I have to follow through with my threats. I can't afford to be seen as toothless or I will literally lose the war. I will fully accept my punishment when this is over, but right now, in this situation, I'm afraid that I must stand firm.

It's become quite apparent to me that I'm going to need a lawyer. Pixel theft has always been an obnoxious part of making my webcomics, but now, with the t-shirts, I stand to lose money. A lot of money that I don't have to lose. Normally, I'm quite a calm and collected person, but when someone steals my pixel art, I go off the deep end and then some. I can't afford to do that either. There is currently no precedence for pixel art theft, but as evidenced by the sheer ignorance that has been displayed in my forums recently, for AMD to succeed on a long term basis, there will need to be. I need to show that I can protect my work. I need to show that my work is worth protecting. And I need to show that a legitimate copyright concern when money is involved will not be "laughed out of court". One day, there will be a precedent set, and I've finally gotten to the point where I'm willing to put the time, energy, and money in to set it.