Butch Hartman Accused Of Tracing Fan Art For Money
Butch Hartman, creator of classic Nickelodeon cartoons like Fairly Oddparents and Danny Phantom, has found himself embroiled in controversy after being accused of tracing fan art for money.
The alleged trace was spotted by Twitter user @jammkamm, who posted a side-by-side comparison of art by user @028ton and Hartman of Attack On Titan character Mikasa Ackerman.
The two pieces certainly bear resemblance to each other but each have their own unique style, raising questions on whether Hartman was truly guilty of any theft.
Compounding the issue is the fact that this is not the first time Hartman has been accused of tracing fan art. In July of 2020, Hartman received backlash for posting a perceived trace of a fan artist's drawing of Ranma from the anime of the same name.
Hartman has yet to respond to accusations of plagiarising other artist's work. Both @028ton and Hartman's tweets are still up, for closer comparison:
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Sans Undertale
It looks more like he eyeballed the original fan art and used it as a 'reference' for his own given some aspects are different, like parts of the hair and some parts of Mikasa's posture. I used to do that back in 2014, but I never commissioned it or anything – I just did it for sheer entertainment. Having said that, Hartman does have a habit of overpricing his work and ripping off certain drawings (take "Ran Chan" for instance) so I wouldn't be surprised if he did it again.
Dracorex
Yoink of the Yukon was the best thing he ever made and everything since has been garbage.
HardcoreHunter
From a glance I don't see it as a trace, nearly nothing matches up aside from that one long bang.
Square Memester
Tracing and selling it for money…. Andrew Dobson, anyone?
ZonDonald's
It's not a literal trace obviously but outside of being specifically asked to "Draw this in your style" I can't think of a time where a professional artist needs to be drawing the same character in the same pose as a pre-existing work, especially if it's done for a commission and the original is fanart.
Pokejoseph64
Yeah the pose is identical but idk, it doesn’t feel he traced the whole thing
Then again the hell do I know I don’t even draw
Zigzagoon
Butch Hartman hasn't been good for a while now, this is nothing new.
Still, there's an irony of an actual cartoon show creator tracing some random Japanese artist's work. That's like, what you might expect a 14 year old to do. Guess it goes to show that even if you suck at art, at least you're not Butch.
Revic
You get what you deserve if you commission art from someone who designed this abomination.
Adam
i cant unsee the nose as a hole leading into her cup-like "jaw"
firngers
Somebody tell Butch that's not how Cuphead works.
Omega MISSINGNO
why did you say that
now i see it too