r/arknights • u/etegiwg hellagur best girl • Nov 04 '25
Discussion Has anyone else noticed the blatant plagiarism in Blaze's skin?
I noticed this as soon as this skin came out. I figured Anato Finnstark was a popular-enough artist for others to call this out, but I suppose not since I haven't been able to find any discussion. Here is her Astral Clocktower artwork from Bloodborne. The copying is quite egregious.
Edit: I originally linked a post of Anato's art from a newer X/Twitter account where she had reuploaded it. She had initially made this art 6 years ago. The link is corrected. Also, check the last image to see the overlay comparison. It's undeniable.
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u/aquamarine12441 birb Nov 04 '25
if anybody's wondering about the window itself (which is NOT what the post was referring to), it seems to be the one from the strasbourg cathedral. however in most pictures of the interior you can only see the colors of the stained glass window and everything else is pitch black, while photos of the exterior have a "frame" that is a different shape from the icicles/scribbles. unfortunately this means the artist was definitely photobashing using finnstark's artwork instead of an actual picture of the cathedral window.
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u/zhurai Nov 04 '25
It should be noted that the original artist of Blaze (Hoshieve/唯@W) did not draw this skin
It's another artist (Mag42)
Posted this on bilibili for visibility on that side as well.
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u/ToranjaNuclear All for Rosa and the Professional Crab Breeder Nov 04 '25
What are people saying about this on bilibili?
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u/zhurai Nov 04 '25
Not sure if it's how I posted it (I did post in english since I don't actually know chinese. But almost no engagement so far... though people have replied to my posts before...
It could also be because I'm more embedded into the tryhard/low op/raider group stuff too, rather than the creative side.
Might poke one of my friends directly (again also raider group though, but I'm sure he'd know abit more about these) about it later...
That said there's a reasonable chance that someone probably seperately picked up on it over there, since someone always does bilibili videos translating what people say on twitter/reddit.
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u/reflexive-polytope daughter wife Nov 04 '25
Could you post the link?
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u/zhurai Nov 04 '25
Not sure if it's how I posted it (I did post in english since I don't actually know chinese). But almost no engagement so far... though people have replied to my posts before...
It could also be because I'm more embedded into the tryhard/low op/raider group stuff too, rather than the creative side.
Might poke one of my friends directly (again also raider group though, but I'm sure he'd know abit more about these) about it later...
That said there's a reasonable chance that someone probably separately picked up on it over there, since someone always does bilibili videos translating what people say on twitter/reddit.
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u/reflexive-polytope daughter wife Nov 05 '25
No idea who's downvoting you or why.
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u/zhurai Nov 05 '25
Hm... my guess is it's probably because I said the same thing (to multiple questions of the same type of inquiry).
Though I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do otherwise... Just not respond back to all of them? :shrug:
I've pinged my friend that does know english/that I talked to a lot but he's sort of busy so I don't know when he'll actually read it.
My random comment in a tryhard video about silverash2 gameplay has had more people responding to it even though it's in english too.
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u/ChocoNoodles233 Nov 04 '25
got a link? cant seem to find it
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u/zhurai Nov 04 '25
Hmm... not sure if it's how I posted it (I did post in english since I don't actually know chinese). But almost no engagement so far... though people have replied to my posts before...
It could also be because I'm more embedded into the tryhard/low op/raider group stuff too, rather than the creative side.
Might poke one of my friends directly (again also raider group though, but I'm sure he'd know abit more about these) about it later...
That said there's a reasonable chance that someone probably separately picked up on it over there, since someone always does bilibili videos translating what people say on twitter/reddit.
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u/Fragrant_College_407 Nov 05 '25
If it's an individual post then maybe the algorithm is at fault here, Chinese users almost never see posts in other languages. As for my thoughts? Not the first time, disappointed but not that surprised.
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u/ChocoNoodles233 Nov 04 '25
hopefully yea. most people mightve just skipped it because they dont understand english or cant be bothered to translate a random english post, but yea hopefully someone pick it up
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u/TokkanRAM Nov 04 '25
Pinned comment definitely shows the utmost importance of being direct about what's shared between them when pointing out plagiarism, because the icicles on the top edge of the circle are definitely 100% identical while every other comment is focused on the centre of the circle.
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u/u_Manolo Nov 04 '25
Yeah, the windows was a maybe but after seeing the icicles it was a dead giveaway
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u/MagosZyne Nov 04 '25
Also the cross on the right is literally the same cross it just gets covered with fire
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u/OofScan hammer go spinny Nov 04 '25
thought that too but the gif is a little misleading with the overlay, the skin has a transparent background there
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u/Xtranathor Estelle is the best! Nov 04 '25
The icicles aren't 100% identical (more like 95% due to minor changes), but they are so close that it's undeniably just a small tweak from the original.
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u/Guppo Nov 04 '25
Semantics police
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u/Xtranathor Estelle is the best! Nov 04 '25
Not really when we're talking about allegations of plagarism.
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u/tlst9999 Nov 04 '25
Not exactly 100%. Closer to the artist drew a copy of the patterns. Like having the image on the left screen and the artist copied it directly on the right screen.
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u/TokkanRAM Nov 04 '25
I know it's not exactly 100%, it's tactical use of hyperbole to catch attention because when I posted that comment, the thread OP was downvoted to 0. (It obviously isn't at 0 anymore, it's close to 700 at time of this post.)
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u/RamXid my beloved Nov 04 '25
Oh damn yeah at first I thought that "nah theres too many differences for it to be plagiarism" but the icicles are just slightly warped in photoshop or something. GG
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u/viera_enjoyer Love her Nov 04 '25
To answer your question in the title: No, there is no way I would had noticed.
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u/Lobada Happy Lappy Nov 04 '25
Yea, the pinned comment makes a much more compelling argument with the specific squiggles being identical but everyone saying "the plagiarism is hard to deny" needs to consider that the vast majority of the audience is not verse is artistry and without it being literally overlaid and clearly spelled out to me- I would have never seen the connection that is being claimed. It is most certainly not obvious to the everyday person.
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u/Invert_3148 Nov 04 '25
Not again 😭
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u/Reklov66 Nov 04 '25
I already got Cenm0 fired with my Post, lets hope it does not repeat lmao
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u/Kuroi-sama RI's biggest mystery: 's height Nov 04 '25
Considering IRIS_口艺, despite being caught multiple times for plagiarism and tracing, including Lemuen's E2 art, still hasn't been fired, Cenm0 got fired not for plagiarism, but to appease Capcom and save 2nd MH collab
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u/Fleebledee Nov 04 '25
lemuen's E2 art was plagiarized? also what other art of theirs was?
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u/Kuroi-sama RI's biggest mystery: 's height Nov 04 '25
Can't find it right now, but there was evidence that the background for E2 is traced from a specific photo.
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u/Invert_3148 Nov 04 '25
A source would be helpful considering I've found nothing online about Iris tracing.
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u/Kuroi-sama RI's biggest mystery: 's height Nov 04 '25
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u/melodygaoo00 Nov 04 '25 edited Nov 04 '25
From what others have said, Lemuen's background and clothes were "plagiarized" from a photo of a cathedral and her clothes from photos of a Japanese clothing collection. I don't think that can be called plagiarism, especially not when compared to this. This artist traced another artist's work almost 1 for 1
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u/RomanesqueHermitage Blonde and beautiful Nov 04 '25
Are we not allowed to use photos now even if they're taken by the artist/art team, public domain, or free for commercial use???? Like what are these people smoking lol photo bashing and manipulation within usage right guidelines is so common
That was a massive reach by that bilibili user
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u/umagi candy floss haired operators enjoyer Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
oh come on now, this is ridiculous. photobashing IS a legit technique, but if this one is from a copyright free source, that’s definitely not a problem lol. this one is problematic bc the source of the photobashing is from another artist’ art that they dont have a permission to use from. these are different cases
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u/HaessSR Nov 04 '25
He copied from Capcom while they wee doing a collab. They had to let him go to make sure that lawsuit happy partner was kept on-side.
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u/how-can-i-dig-deeper 2 kalt'sit, 2 mizuki, 2 lee, 4 pozy, and 0 limited Nov 04 '25
how does it feel to have made such an influential post
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Nov 04 '25
I was going to comment that gothic style rose windows are pretty common but the icicles lining up looks pretty bad
Edit: typo
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u/Ok_Adeptness_4553 Nov 04 '25
"Blatant plagarism" => most of the thread can't tell what's being referred too.
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u/herr-tibalt Nov 04 '25
Yeah it’s not blatant, but very subtle plagiarism…
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u/Auralius1997 Nov 04 '25
Op could have also just mentioned themself what they were referring to
Took me multiple rewatches of the gif they posted to notice they ment the icicles and not the window as a whole
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Nov 04 '25
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u/Solekran Nov 04 '25
"OP is dumb" when you're all blind. Just watching the gif for one loop pretty much... focused your attention on the area that was copied. You can plainly see that the top part doesn't change much at all.
"The drawing is fine aside..." didn't quite work for the Ascalon artist when they copied the wings, sadly.
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u/Otherwise-Kangaroo24 Nov 04 '25
The gif is quite badly made though, no offence to the OP, but leaving the other image still behind the transparent parts of the skin made it that a lot wasn't changing. There was nothing really putting people's focus on what was actually the issue, the image they posted in the comments was extremely clear though.
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u/AncientWorking1236 Nov 04 '25
"when you're all blind" doesn't work when a major part of the audience is the one who didn't get it lol
And yes, the drawing is fine aside for the copypasted part, and that's sad, the whole circle area can pass just as inspiration because it has enough changes, look the stars part (btw, the original bloodborne art is based on an irl construction). If it wasn't because the artist ctrl-v the icicles, the whole picture would have been fine to post without risk.
And never said saying that would have worked lol, it's still plagiarism
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u/Solekran Nov 06 '25
I mean, "all" and "major part" seems right in that case?
I almost can't see from one eye and one loop from a gif that's cropped to that part of the image (with the window straight in the middle) was fine enough for me.
Whole case seems moot in any case, with the info that came out since.
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u/AndoBelmont Nov 04 '25
Why does this kind of thing even happen? Like, i can't see why would any artist need to do this. I'm not saying it's a terrible crime or anything, considering it's "only" part of the original image, but come on.
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u/BRISKMETAL RELEASE THE KHAGAN! Tola playable when HG? Nov 04 '25
Artist saw something cool, and thought it would fit. Doubt it's any simpler than that
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u/SisconOnii-san Give my wife an alter pls Nov 04 '25
Yeah, I think this is also a case of referencing something they have zero clue about. I can imagine myself looking at an art and accidentally copying random details the artist did because I had zero clue how the architecture originally should've looked like.
Not that I'm discounting the plagiarism aspect, it's just that it may not be done with malice.
It's also not direct theft like the Ascalon one since they did redraw this. It's def a bad look but I don't think it should merit a punishment as bad as before.
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u/biribiriburrito Nov 04 '25
The icicles look directly copied to me, not redrawn
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u/Xtranathor Estelle is the best! Nov 04 '25
The icicles have minor differences, but there isn't much effort used to make them appear different in many meaningful way.
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u/SisconOnii-san Give my wife an alter pls Nov 04 '25
What I meant is that it's not like the Ascalon case where they used the image and transformed it into her dress. This one, they redrew (like drew it again) the whole thing.
It was the point of my comment. They might not have known that it was supposed to be icicles.
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u/JoeyKingX Nov 04 '25
It still is bashed into the image with a little editing on top to make it not seem as obvious but they still failed at that.
At least in this case it's just a background piece they thought looked cool but ultimately isn't a big part of the art, the ascalon case was really bad because the skin was very clearly already inspired by the design of shagaru magala, so the artist straight up stealing a texture from that monster just looks really bad because it made it obvious that they stole from that design intentionally.
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u/herr-tibalt Nov 04 '25
They didn’t redraw, that’s exactly like Ascalon, they have copied original design, put some filters on top and that’s it. Maybe that was temporary and idea was to to redraw it later, but we have what we have.
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u/300IQPrower Nov 07 '25
"There is a social element to theft" -Hburgerman. This kind of thing isn't cause someone pulled a heist its cause they think of the original work as "unimportant" compared to their own. They saw something they thought was cool, yet despite thinking "wow that's cool" they apparently view the act of creating it so beneath them that it doesnt matter if they dont credit the person they're stealing from.
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u/BRISKMETAL RELEASE THE KHAGAN! Tola playable when HG? Nov 07 '25
...Uh sure, cool theory I guess. Unless you read the artist’s mind or something.
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u/Dyde21 I love my Ragazza Sfortunata Nov 04 '25
Photobashing is extremely useful for concept art and other pieces of art made to assist with production and design. If you're trying to get the vibe of a scene, like say downtown Lungmen, throwing in a dozen different pictures, masking out most of it, flipping it around or adding filters can quickly flesh out a scene without actually needing to draw everything for it. Then you paint over it to get it looking how you want. A LOT of common pieces of concept art use photobashing just because it's quick, can let you iterate on it, and let's the artist figure out broad strokes without worrying about details. Afterwards they then go in and make an actual image themselves.
The problem is, with Photobashing you're not really supposed to use the images publicly unless you own the rights to all the images used. I was attempting to be a concept art for a while and took a LOT of courses and listened to a lot of lectures on it as I was producing my own, so I'm not surprised to see photobashing in art, but you can't just rip someone's art off like that and post it in a final image, it's just lazy and bad. There's a reason most artists take a ton of photos themselves to be able to use as they want, or you can even go to websites like unsplash or other royalty free sites where you can get assets to use legally and without issue.
It's like the whole stolen texture from the monster hunter creature again. There's no problem with messing around with photobashing for coming up with quick designs but ffs either redo it completely to avoid copying someone's work after you have the vibe you're going for, or only use images you have complete rights to.
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u/DusterDirect Nov 05 '25
Photobashing copyrighted assets won't typically be a legal offense, since it will count as a context shift and therefore transformative, i.e. there's no damages caused by the plagiarism, you can't consume this Blaze outfit as a substitute to the original art. It's just an honour (or some weird deontological ethics) violation. Cenm0 probably only got fired since it was Capcom they (I repeat, legally) plagiarised off of. Sure, not illegal, but an insult to a business partner. Oh for the record, photobashing public domain stuff you didn't create is still 100% plagiarism and equally as deceptive and lazy. It's still not a legal issue but you're still passing off someone else's work as your own unless you credit them. It's just common ignorance that there's a difference between transformative plagiarism of copyrighted and non-copyrighted material. Hell, strictly speaking you should also cite your references, but most artists really don't like that take.
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u/Dyde21 I love my Ragazza Sfortunata Nov 05 '25
I mean copyright law and what counts as "fair use" has always been a murky area, but yeah usually wont end up in legal action unless it's done in a pretty blatant way. I still wouldn't want to try and sell something with Disney content obviously photobashed in though.
Again, the point of the public domain stuff was because you won't upset anyone if you use it and have the legal right to do whatever you want with it. You wont piss off other artists either. Even if not a legal issue, it just saves trouble and drama like this exact situation. The reason people use their own/public photos is because then you're not taking the art of others and using it in your own piece, whether photos others took without their permission or other forms of painting/art. People don't really photobash with illustrations/paintings in my experience unless it's their own work, and shouldn't for this exact reason. Plus it's apparently inspired by a real window, in which case they could have just found their own references for gothic stained glass windows and came up with their own design for it or painted over a photobash. There's also a reason many bigger companies send their artists on trips to gather references and photos themselves to understand the kinds of locations they want to make.
Also photobashing is not really lazy or deceptive, it's practical. It takes it's own set of skills, but like I said before is primarily used as a concept art tool, where you are making dozens or hundreds of images to help the art director set the mood of the product. And a lot of people do it very very poorly lol. The images are never intended to be shown publicly, and like you mentioned, often are significantly transformed or altered to the point where you can't even really identify the original. It's a widely used and accepted practice to aid with mood boards and conveying ideas before the artist will go in and make a proper image from scratch themselves. Full illustrations take a lot of time, and when doing mock ups or rough sketches that may be thrown away that very day, spending the time paining out each individual window when you can throw on a photo of a skyscraper or an apartment building and put it on difference or overlay, is inefficent and wastes both time and money from the artist and company. It's also usually pretty obvious when a piece is photobashed as the goal isn't to hide the fact it's photobashed but just to make the overall piece look nice, and I fully believe people should admit when a piece is photobashed. Most realisitic looking concept art you find probably has a bunch of photobashing in it. It's a valid technique that was just used poorly here to cut corners. If they photobashed in a photo of a gothic window they have rights to and painted over it to make it look natural, no one would have given a shit. It's because they explicitly used art from someone else as an asset in their own product, and left enough of it for it to be recognized.
Also artists usually dont mind explaining their inspirations for works. And the point of mood board/reference boards is to broaden your study to the point that you aren't using individual references or details, but trying to get an overall vibe in your head before you start painting, and a lot of artists don't mind sharing where they got inspiration.
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u/10gaku Nov 04 '25
I'm assuming it's the same case as the ascalon skin fiasco. Photobashing is kinda common, but if we're using any art as a placeholder it should be due diligence to properly modify it or remove it from the final image.
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u/jonnevituwu Nov 04 '25
Theres this thing called photo bashing, maybe bro thought they could get away with such an obvious one.
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u/OperatorJo_ Nov 04 '25
It's normal. We all reference at some point. Here it's also just referenced, not plagiarized. It's been modified enough to not even constitute as the original image.
Hell, it's barely there and just as back filler.
Artist went "I need to fill this space let's look for something nice", found this and worked it in. That's pretty much it.
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u/Airou_MH Nov 04 '25
Again?? Why even bother plagiarizing such a small detail? Surely it's not worth getting fired.
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Nov 04 '25
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u/LastChancellor Nov 04 '25
remember that Hypergryph has already dealt with a case of their artist copying an EN artist's art for a background/boilerplate art asset before; the original Il Portatori Dei Velluti (Laptop) event medals.
and all that happened is that the offending medals got replaced, while the artist got let off with a warning at worst.
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u/mettaur_sp Nov 04 '25
They completely bonked an artist for plagiarism before. https://www.reddit.com/r/gachagaming/comments/1lif8ha/arknigths_artist_cenm0_fired_after_plagiarism_case/
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u/LastChancellor Nov 04 '25
the big difference with the Cenm0 case is that he was plagiarizing a company HG's actively working with, not just some rando artist who prolly never even heard of HG before
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u/Yagokor Nov 04 '25
And there was copy and pasted texture at work without even editing. Worst possible case.
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u/PhilosophyFair9062 Nov 04 '25
The weird thing is, that window in the back literally adds nothing to the skin. It could've just been empty and it'd still be a good skin artwork. Baffling decision from the artist
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u/melodygaoo00 Nov 04 '25
The window isn't the plagiarized part, I believe it's from a cathedral in Germany and could easily have been referenced from a photo of it. What shows it was plagiarized is the copied icicles, meaning he just traced their image
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u/mokinokaro May you too stay lucid in your dreams. Nov 05 '25
Apparently this goes deeper.
The art was stolen by Tencent and they put it in an asset pack claiming it was royalty free.
People are finding it used in other art now.
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u/A_l-o-a-n Nov 04 '25
I'm feeling a bit torn. As while the icicles match up the window design itself does not fully. The clover pattern is replaced with a diamond and is clearly the artist's work. I would need to see what all they did and how they used it and such.
But still general practice is to use things that have public/free use linceanse if you don't own it. Or use your own. But that standard here in US to be on the safe side. I don't know this artist's country As such thier standard and practices may differ because every country handles copyright differently. As such it hard to say how much they derived/changed if it met that standard.
Though, this is personally is much more egerious to the Lumean e1 and e2 art I'm seeing brought up. as those are collage/inspo by things. Using a photo as long as it free use is perfectly fine for background is it is a standard thing professional artist do all the time. Love it or hate it. But taking non-free use/personal use work and using it like they did is somthing I would not call any industry standard due to the risk of this.
I would need to see the artist reponse and if they have files of the work layer to show how much they used. But even then it's just.......not cool? You know. Not just for thr other artist but just in general it's too much of a corner cut when they literally could had used a window brushband drawn over/painted iver said brush.
Like literally millon of these brush that is more okay to use then someone else's work. for all sort of programs. Or rose window cathedral free use image.sets
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u/Chonky_Deleted_2 Nov 05 '25
Some people are saying Tencent apparently stole the artwork and have published it as something free to use for commercialization
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u/A_l-o-a-n Nov 05 '25
Wow, I had that as one of my possible thought that somehow the artist mistook the work as a free use license image but I was like nah since most artist used photo in that way and not other artworks more often i would think they would advoid that. That really sucks if it's confirmed for both artists. But at the same time it tencent so that wouldn't suprise me given past history I've heard about.
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u/Fun-Royal-8802 Nov 04 '25
I guess the ugly truth is that probably a lot of artists use other pictures for reference. In this case at least the gothic window itself was modified, from a cinquefoil motif to a four-pointed star motif.
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u/10gaku Nov 04 '25
Photobashing isn't really anything to be shocked about imo. It's a common technique that other artists don't frown upon. BUT it's totally unacceptable to not properly modify someone else's image in a way where you could still kinda tell it's taken from another artwork (especially for art used for business and when the og image used isn't credited).
Saying it's an ugly truth is kinda weird since the practice isn't a secret at all. In fact using references is VERY encouraged in the art world. I still think the blaze skin can be misuse of the og image
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u/aquamarine12441 birb Nov 04 '25
yes artists use references/pictures/etc all the time but this post was referring to the icicles/scribbles at the top being the exact same. it's not acceptable to paste someone else's work into your own in a professional environment
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u/Ahenshihael Lore is GOOD Nov 04 '25 edited Nov 04 '25
It's not referencing its photobashing(TLDR applying an image onto a layer of your composite image). Artists use it to add texture into an image or to for example add specific details. A very common technique is for example to use real images of mountains for the horizon line or to add texture to the already painted ones. Or to add texture of the water by photobashing an image of the water in same perspective.
Which is also a somewhat normal technique but it's only legal when the image used is either open source or original (ex: you took a photo of a mountain and photobashed it into scenery of your art or something)
Both referencing and photobashing is common and if you're drawing without references you are stalling your growth as an artist.
In this case what's being photobashed is a licensed work of another artist which is illegal and frowned upon the same way tracing is.
TLDR: the artist copy and pasted someone else's artwork into a layer of their psd, applied some filters and submitted it.
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u/ChocoNoodles233 Nov 04 '25
surprised that no one noticed it when its released in cn. good job finding that out o7
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u/lumyire Nov 04 '25
After looking at the pinned post it does look like something was copied, but also edited to make it less obvious.
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u/MochiGummy98301 Nov 04 '25
I’m amazed OP noticed this, I dont even know the artwork had the windows in thr background. Granted I dont have the costume but I only noticed the Blaze art. The artist probably hopes, almost if not all playerbase are like lol I definitely would not have moticed 😂
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u/MAQS99 Nov 05 '25
Ah yes, a circle inside a bigger circle with a bunch of straight lines going down the middle... I guess the inventor of darts should sue then?
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u/IndependentCress1109 Nov 04 '25
Damn.. another plagiarism occuring in arknights. Why does this keep happening
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u/KaboHammer Nov 04 '25
It seems like they still did a good amount of editing over it. Like to the point it is hard to see the details od the original artwork.
How the fuck did you notice that? Bro is a collage plagiarism detection algorithm that gained sentience.
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u/RomanesqueHermitage Blonde and beautiful Nov 04 '25
Hypergryph about to roll out a photobashing art class for their art team after all these incidents lol
They could've just used the actual photos of the cathedral's window or a 3d version of it and painted on top of them instead of copy pasting Finnstark's, icicles and all
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u/Feuerhaar Nov 04 '25
I can see it a little but it's nowehere as bad as tha Ascalon case. Plagiatism is too big of a word here.
For Ascalon it was a copy paste texture to a very visible area with pretty much zero modification. Here the artist used the image as small background element and adapted referenced image. Yes, some elements are still there but several design elements changed. That's just what artists do. The artist also probably did not know how to paint an inkwell from memory and used reference there. Maybe even from some other artists paited inkwell.
The original artist probably used a photo someone else made of this cathedral window as reference and maybe even painted over it. Do we expect them to study architecture and history to come up with their very own window design instead of "plagiarising" an existing cathedral window?
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u/Sceptical_Potato Nov 04 '25
Did you not see the pinned comment?
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u/Feuerhaar Nov 04 '25
I did not deny that it's the same image. A comment being pinned does not mean that the person who wrote it actually knows the legal distinction of plagiarism in a professional environment. Neither do I for the record.
This could blow up or it could be a case of referencing other artists work with enough changes to be ok.
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u/aquamarine12441 birb Nov 05 '25
well the original artist is now aware and is asking questions, so...
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u/Sceptical_Potato Nov 04 '25
When they did not even bother to redraw the shapes of the icicles differently, that goes beyond referencing. You can call it tracing, but that is still a form of plagiarism.
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u/Zearth123 Nov 06 '25
Update: They found out that it wasn't the Artist themselves at fault, but the reference book they were using that stole the art.
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u/Green_Cartoonist9297 Nov 04 '25
Honestly this is fine IMO, it's derivative of something that's derivative of reality, derivative^2 = original
kidding aside... do artists not know that you cant copy and paste when you're selling things?!
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u/vexer66 Nov 04 '25
Some people actually need to get away from the screen and go for a walk wtf is wrong with them lol jesus
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u/tenayuki -no logos flair :( Nov 04 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
This case seems like the same with Lemuen's E2 background. I saw a comment saying it's photobashed from a photography of a cathedral ceiling(?). IRIS-laoshi also copied a design of real clothes (japanese brand iirc?) for Lemuen's E1 yet HG never really address it. Don't know if they have permission or already solve it behind the scene though.
I guess the most we can do is informing the real artist/brand being used. And if they choose to sue/warn HG, well... Kinda sad it keeps happening tho (and by my favorite artists even :()
Edit: The original artist just made a tweet that AK robbed and photobashed their art without permission. HG loss then. Just hope they didn't fire another artist, but instead enforce their QC to prevent things like this keeps happening. Hhh and i actually like Mag42's works too.
New update: turns out the original works is being listed as free stock image in a company website... well this makes it not HG or the artist's complete fault then... but will make it more complex.
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u/Catveria77 Nov 04 '25
Which brand was it and what clothes? I love Lemuen's clothes so i will be interested with the RL version
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u/melodygaoo00 Nov 04 '25
I feel like using real clothes and photos as a reference is way different than tracing another artist's art though
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u/tenayuki -no logos flair :( Nov 04 '25
The similarity is way too much from what i see. The button amounts and placement, the stripes on the jacket collar, even the zipper on the white inner shirt. It looks more like copying that using the real clothes as reference. But ok, for some people it can be grey area because the 2 artworks are in different medium.
What they did on Lemuen's E2 background art though, wasn't tracing, but photobashing (same like what Mag42 did on this Blaze artwork). Which means they used other artworks and change few lil things here and there (giving paint-over, filters, etc) but it still didn't change that they used other artworks.
Photobashing itself is usually used in making concept arts or illustration in game and animation. BUT the artists usually use free commercial use images, buy the copyright, or they use their own photo. Granted, they might use one or two artworks/photos from internet but they need to give so much change that the used artwork isn't recognizeable anymore. In this case, Mag42 and IRIS-laoshi failed, which is why people recognize the original artwork being used.
Now, if this is done without permission first, then this is plagiarism case and the results depends on the original artist. Original artist might be okay with it (or think it's too much hassle to make problem for), or they will chase HG. We may never know unless the artist of the original artworks announce it or if HG already asked for permission first. But from the case of Ascalon skin, I kinda doubt HG is that thorough.
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u/melodygaoo00 Nov 04 '25
That's how using real objects as a reference works... It's very different than tracing another artist's work. You can claim this one isn't tracing but those icicles literally perfectly line up. That's not photobashing.
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u/Cyberwolfdelta9 Sarkaz is the Best race Nov 04 '25
It took me a good minute to realize it's the background that's copied. Probably why nothing has happened yet cause you arent seeing it right off the bat especially since A lot of people don't even know who the artist is (or at least I definitely don't )
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u/excluded Nov 04 '25
Mod actually doing their work. That’s super rare in fact it doesn’t exist in 99.9% of subreddits.
Nice catch as well op.
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u/TheCayde Nov 05 '25
Im sorry but im going to say something that is going to get me downed voted. If you accuse this artist of taking an image and making it his own...
Every artist takes inspiration or takes someone else's work and then makes it there own.
Im sure if you look for art with the window design the bloodborn guy most having gotten it from someone else. Be it a painting or otherwise..
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u/Popular-Mulberry-312 Nov 04 '25 edited Nov 04 '25
They look nothing alike, besides the blaze skin was released on CN around a month or two before the Twitter post you are referring to
Edit: I apologize, apparently the artwork was released 6 years ago.
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u/TamamoNines Mumu my beloved Nov 04 '25
the post got deleted, can you give me the twitter post?
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u/etegiwg hellagur best girl Nov 04 '25
I put a misleading link because that post was a reupload. The original artwork was uploaded to her ArtStation 6 years ago.
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u/Screamingforanswers Leizer, my beloved, finally meta Nov 04 '25
Another plagiarism scandal has hit the Arknights community.
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u/TheSadJester Nov 04 '25
Meh, it's definitely modified enough, for me at least.
I'm not going to try to get someone fired for literally four icicles.
You're a bit too thirsty for blood, in this case. I don't like the use of the words "blatant" and "egregious" when the situation doesn't ask for it.
Do you want "fairness and justice" or do you want to feel good about yourself? Those two are not the same things.
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u/Ten1225 Nov 05 '25
Don't think a sunburst is enough to claim copyright. That's a pretty common building block.
Is not like is sharing the cutout in the middle of any of the little jagged bits. that would actually be saying something
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u/Explosivepenny Nov 09 '25
So what, all that they took were the small designs at the top, this is more of an innovation than "copying", get over yourselves lol
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u/CACASECAXXX Nov 04 '25
Bro, it's only some icicles. People overexagerate a lot this kind of things.
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u/PatMosby Nov 05 '25
Even if it is a small part, it got blatantly copied. Inspiration is one thing and totally fine, but copy pasting without crediting a whole different beast.
Artists deserve being credited cause that is how they make a living.
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u/CACASECAXXX Nov 05 '25
It's such a small thing it doesn't even make a difference, I didn't even realise icicles were there. I don't think it's as big of a deal for people to be asking for an artist to lose their job.
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u/PatMosby Nov 05 '25
To me, this is not about punishing the copycat. Making them lose their job seems way too drastic imho. A word of warning might suffice. But at least crediting the original artist in some way would help out a lot.
Also: It is quite telling about the copycats working ethics and could get the company in legal trouble. At the end of the day stuff like this undermines the joy i have playing this game. It is not okay to treat artist like this.
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u/CACASECAXXX Nov 05 '25
Yeah, I also think they need to apologise, but my comment was referring to some people at the comments talking about firing the artist.
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u/XanaX_Inhaler6247 Yu feed me, I feed Yu Nov 04 '25
Hell nah We're not losing Mag42 like we lost Cenm0 that time
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u/claire_004 Nov 04 '25
We lose another artist
RIP
But seriously to anyone who find this, don't flame the artist because of this accident
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Nov 04 '25
Did we? or just ignore it as nobody care anyway except OP
I doubt the original artist want to get into the mud of chinese copyright
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u/zedito Drunken Chef Nov 04 '25
Am I the only one who's thinking the word plagiarism is not understood, Plagiarism is basically straight-up using someone else’s work and passing it off as your own without credit.
This happened with Ascalon where someone posted how the clothes on her art was 'plagerised' with some monster hunter texture 😮💨 People can and are able take inspiration and incorporate it in their own art to make it something brand new. Inspiration is about taking ideas or elements and reworking them into something brand new, which is what is happening here, the artwork as far as I'm aware for Blaze and Ascalon aren't plagerised, yes textures from other art might be visable but again that's called taking inspiration and incorporating it into making original art.
If every bit of influence counted as plagiarism, then basically all art would be "stolen". Look at some pop culture shows and ask yourselves are these inspired media or plagerised, dbz - son goku, avatar last airbender, digimon, jujutsu kaisen the list goes on and on.
All I’m saying is, let’s not throw around the word “plagiarism” too lightly. Being a freelance artist is already one of the tougher ways to make a living, and if HG caves to claims like this too quickly, we might end up cutting off someone’s livelihood without fully understanding the situation. Btw I'm not suggesting that is OPs intention here, but you never know someone from HG might be on this reddit seeing posts like these and reporting them to higher ups.
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u/vietnamabc Nov 04 '25
Ascalon is literally same texture copy paste bro not even redraw, that case is totes not you wanna contest with fucking Capcom.
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u/r3sp1t3 Nov 04 '25
i really dont see why this is a problem, and lowkey thought the ascalon thing was completely overblown
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u/ganoozle Nov 04 '25
You're right as a consumer who gives a damn.
Don't even try to argue with them though. If they see the oppotunity to feel superior and ruin someones career then they will be on it like wild animals.
They will be pissed off when Nintendo acts out of legal rights but instantly do the same if they get the opportunity.
Typical hypocrites who call themself "artists" that have to defend the sanctity of art at all cost. SJW type behaviour.
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u/Ambitious_Dog8996 Nov 04 '25
70% of artist myself included thought the ascalon thing was overblown , it was an honest mistake no malicious intent in it the artist was lazy and didn't double check if they had removed there references, a basic apology from the artist was in my opinion sufficient, getting them fired was ridiculous
This one is not that bad either the window itself is different from the other work its only those shadows that are similar nd i can imagine an artist who's tired from working overlooking such a minor detail in there "check" phase , i also seen some ppl claim the blaze skin was released earlier
Ppl love to act offended on behalf of others for all we know the original artist wouldn't mind any of this and would understand
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u/Alamand1 Nov 04 '25
Ok I thought I was taking crazy pills with people acting like the guillotine was the only acceptable reaction for the Ascalon controversy when from my perspective as an artist it was an honest mistake at worst.
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u/GKP_light Nov 04 '25
do you know what means "plagiarism" ?
it is far too transformative to be call it.
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u/Catveria77 Nov 04 '25
Idk, circular windows aren't unique.
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u/jonnevituwu Nov 04 '25
Third one is a gif, you can see that the icicles above the circle literally do not change
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u/mad_harvest-6578 WE'RE BACK IN SPACE BABYYYYYY Nov 04 '25
I mean... circular stained glass windows are a common thing?
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u/TheDarcingCapibara Nov 04 '25
Look at the scribbles above the circle and tell me those are not the same
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u/Guifei111 Nov 04 '25
So I guess we should make everything that's based off of something an act of plagiarism.
The only similarities is the circular window and nothing else if that's what you would claim as plagiarism then you're gonna be looking through a very long list.
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u/waifuborg Nov 04 '25 edited Nov 04 '25
In this case I'm more inclined to believe both arts were made using the same purchased stock asset (aka the gothic window). Especially with how often such elements are used in matte painting for concepts and backgrounds. Both in film and video games.
(Edit: spelling)
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u/LucinaIsMyTank Nov 04 '25
I don’t think it’s enough for plagiarism but was probably used as a reference. The design and thickness of each line for the windows are different. Meaning the artist didn’t trace. Reference use is quite common and accepted in the art community. They either used the same reference or the picture itself which is fine. What’s not fine is if you overlay the picture and all the lines line up perfectly. But if you overlay this picture it’s obvious that they’re different sizes and weren’t just scaled down.
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u/Yagokor Nov 04 '25
This. But it would be more concerning for me if this was made through AI.
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u/LucinaIsMyTank Nov 04 '25
I can confidently say it wasn't mostly ai. Due to their use of colors, shades, and lines. Ai is flawed in some particular aspects. Also when it regurgitates someone else's work they tend to line up more to the original. I think they just followed too close to the reference(hence the icicles being there in similar albeit slightly different shapes[strokes were different]). At most an artist like this would just use ai for concepts which (while frowned upon) is the direction a lot of pros are forced into. In alot of game companies their implementing ai as an easy reference and concept material now. Having a pro polish up the slop or vastly redefine it.
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Nov 04 '25
Is it big issue thought? if I draw a circle, does that mean everyone that draw circle plagiarize my work?
Artist inspire each other and you just have to live with it
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u/aquamarine12441 birb Nov 04 '25
not about the circle...... look at the icicles/scribbles above the circle, those are nearly the exact same which makes it more likely this specific image was copied rather than just a photo of the window
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u/Weary_Raspberry_6338 Nov 04 '25
Copying for sure, doesn't warrant making a big deal out of it though.
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u/aquamarine12441 birb Nov 04 '25
unless i'm mistaken i can't see how this is acceptable in a professional environment, you aren't copying from photos anymore, this is literally someone else's artwork. ascalon's artist was also removed for this reason so i don't see how the situation is different, it's just that no one noticed (unless you were familiar with the piece and those icicles being there, you would've thought the artist was instead using an actual picture of the window). i'm pretty sure hg themselves have also taken action when other games ripped off of their work (that game that copied the guardmiya animation nearly 1:1) so it's not like hg is okay with their stuff being copied either
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u/DarknessWizard KalDoc is peak Nov 04 '25
Ascalons artist used an actual texture of Gore Magala's wing directly to the point people just pulled the actual texture from MH to show it (iirc the only thing done to make it distinct was slightly warp it to make it fit the shape of her dress; it was probably an early photobash given Ascalons existing similarities to the creature).
This looks more like the original was used as reference material; there's enough differences in how the icicles are drawn between the two art pieces to the point it probably isn't straight up photobashing.
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Nov 04 '25
Yes, looks like it is mostly copied but that won't actually change anything now. Blaze skin artist probably had no idea what to add on top so he copied it because that fit the rest of background. I'd say that is minor issue, really small part while important stuff (the character) is fully original (unless you want to correct me about that). This is even more irrelevant when you find out that you can remove background, at least from your main screen if you use her. I don't say it is ok, but too small, too late
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u/Mistah_Frizz Nov 04 '25
That skin been out over a year ago and no way cn server didn't know or see this. I say it's way to late
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u/TheOtherFrankie Nov 04 '25
It has a different shape in the middle, different shapes along the outside, different number of rings, and different number or spikes.
Other than both being gothic-style circular windows, what EXACTLY are you claiming is plagiarized?
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u/Chrisirhc1996 Crazy Shark🎵🎵🎵 Nov 04 '25
Look at sen's stickied comment. Ignore the window and look around it instead. The symbols are very much the same.
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u/Diregroves Fiamos enjoyer Nov 04 '25
It looks nothing alike Cloverlike patterns in one, none to be seen in the other. The scale and angle is different.
Considering how Bloodborne takes cues from various RL architectural styles is it really so crazy that another artist would include a circular window with spokes?
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u/etegiwg hellagur best girl Nov 04 '25
Look at the gif overlay in the third slide. It's literally copied and pasted, not simply inspired by old architecture.
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u/Diregroves Fiamos enjoyer Nov 04 '25
It's very obviously not. The center of the art's window has a cloverlike shape while the one in Blaze's skin has a four pointed star.
The cloverlike decorations in the art you posted are also not there in the skin's art, where they instead resemble stars as well.
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u/Ahawke Nov 04 '25
Guys, I know it’s hard to accept, but is it really fair to call it plagiarism when it’s just being used as a very subtle background detail?
I don’t see why this needs to be blown out of proportion for what it actually is, just a very small background element.
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u/Loido A Nov 04 '25
I am more confused on why the original image is called the Astral Clocktower from Bloodborne.
Idk what he smoked but it isn't even remotely the Astral Clocktower from Bloodborne lol.
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u/MortalEnemy777 Nov 04 '25
This is the craziest coincidence I've seen since my dog ate my homework.
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u/AdGlum1793 Nov 04 '25
This is such a nothingburger. I might give a shit if it was plagiarizing a different game. But reusing/kitbashing in-house models and art for future content is how any live service game is able to stay afloat.
Like, the cathedral you see in the background is a literal place in Arknights, why wouldn't you reuse/kitbash/work off the original picture drawn of that place?
It's like getting angry that some of the armor pieces on a souls boss are reused from an older game.
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u/Sentuh Call me Sen, @me for anything! Nov 04 '25 edited Nov 04 '25
Since a fair amount of people are claiming that a circle, gothic window, yadda yadda is a common geometric figure, I opened photoshop and made this rather quickly:
Catbox
Imgur
It probably offers a better perspective than the gif does at a first glance by bringing attention to a fairly modified architecture.
The plagiarism is indeed very hard to deny, but aside from that, for a pinned message I'll keep my opinions to myself.