In Link Love

Link Love: Stinktober

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It was brought to my attention earlier this week by one of the many products who have planned sponsorships with Inktober/Jake Parker that there is a scandal brewing around the founder and creator of Inktober. Another artist and author, Alphonso Dunn, has accused Parker of plagiarizing his book Pen & Ink Drawing which was published in 2015 in creating his drawing book Inktober All Year Long which is due to be published this year by Chronicle Books. (New development: Chronicle Books is postponing release of the book to clear up concern about this issue).

There is a post by Teoh on Parka Blogs that sums up the situation fairly succinctly and the comments have ongoing updates and a range of opinions. While I don’t condone plagiarism, I am also weary of cancel culture. Do I think it’s possible that Parker might have seen or been influenced by Dunn’s book? Yes. Is it also possible that, as both artists share their process and techniques online, the waters have become murky as to who might have influenced who and when? Yes.

I don’t think Inktober, which has become such a great creative endeavor for so many people (myself included), should be abandoned nor do I think all the businesses who have partnered with Parker should be punished and be left with unsold Inktober merchandise this year (of all years) because the creative community wants to make a stand against plagiarism. Parker, if he was paid for his relationship with other companies, already got his cut. So, ArtSnacks and Viviva and all the other companies are the ones who will be out money if people cancel their Inktober orders now. Who is really being punished for Parker’s alleged misdeeds?

Adorable Ollie

Okay, I’m hopping off my virtual soap box and getting back to the things we really enjoy, pens, inks, funny cat links (Ollie insisted on it and seriously, after the year we’ve had, cute cats are just what we need.)

Pens:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

COVID-19/Pandemic-Related:

Black Lives Matter:

Cat-Related (because Ollie made me do it):

Other Interesting Things:

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7 comments / Add your comment below

  3. So agree, actually Alphonso is missing out. If he had first discussed it privately with Jake it possibly could have led to a profit share and an Alphonso credit in the new book… either way the whole thing was handled so unprofessionally. I don’t think Jake did this intentionally or had ill intent. Probably just regurgitating inking basics on what he has learned without specific memory where he first learned it. I understand how Alphonso feels but he should have reached out to Jake directly first. And then,…if he could not get resolution that way try other means.

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  4. There exists a comparison here: https://youtu.be/bG3ENcAdWBM

    In my opinion as an artist, the evidence is pretty damning. I would not want to consider profit sharing with someone who outright copied my work either, regardless of the money potential. Integrity is more valuable, a concept every artist/business professional/publisher/PERSON should embrace. That is what is so infuriating about it. Calling out a thief is not cancel culture. It’s standing up for your integrity.

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  6. Pingback: Inktober 2020: Day One — Fish – Ruth Feiertag

  7. The comparison in Dunn’s video visually shows nothing is actually the same.  Dunn continually tells the viewer that its different or parker changed it to not be to obvious that it was copied.  The work in Dunn’s book is the basic fundamentals of drawing, of course Parkers will some have similar flow, terminology, and illustration examples, teaching the material cannot work without it.

    Any subject taught dictates the format and sequence of how it’s taught.

     Here is a link that has over 600 examples of fundamentals.  Many are very similar or the same to Dunn’s if you scroll through them.  

    https://www.pinterest.co.uk/penwiz404/alphonso-dunn-is-full-of-it/

    Dunn cannot claim ownership or creation of any techniques or terminology, which he is trying to do.  The layout and sequence of the books are also no where near matching either.  Dunn has to jump around to try and find things he claims are copied.  If it was a direct copy the info would be on the same numbered pages, it’s not.  Molochs video shows how different the layouts are side by side

    https://youtu.be/GDNsHVDHfnk

    Here is another artist that shows that the layout, illustrations, order are not the same at all.

    https://astralmouseart.tumblr.com/tagged/inktober-drama

    The themes of the books are different as well.  Dunn’s is a more academic how to for drawing with ink.  Parkers is based around the theme of doing Inktober with some lessons on inking and conceptualization.

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