When inkers ink your pencil pieces without permission

greenjeans1978 · 08-28-2013, 05:30 PM

I had a really bizarre experience just recently that begs mentioning.

For those of you who follow DA and CAF, former DC inker Doug Hazlewood opened up for commissions last year or so. Earlier this year, my sister purchased a pair of Metal Gear pencil sketches that she wanted to get inked. So, me being me, and having liked his work with Tom Grummett on Superman, I decided to try commissioning him to ink them. Never heard back from him at all, wound up commissioning James Taylor to do the honors.

Months later -- after my accident in April and just after commissioning Taylor -- Hazlewood responded to a comment I'd made on his DA about liking his work at DC and hoping to commission him at some point. He said he was open to it, and took a liking to two of my Superman commissions, one by Grummett and another by Darryl Banks. However, I wasn't too keen on having either of those particular pieces inked (especially since he's inked Grummett and Banks plenty of times over the years), and was interested in having him ink an artist he may not have worked with before. I have a Batman/Catwoman pencil sketch I got at Motor City Con last year that I like a lot -- by Harvey-nominated artists Comfort Love and Adam Withers of The Uniques and Rainbow in the Dark -- and after mulling it over I decided that was what I wanted to get inked. So I sent him a scan of the sketch and asked him if he'd be willing to ink it over the pencils. As I ALWAYS do with every commission I get, be it pencil work, ink work, or digital art, I wrote in my request that if he wasn't interested in inking that particular sketch, to please tell me so I could change my request accordingly.

Never heard back from him. Not a peep. Not even a "Sorry, not interested." So as before with my prior attempt to commission him, I decided to forget about it. Then I saw this on CAF:
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryP...981&GSub=87447

He went and inked my Grummett Superman commission for sale. Which wouldn't be so bad if he'd asked if he could do so first. I think that's what bugs me most. He didn't have the courtesy to respond to my commission request even just to decline it, he didn't have the courtesy to ask if he could ink anything of mine for sale (I would have said yes had he done so), he just did it. (And to be honest, I don't think the inked version looks half as good as the original pencils, which is weird.) I'm not going to lie, I think this was kind of disrespectful, and I certainly won't be trying to commission him after this.

I have to ask...has this sort of thing happened to anyone else? Has an inker ever inked one of your pencil pieces and put it up for sale without bothering to ask first? Or am I just a weird anomaly?

Arcusprime · 08-28-2013, 06:05 PM

I've had a colorist digitally color one of my pieces, but I don't think he offered for sale.
What Doug did is unacceptable. Along with the spotty communication, leads me to believe he's a shady guy.

BTW- this is still one of my favorite Superman pieces ever.

joefixit2 · 08-28-2013, 06:17 PM

You question should apply based on who he was. If this was just some random guy who took the image of your CAF page and did the same thing, what would your response be? That should be the same answer here.

greenjeans1978 · 08-28-2013, 06:18 PM

My biggest problem with the whole thing is how he didn't make an effort to communicate. If he'd at least replied to turn down my commission requests, I would have been fine with that, and either changed my requests or just left it be. If he'd asked if he could ink any of the stuff in my collection either for sale or just for his own amusement, I wouldn't have objected. Going on the sly like this? I can't get behind it at all.

On the plus side, at least I didn't lose any money on this. Just my respect for him, which is a whole lot more damaging.

Quote:

You question should apply based on who he was. If this was just some random guy who took the image of your CAF page and did the same thing, what would your response be? That should be the same answer here.

Oh, I'd still be annoyed and think he should have asked first. No question about it. I wouldn't cut a no-name any slack over this. I'm just wondering if I'm the only one this sort of thing has ever happened to, or if this happens frequently.

greenjeans1978 · 08-28-2013, 07:59 PM

EDIT: False alarm regarding whether or not the CAF page had been removed.

Underdog07 · 08-28-2013, 08:09 PM

Legally you have no ownership in the image and no remedy against anyone for anything

Do I think it's just what he did - no, but that doesn't change the fact that you would legally have no recourse outside the realm of public opinion

rerun07 · 08-28-2013, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Underdog07

Legally you have no ownership in the image and no remedy against anyone for anything

Do I think it's just what he did - no, but that doesn't change the fact that you would legally have no recourse outside the realm of public opinion

Oh, if we're talking legalities here, Hazlewood had no right to reproduce an image of a copyrighted character he has no legal claim to. I mean, that's essentially what this is - a reproduction for monetary gain.

But then again, no one here was questioning the legality of it. Public opinion can hurt Hazlewood a lot more anyway, especially since we see him selling plenty of stuff online.

**MONSTER** · 08-28-2013, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Underdog07

Legally you have no ownership in the image and no remedy against anyone for anything

Do I think it's just what he did - no, but that doesn't change the fact that you would legally have no recourse outside the realm of public opinion

greenjeans1978 · 08-28-2013, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Underdog07

Legally you have no ownership in the image and no remedy against anyone for anything

Do I think it's just what he did - no, but that doesn't change the fact that you would legally have no recourse outside the realm of public opinion

Oh, I never considered taking legal action over anything this penny ante. I may be angry with him, but I'm not enough of an idiot to waste my time or money over a lost cause.

He can sell this thing if he wants. I'll just never bother with him or anything he does again.

risingstar · 08-28-2013, 08:37 PM

Yeesh. Sorry to hear that...

This unwelcomed piggy-back move definitely falls into the category of not cool. He must be really hard up for cash, which is often the case with some of these older artists. I hope the $100 he made, or whatever, was worth the shot at his rep.