Beware Etsy - Swipes For Sale

I have talked about Etsy before, which is a website that specializes on hand made items, where you can find a huge amount of different kind of things. You might remember that I found 10 Handmade Props for comic based costumes.

Regretsy is a website that lampoons the most ridiculous and strange things found on Etsy. Today, they found quite a common thing in our comic book circles: someone swiping art and passing it as their own. One of the sellers on Etsy is (badly) tracing art by renowned artists and selling it as his own. Hit the jump to see more. (Some of these images are slightly NSFW because there is a couple of bare butts and sexy poses)

The seller goes by the user name of HighClassDesign, though the information says that his name is Shane Griffith. His about information says that he is from Ireland, but the information in his username says he is from Boulder, Colorado. Here are some of the art that he has on his shop...

This was the one that originally appeared on Regretsy. I can't seem to find it on the seller's store anymore (perhaps it was taken down once it was brought to notice?), but it's clearly a trace of this J. Scott Campbell print.

This one, titled "Alice in Wonderland", is actually a piece of by Billy Tucci (as you can see in the signature). Someone in the comments section pointed out where he found the original material. (slightly NSFW as well).

This other one of "Supergirl at School" is slightly less obvious, and one could argue the case that it's just similar pose and clothes. The original is by Fred Benes as an commenter pointed out. As a side note, the artist must have given Supergirl a double jointed spine to be able to rotate her torso that way, which must run in the family as he is the brother of Ed Benes.

This next one is of "Spider-Woman, Rogue and Phoenix" (although it is badly labeled). The original on the right is by Marcio Abreu (again, as a commenter pointed out). The next one...

This "Rogue Old Outfit" is also done by Marcio Abreu. Here is the original. Of course, it's not just traditional comic book art that is up for swipes. Look at the next one...

This other one called "Pop Art Design" is actually the cover of a freaking book! It's by artist Ragnar, as another commenter pointed out. What's even more amazing is that the seller, aside from selling the print at $30, is also selling the PDF of this image at $15! That's some cheek right there.

Of course, these are just the ones that have been found. If you go through his shop, I am sure that you might be able to recognize some other pieces of art up for sale. Let us know in the comments section if you find any other swipe.

This kind of phenomenon is sadly quite common, so always be wary of anything you buy through Etsy. Some artists and companies have official Etsy accounts, such as Periscope. Anything else, you should be extremely careful with, or else you might end up with a traced copy of someone's else artwork.

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