By Salagir, Supafan Admin

Faye & Winry "steal of fanart" case

From our point of view, it begins when Faye sees on a forum a topic initied and filled with Winry's fanarts. In it, some of them are in fact Faye's, that Winry says she did herself.

It happened so many times that now, Faye adds a link to her site on each of her drawings. She did too on her old drawings which are now all marked. But the pictures on the thread were taken before that.

In this forum, 3 pictures where stolen, among others with differents art styles. The poster, "Winry Rockbell", will say more than once it's hers and even start saying she'll use a watermark on them...
With about 2000 messages posted on the forum, she a respected member surrounded by regular other posters that are likely to believe all she says.
But then, Winry got a signature more than 700 px high, and posts lots of one line messages with "lol" for unique content and sometimes background-colored text. All that make her a very bad person, and it's no wonder she steals fanarts too.

Because the people on the thread where speaking archely and indirectly to Faye, and because thruth add to be done, and because I wanted to harrass someone, I posted an anwser, while Faye re-scanned the arts, in high-def, to prove our point.
The thread is here : http://www.weaponx.net/forumx/index.php?topic=422.0 (you the reader: don't go posting on it if you have nothing to say. And just giving your opinon on who you think is right, is nothing to say. No flood.)

No message were modified here except for the html translation.

Previous messages quotes on the thread

In the thread Faye's site is discovered and someone point it out. It's then clearly decided Faye was the stealer. OK......who's ripping who off..............Hmmmmmmm...????????

A picture allegedly from a member of this site.......:
[faye pic without url embedded]

A picture taken from another site:
[faye pic with url embedded]

Oddness indeed....................... I Dunno
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o.O Someone took my fan art!!!! >.<
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....and it's a French site!!!!! [Hammer Head]
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Yeah, cause I don't wamt some french bastard taking my art. o.O;

Salagir on the Thread (2006-09-18)

I send my message on the topic. A user of my site www.supafan.net , "Faye" gave me this url. I understand this is time for a little truth here.

1) "Winry Rockbell" here is a blatant liar who posts many pictures found here and there on the internet. This is quite easy to check out, just by looking at them.
The drawing style is very different, even with a change of style thru the years, the change has no credibility.
You also see that the pictures Faye draw are very mosty copies from an original art, and here we have also originals on there own : why drawing copies with many details and greyscales when you can do original work, like in the case of some pictures here ?

2) a simple look at this link : http://faye.supafan.net/
will show you at least 3 stolen fanarts, and many others with the same exact artstyle, isn't that really weird ?
Because so many people stole Faye's art, she recently re-uploaded them all with the signature added on it. Windy simply stole it before this happened.

And to prove this, Faye took her sheets from the wall and scanned them again, just a few minutes ago.
(warning : big files) http://faye.supafan.net/images/4/originals/

3) I'm asking for the removal of the stolen images. If you like art, you'll understand me there.

To conclude, Windy, if you can't draw, that's not a shame, if you think you draw so bad you can't post your art, don't try to heal your insecureness by lies. Clearly it does not work : you receive a praise that is not pointed to you. Except making you feel even more miserable, it just don't do any good.
The best to do now is to edit you message, and say to Faye you're sorry : you'll feel liberated.

"Weapon X", the admin of the site, answers me by PM.

Winry never said anything, on the thread or by PM, since my first post.
The Email address I used to subscribe was something like "weapon-x.blog.thatthingyhere@public.salagir.com" which is why the admin doubt it's a true one.

If you have a problem with anything on my forum it would be greatly appreciated that you PM me about it rather then make a childish post about it. This simply gives you zero credibility to your greivences and I will simply remove your post.

If you wish me to look into this I will but not if you are childish about it.
Explain yourself thouroughly and provide proof and not just random links..............
Also provide a real e-mail address or your account will be deleted and you and anybody else coming from your site will be banned.

As far as I am concerned, unless I hear from you in a professiona manner by way ofl PM or e-mail, this matter is closed. A little harsh, but so was my post.

My anwser by PM (2006-09-18)

If you have a problem with anything on my forum it would be greatly appreciated that you PM me about it
I answered to this topic publicly as my member was publicly attacked here, as being the "thief" in the first place.
I had many stories with admins never responding so I must admit I didn't think to search and contact the admin of this one. Sorry !

rather then make a childish post about it. This simply gives you zero credibility to your greivences and I will simply remove your post.
This post is nice, you should have seen the uncensored preview :)
Anyway, I would have been nicer if 1) the steal wasn't so obvious 2) none would have posted the sentence "[i]I don't wamt some french bastard taking my art.[/i]" (it's not about the french of course, it's about Faye being treated as a thief and bastard, which you know, don't happen to be nice)

Explain yourself thouroughly and provide proof and not just random links..............
Random links ? what is a random link ? We scanned the drawings and I created the "original" folder just for the thread, man

Also provide a real e-mail address
This email is real as I received a mail telling me I have a PM :)
Don't worry, the mail works perfectly and it's mine, I just happend to have infinite possibilities of email address and I like to remember which email comes from where. (salagir.com is my domain, as my nick suggests)

or your account will be deleted and you and anybody else coming from your site will be banned.
You mean coming from my ip ? please ! :)

As far as I am concerned, unless I hear from you in a professiona manner by way ofl PM or e-mail, this matter is closed.
OK. Answered then. You can also mail me directly if you want, I'm open for dialogue.

C U

His answer

I will look into it only because I run a legitimate forum and have addressed this in the past since I saw the exact drawings on your site earlier and I already confronted my member about it and they said they had the original drawings so it looks like I need to address it again.

These drawings are EXACT copies of one another so somebody is obviously copying the other.

I don't appreciate your quoting my PM to you, and critiquing each line as if you need to defend yourself. It is quite childish and again you simply lose credibility with me but as I said earlier I will look into this but understand that it is simply for the credability of my forum and site that I am looking into this and not because of your grievences.

My answer

Unfortunately, PMs' answers aren't saved automatically and I didn't check the box this time. Maybe Weapon X will be kind enough to send it to me ^_^

From memory : I said I was waiting for the results of confrontation, I said my quoting is a regular way to respond on usenet and by mail, and wasn't intended to hurt him. Then I went explaining about why quoting is great, it helps not forgetting anything, etc.

His anwser (still 2006-09-18)

The interssting thing though is that I know Winry personally and that member has shown me the "pencil" drawings in question. I affirm that they are not scans but pencil drawings. I have seen them myself.
There is another member who attests that they infact saw Winry draw one of them.
The only thing I can think is that they both are very talented and have copied "freehand" their drawings which is why they are so similer but what has me puzzled is that they are EXACT!!!! Line for line.....mark for mark even down to the very same inconsistancies (well what I call inconsistancy) as one another.
In one of the Edward drawings......there is a mark to the left of the picture out all by itself..........seeming to me not necesarry to the overall completeion of the picture but they both contain it. This shows to me that one or the other was traced or copied from the other......as like I have stated earlier I have seen the actual pencil drawing of Winrys............that is why I am so puzzled over this.

The last thing I am going to do is accuse anybody of anything...........I will investigate further as to where out WXN artist got their inspiration to their drawings and look into that.

There is one picture you posted of Edward with his arms spread wide and holding onto a cape........I have seen that very exact picture (and or pose exactly) in color on what looks like a DVD cover so neither of our members can claim it was an original thought of their own but perhaps they both used that for their inspiration ????

Like I said......I will persue this further.............

My answer (2006-09-19)

The interssting thing though is that I know Winry personally and that member has shown me the "pencil" drawings in question. I affirm that they are not scans but pencil drawings. I have seen them myself.
Are we talking about the sames 3 pictures ? One link and 2 Eds ?
There is somethin you never answered me about: the high def scans. Faye penciled her pseudo on the drawing and rescanned it, just for you.
http://faye.supafan.net/images/4/originals/Link.jpg
All I have here is your witness, I want a high def scan, and not taken from the ones we released. A real like 600-dpi scan. Of a part, the whole isn't needed.
You didn't found weird also all these really different art styles in the iamges displayed by Wendy ? This is quite clear they are from differents authors. This is not about removing the 3 fayes arts. The whole thread is a compilation of fanarts.

The only thing I can think is that they both are very talented and have copied "freehand" their drawings which is why they are so similer but what has me puzzled is that they are EXACT!!!! Line for line....
This is not to apply to the blury grays in all the page, which are also identical. One stole another.

as like I have stated earlier I have seen the actual pencil drawing of Winrys..
thru webcams don't count.

I have seen that very exact picture (and or pose exactly) in color
Like I said, these 3 pictures are drawed with an exemple : some original artwork of FMA and Zelda.

His anwser (2006-09-19)

You want a high def scan from me ??????
Firstly I don't need to prove anything to you...................if you can't get the original drawing in front of you for you yourself to see then that is your problem and not mine........a scan is not an original.

All I am asking of my member is to see the original drawing and if that member does that, that is all the proof I need.

As I stated earlier, I run a legitimate site and I have to prove myself to NOBODY.

My anwser (2006-09-20)

Man, this is very bad quoting, as no quoting at all. You failed to answer ANY of my points in my previous message. And therefore, this current answer as no credibility, as you used to say.

You want a high def scan from me ??????
Firstly I don't need to prove anything to you..............
Yes you do, you promised it to me : "I am looking into this" "I will persue this further."

All I am asking of my member is to see the original drawing and if that member does that, that is all the proof I need.How is this done ? Do you meet IRL and see the actual sheet of paper ? Or does she show you the paper on webcam or with a photo ?

....a scan is not an original. A high def scan can prove she has the original. Because you can't increase the def of a file : it gets blurry. We did that. Wendy didn't.

As I stated earlier, I run a legitimate site and I have to prove myself to NOBODY.
The whole things was never about proving yourself, it's about proving your website, or simply Wendy's thread.
You have to prove the result of your research to all the forum, because if you feel you got the answer and the site is therefore legitimate, that's nice for you, you sleep better. But the visitors and members won't, and won't feel it as legitimate.

I sent proofs we have the sheets. You didn't send anything, just went "i checked and it's her drawings", never answered my points about the obvious differences of style, about my scan (where do they come from if we don't have the originals???), about my questionning of your check method. Watch CSI.

His anwser (2006-09-20)

This is where he loses control : bad typing, bad points, even a little racism at the end. A whole mess. Frankly I don't care what you think about my site.......nor do I care about what fayt cares about my site. I have asked my member to show me the ORIGINAL DRAWINGS she made and if she shows them to me that is enough for me. Can you read what I wrote???? ORIGINAL DRAWINGS. How much clearer do I need to be???? Fayt has only shoewn you scans of her alleged drawings. I visited your site and her gallery and you wanna talk about style change???? Your proof of my members guilt (her different style change) is "the pot calling the kettle black" (look it up if you don't know what the meaning is, use google) and it's extreme.
I also noticed you have not taken down the drawings in question which is hard evidence to me that you have no intention of getting to the bottom of this. Any good webmaster and ot ADMIN would take them down till the truth comes out but as you havent it tells me lots about your intentions.

At this point I am leaning twords fayt being the one who stole my members art and i8t is unfortunate because it looks like she as a bit of talent but I am not sure of what.........either it is artistic ability or the ability to scour the internet and snag other artists work as her own. If you want my opinion it simply looks like fayt stole mey members work and printed and scanned it then re-traced it to look like she did it herself. I don't need CSI to clearly see that.

Why don't you and fart keep your pointless accusations on your side of the ocean where they belong and let us Americans continue our growth in out artistic ability.

My Answer (2006-09-21)

Ay ay man. This is a really harsh message. Worse, it was written in hurry : many typos, clearly no re-read before post. Don't respond to any of my points, and make many unvalids ones.
It contains all what you should not do.

With no arguments, comes violence. It proves that you've been lying from the begining, which explains why you didn't answer to my point about your checking methods.

Frankly I don't care what you think about my site.......nor do I care about what fayt cares about my site.
It's not about the two of us, but all the community.

I have asked my member to show me the ORIGINAL DRAWINGS she made and if she shows them to me that is enough for me. Can you read what I wrote???? ORIGINAL DRAWINGS. How much clearer do I need to be????
By answering my question on how did you see the original drawing. Did you meet IRL, did she show it to you indirectly thru webcam or photo, did she just told you "of course they're mine", did you simply lie ?

Fayt has only shoewn you scans of her alleged drawings.
High-def scan. Where the heck did she get them ? Tell me ?
BTW, nice way to get your revenge on my error on Winry's name, except at least, "windy" is a real name (and also the real name of the FMA character), when fayt is nothing :)

I visited your site and her gallery and you wanna talk about style change???? Your proof of my members guilt (her different style change) is "the pot calling the kettle black" (look it up if you don't know what the meaning is, use google) and it's extreme.
Google has always been my friend. In french it's "the hospital making fun of the charity".
Her latests drawings are colors tries, and also, she tries to draw the most possible without a model.
Now go the bottom of her page. All with models, all the exact same style.

I also noticed you have not taken down the drawings in question which is hard evidence to me that you have no intention of getting to the bottom of this. Any good webmaster and ot ADMIN would take them down till the truth comes out but as you havent it tells me lots about your intentions.
I'm sorry, I didn't think of doing it. In fact I thought the thief would have to indeed take out his drawings, after the matter is closed. I took as a good gesture your taking out, but as I know Faye's right, it didn't touch my mind to do it myself.
Anyway, I still won't remove the files, since you didn't offered any proof of anything.

At this point I am leaning twords fayt being the one who stole my members art and i8t is unfortunate because it looks like she as a bit of talent but I am not sure of what.........either it is artistic ability or the ability to scour the internet and snag other artists work as her own.
Yeah, that's what Winry did.

If you want my opinion it simply looks like fayt stole mey members work and printed and scanned it then re-traced it to look like she did it herself. I don't need CSI to clearly see that.
LOL ! That's a fucking lot of work !

Why don't you and fart keep your pointless accusations on your side of the ocean where they belong and let us Americans continue our growth in out artistic ability.
This last sentence is a wonderful conclusion. First the (certainly not even intended) pun on fayt now fart :D
Second, this beautiful and stupid-minded nationalist sentence that gives you, like -4865 credibility points. You know, this is why it's important to read the post before sending it : I originaly wrote something about your president, but than deleted it, so the message doesn't go personnal (or country personnal).

His anwser (2006-09-21)

:rotfl: Oh my word............what part of me saying "Original drawings" don't you understand ????
Please.........I need to know........what part of it don't you understand????
I assume you are french???? Are you taking my english and then having some software translate it to french so you can read it ???? I really need to know this because I don't know how much plainer I need to get.

1: I stated on a PM earlier that I know Winry PERSONALLY and here in the states (no offence intended) that means I could call her and she could be at my house in a matter of minutes and it would be a face to face meeting.

2: Original drawings means just that.......I will only believe her or anybody else if I have the Original drawings in my hands......IN MY HANDS, how much clearer do I need to be ????? Can you understand that ???? If you don't understand that one thing this whole dialoge we have been having is a waste of my time. A scan IS NOT ACCEPTABLE..........A file sent by e-mail IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Only having the ORIGINAL DRAWING in my hands is acceptable proof on ones authorship of any work at all whatsoever. So your use of a high-def scan for proof is rediculious at best and is no proof whatsoever.

3: The fact that you refuse to take down the drawings that faye STOLE from my site till this is resolved is my proof the you are not serious about finding the true author of these drawings but instead are bullheaded (look it up) and have no desire to do what it right and fair. You have no business ruinning a site where your members are posting questionable material and you do nothing about it. But that is your business and not mine.

4: I will continue to have the drawings down till Winry shows me the original drawings (One of which I personally saw and had in my hands a while ago) and once she does they will go back up.
I have no desire nor need to send you or anybody else any high-def scans of them since seeing them myself is all the proof I need.
In your eyes that may not be enough but what you or faye think means nothing to me anymore.
It is all about keeping the integrity of my site intact and not what somebody across the sea thinks about it.

Personally I think this whole thing is a joke.........but even so I will do what is right which is not what I can say about you and faye.

My anwser (2006-09-25)

Hello, had a nice week end ?

OMG tetris on your forum !!! You think I can resist that ? ^^ Or is it a clever way to make me lose time as you know my weak point number 17 ? Damn you :) Anyway, I'll play a little after work. If you wanna know more about me and tetris, google is your friend.

:rotfl: Oh my word............what part of me saying "Original drawings" don't you understand ????
I assume you are french???? Are you taking my english and then having some software translate it to french so you can read it ????
The one you never answered to. The way you saw the original.
Because you see, it's impossible you saw the [i]real[/i] original, except if you went in France, you know, where they are :)
Yes I'm french and yes you know how much plainer you needed to get : answering my multiple-choices questionnary, not 1 or 2 messages later. You know this questionnary : "did you see it thru webcam, photo or real life ?". Now, at least you answer it. Pfffiiiu !
BTW, of course I read, write, talk and understand english quite well, I wouldn't dare to use a translation system...

1: I stated on a PM earlier that I know Winry [b]PERSONALLY[/b] and here in the states (no offence intended) that means I could call her and she could be at my house in a matter of minutes and it would be a face to face meeting.
No offence intended but [i]on the contraire[/i] : most of the french are less than 1000 km away from me. An americain ? He can easily be with 5 hours time difference from you :) And worse, as english is used by everyone on the internet, windy could perfectly be in japan. So really I was not inclined to think you'd live close. And the concept of knowing someone personnally, doesn't clear distance, and you know how some people think they know personnally someone they never saw in real life.
This is a cleared point, and another for me : you weren't cleverly tricked by Winry, you're just gullible :) (or a fucking liar but I don't want to believe that) Whatever she showed you wasn't the original. Maybe it was, like, a rock ? Did you smoke something ? ^_^

A scan IS NOT ACCEPTABLE..........A file sent by e-mail IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Only having the ORIGINAL DRAWING in my hands
That's nice for you. But your word is not acceptable. So now, will you wait like 3 or 4 others messages before getting to the real part, proving to the world that's indeed true ?

Will you wait 6 or 9 messages before sending me a better scan than ours to prove she gots the drawing ?

Will you wait 20 messages befores explaining how our scans are exactly the same as the stolen images, just bigger, and can't possibly be done *after* as you suggest, and match perfectly, even in the shades of pencil in the background ?

3: The fact that you refuse to take down the drawings that faye STOLE from my site till this is resolved is my proof
This is a lame proof. That's just a hint of me not being nice. On my side I have others hints, like you not scanning, like you not responding to all my points each time, like all the differences in drawing style.
You dropped the drawing hint with a "blah", I'm dropping the non-acting on my site.

4: I will continue to have the drawings down till Winry shows me the original drawings
Dont ask her to show it to you. Ask her to scan it. Just a part. In 600 dpi.

I have no desire nor need to send you or anybody else any high-def scans of them since seeing them myself is all the proof I need.
I dont care about the proof you need. You're not the judge, the viewers of both our sites are.

It is all about keeping the integrity of my site intact and not what somebody across the sea thinks about it.
You go again :) -7865 credibility points.
BTW , ocean, not sea. Ocean.

Then.... (2006-10-12)

I played Tetris only once and exploded the score. I know this as NOTHING to do with the story and sounds very arrogant, but I have lots history with this flash game (love to Sogamed last year).
The fun part is my score is displayed 3.85188e+06 ;p

Anyway, since then, no answer.

I see on this day the thread was re-opened and someone posts on it to asks my point of view... Time to release this page.

[quote author=Avaxra_Kitty link=topic=422.msg15996#msg15996 date=1160629163]O.O Oh wow... This is going to make this all so confusing! @_@ I do know that those piccys are Winry's! I've seen em! ^^[/quote] It is yes... If the administrator of this forum permits it, I can show the talk we had in private about the matter. You said you saw them, but in what way ? [quote author=Avaxra_Kitty link=topic=422.msg15996#msg15996 date=1160629163]@ Salagir- Who's side are you on? O.o[/quote] I'd lie if I said I wasn't on Faye's side. But the side I'm on is the truth. I think Faye made the picture because she was able to put online high-def scans [1], which are nowhere else online. One look at them shows clearly it can't be faked. You can't make a high def from a smaller one without geting blury, and any filter that could be done, the human eye sees it's not good. So they are real scans. All I have from you are words. "Weapon X" and now you saying: "I saw 'em". I know everyone is lying on the internet [2] (and in real life, but even more on the net). So it's nothing personnal but I can't take your word for it. Faye provided a scan anyone can check with his own eyes. I asked for one of a better def (even for a small part) from Wenry, and was taken down. So from know, I get the public (you and others) is not satisfied by the situation, as Winry didn't contradict nor admited she took images. [1] and I know her, but that's no proof. I could have been mystified just like you could be. This is why I don't take your word for it and won't expect you to do opposite for me. [2] I mean, I'm admin on many sites too. Admin and moderators know what I mean :)