Yeah, unlike some tracer artists I can think of (Mijn Schatje, for one), this one seems to be someone who actually did their work, if making heavy and perhaps lazy use of reference.

Most publishing houses employ their own artists, so quite possibly the artist who was assigned this cover art had no idea what steampunk was, and went a-googling...pity they didn't feel more original, when "designing" the cover...

It's lazy and it's rude. If you use a reference model, you should compensate or credit her.

It's so very obviously based on this image, that I don't know how in good conscious this artist can call herself one without acknowledging the muse.

Edited at 2010-01-30 11:03 pm (UTC)

Hahahah, that's not traced in the slightest- it's not even similar enough to be copyright infringing. The artist has obviously used the general pose and goggles as a starting point for inspiration and gone from there.
I'd be more insulted by the fact that it's not a particularly good piece of art- badly painted skintones and mis-shapen hands for starters. And they got paid for doing that *shakes head*

Sadly, although it is a blatant rip-off of sourse material, only 20% needs to be changed to be considered "original" and not a copyright violation.
Needless to say, this is among the MANYMANYMANY reasons I won't be buying this book. Although I might get it from the library and read out loud for S&G's.

Edited at 2010-01-30 11:13 pm (UTC)

As an artist, and being on many artistic communities, I find it offensive when people make their own drawings/renderings/whatever based on other peoples' work.

I agree with DonnaRicci...it's laziness...and it's offensive.

This...coming right on the heels of another issue...this one of obvious theft/infringement...the use of a very popular photo of GD Falksen to promote the book(ie- as far as I understand it...neither he nor the photographer were contacted)... and, wasn't it actually for this very same book?!?

The covers for Soulless and Clueless are also ganked from a website that sells steam clothes. If you google steam fashion you can find the original. The colors are different, but yeah. I was wondering about it when I found them.

Personally if I was the girl on the cover I'd drop the goggles and yank my hair out of the gear before I was scalped...and perhaps go see an orthopedic surgeon about that hand. The hand is kinda mesmerizing though..the more you stare the more it looks like a frog's foot...

It's one thing to be inspired-it's another thing to copy and just change a few things. Perhaps like others have said it's not damning enough to start a lawsuit over but if I were the artist I at least be ashamed of myself.

It looks like the cover artist just painted over the picture. There's a full length image midway through the book trailer you can compare it with.

You can find the link to it on the steamfashion post that first started people noticing the situation: http://community.livejournal.com/steamfashion/2352175.html
And on the Brass Goggles post about it: http://brassgoggles.co.uk/blog/201001/recognize-any-thing#disqus_thread

I wonder what other new surprises will reveal themselves about the situation!

Oh boy that was not the best thing to do,
With all the artist out there and such you think they would have been less lazy.

Good eyes pelianth ,

There where like 10 copies of this book at B&N today in my town. Wonder how well it will sell.

Well, at this point, enough hubbub has been generated by this whole mess, that I'm sure Penguin, etc., will be taking a look at everything.

The thing is with this illustration, if you take each part of the picture separately, none of it can be considered to be an infringement. You can't copyright a pose. You can't copyright the shape of a corset. You can't copyright the shape of a gauntlet or the fact that certain garments and accessories were used. Well, you could copyright a shape if there were some feature on it that was distinctly unique, but for the most part, you can't copyright a standard shape. But, when you put all the pieces together, the resemblance becomes so striking that some credence needs to be given to plagarism.

What's been unfortunate about this whole thing, is the fact that, while I, personally, do not like cheesy romance novels, this author produced a work that has been highly compromised, resulting in serious discreditation of her work.

There's been a massive hoohah (is that a word?) over the promotions for this book, which also has a video ad that uses stolen art and images from a wide variety of sources.

The entire PR team working on this project should be sued and fired. I can only hope the author doesn't get too hurt out of it.

Eeep! That's embarrassing.

the use of the redraw of the image and possible copyright infringement is not really the issue...as it'll be hard to pursue. But, with the obvious likeness, and knowing that copyright infringement has occurred before with this same PR crew, for this very same book...if I were Penguin...I'd take a serious look at what is going on in that office that is pushing this book.

People need to remember that the author most likely had little to no say in the cover for the book. That is the PUBLISHER's domain.

So they need to stop blaming the author and start blaming the publisher instead, even though, most certainly, the author will take the brunt of it, as it is their work that's been compremised so horribly.

Also, I doubt very much that we are the target audience. There aren't enough of us for one thing. Large book publishers have enough marketing-fu to know that this kind of book is going to be a turnoff to many people with even rudimentary knowledge of steampunk. (Think back to how it was received before we knew of the copyright issues.) No, this book is for a wider audience looking for gears, goggles and giggles.

Um, that last part is copywrought. ;)

It's inspiration. :P Not similar enough to be a problem.

I already posted this response to the post that made it onto facebook I will also copy it here.

I happen to like the author's books & this continued crap is getting old. Frankly, this little bitty sub culture made up primarily of people who will probably move on to the next trendy thing in a few years is really starting to piss me off. I hate nasty, arrogant behavior and since all of this started I have had to read comments insinuating that the author was just trying to pander to the community, which is ridiculous. Unless you personally know her & her interests you have no idea what she is into. Reality check time. The number of people who would actually identify themselves as steampunk is so infinitesimally small in comparison to the general populace it's not worth pandering to. Now it's oh my god! some artist may have based their drawing on a picture of someone from Abney Park! Come on! Really! It is not an exact copy, if it was you'd have a point, but it's not. I personally have been into all things Victorian since I was a little child lusting after the kids Victorian style furniture they used to give away on the price is right. How many of you little brats can say the same? So shut the frak up and move on with your lives. This continued nit picking is extremely obnoxious. Oh, and someone here called the author's books cheesy, have you ever bothered to read one of her books? They actually tend to be humorous not what I'd call cheesy.

You can clearly see the goggles are spot on traced...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/donnaricci/4318943697/