Recently I've been garnering more and more rude comments from the internet. Comments "calling me out" for stealing and not being creative. I'd just like everyone to know where I'm coming from.

I'll start with the beginning of the superhero project.

It was 2011 and I had just seen this on the internet: [link]

A friend of mine asked me to make him something he could put on his dorm wall with his favorite superhero, captain america. I instantly recalled the previous images.

No problem, I pulled up an image of captain america on google and with illustrator I marked out the most important shapes. Tada! 15 minute "minimalist poster."

A few other friends started asking for some and a month later I had a collection already. I posted them on reddit to get some feedback. Everyone really liked them, and from what I could tell, everyone understood that these posters I "designed" were really just traced shapes, subtracting details from the original subject. Infact I gave a few people tips on how to do it themselves (Since I didn't own licensing to these and wouldn't sell them). The original threads, which highlight my sources, inspirations, and even tips on how to do them yourself are still available on reddit here:

[link]

[link]

(Notice how even in the title I refer to the original posters that I did not create)

You can read through my entire comment history, it's all very transparent. I never hid a single thing.

Over time the posters grew in popularity, and it suddenly became harder to respond to everyone. It also became harder to see the posts where I credited the artists.

I made the mistake today of claiming that a bunch of sites ripped off my posters. (A few websites are even selling the designs as t-shirts in China) The backlash was horrible, "YOU DIDN'T EVEN CREATE THESE".

No I didn't create the original image, but the "minimalist" versions that I made were downloadable for free on my deviantart. I was simply claiming that these sites hosted the wallpapers without crediting anyone, at least if they'd credit me you could see the original source.

I haven't even asked anyone to pull these down, because I understand I have little to no right to do so. I certainly don't own any marvel characters.

I plagiarised once; I showed an Art teacher some drawings that were not mine to try to get into his class (it was full). He allowed me to take the class and signed off on the papers. I was so ashamed of that moment that I never once stepped foot in his class afterwards. I was 14 back then.

In short: If you decide to judge me for the quality of my work, don't judge me for those superhero posters. They were really just a fun side project that was much more about quantity than quality. I'll always state when an idea didn't come from my mind. I'm posting these things on the internet, If something is stolen you get called out pretty quickly (Certainly not 2 years down the line). If you think I stole something send me a message first, I promise I'll respond. Everything is usually a misunderstanding.

Remember there is a human being on the receiving side of every online comment.