Okay it's no secret Cat Girl is my most popular print, hands down in my etsy shop, so it kind of makes sense I'd encounter this issue one day. I got alerted, by a lovely fan today, of Dania Piotti's etsy shop and in particular her Bat Girl work. There are a lot of thoughts running through my head so I'm going to try and flesh them out.
My Cat Girl on the Left and Dania's Batgirl on the right
1) I'm actually super flattered; for someone to copy my work to find their own voice I think that's actually a great thing!
2) I'm wondering if the voice is a little too similar?
3) I'm only here for a short time (as we all are) let's view creativity and art as a great/fun/inspiring thing!
I'm definitely not a confrontational person and I hate bringing anyone else down. I'm thinking, if I was Dania and I obviously liked the Cat Girl piece enough to borrow some ideas from it, I would be pretty shattered if this artist (aka Burntfeather) came back around and called me out or sent me an unhappy email.
I'm also confident enough in my own art practice, to not feel threatened and I don't value money too highly (although perhaps I should). I kind of want to flip it around and tell Dania that I'm glad she was influenced by Cat Girl, that when I drew her I had no idea she would end up in so many people's houses or even that someone, one day would take ideas from the piece into their own. I guess my only advice for Dania is to keep painting and drawing because one day she'll come up with her own Cat Girl and perhaps, someone out there will be influence by that :)
For all those creatives out there let's keep being creative, the World can never have enough art!
What are your thoughts, I know people have very strong views on this topic, I'd love to hear them :)
