Talk:Yunomi-P/@comment-99.0.13.215-20120416041933/@comment-182.18.208.2-20130106223245

^ Since you draw, I'm sure you're aware of this but using references (and crediting your used references at that) is vastly different from tracing a picture you're referencing while not even crediting the source. That's what Yunomi did and one of the reasons why she got so much flak. I mean, a writer can copy their favorite novelist's style or their theme or the dynamic between characters because they like it so much; but once they lift direct lines, quotes, or plot, isn't that plagiarism already? What do you learn from tracing except maybe bettering your line tracing skills?

@OP: No one's questioning whether what she did was art or not; they're questioning why she had to do inappropriate stuff in the first place. If she was so good at drawing already, there's really no need to trace, is there?

And I don't really understand why her being good at drawing is even related to this issue? She did something wrong; people pointed it out and judged her for it. That's usually how it goes. You cannot negate doing something wrong by being great at stuff. Otherwise, people who stole things in order to help others wouldn't need to be sent to prison. Yunomi being such a great artist does not automatically mean it was okay for her to 1) trace 2) commercial stock photos (without referencing nor buying  them - which was illegal, by the way), and 3) get profits from artworks that were essentially stolen and traced.

And I'm pretty sure that, had it been solely a case of tracing, that people would have been able to overlook it more easily. But it was tracing AND illegal (commercial stock photo, etc.,) and most importantly, that she released an artbook that includes some/a lot of those traced artworks and profitted from it. She apologized later on, of course, but trust and money had been involved. I don't see how playing to her strengths and admitting she was wrong and being a great artist would negate that.

She can be your favorite artist still and a beacon for you, no one's against your right to do that. But I sincerely hope you at least realize that what she did WAS wrong and that, that part of her isn't one of the things you admire. There are millions of talented artists out there who didn't do those stuff so she had no excuse to do them either.