#y’all borrower shit is fine i just want Variety

[mauesartetc]

Hey, what made you think that Vivziepop was stealing/copying other artists for Andrealphus's design?

I mean

It's weird that Viv gave human hair to a bird, and the fact that OG Andrealphus has nothing to do with ice is a massive red flag this guy's ripped off from Elsa.

This isn't the first suspicious design she's* churned out, either. Some o' y'all might remember this image from my Striker redesign post:

Notice these two villainous cowboys with tiny mustaches and nearly-identical eye and eyebrow shapes. They almost look traced, and unfortunately, that's nothing new for Viv.

*(EDIT 8/12/23: Fact check via erinfrostart in the comments: "Viv did not design Striker, one of her designers did. I watched Striker being designed, and as much as I’m no fan of Viv I can confirm he was designed before Long Gone Gulch premiered." Important clarification. Thanks! Others who worked on the show around this time are welcome to share their perspectives as well. I know how the situation appears to me as a viewer, but I'm sorry my phrasing laid blame where it wasn't deserved. I assumed malice where ignorance was the more likely reality. My bad. Now if someone has a convincing, non-theft explanation for Andrealphus, I'd be very curious to hear it.)

But wait, there's more.

It always struck me as odd that Fat Nuggets' original name was Wiggles, which is dangerously close to Waddles from Gravity Falls. And his design from the Addict video sports a ton of similarities. I went ahead and recolored Waddles for the hell of it, and uh...

Also note how Fat Nuggets’ snout is just Waddles’ snout upside down.

Y’all might be thinking "C'mon, Maue. That's a coincidence. How many possible ways are there for a person to design a cartoon pig, anyway?" Quite. A bit.

Look at all the variety in how different artists interpreted the same animal (ok, a warthog's not a domestic pig, but still a pig). This is likely due to their confidence and trust in their own visions, and willingness to draw from real-life inspirations rather than copy other animated productions. When an artist directly "borrows" from another's work, it leaves their own with a faded Xerox-of-a-Xerox quality. It's better to stay true to their own experience rather than mimic an experience manufactured by others.

When designs by two different people (or teams of people) working on completely different projects have as many similarities as Andrealphus has with Elsa, or Fat Nuggets has with Waddles, that’s no accident. That’s calculated. 

I’m sure Viv thinks what she’s doing is just an “homage” or some shit, but copyright holders won’t see it that way. Years ago, a client tasked me with designing a Willy Wonka parody character, so I whipped up a dude in my own style with similar hair and clothes. It was innocent enough; I wasn’t trying to rip off anything. I thought the design would help the audience tell it was a Wonka parody while still being its own thing. I thought that would work, but... My client relayed a blunt message from his lawyer basically saying “um NAH don’t fuckin’ use this”, so I changed up the colors and clothing style and it was fine after that.

If Viv continues to pull this shit in Hazbin and Helluva, she’ll find herself in legal trouble. Obviously there’s no such thing as a completely original idea, but this is just lazy. Fortunately, I’m sure at least Hazbin’s design team (less sure about Helluva’s since they let Andrealphus slip through the cracks) will filter out these bad habits and won’t be afraid to tell her “no” now and then. It’s for her own good.

 “But Maue”, you might be wondering, “How do we ‘stay true to our own experience’? How do we collect visual references for what we want to make without copying someone else’s design?” Well, this post’s long enough, so I’ll answer that in a subsequent entry. But here’s a hint:

Photos.

‘Til next time.

#ask #shorikissune #character design #hazbin hotel critical #helluva critical #vivziepop #pigs #andrealphus #fat nuggets