Message from Drawponies

Hello everyone, Neil Wacaster here, which some of you know as Drawponies.  You may have heard the reports that I have traced screenshots from the show in my art and that I have been selling traced artwork at conventions.  

While I have done hundreds of original art pieces, it is true that some of my art has been traced from the show - particularly for things that we wanted to get out quickly for viewers, such as comic strips. I have focused on selling original artwork at conventions, but there have been cases where artwork was traced. I sincerely apologize for doing this, and for hurting those who have watched me. I also wish to apologize to those who feel they have been cheated by me. I should have taken the time to create art completely from scratch, instead of taking an easy way out to fill a quota or get something done quickly. From now on, I will be doing original artwork no matter how long it takes.

Let me address the other points that people are making:

• Deleting negative comments and banning people for criticism - My volunteer moderator team and I did not delete negative comments made in the last few days. Claims that we did are false.

• Adapting to Night as traced work - Adapting to Night is an example of work that is created completely from scratch.  Many of the characters, objects, and backgrounds used in the series are referenced from the show, but not traced or copied.  As with all of the art on the page, when we use fandom created assets, it is clearly credited in the description.

Despite all this, I will still be going forward, and continue to create artwork for the fandom.  None of the artwork that I will have at conventions will have show assets, and any work with traced assets will be discontinued entirely.

I know that many of my followers are angry.  It was a foolish mistake, and I should never have traced pictures for my work.  All I ask is for your forgiveness; if you do not wish to give any, I understand.

If you have any concerns about this issue, you are welcome to leave your opinions.  Your frustration and opinions are heard and read, even if I don’t reply.  Please direct your messages at me, rather than my friends, as I’m the one who did it.