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Hey #TwitterofTime, let's talk about Ariel Burgess. You probably know her, or her work at the very least, but if not, just scroll her account; she's one of the pre-eminent wheel of time artists, with gorgeous, highly rendered portraits of many of the characters. https://twitter.com/ArtArielB/status/1192886413626400769
Ariel is not a fan artist, though she obviously adores the Wheel of time. She is a professional artist, who was licensed by Bandersnatch (Harriet's company that controls Robert Jordan's estate) to produce and sell official Wheel of Time art. In other words, this was her job.
I say was, because when Amazon picked up the license, artists like Ariel lost theirs. That's very common in that kind of situation, but also a huge bummer for artists losing an income stream. As well as a bummer for fans like us who no longer can get awesome prints and stuff.
So despite years of effort producing incredible work, Ariel has to stop selling those prints and focus on other ways to make a living (which is NEVER easy for artists). Which makes this whole situation with "WOTmerch" so infuriating.
So despite years of effort producing incredible work, Ariel has to stop selling those prints and focus on other ways to make a living (which is NEVER easy for artists). Which makes this whole situation with "WOTmerch" so infuriating.
"Wotmerch" is some dude who stole a bunch of Ariel's artwork, slapped it on tee shirts and hoodies, and is selling them on @teespring. And despite several of us bringing this to Teespring's attention, they have not taken down the listings.
This kind of thing *kills* artist's ability to make a living, because being the only person who can sell your artwork is all you have. People who dig her awesome portrait of Rand (see above) used to have to buy high quality prints directly from Ariel.
Now, this rando is making the money that is rightfully hers, and also degrading her brand by pairing it with crude sexist slogans. And @teespring is completely failing to take action; his storefront is still up as I type this.
Many of us have written directly to this guy, telling him that his images are stolen and he needs to stop selling them. He just blocks us and moves on. And @teespring actually responded to me saying that they don't support intellectual property theft.
Despite that, they continue to let him sell stolen art on their site. I've reported it exactly as they told me to, as have others. At this point, they know the work is stolen, and continue to allow it. They also make money every time Ariel's stolen art is sold.
That's the issue that you've seen me and many other's tweeting about in a nutshell. It's awful exploitation of one of our fan community's most beloved artists, and it needs to stop.
So please, #TwitterofTime, do your thing. Retweet this, and continue to call out @teespring until they do the right thing. Go to "WOTmerch's" storefront and report all of the items with stolen art: https://teespring.com/stores/wot-3?aid=marketplace
Get Ariel's back, because it's the right thing to do, and because it protects all the creative people who bring us things like the Wheel of Time for us to enjoy. Carai an Caldazar!
