Alright I decided to post a blog response to this so mostly everyone would see this. Sorry there have been some drama blogs today, I'm not meaning to contribute to them, but for me this kinda has to be said.

Thanks to the people who posted their opinions in that other blog. I appreciate them!

Okay, I don't really know where to start with this, because there's a lot to say. So I'll try and talk about all of it somehow. Also, please don't think that I'm angry at all about this, no part of this post is sarcastic or sour or whatever.

jean_warhol on Jun 04 '10 at 1:20pm
i said what I think, your characters are too similar, positioning of characters, angles, faces, shapes, patterns, etc. I think its good that you can emulate his style, but try to turn it into your own that's all.

So, first of all, I agree that I'm inspired by Aphte. I'm a big fan of his work, and I love his colors, characters, and concepts. However, I will say that I NEVER try to copy any one of his characters maliciously or anything like that. I never sneak around his site, wondering if I could make a design that's pretty similar to one of his and get away with it. The concepts for my designs are completely my own, and sometimes not even inspired by anyone. Most of the time I just sit staring at a blank PS document wondering what stupid character to draw next.

I'll say that there really ARE differences in our work. Aphte loves to draw a lot of little characters, usually crowding around a bigger dude. They're all bright, colorful, showing a lot of different emotions. For example:




Honestly, I really don't see how my designs look like these. In my designs, I really don't try to show any emotion with my characters. I really like to draw solemn deity-like characters, usually staring at something. I know that these aren't examples that people posted, but if you're going to accuse me of copying Aphte's stlye, then I might as well post some of his other work. You really can't focus on just two or three designs by him.

Going back to what jean_warhol said. "your characters are too similar, positioning of characters"

These are the examples of Aphte's he posted:



And these are examples of mine he posted:



Alrighty. I will admit that I was inspired by his "hollow faced many-eyed" characters. Because I think they're pretty interesting. But I really did try and make an effort to make them my own. In The Harvester, (which is pretty much 95% gigantic floating balls) I added different eyes, an original looking nose, some weird face paint stuff on his cheek. It was until the point that the only similarity was the fact that it's face was black. And can you really harp on someone for making a character with a completely black face? I agree that yes, the whole design may look similar, but technically I really don't think they are. I also have never (or rarely?) seen Aphte draw characters with long, skinny, black limbs. I think that's become a sort of habit with me, and I think that that's an easy difference to spot in our work. I also think that I haven't seen him draw his characters with high-heeled boots. I think that's completely me this time as well.

And as for positioning of characters, I really don't know what to explain. I mean, I really don't know. Are character's poses really something to be copied? I don't know.

"angles, faces, shapes, patterns, etc"

I talked about faces earlier. Angles? I'm really not sure what to talk about there. If you guys want to post examples of what you think he might be talking about, go ahead.

As for patterns, I never ever look at Aphte's work to fid new patterns. I always come up with them by myself. Patterns are usually just different lines and shapes put together, right? Is that really something you can accuse someone of copying? I bet hundreds of other people have drawn the same patterns that Aphte and I have. Plus, the details are so small, so you have to do A LOT. And more patterns means it may step on another person's own patterns. My patterns are really just triangles and lines and circles most of the time.

And shapes? Sure, I'll admit that there are certain similarities in the shapes of characters I do. Part of this is my own problem of not putting enough effort into thinking of new characters shapes to try. So I will say, that this is in part my bad. And I really do need to improve on that.

Now I'll post and example of my work and show why technically it really shouldn't remind you of Aphte.


In my opinion, Aphte really doesn't draw anything like this. This dude has actual skin and stuff like that. Hard to explain, but Aphte's characters have more of a "shape upon shape upon shape and then a smiling head" look to most of his characters. My character is more of a living creature who probably has anatomy and stuff like that. As for the eyes, sure they may remind you of Aphte's eyes, But really, they're just eyes, nobody really has any rights to them. I created my own type of nose for this character too. If it really was close to Aphte's, it would have a spiral like "spear" nose that you would see in his work.

Aphte has done soooo many designs and he's covered so many simple concepts that it's really hard to find something original to do. I think that if people can just get it out of their head that it MIGHT look like Aphte's work, you'll see that they really are different. I rushed this last part because I need to go. But if you want to post your opinion below calling me an idiot or if you agree with me go ahead.

Thanks so much if you read all of that!