The whole Kranvoc and “Ghosts” by Kavan The Kid Thing

OK, so something very interesting happened to me recently. I was looking through Flickr a few weeks after I released the Four Devils,  and came across this image. The artist is Kavan Cardoza (Kavan The Kid), and I am very aware of his work. I think it’s awesome.

Ghosts - Kavan Cardoza

Ghosts – Kavan Cardoza

 
 
So, when I originally came to draw Kranvoc I obviously had seen this image and it was lurking around in my head. It was a bit of a shock to see but I thought it best to bring it up rather than try to hide it and hope no one seen it. The original image is WAY too similar to Kranvoc for me not to do something about it. Here’s my Kranvoc drawing:

 

Kranvoc Happiness Servitor

Kranvoc The Happiness Servitor


Like, I mean it’s VERY, VERY similar. Down to some folds being pretty much exactly the same. I was freaked. I had ripped off another artist – unconsciously, but I still did it. It’s very clear for all to see.

I contacted Kavan to let him know that my image was super close to his and wasn’t try to cause any hassle. Kavan is a busy man and I didn’t get an immediate reply, so, after a few days of wondering  what is the best thing to do long term, I decided that I would just completely redraw the artwork for Kranvoc and this is what I came up.

 

 

About an hour after I posted the new art I was sent this image by a friend on Facebook:

Hauntings by Kavan The Kid

 And I was like, oh FFS. What was worse (and amazingly interesting if I wasn’t stressed enough) is that the first link to this image on google that I could find was a post called “Photography Can Turn Sadness Into Happiness” which if you drop the photography bit is pretty much an exact description of Kranvoc’s function.

For completeness sake here’s what I posted to Facebook:

Hey all,

So, having slept on it all I have deleted all the Four Devils from the site and all the other places I can. I feel this is the best move for me given what happened. (For those who don’t know the new art turned out to be pretty much the same as another photo by the same photographer and the first link to it in google even has a mental headline: https://www.viewbug.com/…/photography-can-turn-sadness-into… )

Now, a few things I want to mention.

1, You are all amazing people and thank you for all your input, support and advice. I love you all.

2, Drawing is my job, this is what i do for a living and anything that has the potential to threaten that I have to take very, very seriously. Being seen as an artist that rips off other artists is something that is extremely hard to come back from. This is the big concern. This is the big issue here. This is why I brought the whole thing up in the first place.

I do use photo reference in my art, I have done photo tracing on portraits, and I use 3D models too – and all that sort of stuff. That all feels fair and OK to me and I have always been open about that. This is different, this looks like I am directly stealing someone else’s art – twice.

3, I am in no way surprised by the magick, or synchronicity of all this – I know exactly how this old magick game works. I am, however, massively concerned about how it work looks to an outsider – and it looks really, really bad. No amount of “that’s magick” or “sync” is going to convince most non-magick people of anything other than I ripped off the artwork- twice!

4, I have contacted the Photographer and as yet no reply.

5, Sadly, I must also renege on the promise to send out new prints to people who bought the old ones. I just want to put all of this behind me and making new prints and sending them to people just seems like keeping the fire going.

6, Here is the link to the printable artwork for the Four Devils for people who want to have that. I will delete this link in 24 hours. https://drive.google.com/…/1PEYM0-ppeuKDOf8bKSlrp8tbX…/view…

7, I may at some point come back to The Four Devils and completely re-design them, but for now I need to step away.

Sorry for the hassle and everything good people, but this is what feels best and right.

So, I just deleted everything from the blog, social medias and any where else I could.

Cut to yesterday when I get an email from a super friendly awesome guy called Kavan The Kid, who was chilled about the whole thing and was happy for me to continue to use the image. He suggested adding an “Inspired by” which I am very happy to do. So, that’s awesome.

The Four Devils page is back up and you can download the artwork again. For the “official” Kranvoc artwork I am sticking to the original art, with the extra image just been a bonus.

Very weird and stressful experience but all worked out in the end.

So, yeah… Magick, eh?

 
AND, here’s Kavan’s websites, check him out:

LINKS AND PROMOTION STUFF:

BLOG
ADVENTURES IN WOO WOO

PATREON

THE FORTY SERVANTS
– All Info on The Forty Servants
– Forty Servants Altar Cards
– Buy The Forty Servants

THE FOUR DEVILS
INFO AND DOWNLOADS
SIGNED ALTAR CARDS/ ART PRINTS

MEDIA
Tommie Kelly Podcast
Tommie Kelly Youtube

SOCIAL
– Adventures in Woo Woo Facebook
 The Forty Servants Facebook Group
– Twitter
– Instagram 

PHOTOGRAPHY
500 PX
FLICKR




4 Replies to “The whole Kranvoc and “Ghosts” by Kavan The Kid Thing”

  1. Hi Tommie, I’m just seeing your website, I find it amazing. All your experiences and what you do. The sensations which gives me the four devils when looking at them are huge.
    Thanks for sharing your hard work! I had to order your forty servants deck.

Comments are closed.