Edit: New accounts and business emails have been found. Please see Update #3 for the most recent info.
If you find any way to contact them that isn't listed, or have an updates, please share them here or feel free to DM me if you wish to remain anonymous.
The Artist Beware is now active. You can find it here.
Hello, all.
One never thinks that they will have to write one of these, but the world is a funny place.
Back in August of 2019, My partner Lainebrary and I purchased this set of adoptables for their ABs; $125 each. The transaction went incredibly smoothly, and Pepapen was very quick and professional to deliver files; even going so far as creating additional files for us when asked for separate .pngs for the fullbodies / portraits.
April 3rd, 2021; I was browsing Pinterest and I came across an art piece that feels oddly similar to my character, Blessing; and when I overlaid them, it became incredibly clear that this wasn’t just a reference, there was a direct trace.
I spent the next hour and a half, in tears, tearing through the internet with image searches to try to find which image came first; the adoptable, or this bust piece I found on Pinterest. Spoiler; it was the portrait I’d found, which pre-dates these two adoptables by two years. You can find it here, time-stamped December 26, 2017; two years before the adoptables were created. https://monappy.jp/picture_places/view/22490
I reached out to Pepapen immediately seeking recourse. You can find the emails here, where I describe my demands to fix the situation;
- A public post on your art and social media accounts admitting that you traced. With this, I would like to see you come clean on every piece that was traced or 'heavily referenced'. Track down the people who paid you for these works or adopts, and offer them a full refund or a redraw.
- Reach out to the artists whose works you've stolen.
- A full refund on these designs.
Within a day, all of my demands were met. I linked to their public posts on my own DeviantArt, and thought it was done. A clean resolution, and I was content to let sleeping dogs lie.
Public Post Links:
- https://www.deviantart.com/pepapen/status-update/22234667
- https://www.deviantart.com/posepedia/status-update/22234618
Until my partner reached out to a friend of theirs, who had gotten a commission from Pepapen, and advised them to double-check the work with Pepapen & Posepedia. That was when the commissioner found out that Pepa had blocked them, when they had no correspondence with the artist since the last commission. They, in turn, reached out to another friend; who was also blocked.
And thus the need for this PSA. I advise you, if you have bought an adoptable or commissioned work from this pair, to seek recourse. While I have not looked for evidence of more traces, I am highly suspicious of the ‘preventative blocking’ that seems to be taking place; also, when I had asked that Pepapen make a public announcement, what good does it do if they just block anyone from even seeing it?
From what I can tell, contacting Posepedia is the only way to get a response, if you’ve been blocked on the main account. Feel free to add any information in the comments and I’ll update this thread.
As of right now, both characters that were listed on TH have been set to hidden until we can find an artist who is willing to redesign them.
Evidence Compiling;
Google Drive
Sta.sh
Updates
Edit 3 (October 21st, 2021):
It seems Pepapen and Posepedia are in the middle of re-branding and have resurfaced. Thank you to the anonymous user who DMd me with some more information!
Game Project: https://mushroomallow.itch.io/edda-cafe
Associated Twitter: https://twitter.com/mushroomallow_
Associated Itch.io; https://mushroomallow.itch.io/
New Business Email: [email protected]
Edit 2 (April 8th, 2021):
From a kind soul who wishes to remain anonymous, I have received several more places of contact, some that seem to be more active than others. I'll be updating the main thread post with these, as well.
Pepapen:
https://blackpepper.itch.io/ [Deactivated]
https://www.instagram.com/blackpepperwitch/?hl=en [Seems to be a Dead Account]
https://twitter.com/Mayorpumpkinxxx [Deactivated]
New Email: [email protected]
Invoice Email: [email protected]
Posepedia:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDgtcduN5xutQmfue_rI_sg [Seems to be a Dead Account]
https://www.patreon.com/posepedia/creators [Deactivated]
https://www.twitch.tv/posepedia [Seems to be a Dead Account]
Edit 1 (April 7th, 2021): It seems that both Pepapen and Posepedia are now blocking past commissioners. Their business email is [email protected]. Alternatively, their Twitter is morinoiratelier, and their Art Station is https://www.artstation.com/morinoir, though it seems like both accounts are pretty dead. Another account name has been found, as well; "lapinpen". [Old information, please see Update #3 for updated emails and business accounts]
