Another Bruton Update

Although he has taken down the last two drawings that I posted about, I keep finding more. This is another stolen piece of art that Mark Bruton STILL has up on his web page . . . despite being called out numerous times.


You'd think after all the embarrassing publicity, he'd go through his portfolio with a fine tooth comb and get rid of ALL the evidence. Instead, like a child, he continues to live in la-la-land where denial, and distasteful ethics are a way of life.

UPDATE - 10/10/10

Mark Buton's web page has been taken down! Was it voluntary or coerced? Don't know. Not sure what it means in the long run, but hopefully, at least for the time being, it means online artists are safe from copyright fraud.

Really, Bruton...really?

Dear Mr. Bruton,

After all that has happened, sir, you continue to fail at being an artist. Not becasue of your lack of abilities, but becasue of your lack of morality.


It is clear, through your continued malevolent behavior and refusal to comply with the simple requests of your colleagues, that you have no intention of ever changing. It leaves me with a simple question . . . a challenge if looked upon from a certain point of view. Can you, in fact, do any art that is truly your own? Only time will tell, my sad, sad friend.

The sales pitch on your web page promoting your services gave me chuckle:

"There is absolutely no better or lasting gift than a drawing by a caricature artist who can humorously reveal the true character of your friends and loved ones, colleagues and business associates."

Well, here's a line drive right back at'cha:

"There is absolutely no better way of revealing an artist's true character than to make readily available to his friends and loved ones, colleagues and business associates, the drawings he has stolen."

I hope everyone who knows you will eventually come across these posts. Just so they can discover who the real Mark Bruton truly is.


P.S.

Oh, and I figured I'd include your contact information for anyone who'd like to drop you a line and tell you how they feel about your "work":

m_bruton@sbcglobal.net
(620) 339 - 9240

UPDATE - Sept 8th, 2010

15 hours after this post, Bruton's web page was updated . . . excluding the above drawings for the inventory. Only time will tell if things remain this way.

And so the Killian name lives on

Jodie and I recently learned that we're having a boy. His name is Liam Matthew Killian and as of a few minuets ago I felt my son move for the first time. Outstanding!

Cinema Memoir #55

Predator 2 (November 21st, 1990)

I had really high expectations for this movie. I didn't see the first one in the theater but I certainly wore out the video.

I was in fifth grade and my good friend Tim Royal and I were huge Predator fans. We would spend most of the day drawing pictures of Ninja Turtles and Predator. Tim's family hardly ever went to the movies, so it was my job (or maybe more my pleasure) to see the movie and report back to him.

This movie came out during a week that my mom was out of town on business and so my dad promised to take me that Friday. The anticipation throughout the week was tremendous. Come Friday I get home full of excitement only to find that my dad had forgotten and wanted to postpone.

This is one of only two times that bawling my eyes got me into a movie (the other being Honey I Shrunk the Kids), only this time I wasn't being bratty about it. I took the news with dignity and saved my tears for my pillow. I guess he noticed and felt bad, because the next thing I knew we were in the truck. I hope he liked it. I know I sure did.

Check out the trailer.

(Image from impawards.com)

Cinema Memoir #54

Home Alone (November 16th, 1990)

A whole lot of people look back at Home Alone and scoff, yet I'll be willing to bet that most of them are responsible for Home Alone being the top grossing movie of 1990.

I saw this movie on Christmas day. I didn't even know the theater was open on Christmas day. After an exhausting morning of opening presents my parents decided, out of the clear blue, to jump in the car and go to the ole Cinema 90 6 plex. I can remember the place being surprisingly packed.

Any movie that can make my dad laugh out loud is a good movie in my book.

(Image from impawards.com)

Cinema Memoir #53

The Witches (August 24th, 1990)

Not a bad movie, although I don't know a whole lot of people who'd agree with that. But that's ok . . . guilty pleasure i guess.

My grandma took me to see this movie, which just so happens to feature a boy and his grandma on a witch hunt. It was a good experience. Every time I see this movie I think of her.

Anjelica Huston is pretty awesomely creepy as the grand high witch. It also features the kid who played Kevin Buckman, the whiny son from Parenthood. He was also one of the lost boys in Hook . . . and that's pretty much it according to imdb. Kind of makes you wonder what these kid actors are doing today.

Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) is also in it, playing a rather straight forward hotel manager.

Here's the trailer.

(Image from impawards.com)

Cinema Memoir #52

Problem Child (July 18th, 1990)

Ugh. I really hated this movie.

If you've ever seen Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear, you may remember the scene where Nick Nolte and his family are forced out of movie theater by Robert De Niro's cigar smoke and obnoxious guffaws. Problem Child was the movie playing in that theater.

I wish De Niro had been there when I was watching it so I'd have had an excuse to walk out.

I will say John Ritter (who died before his time) was underrated as an actor and comedian, and perhaps the only good thing about this movie. He was great in Sling Blade, a movie I wish I had seen in the theater. If I could, I'd trade Problem Child for it.

(Image from impawards.com)

Cinema Memoir #51

Arachnophobia (July 18th, 1990)

Eight Legs.
Two Fangs.
And an Attitude.

A fairly cool movie in 1990 . . . not so cool in 2010. Unfortunately this movie hasn't aged very well.

It's an interesting idea, but in the end makes very little sense to me. How is it they managed to kill all the deadly spiders, keeping them from spreading across the countryside? I know Jeff Daniels kills the general with the nail gun in the wine cellar, but killing the main spider isn't like killing the head vampire, they don't all turn good afterwards. Even at 10 the movie felt kind of unresolved.

Here's the trailer. It's funny how they seemed to market this movie more as a comedy when it comes across more as horror. I was certainly creeped out. One thing this movie sure did right was give me a terrible case arachnophobia. It did for me what Jaws did for so many people when faced with going swimming. I still hate spiders. I don't hate this movie, but I probably won't be watching any time soon.

(Image from impawards.com)

Cinema Memoir #50

Celebrating my 50th movie theater experience. Right on 1990! 50 movies by the age of 10 . . . not too shabby a start, I must say. Although, had I known at the time that prestigious number 50 would be Robocop 2, I might have held out for something a little more impressive. 50 down, 332+ more to go.

Robocop 2 (June 22nd, 1990)

I had great fun watching this movie, all thanks to a mom who was nice enough to indulge her ten-year-old son's twisted desire to see cheesy, "R" rated sci-fi flicks in the theater.

I liked the first Robocop a lot, but I remember feeling slightly uneasy with the amount of violence, and it always seemed to leave me feeling kind of down . . . but I suppose Paul Verhoeven's movies tend to have that effect on people.

The sequel was a lot different. It felt cleaner and a bit more campy (best scene from the movie), and seemed to raise the steaks just enough to get by. It was also directed by Irvin Kershner, who directed Empire Strikes Back. Robo 2 is certainly no Empire Strikes Back, but I can safely say it deserves it's place as a decent follow up to the original.

Also, robots fighting robots is kick ass. Only Michael Bay could ruin that.

(Image from impawards.com)

Cinema Memoir #49

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (June 15th, 1990)

This movie had one of the best teaser trailers of the decade. Check it out here if you don't believe me.

I was very excited to see this movie and I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in the end. Growing up, Gremlins was one of the scariest movies I had ever seen. For a long time I couldn't get through the entire movie without covering my eyes during the scary parts. I lost hours of sleep, fearful of glowing red eyes in the darkness.

I was expecting Gremlins 2 to be similarly scary, but instead all I got was tongue in cheek humor and cartoon zaniness. I mean, check out the scariness of this scene from the original Gremlins and compare it to this scene from Gremlins 2. Nevertheless, I guess I still liked the movie and still find myself watching it occasionally.

You should definitely check out the DVD commentaries for both these movies. There's a lot of cool info about how this franchise came to be. And for those of you who are like me and prefer the darkness of the first movie, try to find the 2nd draft Gremlins script online . . . the "R" rated version. It's worth a read.

Also, the first movie has one of Jerry Goldsmith's best and most underrated scores. It's also extremely hard to find.

(Image from impawards.com)

Cinema Memoir #48

Back to the Future Part III (May 25th, 1990)

At one point in history, Back to the Future was the 3rd coolest trilogy in existence, following in close succession behind Indiana Jones and Star Wars. I suppose considering now that Indiana Jones and Star Wars are no longer trilogies, it ranks at number one on the cool scale.

This was the first time I had ever seen two sequels shot and released back to back. Today a big budget movie hardly gets made without a 3 part sequel and franchise deal.

This movie was pretty damn good, but as a kid I could have done without the whole mushy love story . . . or perhaps it was Mary Steenburgen I could have done without. Of course now as an adult I realize the whole mushy lover story is pretty much the backbone of the movie . . . but I could still do without Mary Steenburgen.

I can remember being sad knowing the delorian would never fly again, but I think Zemeckis wrapped the story up pretty well. I just hope he doesn't decide to try and remake or add on to these movies like he's doing with Roger Rabbit.

(Image from impawards.com)

Cinema Memoir #47

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (March 30th, 1990)

Perhaps the most anticipated movie of my adolescent life. I can't imagine a single boy between the age of 6 and 12 who doesn't like pizza, reptiles, and martial arts. Putting the three together was a stroke of marketing genius.

Needless to say I was a big Ninja Turtle fan back in the day.

Seeing this movie in the theater was as close to a religious experience as I could get at age 10, although I can't remember much of the experience except for the anticipation leading up to it.

Ninja Turtles was the first (and probably only) cartoon I watched with any kind of regularity, but as soon as I learned about the live action movie, my interests switched from the ink and paint fantasy to the flesh and blood reality.

This is the first publicity image I ever saw from the film. It's from Nintendo Power and I can remember every library day in fourth grade racing all the other kids to the magazine section just to stake claim to this picture.

We didn't have the Internet back then so I spent many an hour staring at this very image. You can't imagine how much time I spent searching for it just for this blog post. It sure brings back some memories.

I also remember when this movie came out on video. My mom bought it for me the day it came out but wouldn't let me watch it until I finished all my homework. It was the most torturous afternoon of my fifth grade life. All I could do was stare at the VHS case, caressing the embossed image on the front from time to time as I trudged slowly through pages and pages of long division.

(Poster from impawards.com)
(Image from Nintendo Power)

The Art of Stealing - Update

Some of you are familiar with my recent run-in with a character by the name of Mark Bruton who was caught plagiarizing artwork from the internet. I was one of his victims, as he stole a John Wayne portrait of mine, altered it, and was selling it on his web page as his own art.

Following a fairly severe backlash from the online art community, and a cease and desist letter from yours truly, Bruton took down his web page, privatized his facebook, and seemingly disappeared.

Well, it's been about a month and Bruton is back. Two days ago he republished his web page and is back in business . . . and he seems to be up to his old tricks again. Or at least he was until he was called out, yet again.

This time around, the art in question is not mine so I won't post it here on my blog, however if you're interested, here is a compilation of works that Bruton has ripped off, one of which featuring a certain bodybuilder-turned-politician was involved in this current Bruton scenario.

Since it's not my art, I have little control over the situation, but I did email Bruton and assure him that the original artists would be informed. Soon after that he took the questionable works down. I don't know if this was because of my email or because one of the original artists came down on him. Regardless, the images are down and Bruton is no longer using them to market himself.

I'm not sure what it's going to take to convince this guy that stealing another person's art is wrong and illegal, but I can say that I'm beginning to loose patience with Mark Bruton and his childish antics. If anything, perhaps he will realize that he is being (and always will be) closely watched.

I really hope that anyone who is considering making an art purchase from Mark Bruton will come across stories like mine and will be inclined to make an educated decision as to whether or not the art he is selling is legit, and whether or not he deserves their business.

This is a call to all hard working artists out there to please help keep Mark Bruton and characters like him as honest as possible. Spread the word.

Baby Killian - Perhaps my greatest work of art.

Of course Jodie's doing most of the work.

Love you baby.

The Art of Stealing

An unfortunate situation has been forced upon me, one I never thought I would have to deal with. Thanks to an informative post here on my blog from artist Bob East, I learned that a person by the name of Mark Bruton was suspected of stealing a digital painting I did of John Wayne. So I began to investigate, and this is what I found:

My initial reaction was that a mistake had been made. It seemed that this person had simply used the same photo reference as I, but upon closer examination I discovered that Mark Bruton's John Wayne drawing was in my opinion an altered version of mine own.

It seems he has taken my painting off of my blog, drawn or painted on top of it, and put his name on it. What's more, he was selling it on his webpage.

Now, had it not been for Mark Bruton's lame attempt to dodge the blame in his response to the cease and desist order I sent him, I wouldn't be spending all this time and energy providing evidence of his obvious infraction against me. Mark writes:

". . . it is a well known fact that all artists [use] reference photos and others works. After comparing these drawings I can see how one might draw the conclusion that they are very similar. However mine has many color differences and others as well. Many artists have done renderings of this photo."

Nice try Lao Che! Here's my retort:

Not entirely obvious until you start to compare the simplified
shapes for the eyes, nose, mouth, and chin.

Notice the highlights on, and the general outline of, the nose,
and the graphic shadow shape of the nasal labial fold.
Also pay attention to the brush strokes in this region.

In my opinion, it doesn't get any more obvious than this.
The brush strokes are exactly the same. Also, notice that
the shirt in the reference photo is red while in both
drawings the shirt is blue.

And in case he still has doubts, here is a video of the two images superimposed together.

Some may say I'm coming down a little too hard on this guy. Perhaps, but take into consideration that I'm not the first artists he's stolen from. 75 percent of the art for sale on his web page was stolen from other people. He even had the audacity to put a copyright symbol on them.

Check out these blog posts from other's who have caught Mark Bruton stealing from them:

Emily's Caricature Sketchblog
Monty's Muse

The bottom line is that i believe Mark Bruton has stolen from me. This is my opportunity to expose his dirty deeds and hopefully he will get the hint that he is not welcome in the art community as long as he continues with his dishonest practices, especially if he's not going to be MAN enough to admit he's done something wrong.

If he really wants to do the right thing, this is my advice to him. Own up to your misdeeds, give credit where credit is due, and stop trying to profit off of other people's hard work. An apology would be nice too.

Working within the realm of honesty and integrity is the first lesson for an artist to learn. The second lesson is . . . simply redrawing or recreating another person's art DOES NOT MAKE IT YOUR OWN . . . legally, ethically, or artistically.

UPDATE - June 4th, 2010:

I've come across a few more examples of work that Mark Bruton has stolen from other legitimate artists. You may have to get out your Google Translator for some of these, Bruton's gone international:

Colectivo Bicicleta
Wittygraphy
Noticias De Cartoon
Bruton Facebook Fan Club

Also, It's been twelve days since my email and I have yet to hear back from Bruton. No witty retort, no defense, no apology. I guess this shows how "big" a man Mark Bruton really is.

Figure Drawing

Today was the last day of my Intermediate Figure Drawing class, taught by Marianne Chapel. This was her last day too, as she and I are both moving on to bigger and better things. I liked her class so much that I took it three times. These drawings are some of my favorites from this year.

Copyright © 2009 Matthew J Killian All Rights Reserved
All images and content in this post are protected