@Hailinel said:

Moss has no reason to be pissy over this.

And I'd say he's overrated anyway. No one would give a shit about who Moss is if it wasn't for that Obama "Hope" art he did four years ago.

That was Shepard Fairey, but point noted

@wmaustin55: You are the third person to correct me in this thread. :/

@MiniPato said:

Oh great, personal attacks now? The reason I'm making it a big deal is not because of the issue itself, but more the reaction to the issue. It's great that Moss and Gearbox isn't making a big deal about it. But what isn't great is people takes this as free reign to discredit him as an artist and creative individual because he reacted the way he did. It's not great that people call him an asshole for reacting the way that he initially did when he has a right to. Yes, nothing is new under the sun and yet people still come up with fresh and original art by taking inspiration from other artists and doing their own thing with it.

What difference does it make if he made posters about Star Wars or some nobody that no one knows about? The quality of art work does not always directly relate to the popularity of the subject matter. The reason he is popular is BECAUSE he puts his own style on top of it. The exact opposite of what you said. Is Andy Warhol less of an artist because he relies on pop culture icons to make his art?

I'm not taking issue with the Borderlands thing. I'm taking issue with your ad hominem approach to debate, your shallow and shortsighted understanding of art and the difference between inspiration and imitation . Our argument has far surpassed the subject of this thread. If you want to keep debating with me, I'll be happy to through PM.

See, this is where you're wrong. He had no right to be mad at all, and he is an asshole (at least in that specific case) for being so. You are still trying to claim he has some kind of right to his style of art, and because of this you aren't understanding the comparison to his use of things other people created. I will try to spell it out one more time, and if you don't understand, I can't help you and will be done with the conversation. So, let's break it down.

1. To understand this, let's break down the art into two parts. First, the use of something someone else created that is protected by copyright law. Whether he had permission to us it or not is irrelevant to this part. The part that matters is that it is something another person created, and it is protected. Second, the style he chooses to bring to it, which is neither protected by any law, nor uniquely his own. Therefore, it is deemed usable by anyone for the good of artistic community.

2. We can then divide the Borderlands image into two parts as well. First, the use of something that was created by the people working within Gearbox. The actually people that created the protected work in question. Second, the use of an artistic style that was chosen, which is neither protected by any law, nor uniquely the companies own.

This is the inherent difference, and why I make the comparison. He complained about someone using something that is not his, and also not protected, while a good portion of his work's success is due to the use of protected material which he had no part in creating. This is, of course, not to say he isn't talented. but like I said before, he should be ecstatic that someone is doing things simliar to himself, not because he is some god of art that created this wonderful style, but because he knows he is the inspiration and the reason this style is popular due to his skill at creation

This is the essence of the backlash. He has no problem using someone else's protected creation to help his work, and yet he gets mad when someone uses something that is in no way his, but rather, something he helped make popular. Therein lies the contradiction, and the reason for the reaction.

So he had permission to use the images in these works, right?

http://ollymoss.com/galleries/video-game-classics

If not, and he just grabbed them from the internet I do not see the difference between what he did and what Gearbox did.

also there is this http://ollymoss.com/galleries/paper-cuts where he just straight up has a picture of people buying siluets he made of other peoples work.

He's not mad. Shut up.

It looks as if someone pissed on a white sheet.

@GBX_ChrisF said:

Chris Faylor, Community Manager from Gearbox Software, here. Want to provide a bit more insight into this unfortunate situation.

First off, thanks to everyone that posted here or in any other way made an effort to bring this to our attention -- as a team that thrives on creative works, ensuring that fellow artists receives proper credit for their work is of utmost importance to us and without your vigilance this may have regrettably slipped by.

The art in question was intended to be an homage to the work of Olly Moss and Saul Bass as a gesture of the deep respect and appreciation the development team has for them and and their work, and was created by a contracted marketing artist. Taking inspiration from the things we love is a big part of our creative process, but the idea of things being outright lifted is not something we condone and the contracted marketing artist responsible for the piece will now be dealing with those consequences.

We have also been in touch with Olly Moss to discuss the matter, and, as part of that, the possibility of future collaborations between Olly Moss and Gearbox Software has come up. While both Olly and Gearbox are very busy at the moment, we're very excited about the possibilities and optimistic about a future collaboration effort.

Great to know.

@PeZ I think it would be a good idea to update your original post with this reply. (so that people are aware of the development and not keep arguing over shit that has been dealt with)

So my cats vomit up brilliant masterpieces weekly? Where's my check?

This is why people laugh at art majors.

@Tennmuerti: I still find it so baffling that instead of hiring the guy they would contract out another freelancer to make art that resembles his. As a freelance artist myself I find that twice as bad because as awesome as homages are to your own art, you are always looking out for bigger and better clients - this just seemed like some baffling way to sidestep Moss who probably wouldn't have wanted an arm and a leg to make a single graphic to be used for a game he loves.

@MiniPato: It's not even worth arguing with him duder.

I'm pissed that he is apparently not allowed to be pissed about this.

Hey assholes, don't trace other peoples work

@FoolishChaos said:

I'm pissed that he is apparently not allowed to be pissed about this.

Hey assholes, don't trace other peoples work

FUCKING TRACERS!

@Humanity said:

@Tennmuerti: I still find it so baffling that instead of hiring the guy they would contract out another freelancer to make art that resembles his. As a freelance artist myself I find that twice as bad because as awesome as homages are to your own art, you are always looking out for bigger and better clients - this just seemed like some baffling way to sidestep Moss who probably wouldn't have wanted an arm and a leg to make a single graphic to be used for a game he loves.

I highly doubt that Gearbox hired a freelancer and then specifically told him to copy someone else's art style, instead of contracting Moss in the first place ... even saying it out loud sounds ridiculous. (and it's more then that, part of it is a blatant trace)

From the post made by gearbox it seems they were unaware that the freelancer copied Moss's art style, which is very likely and i'm inclined to believe more. When you deal with a large number of contractors to outsource some of your work it's entirely plausible for something like this to slip through.

@Ulain said:

So my cats vomit up brilliant masterpieces weekly? Where's my check?

This is why people laugh at art majors.

Who laughs at art majors?

@lemonadesweetheart said:

@Ulain said:

So my cats vomit up brilliant masterpieces weekly? Where's my check?

This is why people laugh at art majors.

Who laughs at art majors?

Apparently that guy that doesn't know what art is. Guess he should stop doing every in life since that's all he's gonna see.

@Tennmuerti: No I understand that, but it definitely sounded like they hired an outside person and told them to make art in the stylings of Moss. Thats what they say basically. So my issue was why not just hire the artist in the first place instead of asking someone else to make an illustration inspired by that style.

From his Twitter, it doesn't seem like he's pissed at all. It kind of seems like he doesn't give a shit. So why people are still acting as if he's outraged, I have no idea.

I don't know who this person is, so let him be pissed, I don't give a fuck and I'll be Gearbox don't either.

@Creamypies said:

I don't know who this person is, so let him be pissed, I don't give a fuck and I'll be Gearbox don't either.

Actually they do care. There is an official Gearbox reply in this very thread. Confirmed by their mutual twitter messages later, they are going to be working together.

@GBX_ChrisF said:

Chris Faylor, Community Manager from Gearbox Software, here. Want to provide a bit more insight into this unfortunate situation.

First off, thanks to everyone that posted here or in any other way made an effort to bring this to our attention -- as a team that thrives on creative works, ensuring that fellow artists receives proper credit for their work is of utmost importance to us and without your vigilance this may have regrettably slipped by.

The art in question was intended to be an homage to the work of Olly Moss and Saul Bass as a gesture of the deep respect and appreciation the development team has for them and and their work, and was created by a contracted marketing artist. Taking inspiration from the things we love is a big part of our creative process, but the idea of things being outright lifted is not something we condone and the contracted marketing artist responsible for the piece will now be dealing with those consequences.

We have also been in touch with Olly Moss to discuss the matter, and, as part of that, the possibility of future collaborations between Olly Moss and Gearbox Software has come up. While both Olly and Gearbox are very busy at the moment, we're very excited about the possibilities and optimistic about a future collaboration effort.

OP updated with all the stupidity of Ollygate. Or Mossgate. Can't decide. 

lollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll at this threaddd

Wait. You guys think he's mad just because the style is similar?

Y'all need to look real close at that fucking zig-zag and then check yourselves. Yuh done wrecked yourselves.

@PeZ said:

OP updated with all the stupidity of Ollygate. Or Mossgate. Can't decide.

Thanks for the update. So people got way more angrier than Moss himself over something trivial. You're right, this whole thing is stupid, just like comparing it to Watergate.