Site re-design in progress—pardon the mess. Full re-launch coming soon. | Upcoming books: Back to the Future, Red Dwarf, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Alien/Predator, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Universal Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. | Site re-design in progress—pardon the mess. Full re-launch coming soon. | Upcoming books: Back to the Future, Red Dwarf, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Alien/Predator, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Universal Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. | Site re-design in progress—pardon the mess. Full re-launch coming soon. | Upcoming books: Back to the Future, Red Dwarf, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Alien/Predator, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Universal Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. | Site re-design in progress—pardon the mess. Full re-launch coming soon. | Upcoming books: Back to the Future, Red Dwarf, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Alien/Predator, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Universal Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. | Site re-design in progress—pardon the mess. Full re-launch coming soon. | Upcoming books: Back to the Future, Red Dwarf, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Alien/Predator, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Universal Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. | Site re-design in progress—pardon the mess. Full re-launch coming soon. | Upcoming books: Back to the Future, Red Dwarf, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Alien/Predator, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Universal Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. | Site re-design in progress—pardon the mess. Full re-launch coming soon. | Upcoming books: Back to the Future, Red Dwarf, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Alien/Predator, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Universal Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. | Site re-design in progress—pardon the mess. Full re-launch coming soon. | Upcoming books: Back to the Future, Red Dwarf, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Alien/Predator, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Universal Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. | Site re-design in progress—pardon the mess. Full re-launch coming soon. | Upcoming books: Back to the Future, Red Dwarf, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Alien/Predator, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Universal Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. | Site re-design in progress—pardon the mess. Full re-launch coming soon. | Upcoming books: Back to the Future, Red Dwarf, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Alien/Predator, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Universal Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. | Site re-design in progress—pardon the mess. Full re-launch coming soon. | Upcoming books: Back to the Future, Red Dwarf, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Alien/Predator, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Universal Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. |
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You Know You're Getting Noticed When Someone
Steals Your Work... But It Still Sucks |
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Posted by Rich Handley, Mar. 28, 2011
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Unless you've been in a coma since last Thursday, you know who Rob Granito is. If not, click here. In a nutshell, Granito is being accused—by hordes of fans and professional artists, both online and at conventions—of shamelessly stealing the work of artists and claiming it as his own, as well as completely faking his credentials and forging a fictitious bio in order to dupe people into believing he's worked as a professional artist, which there is no evidence that he's ever actually done in all the years he's sold prints at conventions.
Have you been Granito'd? I have—but not by Granito himself. Last year, eBay auctions were brought to my attention regarding puzzles made from the covers to my two books, Timeline of the Planet of the Apes and Lexicon of the Planet of the Apes.
Both book covers were created by brilliant Argentinian artist Pat Carbajal, who also produced 28 amazing interior illustrations for the second book, and who, I hope, will continue to produce covers for my books until I stop writing them. So to see Pat's work gracing the covers of these haphazardly constructed puzzle boxes was upsetting.
On the one hand, I, Pat and Hasslein Books co-creator Paul Giachetti felt violated, as we'd not sanctioned these puzzles being made from our work. Plus, the covers were VERY badly reproduced on the boxes, doing no credit at all to Pat's vibrant and detailed artwork (see the actual covers below the puzzles). And yet, at the same time... neither book was officially sanctioned by Twentieth Century Fox, so really, what ground did we have to complain? Both Apes volumes are unauthorized and unlicensed, so the misappropriation of their covers wasn't something we could legally pursue.
In the end, we looked at it this way: The fact that someone liked the covers enough to steal them was a compliment of sorts, as it meant we'd done our job right. But at the same time, whether or not the books were licensed or authorized, the bottom line was that Pat's art had been pilfered, and that made us angry. As such, I fully empathize with those whose work was misappropriated by Granito. Someone asked me yesterday why I've been posting so much to the Rob Granito Is a FRAUD Facebook page if I'm not an artist—this is why.
In Pat's case, the fake puzzle seller was also in Argentina, and he was able to get the auctions removed simply by contacting that person threateningly. Granito, however, seems entirely unrepentant, given the comments he has been posting on the blogs of those discussing his fraudulent activities (not to mention that his Web site still features a lot of artwork with his name on it that he didn't create), and will likely continue to steal others' work as his own, no matter how much his fraud has been publicized.
As someone who has been Granito'd... sort of... I hope all of the artists who've been Rob'd eventually get to see this guy receive his just desserts. How he has managed to continue perpetrating this immoral and inexcusable fraud for so many years without getting caught is... dare I say it?... puzzling. But thankfully, thanks to the efforts of BleedingCool.com, the Rob Granito Is a FRAUD Facebook group and others, the pieces of this particular puzzle are finally coming together—and the picture they paint is one, hopefully, of a con artist and thief at last thwarted.
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