Tracing and Art Theft:
Calling out @/by.moonstrider / @/pinsel_712 (both on instagram)
Update 28th November 2025: you can dm by.moonstrider on instagram to demand a refund for any stolen prints you purchased. However, I'll keep this post up at least until the situation is resolved and the accounts deleted.
At VIECC last weekend, the artist by.moonstrider / pinsel_712 was selling stolen art. I've seen four prints total, all of which were stolen.
But even beyond that, a lot of their art posts are very clearly traced with no credit, permission, or indication that they didn't draw it themselves.
The prints in question:
The VIECC website uses another traced work to advertise them. Sadly, I couldn't find the artist
The rest, all taken from their instagram:
This kind of art theft and tracing for profit is horrible and it's deserving of an immediate public call-out and consequences.
You can't just steal other people's work like this and expect to sell it with zero repercussions.
For anyone affected: it's your choice to do something/nothing but I'd recommend those who bought from them to dm them and demand a refund. They've agreed to that as of posting this, and will make a post of their own.
They've also claimed that they'll contact all artists to reimburse them.
However, I'm also hoping for a COMPLETE list of artists who've been stolen from. Anyone who ever bought merch, liked the posts, or just saw that art at a con deserves to know whose art they really saw.
Those artists deserve all of the credit and to have their names out there! Every single one of them. They deserve those customers, likes, and followers—they deserve those opportunities and recognition for their work, and keeping the rest of the art private is just the same behaviour that led here in the first place: no credit to anyone, lying, and omitting who really did the work.
Trace all you want for practice and fun but keep it private. None of this was private in the first place, and that's why all artists should be given that platform now.
As of 28th November, they refuse to publish all artists. I find that unacceptable for the reasons above and more.
Here's a full list of the works posted to their instagram accounts and the VIECC website. If you recognise any of the artists, please let me know and I'll add them. There is more traced art that they never posted, so I sadly cannot provide a post with the full scope of things as of right now.
