SG comic artist calls out Johor authorities for using artwork without credit

Singaporean comic artist Evangeline Neo has called out Johor based authorities for using one of her comic strips without credit or permission. In a Facebook post, Neo said she was notified by a Malaysian living in Johor that her artwork was being used for mask distribution collateral, without her knowledge nor credit. In a picture posted her Facebook page, it showed that Neo's art work, which was done in February, was used to educate Malaysians on how to dispose their masks after use. The instructions also included a trash bin picture that was not in Neo's original art work.

(Photo credits: Evacomics)

After reporting the case to the department in-charge of the infographics, Angkatan Pertahanan Awam Malaysia Negeri (APM) Johor through Facebook, Neo updated her Facebook post saying that the APM called to apologise and explained that it had found the image on Google. Neo said if the APM were to continue printing more of these instructional guides, she requested for it to either remove the trash bin art that was not in her original art work and credit it back to "Evacomics". If not, she requested APM to remove the art work and commission another artist to draw it. Neo said she has accepted APM's apology. A+M has reached out to Neo and APM Johor for additional information.  

Following the incident, Neo recently published a comic strip which explained how images on Google should not be used without permission as it is considered stealing. "I would like to emphasise that it doesn't mean you can happily take anything from the internet to redistribute it without permission from the copyright owner, even if it is for a non-profit purpose," Neo said in her blog post.

(Photo credit: Evacomics)

Earlier in February, an artist based in San Francisco by the name of Sweet Cicely Daniher sued the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Pixar Animation Studios and Onward producer Kori Rae for creating an animated version of her unicorn van without permission. Onward is an animated film by Disney and Pixar, released in March 2020. In a court filing, Daniher said that Pixar had contacted her previously to loan her unicorn van for a one-day event for its employees, and will only be used as a "show piece". The event was a one day music festival/activity day for Pixar employees. According to the court filing, during the course of the phone call, producer Rae admitted to Daniher that the Pixar team "intentionally" did not inform her about using unicorn van in the film.

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