As background – our family has had a terrible year, in which, amongst other things, I’ve been very worried about dd2’s mental health. That is possibly colouring my judgement and approach.
Dd2 is 14 and, in school, hasn’t really connected with anyone in the way that others in her year have done. She isn’t being actively bullied and her year group seem pleasant enough. But she is very socially anxious and tends to cut herself off from people by hanging around on her own, hiding behind earphones/phone screen. At home she obsesses over YouTubers. I’ve tried to keep good communication going with her, which generally has meant listening to her talking about YouTube for hours on end every night, but if that’s what it takes… As a result we have quite a good relationship. I kept telling her she'd ‘find her people’ in the end, but it didn’t seem to be happening.
Over the past month or so, her social situation has improved. She fell in with a group of people in her year but a different form class, all of them into art and drawing in the same way as dd2. They get together at lunchtime and plan drawings/music for a ‘web comic’ they want to make, draw themselves/each other as different characters, chat constantly online. It all seems friendly and normal, and I was so happy to see it. I was a bit concerned when one of the boys asked her out and she agreed, worrying that this would rock the boat with the friendships, but it all seems very light and non-angsty.
Dd2 regularly shows me art and drawings that she’s done for this ‘web comic’, and character sketches of herself and her new friends. They’re brilliant, and all her friends praise her art skills, constantly saying how talented she is. However, I have found out, when checking dd2’s phone [NB: with her knowledge and agreement, it’s a condition of her being allowed a smartphone, I haven’t been sneaking behind her back. I know how these threads often go], that these drawings aren’t dd2’s work at all.
She is searching on Tumblr, etc., for other people’s art, downloading them, then editing them using a graphics tablet. Not even much of an edit, either. She’s just changing the shading or removing some lines, etc. She also removes the original artist’s signature. She then sends them to her friends pretending that she did them, when it’s about 99% someone else’s work. I'm pretty sure she thinks I’m not savvy enough technically/with Tumblr art etiquette to see that she’s doing this or know that it's really not on.
I’ve tried gently raising the subject of ‘using bases’, which I know is common amongst beginner artists. But you’re meant to credit the source of the template , ideally ask permission first, and say what you’ve done to alter it, which should be mostly your own work. She insists that she doesn’t use bases. I’ve also spoken in general terms about plagiarism, and she always says that this is terribly wrong.
Of course, I know why she’s doing it. She has very low self-confidence and wants to impress her new friends and boyfriend, and thinks her own artwork isn't good enough. But it worries me on several counts. First of all, it’s wrong to steal other people’s work. From dd2’s own point of view, I’m concerned that she’ll keep doing it when she embarks on Art GCSE next year, and possibly get into trouble. Thirdly, the longer it goes on, the higher the risk that the others in the group will find out, and she’ll lose the friends that she waited so long to find (to say nothing of the boyfriend). And the longer it goes on, the harder it will be to let them see any of her own artwork, which is fairly good but nowhere near the level of the stuff she's passing off. (And they'll be seeing her draw in her Art class next year...)
As I said, I’ve tried mentioning it in general terms, and she isn’t responding and is still doing it. I don’t know whether I should tell her that I specifically know that SHE has been doing it. If she was more robust MH-wise, I wouldn’t hesitate. But she was briefly suicidal last year, and to tell her that I know her friendships and boyfriend are largely based on a lie right now is a thing I’m very worried to do. I’d appreciate any advice.
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Dd2 (14) stealing others' artwork
whatevercomestomind · 09/04/2016 11:52
Thank you. I've also had a chat with her older sister (17 and very trustworthy), who has lots of art-obsessed friends, and she says that anyone with half an ounce of savvy can tell that no artist (esp a 14 yr old) displays the vast variety and range of styles that dd2 claims to. Her friends WILL find out eventually. But I agree that approaching it from the POV of exams, etc., might be safer psychologically. I'm going to have to work out what to say - and keep it very light, as well. As in, it isn't so bad now, as long as she uses her own work from now on, nobody will ever know, sort of thing.
We tried counselling last year but she refused to engage 
.
Thank you, lljkk's dd. It's great to get an insider's point of view 
. (Dan and Phil, btw!)
Yes there's one other girl who she managed to 'convert' and gets on with OK. The others are all madly into Alfie and Zoella, though, whom dd2 has no time for whatsoever as apparently they're 'fake'. No idea what they think of D&P but I reckon they don't ship it like them quite as much as dd2 does.
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