It has come to the attention of the Asian Ball Jointed Doll commuinty that a french artist by the pen name of Mijn Schatje has been using images of ball-jointed dolls and aledgedly "tracing" over them without the permission of the original artists.. She has been selling these rip-off traces for a great deal of money (some over $1,000!!!) This is the full story as provided by Den of Angel's member Radiotrash.

Here is the website containing this text and the photo evidence of Mijn Schatje's art theft: [link]

----"Mijn Schatje, real name Marie Blanco Hendrickx, is a successful artist who makes a living based off the images she creates. Prints of her work retail for over a thousand dollars, she's made deals with Sony Playstation and Fornarina Clothing, and large-scale statues have been created based on her pictures. Unfortunately, she is not as original as she claims. The faces of Mijn Schatje's works, as well as other components, are taken directly from photographs made by other artists without credit and, in many cases, without any form of permission. This site chronicles her primary source: photos of asian ball-jointed dolls, commonly known as BJDs.

Schatje has taken images from both owners and companies alike and used them as the basis for her artwork, which is sold in galleries and as iPod skins. This is unfair to the creators of the dolls, for one. These people are responsible for the sculpting, delicate painting, and painstaking photography of these labor-intensive creations. Unlike characters such as Barbie, these dolls are usually made by small teams of artists who work long hours to ensure they make a living. By taking advantage of their photography without permission or credit, Schatje profits from the artwork of others without offering anything in return.

Owner photographs are also significant. These dolls are expensive and designed to be customized; owners can (and do) spend hundreds, even thousands, of dollars on one doll, not to mention countless hours to alter and eventually photograph these moveable resin sculptures. Mijn Schatje has taken these photos largely without communication to the photographers. When she has done so, she has often asked to "draw" the dolls in question--not incorporate the photos themselves, as the comparison shots indicate. Different exchanges tell different stories; please read the specific examples.

It is important to differentiate "reference" images and "stolen" images. The overlays show that Mijn did not create images based on specific photos (which in and of itself might be problematic), but actually used these photos directly in her work. Under the vector-based overpainting of her finished pieces, there is someone else's property. This owner--with few exceptions--remains unnamed, and certainly unpaid. Several doll companies have already revealed their dismay that their works are being treated in such a manner, as well as private purchasers of these items." ----Radiotrash