Ideamine is stealing images of other customizers work and passing it off as his own on eBay.
Below is the image that Ideamine is using in an auction. He is claiming that he is the artist who made these. I personally like how he tried to photoshop his fingers into the photo.
Here are the original photos below. Look familar? Ideamine stole these images from www.bluechipcustoms.com from the artist Matt aka Jamf79. Matt is a long-time customizer and I consider him a friend. Matt has always gone out of his way to help me become the customizer that I am today. He is a true artist and does not deserve this. The sports customizing community is a very close group and we watch out for each other.
This is not the first time Ideamine has stolen another artists photos. Ideamine did the same thing a few months ago with a similar Cowboys custom. Ideamine stole the photos from another great customizer AND veteran Erick aka ect22. Stealing from another artist and passing off the work as your own is the lowest you can go if you claim to be an artist.
My guess is that he has multiple eBay accounts or possibly friends who then bid on it, "win it" and then leave him glowing reviews in an effort to try to make him look more reputable. He has been reported multiple times to eBay but still continues to do this.
Ideamine has been selling "customs" on eBay for years now. They usually consist of just taking one or two existing figures and slapping brown & green paint on them for mud and grass stains.
He has also been known to purchase other customs from REAL artists and then pass them off as his own in later auctions. When he tries to actually attempt a real custom and change numbers/names on figures they are done poorly with paint (rather than decals) and then photographed in a way as to hide the poor execution.
Ideamine has a unique style all his own. This post is not to bash the work that is truly his own. But when you look at the stuff he produces, you can clearly see it's the work in the auction.
A year or two ago he took the head from a Tomlinson Series 16 figure and put it on the body of a Tomlinson series 12 figure. He then tried passing this off as a "rare factory error" and a "one of a kind" figure on eBay. It took a cease and desist letter from McFarlane to get the auction pulled.
The deception does not stop there. His website is full of very questionable testimonials. Does this sound legit...
“In this day and age, it’s hard to find a company you can trust. PROSPORTSFIGURES.COM was recommended to me by a friend, and now I know why – the quality of sports figures and custom design sports figures I received was outstanding. Keep up the good work!”
Mike Taylor
My personal favorite is the guestbook entry by none other than Todd McFarlane (creator of McFarlane NFL sportspick figures) himself, yeah right.
My personal favorite is the guestbook entry by none other than Todd McFarlane (creator of McFarlane NFL sportspick figures) himself, yeah right.
Todd McFarlane: Owner of spawn.com & mcfarlane.com & everything Mcfarlane makes in the sports industry. said on May 10, 2011 6:38 PM
I notice that people on my spawn.com forums talk about the way you do custom figures & I just want you to know to just keep on doing what you do, & you will continue to get better at what you do with practice. I want you to know also as a designer that the things people say negative will make you better. I like the ideas you have with the figures & to me your work is cool dude. People use to think my work was crazy but you see I prove them wrong. Keep up the good creations!
I had NO PROBLEM with this person when he was just making poor customs for eBay. We all have different skill levels. But I will not let him steal the work of customizers whom I respect and admire and let him try to pass them off as his own.
****** NOTE *********
At the request of IDEAMINE, I've removed the photos of his "customs" from this blog. I believe he received his "cease and desist" notice from his hosting company for using my logo/banner on his website.
What this man fails to understand is what misrepresentation is. I put his photos on here and gave him FULL CREDIT FOR THEM. I did not say they were mine. Ideamine on the other hand, posts OTHER peoples work and takes credit for them. Ideamine takes pictures of other peoples work and tries to make money off them on eBay! That's the difference, he's a fraud.
