Artist Who Has Worked On MTG Calls Out Marvel Snap For Allegedly Using Their Work Without Permission

An artist has accused Marvel Snap of using their work without permission. They have shared fan art they created seven years ago, posting it alongside a M’Baku pixel art variant that has been in Marvel Snap since 2022, noting that they’ve been trying to get in touch with Snap’s creators about potentially working together but haven’t received a response.

Jason Kiantoro, who goes by thatjaykart on Twitter and has created artwork for Magic: The Gathering, created fan art of Black Panther’s M’Baku in 2018, sharing the art they created on Twitter this week. The reason they’ve reshared their seven-year-old art is because it has only just been brought to their attention that their M’Baku artwork is remarkably similar to the art used on a Marvel Snap card from 2022.

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Kiantoro claims their art has been plagiarized by Marvel Snap and used for one of the mobile game’s pixel art variants, an art style that has now been used for more variant designs than any other with more than 200 cards in the game. “I don’t even think I need to point out the similarities due to how obvious they are,” Kiantoro adds in a reply to their original tweet.

An Artist Has Claimed A Marvel Snap Card Uses Fan Art They Created In 2018

The Accused Card Is M’Baku’s Pixel Art Variant

What likely stings the most for Kiantoro is that the artist has trying to get in touch with the creators of Marvel Snap for the past few months in an attempt to work with them, but they are yet to receive a response. While I’m sure most developers are inundated with requests from people asking to work with them, to be completely ignored only to discover a design that is remarkably similar to something you created is already in the game, and has been for more than two years, has to hurt.

Kiantoro goes into more detail about what they’re expecting should Snap’s devs get wind of this amid their followers demanding the artist be compensated. They pin the blame for the alleged plagiarism on G-Angle rather than Marvel Snap studio Second Dinner. G-Angle is the artist responsible for most of the pixel art variants in Snap.

The artist also acknowledges that the image they created is ultimately their take on a character owned by Marvel, so even if someone did see it and decide to use it for card art in Snap, there’s probably no grounds for legal action. If their fan art really was the inspiration behind the card, it’s just the lack of credit and acknowledgment for it that has bothered them upon making this discovery, adding, “It’s not the legality of the whole thing that upsets me, it’s that another artist can just rip off something personal I did.”

Systems

Released

August 22, 2023

ESRB

e

Developer(s)

Second Dinner

Publisher(s)

Nuverse