Avoiding copycat art

Copying is the fastest way to lose collectors’ trust, and copycat collections are a real problem in NFTs. This article covers both sides: making sure your own work is clearly yours, and what to do when someone copies you.

Influence vs copying

Every artist learns from others. That’s normal and healthy. The line is crossed when someone could mistake your work for theirs.

• Influence: you love chunky outlines and muted colors from an artist you follow, and use similar ideas in your own characters.
• Copying: you take their character, pose, layout or trait list and change a color.

Checking your own work, step by step

1. Put your piece next to your main influences. Could someone mistake one for the other?
2. Check for tracing or reused parts. Any trace or reused part of someone else’s art is a problem.
3. Compare trait lists. If your list matches another collection item for item, rethink it.
4. Check names. A collection name close to an existing one confuses collectors and invites trouble.
5. Ask a friend to say whose work it reminds them of. If they name one artist instantly, push further.

Making it yours

When a piece feels too close, change the things that carry identity:

• Shape language: round vs angular, tall vs squat.
• Palette: a different set of colors entirely.
• Concept: what your characters are and why.
• Line: your natural line weight and texture.

A worked example

Leo loves a popular collection of pixel ghosts and starts drawing his own ghosts. His first batch shares the same round shape, the same two-eye face and similar hats. His friend says “those are basically the ghost ones”. Leo changes the concept: his ghosts haunt houseplants. Their shapes become leaf-like, the palette shifts to greens and browns, and the traits become plants and pots. They’re still ghosts, but nobody mistakes them for the other collection.

Copycat collections

Copying also happens to whole collections: someone downloads a collection’s art and metadata, deploys a new contract with the same name, and sells the copies. Collectors who mint from the copy get nothing from the original. Coin or piece: why the address matters explains how to tell them apart.

If you’re copied, step by step

1. Collect evidence: links, screenshots, your original files and sketches with their creation info.
2. Contact the person, calmly, if that’s safe.
3. Report it to the platform hosting the copy.
4. Tell your community where your real collection lives: the collection page on testnet.kurv.fun.
5. Keep making work. Your ongoing process is the best proof of what’s yours.

Protecting yourself before launch

• Keep your sketches and working files as proof of process.
• Post works in progress, which create a public record that you made them.
• Post your official link in your profile.

Copying Max Cat

Max Cat is Charvel’s collection and KURV’s mascot. Using his art or a close copy of him in your collection is copying. Drawing a character like Max Cat shows how to create your own.

Common sources of accidental copying

Most copying in collections isn’t malicious. It sneaks in through:

• Reference images kept open too long while drawing, until the drawing matches them.
• Popular templates for bodies or poses passed around online.
• Trait trends, where every collection suddenly has the same accessories.
• AI images prompted with another artist’s name.

Close the reference after you’ve studied it, then draw from memory. What you remember is usually the idea, not the exact lines, and that’s where your own version starts.

Buying responsibly, as a collector

Copycats only work if people mint from them. Before minting, check the creator, start from testnet.kurv.fun, and be wary of a collection that appeared suddenly with famous-looking art and no history of sketches or posts.

Common mistakes

• “I changed the colors, so it’s mine.” It isn’t.
• Tracing for “practice” and then launching it.
• Copying a popular trait list.
• Naming your collection almost like someone else’s.
• Panicking publicly when copied, instead of collecting evidence.

FAQ

Can I draw in a style similar to someone I like? Learning from a style is fine. Make sure nobody could confuse your pieces with theirs.

Is fan art OK in a collection? Fan art uses characters you don’t own. Selling it is risky; ask the owner or don’t.

What if someone says I copied them? Look honestly at the work, share your process, and fix it if they’re right.

Can copycat collections be removed? Platforms can act on reports, but the contract may still exist. Point collectors to your official page.

Where to go next

• Drawing a character like Max Cat