Soo This individual is known for taking others' art and tracing them or working them in such a way and then claims them as their own. I've honestly been trying really hard to ignore it because I've had so much of my works stolen from me in the past theres a point where its just not worth the argument because it never turns out the way it should.

Some people do not consider tracing as a form of theft, but in all honesty I do without giving the proper credit or never bothering to ask. deviantArt staff is terrible - they never really do anything to get the problem solved. So what would you, as an artist do?

Here is my issue: http://oi57.tinypic.com/swtsh0.jpg

The photomanipulation is mine, is super old |: Here is the dA link: http://ghostlyspirit.deviantart.com/art/Stage-Fright-349618192 Submitted January, 2013

Here is the traced image http://kiroxookami.deviantart.com/art/Heal-My-Heart-513846178 February, 2015

I honestly do not think it is a mere coincidence - and I have the individual blocked - honestly trying to speak to the user is near to impossible because they WILL find a way to twist words around and make me, or anyone else out to be the bad guy. I'm sorry if this sounds childish but I am just so fed up with this. I just want opinions on what I should do. I've reported the image on dA but I doubt anything is going to happen x.x

Wow. No credit given to you at all. They didn't even try to make it their own aside from the coat pattern. They copied the tail too! I mean I've reference certain poses before, but I always try to change it up so it's still my own unique piece. There's also a difference between referencing and tracing and one of those is acceptable..This person flat out took your art and drew right over it.

I'm reporting it as well and I submitted this image with the report:

I don't think there's much you can do to stop things like this from happening. Blocking them after you've reported it is probably your only option. This person doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. If they become well-known they're bound to get caught and it'll lead to their crumble.

Just a little while ago someone found a person using an icon I made for someone else. The user tried to claim it was a free icon on deviantart, but it definitely was marked as a commission. SIIIIGHHHH

Thank you for that, I really appreciate it. I know dA is not going to do much unfortunately. And the fact that I have already blocked this person from my contacts, (long before this was even done) and thats all I have.

I made the mistake of posting in the forums on dA - and wow can people be spiteful x:

His design also looks a lot like Natsume too..so he didn't just steal from you. D:

http://www.deviantart.com/art/Natsume-Digital-Reference-435730374

Unfortunately DA for the most part won't do diddly about this anymore, and there's likely to be no response from the person who copied you. It's very frustrating, believe me I sympathize. The overlay is very close indeed, and while it's not a 100% trace it's at least a 90% copy. I wish there was something that could be done but art sites are getting to be so lenient with copying and "referencing" and it's even hard to get straight up exact image theft taken down, like when people save pictures from Pixiv and repost them on their DAs.

I'm really sorry this happened to you and the only advice I can offer is to vent it out and if you want to make the attempt to bring it up to mods, then it doesn't hurt to try.