'Fairly Odd Parents' creator accused of plagiarizing from Japanese Twitter artist for commissions

• Butch Hartman has been accused of plagiarizing art on Twitter.
• A recent commission from the "Fairly Odd Parents" creator was scrutinized as bearing close resemblance to another artist's work.
• Hartman has spent the past three years dealing with controversies stemming from his Oaxis network.

Butch Hartman, creator of multiple Nickelodeon shows like the "Fairly Odd Parents," "T.U.F.F. Puppy," and "Danny Phantom," is being accused of plagiarizing art by a Japanese artist who posts their work on Twitter.

On Saturday, Hartman posted a commissioned piece he drew of Mikasa Ackerman from "Attack on Titan" that some fans thought looked a little off. Anyone can purchase a commissioned piece of artwork from Hartman on his website for upwards of $200.

Butch Hartman posted a commission that some thought resembled another artist's work

After Hartman posted the photo, internet detectives quickly compared it to a 2018 drawing by Japanese artist @028ton on Twitter. The account, with over 35,000 followers and started in 2016, posts drawings of anime characters from franchises like "Pokemon" and "Demon Slayer."

—Butch Hartman (@realhartman) February 20, 2021

—オットン (@028ton) April 2, 2018

The next day, @028ton tweeted that they "checked the tweets and found many similarities to my work" and that Hartman did not have permission to use the illustrations.

—オットン (@028ton) February 21, 2021

The story quickly picked up online, with many defending @028ton's work and expressing confusion over the fact that Hartman would potentially have copied or traced someone else's work for a paid commission. By Monday afternoon, Butch Hartman was trending on Twitter with over 70,000 tweets talking about the former Nickelodeon creator alongside "Butcher Hartman." Some pointed out the fact that Hartman has been accused of copying or tracing for commissions in the past.

— ༶ Entry! ༶ (@ViewMonsterr) February 22, 2021

—Bloody (New EP out now!) (@__Bloody____) February 22, 2021

—Dock Of Shame (@FavDockOfShame) February 22, 2021

Who is Butch Hartman?

Hartman has been working in the animation industry since 1986, storyboarding and working on titles like "An American Tail," "Johnny Bravo," and "Dexter's Laboratory." In 1997, he created the first "Fairly Odd Parents" short for the "Oh Yeah! Cartoons" block on Nickelodeon, which was eventually picked up for a full series in 2001. The show was a massive success, leading him to eventually create three other shows for Nickelodeon before leaving the company in February 2018.

Leading up to his departure throughout 2016 and 2017, Hartman invested a lot of time into creating and maintaining a YouTube channel. His videos discussing his creations, interpretations of YouTubers, and the future of his content pulled in hundreds of thousands if not millions of views. By the time he had started YouTube full time, it seemed like his channel was prepared for success.

In June 2018, Hartman launched a Kickstarter campaign for his Oaxis Entertainment network, meant to be a "family-friendly" alternative to other streaming services. Shortly after the project was closed and raised over $268,000, a video of Hartman talking at a Christian private conference started to circulate online. In it, Hartman talks about his multi-year plan for the network and acknowledges that "Oaxis is a family-friendly online media platform that will shift the narrative of Hollywood."

"We're going to save families and speak to them in parables," Hartman says. "My stuff has got to be hip to reach the secular people."

Backers were bothered by the fact that Christianity was never part of the Kickstarter page and YouTubers started to make their own videos about Oaxis. Over two years after the Kickstarter was funded, Oaxis still hasn't launched, with the website saying they are "almost ready."

After this scandal, Hartman's reputation never really recovered.

In 2019, Hartman produced an animated series for the YouTube kids channel HobbyKidsTV featuring animated animal versions of the kids and parents. He also released "The Garden," which the website describes as "fun," "family-friendly," and "christ-centered."

His 800,000 subscriber YouTube channel started to dwindle, with his most recent uploads barely breaking 10,000 views.

Hartman did not return a request for comment.