“Steve” used to claim on the Defying Despondency blog that his illustrations had appeared in many best-selling children’s books. This always seemed strange, since the only illustrations on his blog that he claimed to have created were of very poor quality.
Also strange are the pictures that he has posted of himself. Let’s examine each.
Photograph A is a screen capture from 29 February 2008 of his MyBlog webpage. The screen capture was made at about 5:30 PM, Eastern Standard on that date and by 6:00 PM the photograph had been switched out with a different, non-photographic image, apparently “Steve” changed his mind about using that particular photograph.
Photo A, “Steve’s” MyBlog page.
Photo B is a screen capture from ‘Defying Despondency’ taken for his 12 June 2006 entry. In a later overhaul of the blog, this entry and the photograph on the right hand side were removed.
Photo B, screen capture from Defying Despondency, click on the picture to view full size.
Photo C is a close-up of the image on the right that “Steve” used on several online profiles.
Photo C, profile photograph of “Steve.”
A closeup of the photograph of “Steve” gazing at the statue is Photo D.
Photo D, image from Defying Despondency originally posted on 12 June 2006. The label on the photograph is from the original image.
Photos A and C are obviously the same person. It was the opinion of some people that Photo D appeared to be someone else, but the photo quality was so poor that this could not be determined.
“Steve” claimed that these were his pictures. Goofy, fun-loving artistic “Steve.” Illustrator of many childrens books. Who has claimed over and over again that he is telling the truth about himself, except for those occasional manic episodes that took place after his self-reported mugging on 17 July 2007.
What is remarkable is that when you do a Google Image search for another children’s book author, Ard Hoyt, the pictures that “Steve” claims are himself are easily located.
Photo E, a screen capture made on 29 February 2008 from Google Images (searching Ard Hoyt without quotation marks, first two images).
Ard Hoyt is an author and illustrator who was born in Temple, Texas and graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He lives in Bentonville, Arkansas, is married, and has three daughters. His books often include animals as characters. He currently has 16 books listed on the Library of Congress catalogue http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?Search%5FArg=Hoyt%2C%20Ard&Search%5FCode=NAME%5F&CNT=25&PID=23087&BROWSE=1&HC=16&SID=1 and over a dozen on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/102-7146742-2641740?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Ard+Hoyt.
“Steve” AKA Mark Whitecotton has used two of Ard Hoyt’s photographs on his blog, claiming that they were of himself. These photographs were in use off and on from at least 27 June 2006 until 29 February 2008. The pictures were in use for a full year prior to the reported mugging incident, after which he had his so-called manic episodes and self-reported that some things he wrote might have not been factually correct.
During this 2006-2008 time period “Steve” claimed to suffer from mental illness, was mugged, engaged in homosexual sex with his supposed boyfriend, was involved in a murder case, and described his childhood proclivity for making others smell his poop-covered finger.
It makes you wonder the response Ard Hoyt or his publisher Simon & Schuster http://www.simonsays.com/ would have if they were informed about this use of Ard’s photographs. Especially if screen captured images of these various events which clearly show the use of the Hoyt photographs were provided.
How delish, Whitecotton Tale writer!!! McIntosh & Otis, the literary agency that has worked with Ard Hoyt, would love to hear about this, doncha think?
Since Marc Whitecotton is impersonating the illustrator of children’s books and Marc’s blog admits to having mental illness, being obsessed with porn, doing unsavory things like picking butts, and other things like that, as well as claiming that he is gay, and has a boyfriend, I’m sure Ard Hoyt’s agent and his people won’t be too happy that he’s using his pictures and claiming they are him. Is that a crime? Why, yes… Yes it is. It can also be seen as defamation of character, especially since he is married and has kids. Oooh, how exciting!
Good thing I “screen-shotted” everything I could… and I see that you have as well. How excellent.
Toodles,
T
[...] so laughable they require no response. But my favorite is the last one. We proved you were a fraud here, here, here, here, and oh, here, too, so we know who owes who an apology, and the list of those [...]
[...] you stole Ard Hoyt’s pictures to pretend you looked like him, why don’t you make the identity theft complete and call [...]