In a developing story, artist James C. Mulligan has recently shared a post denying the use of AI for his art and claiming the accusations he was blacklisted by Disney Lorcana are false.
Mulligan AI Art Controversy
Mulligan is an artist who has drawn Disney characters, among many other art pieces, for over a decade. He has showcased his art at D23 events for several years, as well as pop culture conventions like San Diego Comic Con and Anime NYC. Mulligan has been hired by Disney Lorcana to create art for a total of three cards, Flounder – Collector’s Companion and Transformer Chef – Castle Stove from the Ursula’s Return set and White Rabbit – Royal Herald from Shimmering Skies.
However, controversy arose when an individual at Anime NYC recently posted online, accusing Mulligan of using AI-generated backgrounds for his artwork and lying that all of the art was his own.
The accusations came from @Toon_Emu on X, in a post that now has over 2.7 million views.
The original post reads, “Hey so…this guy at #AnimeNYC just blatantly lied to me about not using gen ai in his work, then scammed my mom off of several hundred dollars in prints.”
Hey so…this guy at #AnimeNYC just blatantly lied to me about not using gen ai in his work, then scammed my mom off of several hundred dollars in prints. pic.twitter.com/2kfLfbSbbq
— Emu
The user then goes on to post several more times in the same thread, saying, “I asked him what his process was like and if he used gen ai or not and he said he didn’t, but I was just looking for ai because it’s like an ‘industry witch hunt to ruin people’s careers.’ “
The thread continues, with the user saying Mulligan claimed to use the program Procreate, but refused to show a timelapse replay of his art process. Mulligan reportedly blocked the user on social media, and later forwarded the user to contact his legal team if they had further concerns.
Finally, the user was contacted by Mulligan’s wife, Charlotte, on X. The user had posted a comment saying, “A timelapse replay would be all that is needed to prove the authenticity of the art. Unfortunately, your husband has declined, and refused to show any sort of evidence against his claim. Also, procreate stores timelapses automatically.”
To which Charlotte replied, “We have. To show organizers who you made the accusation to. To your mother who said how embarrassed she was of your behavior. And to our lawyers who will pursue your efforts of toucherous [sic] interference and slander.”
Most recently, @Toon_Emu posted on September 2, “Final update from me! I certainly was not prepared for this post to go viral, so I’ve decided to now take a step back and let things settle as others with more experience than me take over. I no longer wish to be involved, but hope the issue gets resolved.”
Another post from user @The_Green_Nymph on X claimed, “I actually work for the company that makes Disney Lorcana, so I will be bringing this up with my Creative Directors. We have a hard policy of no AI art in our games, and they will be able to assess further. However, it’s been very common ppl [sic] jump to these conclusions a lot.”
Comic Book Resource recently posted an article outlining the Mulligan controversy, noting that, “According to insiders, Ravensburger [the company that produces Disney Lorcana] has a firm ‘no artificial intelligence’ policy in place when it comes to artwork.”
Additional users on social media websites such as Reddit have claimed to receive information Disney Lorcana blacklisted Mulligan for using AI, though none of these reports appear to be confirmed.
Response from Mulligan
Mulligan has largely remained silent online regarding the controversy, but recently posted a response to his Facebook account. The full response reads:
Hi all… It looks like I became very famous pretty much overnight (yipee!) due to certain unfounded “your art is AI!” accusations that seemingly came out of nowhere from a young person that attended an anime show I was at. That grew legs.
I’ve been trying to lay low, but I figured it’s about time this needed to be addressed, out of respect for all of my clients and friends that have supported me through the decades. Long before AI was ever a word on the scene.
As the artist in question, I will state, definitively, that multiple statements made are patently and provably false. First and foremost, that AI was used to create my multiple Lorcana cards. Not remotely true. Nor have I been blacklisted from working with Disney. The “employee” that stated these things deleted their tweet and took their account private almost immediately after making these false statements. I’ve been awaiting communication from the team at Ravensburger to be given permission to publicly share the layered hand drawn files of my Lorcana cards, as, unfortunately, it would be in violation of certain agreements to do so without explicit written permission. So, my hands are tied. All I can say is that I have worked in some capacity with Disney for decades, and my years of work will stand up to these accusations. (Though, not strangely, an AI detector, which came back showing one of my D23 releases from 2014, was 99.9% AI, a rather humorous but absurd discovery)
I understand completely, the hatred for artists using generative AI, and passing it along as their hand painted created work. AI has its uses, but AI, in my estimation, ultimately will be an incredibly destructive force for society and humanity as a whole. I did NOT use it, nor have I received any communication from my Ravensburger/Lorcana team accusing me of such. This came from one person speaking on behalf of Lorcana, issuing a tweet (again, that was deleted very quickly) with no backup or even naming the art director that they spoke to.
To conclude, I’ve kept on the downlow to protect my family (while attempting to ignore countless threats against myself and my family) but I felt if I didn’t say something, I was going to burst. If anyone would care to reach out to me with questions, I’m happy to answer anything privately, as to do so publicly at the moment, is something I’ve been advised against.
My Instagram is open. My Facebook DMs are open. I welcome professional and thoughtful communication.
Looking forward to the moment these accusations can be easily dispelled.
Thank you, Jimmy
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