Rob Granito, scammer

jedispyder · Post by **jedispyder** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 8:53 am

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/03/24/ ... b-granito/

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/03/25/ ... b-granito/

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/03/25/ ... b-granito/

http://mlbatg.blogspot.com/2011/03/anyo ... uy-is.html

Basically this guy, Rob Granito, has been claiming for years to have been an artist on popular titles and even Batman: TAS. Yet he's obviously not and just a big ole scammer. Rich Johnston noticed and began investigating him, doing a whole expose on him. A lot of good information and reactions from real artists, including a whole expose from the guy who got suckered into making Rob's website for free. The article by Ethan Van Sciver is downright hilarious where he straight up calls him out on what he's doing. Very interesting reads, can't believe he actually lasted this long (and somehow scored a near premier table at Wizard World!)

Tragic Angelus · Post by **Tragic Angelus** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 10:01 pm

Well I'm glad someone called him out at the least. But mostly, he looks totally creepy. Like.. serial killer creepy.

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:13 pm

What a douche. Glad he got caught, the articles make for good reading though, thanks for the link

jedispyder · Post by **jedispyder** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:43 pm

It gets better:
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/03/28/ ... mark-waid/

After EVS talked to Mark Waid about him, mentioning how Granito said he "worked with Dwayne McDuffie", enough was enough. Waid and EVS went over there and laid the smackdown on him, basically saying his career was over now and telling him never to go to cons again. Looks like it worked because he's been banned from a lot of cons. And people are getting more and more furious about him.

I'm surprised none of the "top tier" comic news websites reported about him, only Bleeding Cool (which led to them having their heaviest traffic ever). Blogs and creators speaking out about him definitely helped the news travel fast, with the Facebook group "Robert Granito is a Fraud" getting 2,000 followers in a weekend (including many creators).

wolf_2099 · Post by **wolf_2099** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:42 pm

Am I the only one who would have taken pause at anyone saying they were a ghost drawer to begin with?

That's fucking sketchy enough as it is.

It does not however, surprise me he got away with it. Getting a table at a con is a breeze, and it's not like many people would know the difference. They would just bypass the dude when they didn't recognize the name without thinking about what he's done.

jedispyder · Post by **jedispyder** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:59 pm

I can understand Ghost Writers, mainly because I researched them awhile ago. Ghost Artists are just a bit weird, it doesn't really seem like it should work...

And I can see why he began to lie. He wanted people to buy his stuff, so the lies got deeper and deeper. It's just worse that he lied his way into "special guest" status a couple of times. If I were to walk by his stuff, I would be very confused by his various styles. Most people have a very similar style, with it evolving over time. He goes from a to x to c to z. Very sketchy, but I guess most people wouldn't notice it...

Tragic Angelus · Post by **Tragic Angelus** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:20 pm

That's kind of what I didn't get, how so many people just assumed he ghosted for dozens of different artists. It's possible to mimic a few styles, or go to and use specific art 'schools/styles' but being able to do dozens? That's pretty much impossible I'd say unless you're doing what he did. No way he could do a near perfect Perez and then have a near perfect Miller or Turner type of sketch. Those styles just differ too much.

If I had seen him, I would have asked where he had gotten the Tim Sale work or the so and so sketch and just discounted him as someone re-selling others work.

wolf_2099 · Post by **wolf_2099** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:55 pm

Tragic Angelus wrote:That's kind of what I didn't get, how so many people just assumed he ghosted for dozens of different artists. It's possible to mimic a few styles, or go to and use specific art 'schools/styles' but being able to do dozens? That's pretty much impossible I'd say unless you're doing what he did. No way he could do a near perfect Perez and then have a near perfect Miller or Turner type of sketch. Those styles just differ too much.

If he was that good as ghosting that many artists, he should easily have been getting legitimate jobs as an artist.

Tragic Angelus · Post by **Tragic Angelus** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:41 pm

Exactly. Photos of his booths just make me think he's someone re-selling work, which I'm sure some people do at these Cons. But they don't get artists booths. They get vendors booths.

When you're simply re-tracing someone's work onto a canvas, and selling it as our own, then you deserve what he got from the likes of Waid and Van Sciver.

I'd never heard of this guy until this weekend, but I'm glad he got caught. I just wonder how this went past everyone for about 5 years or so?

jedispyder · Post by **jedispyder** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:44 pm

Well, there is no such thing as "legitimate" for him. It's "legit-o-mite"

And yes, I do agree. If he were actually decent at ghosting, he'd be able to get jobs. Just look at how much work Greg Land gets and he's just luckily a better tracer than Granito.