The author of skin AWP Duality, Oliver "Madara", spoke about his skin changing the banned AWP Doodlelore. He revealed that he feels pressure and guilt because of that change, even tho he has nothing to do with Valve's decision. The interview was released on CS.money website.
I have very strange emotions about this Valve's acceptance as a whole. I can't even rejoice because so many things are pressing on me. I understand perfectly what it is like when you are almost given a new life. You have already planned what car you will buy, kissed your wife and told her how your life would change... And then this new life is taken from you. That's a severe tilt.
And I feel guilty. I understand that I am not involved, as I did not show or say, "Hey, Valve, take my AWP instead." For me, this is a surprise. But it weighs on me mentally. Plus, it's still pressing that some players could get used to and love Doodle Lore and will say that they liked the old skin more.
Did he know it would happen?
No, it was absolutely random. My friend called me in the morning and woke me up saying, "You have another accept!" At first, I thought about Rust, I didn't believe him because the case had already been released a couple of days ago.
Valve didn't speak to Madara about the change
I just received an email, as all skinmakers do. "Congratulations, you have been chosen", and that's it. No dialogues.
Moreover, I was surprised because it was an old AWP. At that time, my skill was, roughly speaking, on a completely different level: you can see how it was designed and all that. Only now, I'm starting to see how best to implement ideas for CS:GO weapons. And then it was a clumsy vision originating from tattoos. I planned to redo it entirely. Turns out, I was too late. (laughs)
About the author of AWP Doodle Lore
I looked at what Jimmba copied from: yes, this is, of course, a copy in terms of style and colours, he did the same thing exactly. But he redrew everything himself to fit the AWP. In fact, it wasn’t a simple “take an image and apply it to a skin”, rather, he completely redid it. It’s like abibas and adidas. In theory, no one can take him to court for this, although I’m not a lawyer. So I was surprised that they replaced it. Maybe Valve just didn’t want scandals.
How do I feel about it? Well, a lot of people do that. And Jimmba just did it too similarly. If he took other colours, no one would even notice, most likely. I don’t respect people who take images and just apply them. This is the most dishonest. You must do something yourself. And he, somehow, did it between “100% himself” and “0% himself.” It’s hard to judge, though.
Recently Valve removed AWP Doodle Lore from Revolution Case and replaced it with AWP Duality. Valve didn't explain the decision, but from the web, it became clear that it was done due to copyright issues. The art was taken from a YouTuber. This is not the first Madara's officially added skin; he also won the Dreams and Nightmares competition with M4A1-S | Night Terror.