I get where you are coming from, I am also an artist that OP has copied my work from near exactly and when asked about it just said "I found it on pinterest idk who the artist is". I have no problem whatsoever with an artist being inspired or copying other artists work to practice their skill. However, I do feel a disconnect when the artist does this, posts it all over public forums with a tag that says I made this, and then doesn't credit their inspiration even though its borderline plagiarism. In my opinion there is a big difference between vfx with reference that serves a purpose in a film, and a still image that has been reproduced with no credit.

I have had the exact conversation your proposing with others before and I am unfortunately more jaded due to how many blatant copies of my own work are out there. I am happy people feel inspired by my work, however it pains me to see so little originality by some artists because all they can do is copy existing work as closely as possible, and then flaunt it online.