Right to Copy or Copy Right? HELP!

[Boda]

hello everyone, this is my first thread and I'd like to know if it's allowed to post drawings (made by me of course) representing existing characters, or if there's any kind of CopyRight problems

Thx for helping a newbie.

[arttorney]

I'd stay away from slavishly copying a drawing by somebody else and posting it here. If you do so, your best bet is to present it as some kind of master copy and give full credit where credit is due (to the original artist).

Using existing characters in your own work might also get you mildly flamed unless you are doing a serious makeover or revamping of the character. (e.g. Here is my concept for what Wonder Woman looks like at 52, now that she's chairperson of the House Judiciary Committee).

Most of the people on here are working to produce original material.

[0kelvin]

There's no problem with posting fanart, everyone does it.

[FlipMcgee]

Youtube's "guiding principles". Just replace "video" and "clips" with "drawing".

Not necessarily principles used in this forum or by other forums, but I think good guidelines nonetheless for artists who swipe or copy other people's art or photos a lot. So basically, you can post whatever you want but if the original owners claim copyright he/she can complain to the mods about it. (What happens next is up to the mods.)


A Few Guiding Principles

* It doesn't matter whether or not you give credit to the owner/author/songwriter—it is still copyrighted.
* It doesn't matter that you are not selling the video for money—it is still copyrighted.
* It doesn't matter whether or not the video contains a copyright notice—it is still copyrighted.
* It doesn't matter whether other similar videos appear on our site—it is still copyrighted.
* It doesn't matter if you created a video made of short clips of copyrighted content—even though you edited it together, the content is still copyrighted.


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[TZA]

As long as you're not making money out of peoples characters they don't care.

[Digital_Blacksmith]

Its fanart, its a whole style on its own. But as I have told people before, the only way people will go ooo to it, is if you give it your own style.

Here is a good example of what im talking: http://spacecoyote.deviantart.com/art/The-Simpsonzu-46036660

Yes, I know its deviantart, and bad fanart is the main reason it sucks nowadays, but that piece of fan art is unique because its not the way the simpsons are done, and it shows us the characters in a new way.

[Olof]

Differ between using the concept and using the art.

Pause in your generic crapyanime show and draw the profileviewed character and claim it as your own, and you're doing it wrong.

Use the idea behind the character, visualize your own version of it with elements that still represent the mentioned character, and you're doing it right.


There's alot of fanart here. Noone will ever care a second how many © you put on your art. Only the amount of work.

[Seedling]

As long as you're not making money out of peoples characters they don't care.

Not true, TZA. If your use of another person't copyrighted work is anyhow damaging to their reputation, or prevents them from making money, or otherwise annoys them, they can sue you.

[subversive-imaginati]

Largely people here only have issues if you're doing nothing but fanart without anything else to improve your skills. There only so much you can learn from drawing the powerpuff girls after all.

As for copyrights? Copyrights are only a small part of the issue, Trademarks are the big thing with fanart. While fanart is a grey area largely and it's true companies can sue if you create derivative art of their trademarked properties?

Generally most won't sue. I say most but Warner bros have threatened to sue over a fansite and Disney once sued a playschool for having Disney character murals.

Basically the choice on whether to do fanart is really down to whether the companies care, some don't so long as it doesn't cause issues, some do, some positively encourage it. It's often better to play it safe and simply not do it.

[arttorney]

Yeah. The reputational injury Seedling discusses is generally addressed as a lawsuit under the trademark theory of tarnishment. This is how people get their butts sued off for portraying the Pillsbury Doughboy having sex, or for dressing up porn stars as Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Better show some respect for other people's stuff.

There is wiggle room in the areas of parody or educational use, but you can only go so far. Why approach the edge of the cliff? If you make your own characters, you yourself can then become the cliff that others must fear to approach. Originality rules.