The Geek Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 So as some of you know I have been the main contributor to the General FE Fanart Thread for awhile now. But I have also been following some of the Fire Emblem artists on Tumblr and as such have heard about the major art theft fiascos that have happened within the FE fandom on sites such as Facebook and Instagram. This whole fiasco has gotten me wondering: are all of my actions sharing fanart in the Fanart Thread an exercise in thievery? I want to know what you guys think and if I should maybe change my fanart sharing policy to simply linking the original post and not posting the pictures themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maritisa Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Not at all. As long as you aren't claiming to be the artist yourself, or claiming "use" of it without permission, you're not a thief. You're just showing an extended audience their awesome work. You're kind of doing them a favor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azz Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Like Ritsia said you are far from it.You always show where you got the art when you post it and really you do the fandom a favor.(I mean half of my profile images are stuff you showed on the thread) So in short, no.So don't worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanami Touko Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 I would say that if you're really worried about it, post a link to the original artist along with the art but you're not a thief for sharing art simply on the premise of sharing it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elieson Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 If anything, you're Free PR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 (edited) You always source the art back to the original artist, so I wouldn't consider it theft, at least, if I were an artist I wouldn't mind. Different artists probably have different opinions, I imagine most are okay with is as long as they're being sourced, since it's the desire of an artist to receive attention. I actually think posting the picture and link is better, since a lot of people wouldn't always follow links, wait for a new page to load, or risk slowing down their computer if they have pathetic RAM like me. Keeping all the images on one page means more people are likely to view the art, thus it receives more exposure, thus people are more likely to gain interest in the artist. That's the way I see it anyway, but if you don't trust me, then go ask the numerous fan artists on this site for their opinions. Edited August 25, 2015 by Knight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Geek Posted August 25, 2015 Author Share Posted August 25, 2015 You always source the art back to the original artist, so I wouldn't consider it theft, at least, if I were an artist I wouldn't mind. Different artists probably have different opinions, I imagine most are okay with is as long as they're being sourced, since it's the desire of an artist to receive attention. I actually think posting the picture and link is better, since a lot of people wouldn't always follow links, wait for a new page to load, or risk slowing down their computer if they have pathetic RAM like me. Keeping all the images on one page means more people are likely to view the art, thus it receives more exposure, thus people are more likely to gain interest in the artist. That's the way I see it anyway, but if you don't trust me, then go ask the numerous fan artists on this site for their opinions. But on the other hand this means that they'll only look at the posted pictures and not follow the links to the original posts, and I think that's what people take issue with. I think from now on I will do links only. Less likely to get me in trouble with fanartists, more traffic for them, less work for me, less stress on my bandwidth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Vernster Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 But on the other hand this means that they'll only look at the posted pictures and not follow the links to the original posts, and I think that's what people take issue with. I think from now on I will do links only. Less likely to get me in trouble with fanartists, more traffic for them, less work for me, less stress on my bandwidth. If those artists call you out like that then they don't really deserve the free PR. A normal artist who sees his work shared will check if they are stealing first. Just straight up calling you out is kinda a dick move and shows then as pretty unappreciative. Still, if links only makes you feel better, then go for it. We can still see the image all the same. Speakin of which I gotta check out the fanart you posted there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The DanMan Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 No, I don't think so. You never try to claim ownership of the art you post and you link back to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 But on the other hand this means that they'll only look at the posted pictures and not follow the links to the original posts, and I think that's what people take issue with. I think from now on I will do links only. Less likely to get me in trouble with fanartists, more traffic for them, less work for me, less stress on my bandwidth. If their art is good, we'll follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carefreejules Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 (edited) As an artist, a lot of the reason why some artists are getting upset about their art being reposted, is because it's being done without them knowing/without their permission. Some artists feel safe and comfortable knowing where their art is at all times because it reminds them that they have full control of what they've created because at the end of the day, it's theirs and they don't think it's right for other people to freely touch what they've made even if the person who reposted did it with good intentions. When someone gets a hold of their work, it kind of makes the artist feel like some of their power over what they made is taken away. That being said, there's nothing wrong with reposting other people's works of art as long as you're providing the original source BUT, it's always better to double check with the artist to make sure it's OK with them. It not only shows that you're interested in their art, but it also shows that you care about their work enough that you would ask. There are countless artists on pixiv that have stated clearly that they don't want their work being reposted or redistributed and I think the least people can do is respect their wishes because at the end of the day, it's their work. For me, I don't mind if people use my art for icons and avatars as long as they ask me for permission first. As for reposting, that depends on where. If my art is already posted on a site that someone wants to repost it on, then the answer will always be no. Let me put it this way: say you post a drawing on tumblr and it doesn't have many likes or reblogs. Someone who has more followers than you, finds the drawing and reposts it without your permission and the drawing has over 1000 notes a few minutes after it was posted. Guess who's the one that sees all 1000 notes? Not the original artist, but the reposter. The original artist doesn't even get to see all the recognition from the exposure their work has gotten because it was reposted by someone else without them even knowing. And even if the reposter provided the original source, the artist still wouldn't know that their art got reposted. Sure with the source provided the artist gets more exposure, but keep in mind that the artist won't see the notes, recognition and compliments that their drawing has gotten and those are the very things that encourage artists to create more content and it makes them feel good about their abilities. TL;DR It's always always always better to ask the artist permission. Trust me when I say that it will make them feel a lot better if you do. Please keep in mind that my comment isn't meant to upset or offend anyone but I'm just giving a little insight of the mind of an artist from my personal experiences and from observing the experiences of many artists that I follow. Edited August 26, 2015 by carefreejules Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Geek Posted August 26, 2015 Author Share Posted August 26, 2015 Thank you for the feedback, I was hoping on getting some input from a fanartist. Do you think that simply linking to the original posts works as a way to share their work without stealing it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carefreejules Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Thank you for the feedback, I was hoping on getting some input from a fanartist. Do you think that simply linking to the original posts works as a way to share their work without stealing it? I think providing a link to the original post of the artwork you want to share is an excellent alternative because you're redirecting people's attention to the artist themselves because in order for people to see the artwork, they'll have to look at the link of the artist's work from the original source. Therefore, I personally don't think it's stealing if you're just linking to the original page of the artwork you want people to see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErrantDShepherd Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 ...as people have been saying. Calling your particular actions art theft seems way off base. It'd be cool if this site had a thumbnail/link feature like I have recently been noticing on Facebook... Then people could get a sneak peek at said links to know if they were interested in seeing it or not... Moreso than just text based links. But that's just my random thought. Kudos to you for thinking about it. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor Odinson Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 (edited) Yeah, I agree with carefreejules. The thing with pixiv is that it's against their TOS to repost art elsewhere without artist permission, and also because (last I heard) there's some laws that could get artists in trouble regarding ones who also draw R-18 content should their work be getting spread around too out of hand. I think keeping it to links and not hosted should be fine, since it redirects the viewer to the platform the artist chose to host their work. As an artist myself, sometimes people want to use my art for their signature, and I'm usually cool with it as long as they link back to my tumblr as a way of credit, but it does differ by every artist. The safest way to be respectful is just to link directly to the artist's chosen method of display. Asking permission also doesn't hurt, though since it's pixiv the language barrier exists, linking directly to site is probably safest bet there. Edited August 31, 2015 by Thor Odinson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maritisa Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 (last I heard) there's some laws that could get artists in trouble regarding ones who also draw R-18 content should their work be getting spread around too out of hand. ...Huh. But then what about gelbooru? This is something I'd never heard of. Does it go hand-in-hand with their ridiculous "pointless censoring" laws? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor Odinson Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 (edited) ...Huh. But then what about gelbooru? This is something I'd never heard of. Does it go hand-in-hand with their ridiculous "pointless censoring" laws? I'm not entirely sure or confident in that info since I did hear it from elsewhere and I'm not too well-versed in Japanese laws (or it could be Korea, actually, I think there was something a while back about it regarding R-18 art that was a big deal in the art community), but I'd like to be on the safe side just in case. Last thing we want is to get some artist into trouble because god forbid they drew a dick and posted it on the internet. The booru sites are not exactly what I'd call good sources for anything. Edited August 31, 2015 by Thor Odinson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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