Fan Art on the Board

[Buffy Summers]

Plagiarism has become a growing problem on the board, especially in the Fan Art Forum. I think a lot of the problem is that people just don’t realize what exactly art plagiarism is – I know that until I started to work with the artists here, I had no idea past taking someone else’s banner and putting it in my signature lol.

So I’ve enlisted Lyri, Kean, and Angelic Slayer’s help in a) identifying it and b) figuring out a way to help prevent it.

What is Plagiarizing?

Plagiarizing is the taking, redistributing and the recreating of work and/or ideas by other artists and passing it off as your own.


What is art?

There might be some confusion as to what is art and what is not. Clean or unaltered promo images and screencaps from the show are not art: they are part of what makes a piece art. However, if you are not capping the scenes yourself you should credit the site where you got the caps and any other sources you use i.e. textures, fonts, stock images, gradients, vectors etc. What is considered art is a changed or manipulated image or series of images created to make a "new" image and these new images are what should always be credited.


The Rules on Using Others’ Artwork

1. DO NOT claim another artist’s work (wallpapers/banners/icons/colourizes/manips) as your own.

2. If you use another artist's art in your own (for example, a manipulation) PLEASE make sure you have permission from the original artist before you go ahead and PLEASE remember to credit said artist, and link back to their website/Live Journal/Deviant Art Page, etc.

3. DO NOT cut up another artist's work (for example, a wallpaper) and use it for something else (for example, a banner). That is stealing. The artist did not spend hours on a wallpaper just for you to hack it up into a banner and claim it as your own.

4. DO NOT remove an artist's signature from their work. It is there for a reason.

5. DO NOT hotlink another artist's work on this site or any other. It uses bandwidth (and that is stealing too!).

6. Unless otherwise stated, art of any medium posted by any artist is for PERSONAL USE ONLY. This means you can’t take a great piece of artwork and put in on a t-shirt and sell it on ebay.

7. Using resources created by other artists also requires credit. If you are making art you know the time and effort that goes into it and should give your fellow artists the credit they deserve.

8. All of the above applies to ideas too. Taking inspiration from a piece is one thing but completely recreating a copy of a piece and not crediting the other artist is also regarded as stealing, even if you physically made it yourself. This can also be applied when using tutorials. If you create a piece of art by following another artist's tutorial you should always credit that artist and tutorial when you post the finished piece.


New Rules Regarding Art Posted on the Forum

When posting any art you’ve made on the board, you will now be asked to cite your resources. You should post the following source information for each piece of work that you post here:

Images:
Textures:
Gradients/Stocks:
Text:

Please help artists keep things neat in their thread by only leaving meaningful feedback via posts and confining short comments (like “I love it!”) to karma only.

To help in moving forward to the new system, we are creating a new archive forum for the Art Class forum. All current Art Class forum threads where the artist has not been on the board for more than six months will automatically be moved there. Should any current artist wish to start fresh, they may do so by pming a mod and asking that their old thread be moved to the archive. We will now close and archive Art Class threads at 200 posts.

As with our other infractions, failure to post source information will result in 3 warnings, then 3 infractions. With 3 infractions you will lose your Art Class forum privileges.


Now that everyone is clear on what is allowed and what is not, we are offering everyone amnesty. If you realize that something in your thread should not have been posted, please pm a mod with the link to the post and it can be removed with no repercussions.

However any art theft that is reported to us by someone else or that we discover ourselves will result in your entire art thread being permanently deleted and an infraction given as is our usual rule. Multiple infractions will result in banning from the board.


On a side note: just in case anyone was curious, posting articles, posts, or anything written at all from another site/source without crediting the author and/or site is also plagiarism and also will not be tolerated here.

A huge thank you to Lyri, Kean, and Angelic Slayer for their help in writing this post and these new rules.

🙂

 

[BuffyElevated]

I think this is a wonderful change. I've seen it happen a lot around here that someone posts something really cool, and then two days later someone has something with almost the exact same concept in their art, claiming it as theirs. I've even had someone completely rip off one of the banners I've made, and thankfully one of the mods removed it from their art thread without me having to even ask.
I will definitely comply by these rules. Thank you to Buffy, Kean, Lyri, and Angelic Slayer for all you guys are doing!

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

Images:
Textures:
Gradients/Stocks:
Text:

This might be a stupid question, but my Gimp is in German, so some of the words above I've never heard before...

What are Gradients/Stocks?

 

[Lyri]

Stocks are stock images that are used in art, rather than textures, or as backgrounds. Like, say for example, This Piece, the hand-rail and dove images are stocks, which came from Caustic Stock, who took the pictures.

Gradients are pretty much only used in PSP or PS, I don't think they're used in GIMP, but they're used to add colour and definition to a piece. The colouring in my Jared banner is completely down to gradients. I think there are about 4 or 5 in there, lol.

 

[Blondie Bear]

We've got gradients in GIMP; if your icons are the same, it's the little box with the color fading from one edge to the other.

 

[Lyri]

We've got gradients in GIMP; if your icons are the same, it's the little box with the color fading from one edge to the other.

Ah, I stand corrected, lol. Having never used GIMP, I have no idea, sorry. 🙂

 

[Skanky Vamp]

"Images:
Textures:
Gradients/Stocks:
"

That makes it virtually impossible for me to ever post anything. I typically use dozens of different textures and images from various Google Image results, alter them beyond recognition and have no clue from whence the original came. So I asked for my thread to be moved to the archive rather than risk the possibility of someone being able to upon close inspection recognize something.

 

[BuffyElevated]

"Images:
Textures:
Gradients/Stocks:
"

That makes it virtually impossible for me to ever post anything. I typically use dozens of different textures and images from various Google Image results, alter them beyond recognition and have no clue from whence the original came. So I asked for my thread to be moved to the archive rather than risk the possibility of someone
being able to upon close inspection recognize something.

Can't you just cite Google Image Search as the source??

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Firstly, great rules. I like them. Art theft is really lame, I agree.

So, wait let me get this straight. When posting another person's art and/or writing, we now need to cite both the name and the site of the author/artist? What if we don't know the person's site? For instance, I've had quite a few banners made for me by various people, but I don't know their site URLs. It's OK to just say, "Banner by ______", right?

Does this apply to fan-made videos as well?

For the mods, I'm sad to admit that I did post some wallpapers, stories, and videos I found in both my "Spuffy" and "Angel/Spike" threads. I certainly did not claim them as my own (because, as Buffy would say, it's wrong) but I did not cite the artists sites, I don't think. In most cases, if I know who wrote/did it, I will cite their name.

 

[Lyri]

Can't you just cite Google Image Search as the source??

No. Google Image Search didn't create the textures, gradients, stocks or images. And by using Google, you run the risk of searching for, say, Buffy Summers, and coming across a manipulation off Buffy that an artist has made, yet you are unaware that it isn't an original image, which is the plagiarism we're talking about, although you might be unaware that you're are actually stealing.

If you do use Google Image Search, then you should be taken to the website where the image originally came from, which you can cite, not Google itself.

Firstly, great rules. I like them. Art theft is really lame, I agree.

So, wait let me get this straight. When posting another person's art and/or writing, we now need to cite both the name and the site of the author/artist? What if we don't know the person's site? For instance, I've had quite a few banners made for me by various people, but I don't know their site URLs. It's OK to just say, "Banner by ______", right?

Does this apply to fan-made videos as well?

For the mods, I'm sad to admit that I did post some wallpapers, stories, and videos I found in both my "Spuffy" and "Angel/Spike" threads. I certainly did not claim them as my own (because, as Buffy would say, it's wrong) but I did not cite the artists sites, I don't think. In most cases, if I know who wrote/did it, I will cite their name.

Banners that you're using in your sig that you didn't make should have some sort of credit to the original artist, be it a link or a name that people can search for.

If you've posted ANY art on the boards, or fic, for that matter, you should definitely give credit to the original artist/writer, and a link back to their website/live journal, etc.

And yes, it applies to fan videos. It applies to ANYTHING that isn't personally made by you.

 

[Kean]

Firstly, great rules. I like them. Art theft is really lame, I agree.

So, wait let me get this straight. When posting another person's art and/or writing, we now need to cite both the name and the site of the author/artist? What if we don't know the person's site? For instance, I've had quite a few banners made for me by various people, but I don't know their site URLs. It's OK to just say, "Banner by ______", right?

Does this apply to fan-made videos as well?.

Well you don't necessarily have to have their professional site link but if you have their name and a link to where you got it (I mean if you have the art/fic to post you most have gotten it somehwere) it would be great.

I know not every artist has professional sites, alot post in communities or host sites. Basically if you can link to the original source that will always be best but a link to where you actually got it is good too.

EDIT

Actually I just want to clarify here, if you are linking make sure it is to a legit source. You don't want to link to someone who has stolen the piece you are using. So be mindful of where you are getting your art and fics too. 🙂

 

[Professor Walsh]

When we're talking about credits, how strict and detailed will you be? I suppose I'm not the only one who's downloaded brushes and fonts I have forgotten where I found. While I see the point of giving credits where credits are due, there's a question of how detailed it's practical to be.

 

[BuffyElevated]

When we're talking about credits, how strict and detailed will you be? I suppose I'm not the only one who's downloaded brushes and fonts I have forgotten where I found. While I see the point of giving credits where credits are due, there's a question of how detailed it's practical to be.

I agree. I'm going to try my hardest to remember where I got certain things. My textures are no problem, 'cause I had to redownload everything when my PC died and now everything starts with the site name. (example: seeingred_tex1) But a lot of the stock images I have I can't remember where I got them, only that I searched for them on Google. 🙁 My older stuff I can't guarantee that I'll remember where I got it from, but I will definitely make the file names of everything from here on out show where I got them so I can give proper credit. 🙂

 

[Sweetescape]

Ah a lot of the textures I use I can't remember were exactly I got them from since I save ones I don't exactly use there and then, while I understand the need to credit the people who made them it's a hard from me to remember were I got them from. I make art on impulse. Gradients I can do I've only downloaded from one site but images/texture may stop me from posting, I have a large back catalogue of images/textures I've picked up randomly. As for text I have downloaded some but I have no idea which ones since the photoshop I use is cracked and it was over a year ago since I got them.

Would it be okay to just post a link to the sites I use and a message crediting them for any future use rather than crediting them every piece?

 

[Black Eye Guy]

If you guys save textures and stuff in bulk (I do, I always go on like Texture/gradient/brushes binges), there is the potential of forgetting where they come from but a helpful hint may be to just save the image name as the address for the original, that way you wont have to worry about remembering where you got it from!

Or a folder for sites the then save the images you get from it in there, and rename the folder as the site name!

This will be an awesome way for people to share texture links and stuff also!

 

[Buffy Summers]

Would it be okay to just post a link to the sites I use and a message crediting them for any future use rather than crediting them every piece?

I think going forward every piece or group of pieces in one post should have its or their own list.

For older items on your computer that you are still using, I would list in the source information that it is something stored on your computer but that credit will be gladly given if anyone knows where it's from or at the request of the artist. Having said that, if something was taken without permission it still will fall under the rules on plagiarism. Though from what I can tell (for what that's worth) things like brushes and gradients wouldn't really be posted if they weren't okay to be used. If you don't know where a wallpaper or manip is from, though, I would say it's best to leave it out of your project.

But for anything new, please please please take the time to correctly credit. It is a great habit to get into. We're also not idiots, so please don't just use what I said above as an excuse for laziness, cause we will call you on it 😉

 

[Professor Walsh]

Though from what I can tell (for what that's worth) things like brushes and gradients wouldn't really be posted if they weren't okay to be used.

That's the way I've understood it as well. But I'm no expert on this matter, either.

I know that several people on this board work with graphics on a professional level. It would be interesting to hear from you what the rules are when making stuff for money.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Just let me clarify, that although people may post brushes and things that are fine to be used, that doesn't mean they do not need (and deserve) to be credited for it.

 

[Skytteflickan88]

Just to be clear, linking and hotlinking (ing) are two different things?

So gradients are color blends? What are those? Could anyone show a example or describe them better? For all I know I'm using them but don't know what they are.

When it comes down to brushes and fonts I have uploaded to photoshop and can't remember where I got them, would it be okay to just write the name of the brush and font? That way, the creditor might be googled if needed(might be hard to find, I'm not sure). I'll make sure to credit new stuff I download.

 

[Lyri]

These are Gradient sets that you download to the program to use with your art. Some programs come with a few default Gradients, but, as Blondie Bear said, if you haven't downloaded any, chances are you don't use them.

If you can give credit to the creator of the brush, that's best, or the name of the website you got it from.

Fonts are different. Most fonts from dafont.com or similar are free to use for non-commercial use. There are a rare few that require credit for any and all use, so make sure you check when you're downloading.