#you can use these for whatever noncommercial purposes but you have to credit me if you do thank you | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pxayopina-unilsiyu · 10 months

Text

Credit art when you use it. It isn't hard.

Since some of you on Tumblr, especially in the Avatar fandom, are unfamiliar with art usage etiquette, allow me, an artist, to direct you on what is considered ethical and legal usage of artwork you didn't make.

Credit. Shit. When. You. Use. It.

You do not have an excuse for not doing this, it's incredibly simple. Find the original artist (which you don't need to do if you're taking straight from the source) and credit them either immediately below the artwork or at the end of your post. No hiding credit in the tags.

"Credit to artist" IS NOT CREDIT.

Nor is any variation of it such as "not created by me" or "credit to [random pinterest account]. Credit is specific and direct. You do not see "credit to visual effects artists" in the end credits of a film. You see names. Online, you should always credit someone's social media handle.

But I can't find credit!

Then do not use it. It's literally that simple. Don't know who made it? Either make an effort to find out or leave it alone.

If an artist says not to use something in a certain way, DO NOT USE IT THAT WAY.

Always check people's bios, watermarks, etc. to see if they list their terms of use for the art. If you're unsure, message them directly. "Do not repost" means DO NOT REPOST. "Do not use" means DO NOT USE, FOR ANYTHING.

People pay money for art, you know.

The art you carelessly download and use for your fics or roleplays could very well have costed upwards of hundreds of dollars. Ask yourself how fair it is for you to take it and use it willy nilly without paying, whereas the commissioner paid their hard-earned money to have it created. It isn't fair at all.

Other people's original characters are not yours.

Not everyone is okay with their original characters' likenesses being adopted for your own. Original characters can be extremely special and personal, it can be insulting and heartbreaking for their likenesses to be stolen and assigned to completely different characters. Ask yourself how that shit would make you feel. I can tell you first-hand it doesn't feel great.

But Pinterest--

Pinterest and other repost sites are plagues to artists, just don't use them for sourcing art.

Who cares? If they posted it online then it's free to use!

The law cares, and no, that isn't true. Art created by human hands has automatic copyright given to it. It is against copyright law to use artwork made by others in a way they have not permitted. Yes, fair use exists, but fair use is not a get-out-of-jail free card to use whatever material you find online. To be protected by fair use, your use of copyrighted material has to be transformative for the purposes of commentary, demonstration, or parody. Grabbing art off the internet to use for fics or roleplay is none of those things. It does not apply.

Are artists gonna sue you for using our art? Probably not, because we're all broke ass bitches who can't afford lawyers, but this is like, common decency, yo. Also, we can file DMCA takedowns against your posts / accounts for using our art without authorization, and guess what happens if you rack up enough of those?

Just ask!

If you really want to use a piece of art, consider just... reaching out and asking the artist who made it if it's okay to use noncommercially and with credit. A lot of the time, the act of reaching out and getting permission puts you in our good favor. A lot of the time, the answer will be yes. Just ask. We won't bite your head off. Just be willing to take "no" for an answer.

Thanks and have a sexy day

#avatar #avatar: the way of water #meta #my art

52 notes · View notes

raychromatic · 3 years

Text

it has occurred to me that i should write a proper ToS kinda thing for my commission art. maybe i’ll look into setting up a commission website or carrd or something

in the meantime, my general rule is that if i draw something for you, then you have full Personal Use / Noncommercial rights to it.

you can essentially do whatever you want with your art as long as you’re not profiting off of it! you can share/repost your full-res/unwatermarked file, use it as an avatar, get it printed on stuff (for yourself, not to sell), etc

giving credit by listing my username and/or linking to my profile is appreciated but not required as long as you’re not flat-out lying and saying you made the art yourself or anything like that

(if you’re interested in using art i’ve made for you for commercial purposes, i guess we could try to work something out?? but i am not experienced with this kind of thing and am nervous about people possibly taking advantage of that so idk)

#i think this is all pretty standard but it's good to have it written out #trying to act a little more ~professional~ even though i dont really see myself as a professional #but hey maybe i would like to consider doing art professionally. and i'll never get there if i don't take myself at least a little seriously #so. yeah

1 note · View note

writinggeisha · 5 years

Link

Chapter 2: Plagiarization and You

Plagiarizing and you

Or : how some really clear-cut rules and examples would be really nice

Also, some things are plagiarizing and some are copyright infringement. There is some difference between the two, so do your research as good as you can.

So, you really love this one show and you're going to write a story about it. Which is nothing to be ashamed off, but there are some pitfalls you will have to be careful about. First of all, let's start with the two biggest no-no's out there. Why are they the biggest? Because these are the only two that I have found conclusive and uniform agreement about that they are bad, even in FF's rules (which really could use some extra work as well.)

No-no 1 : Completely copy-pasting (or typing with the original source next to you, whatever) an entire work, only changing a few names along the way. Seems like there are a lot of people out there who do that (some call it novelizing a movie, but it's still not okay unless the creators of said movie actually asked you to do it and you've signed a contract and shit)

Why is this bad : because you can't really call it writing anymore, now can you? It's like when I really love an online novel with the main characters Adam and Steve and I change their names to Morticia and Eve and that's it. This is not writing fanfiction.

No-no 2 : adding the lyrics of a song to your work. This doesn't go for all songs, but let's call it safe and say pretty much every song you have on your ipod or playlist or whatever belongs to this category. Why? Because you are once again distributing material the creators would ask money for. Only songs that are in the public domain are 'okay' to be used, but you should still inform people where you got them from.

Why is this bad : because you're giving away for free what your favorite band would actually like to sell - or give as a bonus with purchased items - and it's bad for their sales. If you love a band, don't steal their money.

BONUS : If an author doesn't want fanfics made about their work, respect that.

Time to go into the greyer areas. I call them grey because from here things just get pretty hazy because nobody agrees on anything. But I did find two sets of rules that are pretty important, since they get quoted a lot.

Set of rules 1 called fair use, from the organization of transformative works (I have copied these from their website, yes) :

Note : these apply mostly to the US in one form or another, so perhaps check the dealings for your own country as well.

Fair use favors uses that

(1) are noncommercial and not sold for a profit (as in, you are not making any money of your fic. Because you have based your work on the original and it is still recognizable as being based on it, ergo, don't sell it.)

(2) are transformative, adding new meaning and messages to the original (Did you copy-past? Then you're not being transformative. Being transformative is more than just changing events and supplying different names. What do you want to tell with your fic that wasn't covered in the original work?)

(3) are limited, not copying the entirety of the original (again, did you just copy-past the entire thing and leave it at that? Not good!)

(4) do not substitute for the original work. (Is your work replacing sales that the original would have made if your fic didn't exist? If the answer is no, you're good. If it's yes... well, apart from having done a smashing job you also broke the rules. Delete it and write an original work, which is bound to be great if you're capable of replacing a selling author)

None of these factors is absolutely necessary for fair use, but they all help, and we believe that fanworks like those in the archive easily qualify as fair uses based on all these factors.

And this is a set of rules from the school of law website in San Fransisco - they also compared the rules with 50 Shades of Grey and Harry Potter fics - that are pretty much the same but worded a bit differently :

If a writer of fan fiction is sued for infringement the writer can make an argument of fair use. Under fair use, there is a four factor test that the courts apply:

1) the purpose and character of the use (commercial in nature or nonprofit educational purposes) : the same as the previous rule 1, but it never hurts to remind people you cannot sell fanfiction. EVER.

2) the nature of the copyrighted work (this refers to transformative but in the case of some types of fanwork could also apply to their content. People often make the case that Rowling supports fanfiction but forget that she has had several taken down that were sexual in nature.)

3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work : one group called this the 25 and 33 percent rule. The 25 percent is how much of the original work was 'copied but still credited to original author' that is consecutive in a work (For example, a chapter). The 33 percent rule dictates that if you have over 33 percent of copied material in your entire work you are in violation.

and 4) the effect of the use on the potential market of the copyrighted work : the same as rule number four above.

Go over this list, keep it in mind. The entire area is one huge grey zone, but you have to keep one thing in mind. If an author ever says they don't want fanfics made of their work, you respect them.

Also, if there are things that should be modified inform me. My source for this was the internet in general and a chat group concerned with this kind of thing. Accurate information is also important, since it drove me crazy to know if I was correctly accused of plagiarism. I'm glad to know that I was not, which would have surprised me, but that copyright infringement might (and always will be) a possibility.

#advice #tools #links

0 notes