Artwork: Show Off

First, I'd like to remind everyone about the Copyrightlaws and Arttheft and the part about pictures found via Google.

When you are making a character to roleplay on the RP boards here, please try and avoid use pictures that you have found with GOogle Search or other similar image search. This is because in 90% of the cases, these are characters other people have made, and therefor they are copyrighted to them!

This is simple, you see a dragon rp you want to join and go on dA to find art and you find this Dragon
Which you decide to use, because you liked it's design. That's a big nono. That character belongs to someone, in this case, it's my dragon character. This is a big NONO

If, however, the character you found, was YOURS, just drawn by the artist, this would be fine. So if I wanted to join a dragon rp, and decided to use Jules, I'd use that or her regular reference. But it would be fine, because it would be my character.

SO, the moral is: If the character art you use is not yours, (either drawn by yourself or by someone else for you), DO NOT USE IT

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Um, i'm not trying to be rude or anything but i just want to point out a small thing...

omg youtube users are breaking that law *eyes wide and hands over mouth* youtube is going to be shut down! NOOOOOOOOO! :P alot of users on youtube use pictures off the internet in their videos and did not get premission and yet that site is still running. if this small site that is unheard of uses one small picture of the internet, it will get shut down? i don't think so. stop making such a big deal of it.

sorry if it sounded rude -.-; but that is the way i feel about it. i will not be posting any art work up on this site that i find on the internet you have my word, i am going to be a mindless zombie from now on, mwhahaha. XD you get it, halloween humor.

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I totally just skimmed over most of the replies because I'm lazy xD

Some artists will provide 'terms of use' if they are happy with their art being used elsewhere. Most of these artists still ask that you acquire their permission directly. If an artist does not have a 'terms of use' posted on their website/journal then you should assume that they do not want their art used.

The fact of the matter still stands, the art does not belong to you. It belongs to someone else who put a lot of time and effort into creating it. If
you want to use their art then you should at least have the decency to ask for their permission. You never know, they might be so flattered that they say yes. If they say no then that's that and there's nothing you can about it.

"Exactly. Art theft is still art theft no matter how the art is used. I for one know that I wouldn't want anyone using my art without my permission. Not that I would grant it. I create most of my art for personal reasons and the thought of someone using it for their own whims just disturbs me."

Actually, building on that, if I found anyone using my characters, even if I had not created the art myself, I would be absolutely horrified. My characters have evolved of the years and each of them has their own personality and story. If someone were to take my character and then give them an entirely different personality and story, well, it would cause me to become extremely distressed.

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Mm, so there is no response to my last arguments I see.
And where does the Mona Lisa fit in here? XD

EDIT: Neo just hit home, I think. Well then, how about that. Youtube is breaking the law.
ZOMG how terrible!

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Neo Emo - And yet there are alot of examples of vidoes who is being taken down, or have had the sound removed because it has been violated someone rights.

And Sai - Instead of taking time and effort to describe a picture, why not just use that time and effort to describe your character?
And no, it wouldn't be breaking the TOS.

However, for your statement about fan fiction being legal or not. I know that some writers do not allow people to public display fanfiction based on their books.
"Fan fiction
Anne Rice has an adamant stance against fan fiction based on her work, releasing a statement on April 7, 2000, that prohibited all such efforts. This caused the removal of thousands of "fanfics" from the FanFiction.Net website." (Wikipedia)

"I do not allow fan fiction.

The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan fiction with my characters. I advise my readers to write your own original stories with your own characters.

It is absolutely essential that you respect my wishes."
Anne Rice. (http://web.archive.org/web/20000510114743/http://www.annerice.com/)

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Hmph. But the site itself was not destroyed, now was it?

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I'm choosing to not respond to most of those are irrelavent to me.

The Mona Lisa fits here because you're claiming that using people's work for yourself is fine. ^^ [You, as in, those who believe so, not a singular] Which basically means that using the Mona Lisa, as she is just a piece of artwork, is also fine.

You can say what you like, but that's honestly the same deal. x)

Youtube can afford it. Ex can't. ^^
Besides, Youtube isn't enforced by us. =P Ex is.

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*updated her post a bit*

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But it's obvious that the Mona Lisa isn't yours. XD And it's kind of widely recognized that 99.9 percent of the time, in RPs, when one posts a picture it's prolly not theirs. XD

And what the heck do you mean, 'Youtube can afford it'?

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YouTube (and its parent company Google) have received numerous cease & desist letters for material uploaded (and thus displayed) via its service.

Some works, Mickey Mouse for example, are trademarked. As such, the owners of that trademark are legally obligated to enforce their trademark to prevent said trademark status from being revoked. This is why a lot of times you see commercialized characters restricted from certain areas.

In regards to fan fiction, the same would be relevant if you attempted to take someone's fan fiction story and use it without their permission, be it for profit or not.

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What I mean by the fanfiction is, it's using characters that are from another cartoon. Characters that are trademarked, obviously. So you could say the same 'theft' thing for a kid writing a fanfic.

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"And what the heck do you mean, 'Youtube can afford it'? "

YouTube (owned by Google) has millions of dollars behind it to handle lawsuits, as well as their own team of lawyers. Exhibited does not. :P

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Well, in that case, you could also say the same thing about a person (or kid) painting a character and using it as their avatar (or rp post). If they paint it themselves, then it could technically fall under fair-use since it is not-for-profit. There is a bit of legal debate here. And owners of a copyright can still request that such art (fan fiction or digital painting or otherwise) be removed, since they are in fact the copyright owner.

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Okay, I understand and appreciate the worries of all the rp-ers out there: It does suck that it's so hard to find pictures of characters, it does suck that we have to type out ridiculously long descriptions when we're just trying to convey ideas that could easily be conveyed with a few images. It is a hassle to have to do all this stuff.

But unfortunately, this isn't even a matter that the mods can control. Whether or not you consider it to be stealing, allowing the use of copyright images would be against the law. Just because other sites don't enforce this code doesn't mean EX will allow it. It is not a matter of "being stuck up" the mods literally don't have a choice in the matter.

You have my greatest sympathies about having to spend so much time to either either A. Write out the description, B. Find some free to use art, or C. Contact the artist, but honestly, if you're not even willing to do that, you are disrespecting the artists, their trade, and their work. I went to a ridiculously expensive art school and spent roughly 19 hours ever day working to improve my skills for the past 4 years. A lot of my friends from the school are in severe debt because of it. Please at least respect our efforts enough to tell us that you want to use our art. We're not asking you that much. We love when people use our art! But it is not, in fact, legal to use our work without our permission. I really am very very sorry.

In terms of art programs: I would like to point out that Photobucket allows image editing at this point. I actually use it to keep track of my breeding lines. I often sketch out ideas on tegaki and then screen-cap them. There are also a number of picto chats, oekaki programs, and free downloads available for use. :3 Download is not even necessary to create pictures!

This is deviantart's stock section http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/. You can find free to use art there which often only requires crediting (exactly the compromise people asked for!) just check what the artist says about the piece before you use it.

And if everything really isn't working and you can't get permission and you can't find stock and you can't draw, then please: offer us enough respect to be willing to work up a bit of EXD to commission an artist. I did Twilia's signature for a very cheap price, and I'm sure other artists would be willing to do the same. If you want cheaper art, then ask for smaller pictures with clear, simple reference, and our prices will be considerably more "reasonable" to buy :3.


Apologies for the TL;DR XD;; I just wanted to try to be as clear as I could. I do hear what everyone is saying! I'm sorry if I didn't address your concerns! <3

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I've just finished reading through this and it upsets me that things are getting so heated over this. The TOS has always stated this and the rules have always been this way. You agreed to these TOS when you signed up. :/

I have to follow copyright laws. My best friend owns a SIM game and a little while ago got into trouble when her users were using and distributing images of horses and selling them for game money after they'd "manipulated" them. Whilst I understand RPing is just referencing the picture I can and will still get in trouble over this. It will just take one artist (or photographer) to come in, see that some of their artwork is being used here, pump some money and bam, here we have a lawsuit.

If written permission is given, I don't mind. If it's a stock image and specifically says that it's free for use, I don't mind. If it says nothing or actually says that distribution is NOT allowed, then for God's (and Exhibited's) sake, DON'T use it.

Let's stop arguing now, please.

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I too have cheap art up for sale, and am willing to help out you RP'ers with getting legal art for your RP's. I have a Topic opened up on the art board for anyone who is interested. Granted I may not be Bob or Kitei, but I can draw, and I am willing and enjoy it.

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