I just wanted to know what constitutes originality. My character is based of Gatomon/tailmon from digimon and there was a conflict before where someone refused to draw him because he's a "copyrighted" "media" character despite my personal changes.
So to the point: An original character has to be your own creation from absolute scratch? Is having a character based from somewhere else a copyright sin of hell and should not be allowed in any way shape or form? Can I get sued for saying my character is my own creation even if I credit the original Tailmon concept to their specific creators (God forbid if I forget to mention "Original gatomon concept belongs to Akiyoshi Hongo, Toei Animation and Bandai." on every damn picture I draw) ?
I am a little bit pissed off about the concept of originality and copyright (youtube didn't help either). Especially because some people don't care (how many OC's based off sonic is there? no offense just saying) whereas I'm very careful and make sure to expose the fact that I didn't come up with my char 100% from scratch, yet I still got crap for it...
I think you are okay as long as you don't claim it's yours or try to profit off of it, I don't know about commissioning it though.
Charem does ok and he is like a furry pr0n star charmeleon.
You will have to deal with it from some artists. They are covering their asses from being sued or getting in trouble with other companies. some people just do not draw characters that are OBVIOUSLY from tv shows or from media. They just don't feel comfortable doing it. Thats a fact.
As for copyright, they really can stop people from making fan characters, thought some companies really do take it seriously when people are making money of things that are obviously based of their work. there will always be the risk for those who make sonic, pokemon, digimon characters and more. thats just how it is.
Provided you credit and hopefully, that your character is different enough, you probably wont get much flack from it other then some artists not wanting to put their tails in the frying pan.
There are some artists that love doing fan characters. Take advantage of that :3 Some of them are amazing artists.
(and you should credit each image no matter what. That is artist etiquette. Just make a notepad file with that copyright and just copy paste it. theres like, no effort in that. Because companies have the right to get angry and take action. Theres been pokemon artists who've been told to stop doing commissions of their characters or fan characters. A few even got threatened to be sued by the company. So. Cover your butt. )
I'm in agreement with Temrin. As long as you're not making any money (nor promoting yourself as an artist, for the purpose of making money), then you should be fine, either way; however, it -is- a matter of etiquette to give credit where credit is due. Generally speaking, credit is the most important thing that an artist has - monetarily, anyway. Some artists won't want to draw your character, others will eat it up.
Thanks for the feedback, so as long as I'm not making money, giving the appropriate credits (I always do I just forget the official media ones when its a really quick simple sketch :/) or paying others for commissions related to the character... still people pay for fursuits/cosplay costumes of "media characters" and I doubt all of them (especially they really well done ones) are bought from a official store with the appropriate copyrights.
I just find it unfair for people who are honest about their artwork and don't take advantage of others work for popularity and profit to be seen badly just because their style/character happen to based off something that already existed. I mean isn't that how the cycle goes in the first place?
Every animal in the world should be compensated for furries basing themselves on them! xD
Though I must say it is a little bit embarrassing that my character and even my online name is "copyright infringement" but I'm not doing this to be famous or profit its just what makes me happy :/.
Similar to servin's thread:
http://www.bcfurries.com/forum/index.php?topic=3703.0 (http://www.bcfurries.com/forum/index.php?topic=3703.0)
Imagination was never my strong point so I chose to pick something already there and adapt it to myself in a way that it pleases me >:
Just because it pleases you or anyone else for that matter doesnt mean its not copyright infringement. XD
The people who download music because it pleases them are still infringing on copyrights, and causing a traffic of illegal activity. :P Just because people do it doesnt mean its "proper".
Now, i personally feel that provided you categorize it as 'fanart' and have make a significant amount of changes to make it UNIQUE. I've got no problem with it XD Course even if you dont credit people will know where its from. Its just easier to get less haters and trolls on your page bitching at ya for not crediting XD ahah.
and on the note of your sub script there, the species of a character is usualy writen on the ref sheet. =P REAL animals are not part of our copyright system. Artistic creations on the other hand, are. (Which CAN include real animals. But its the creation of someone under copyright law.) Sooooo. -nods-.
(http://www.onlinedigimon.com/img/series/adventure/gatomon.jpg)
from google
(http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee329/AMZinthos/hmm.png)
from here http://amzinthos.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3ix63z (http://amzinthos.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3ix63z)
:thumbs: 50% cooler at least lol
And the sub script was a joke :P
Edit: Eh, I guess every artist has positive and negative points with all the trolls out there and people who never have anything nice to say but insist in not keeping it to themselves... Anyway Thanks for all the help everyone especially Termin :) I feel more prepared to assume or handle any issues concerning my character
Servin :hug:
Lt ReiStark :hug:
Termin :hug:
Elias.Ringtail :hug:
-chuckles- Glad to help! :D
Stay cool!
8)
Hmm I just found something interesting:
(http://d.facdn.net/art/inkpot/1311563531.inkpot_p1000118.jpg)
Someone obviously made money out of this, be it for the materials or commissioned suit makers. I doubt there was any payment for copyright permission sent to Lauren Faust... This sh** is so confusing D:
The thing about those suits is that they were made as personal costumes - the owners built them, so no money was exchanged for their creation. Purchasing materials to make them doesn't affect copyright at all because the people who sold the fabric, thread, etc. more than likely didn't advertise it as the perfect materials to make mlp costumes.
Character ownership is also dependant on trademarks, not copyright. Copyright affects individual works, so, since there aren't any official mlp mascot costumes (to my knowledge), these can't possibly infringe on copyright. So long as they don't attempt to profit with the suits - by selling them, charging to make appearances, using them to draw customers to a pay event, etc. - and defer any character rights to the various owners of mlp (Lauren Faust helped to design the characters, but it's pretty much guaranteed that she doesn't have any rights to them beyond her actual design art) they should be in the clear as far as trademarks go, as well. Large corporations like Disney, whose reputations are partly rooted in their costumed characters, are probably the only ones who'd pursue something like this, largely because they'll lose their trademarks if they don't. Most won't bother if the creators aren't trying to turn a profit or claiming to be affiliated with the parent company, though.
Sorry for rambling a bit there; let me know if something doesn't make sense. I'm happy to elaborate or fix any late-night mistakes. :3
It's all good I just grew really paranoid about this whole copyright thing and I do want to make a suit of my character though I do not have the ability to make my own. It would be a huge kick in the balls if it gets refused just because my character is based from an anime character and has a ton of reference from another anime -_-
Just do it. Made Fur You did a Gatomon head and didn't get in trouble for it. And they SOLD that one. I'm pretty sure its fine to make go and make your own, especially because yours is modified from the original Gatomon.
You know they don't hunt down cos-players and sue them, right? Why would they try to put you in jail for a fanbase creation? I just don't see it happening.
I want to see pics when you make it! K? :3
: PurpleVeggie July 25, 2011, 06:37:50 -06:00
Just do it. Made Fur You did a Gatomon head and didn't get in trouble for it. And they SOLD that one. I'm pretty sure its fine to make go and make your own, especially because yours is modified from the original Gatomon.
You know they don't hunt down cos-players and sue them, right? Why would they try to put you in jail for a fanbase creation? I just don't see it happening.
I want to see pics when you make it! K? :3
Nyahahaha I'm just really fucking paranoid at extreme unhealthy levels. But I don't have the money for a suit atm anyway. I am trying to make the clothing though
Here's some art and development of my character so far
it started somewhat like this
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4152630/ (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4152630/)
Then things got a bit funkeh :evil:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4992746/ (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4992746/) (NSFW 18+)
Then it got overwhelmingly badass and pirate
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5736478/ (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5736478/)
Ref "shit" happens! It needs to be given more effort but I just wanted to put that out there for now :thumbs:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5804971/ (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5804971/)
Wtf just happened here?
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5135423/ (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5135423/) (Mature, kinda but not 18+)
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5828612 (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5828612)
And so the pussy
cat got wet. Maybe a bit too much... OH GOD ITS UNDERWATER
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6111152 (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6111152)
The infection has spread too far
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6141867 (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6141867)
And finally where its at right now
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6178624 (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6178624)
though my little ponies disturb me overall (carebears rule), the outfits in the photo of the two ponie outfits are 'wow' in a great way.
the canadian goverment used to give out pamphlets on copywrite, patents and trademarks, very much worth reading, i do not know if they still give them out free, but worth checking into.
there should be info on being able to satirize and spoofing legally, otherwise mad magazine would have been sued years ago.
It's all complicated stuff, but usually the rule of thumb is "If you aren't making money off it, you're good".
That said... that rule doesn't always apply as it can just come down to "Will the one who owns the rights take legal action to enforce their copyright". I've heard of stuff at anime cons and commissions where it's sometimes allowed, sometimes not.
Lots of things happen under the table as well and when asked you can be all "I didn't pay for it" ect. I'm not a big fan of the whole stealing of ideas, or IPs, or even reusing them for my own benefit. I don't endorse it, but there's a lot of it out there.
You can always just have a sit down to try and redesign the character better, or work with an artist to reinvent the character if you want. Maybe different patterns, colours, markings, clothing, ect. Not saying you should, but you always can.
I do see a lot of artists selling art of copyrighted characters. This doesn't seem to bother the big-guys who do own the copyrights to those characters. I do know that a lot of fursuit makers will only make and sell suits that aren't copyrighted. You can 'try' to talk to some suit makers about making your character into a suit, I would say its unlikely that they will make it, but you never know. Some suit makers don't care, really, but a lot of them do. Its just that if they get caught selling a 2000$ suit to someone, say, Micky Mouse, then the suit maker would be in a lot of trouble legally.