fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #661 ]

⌈ Secret Post #661 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

101.

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102.

[Pennie and Aggie]

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103.

[Death Note]

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104.

[Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]

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105.

[Princess Tutu]

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106.

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107.

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108.

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109.

[Swat Kats]

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110.

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111.

[Hockey; Montreal Canadiens; Andre and Sergei Kostitsyn]

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112.

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113.

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114.

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115.

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116.

[House]

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117.

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118.

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119.

[Detroit Metal City]

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120.

[Sailor Moon Musical]

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121.

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122.

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123.

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124.

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125.

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126.

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127. [repeat]

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128.

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129.

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130.

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131.

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132.

[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness]

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133.

[[Death Note (live action);Soichiro Yagami/L]]

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134.

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135.

[Toradora; Taiga Aisaka]

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136.

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137.

[South Park]

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138.

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139.

(Petshop of Horrors, Hellsing)

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140.

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141.

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142.

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143.

[torchwood, doctor who]

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144.

[Supernatural]

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145.

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146.

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147.

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148.

[Noein]

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149.

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150.

[Katekyo Hitman Reborn!]

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151.

Notes:

CITY STUFF → http://lolbuttsex.myminicity.com/com

Secrets Left to Post: 10 pages, 240 secrets from Secret Submission Post #095.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 2 3 4 5 - not!secrets ], [ 1 2 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ], [ 1 2 - doing it wrong ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Someone else has already mentioned this already, but my opinion on that issue is artists who take commissions outside of their contracts are in the wrong as well, and no amount of professional cred should be able insulate you from that.

I feel that it's a fallacy to equate morality and legality, especially when it comes to copyright law. But you go right ahead and think that, if it makes you happy. I, meanwhile, will continue to support anything that allows underpaid artists to make rent every month!

I think we've already talked this through in other threads, so I'll just say... I do get it that fan artists don't really want to take advantage of other people's characters all their lives, and that it's oftentimes just a means to an end. Certainly no one sets out to base their entire career on drawing fan art. But I still want to put the idea out there that while the fan artists are participating in these activities, they should give some thought to exactly what it is they're doing. This is not to say that fan artists are thoughtless, but I'm willing to bet that not everyone has thought it through.

While at the present this issue only concerns me as a consumer and possibly a member of fandom, I do think it's worth generating some discussion. Even if I'm ignoring the legality question now, it's something I like to keep in mind even as I ponder the issues of ethics, because in the future, that may well be my means of making rent.

Fair enough.

Also, apologies for getting a little sarcastic -- this is something I feel very strongly about.

So they shouldn't be allowed to profit from something the company made them famous for? Your paying to have the artist in question draw it for you, it's their skill/time/ect.

Do you have any idea what comicbook artists make?! High school teachers make more. You do it for the love more than the money, but, y'know...geeks need money. And artists really need money (even simple comicbooking supplies are friggen expensive...stupid sable-hair brushes...).

Besides, most professional artists turn right back around and sell their pages when the companies are done with them. The company makes no profit off of tha sale.

As someone, maybe you, said, even if it's illegal, it benefits everyone. It gives the companies a good talent pool to draw from. It builds the fanbase. It helps the artists. And it hurts no one. (Heck, you want hurting original creators, look to the companies themselves. The JS's tale is a horror story and a warning to all.) And like ali_wildgoose said...sometimes morality and legality just don't line up. Copywrite law is such a tricky thing that tweaking it to make it better in one aspect can have far too many ramnifications in other areas.

I see this argument basically boiling down to needs must, or: fan artists are poor, and have to do what's necessary to get by. I don't think selling fan art is the only venue to earn money, but it's a relatively easy source of income, and I understand why people do it. Many of the other arguments brought up in reply to my secret say much of the same thing, or else they point out the fact that the demand for fan art in fandom is high and is what drives the market. Or that all parties involved (including the corporations who own the rights to the characters) tend to turn a blind eye anyway.

All these are good explanations for why a commercialized fan art trade exists, but none of them changes the nature of the activity, which is essentially making money from the ideas of others without obtaining their permission or paying dues to them. Mind that special cases may apply, it is ethically questionable, even if everyone accepts it as generally hurting no one - and even this isn't always true.

This point has been addressed before, but I think that, beyond the issue of legality, no one can morally fault an artist for making money off of their own ideas, even if said ideas have been legally signed away. This is more a problem of artists being taken advantage of by various corporations, and ideally copyright laws should be protecting the rights of the artists.

Ideally, sure, but they don't.

The thing is, you keep saying "fan artists" as if that's all these people do. An artist is an artist is an artist. And most folk selling fanart sell art of their own creation as well. It's not that fanartists are poor--it's that artist in general tend to be. Not so much "starving artists," but it's not exactly a lucrative business unless you become one of the lucky few.

And yes, it is an easy source of income because people are way more likely to buy art of a character they know than an original character they don't. The demand for it is high--people like collecting itMe, I look at fanart as an opportunity to make a sort of dialogue with other fans--straight pin-ups never really were my thing; I like to make a narrative with the characters, something new, and fans like that something new. It's all free on my website; if they want to pay for a hardcopy, grand (granted, it's been ages since my last selling-con, and at the time, it really was just cost-of-copy covering). But at that, the fan art becomes something unique--they can't get a picture of Doc Ock having a tea party with the Lizard or whatever anywhere else.

More than that, fan art is a way to get known as an artist and build up a base of fans who will then buy original art. It's the nature of the beast, I suppose. It's just the way it works. Mind, nine times out of ten, if there's a creator who's vehemently opposed to fan-creations of their work (like Anne McCaffery was a few years ago), artists and writers alike will respect that and refrain.

I don't see how it is ethically questionable if, as you say, all parties involved turn a blind eye to it. If Marvel has no problem with some Joe selling pictures of Spidey and Mary Jane at a con booth, why is it wrong?

You say it hurting no one isn't always true. I can't really imagine how. If a talented artist starts building up a huge fanbase and making a lot of money drawing comicbook characters, most companies won't shut them down, they'll hire 'em. Those two dollars that kid made selling a print of Inu Yasha isn't two dollars that Rumiko Takehashi won't see.

[ SECRET POST #661 ]

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