[ SECRET POST #248 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #248 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 06 pages, 143 secrets from Secret Submission Post #036.
Secrets Not Posted: 0 broken links, [ 1 2 3 ] not!secrets, 0 not!fandom, [ 1 2 3 ] personal attacks, [ 1 ] attempt at parody, [ 1 ] repeat.
Next Secret Post: Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 11th, 2007.
Current Secret Submission Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: #29

[(Anonymous)]

a) That is absolutely fair enough and in my eyes one of the key reasons for crediting an artist when you post their work somewhere – but what I'm talking about is the kind of huge-ass watermark that goes right across the picture, so it can't be taken off. Even if it's low-opacity, that kind of detracts from a picture for me. As a fanartist, I'd much rather have people 'steal' my art than have it look like that.

b) The thing is that if you're drawing characters that many people already have an emotional investment in, like the ones that are usually the subject of fanart, it's only fair to expect other people to want to see it, especially if it's good. If you draw something really nice featuring something loads of people like, and put it somewhere where those people can look at it, some of them are going to want to save a copy to their hard drive so they can look at it again. Lots of them, even! If subsequently they want to show the picture to someone else but can't remember who did it, surely it's not fair to penalise them just because they went ahead anyway and shared something that they thought was touching or funny and beautiful? I don't know about you but I'm kind of flattered when that happens – especially if the 'someone else' is a forum full of people. Basically I think that if someone else likes something an artist has done enough to want to show it to other people, the artist should be proud that they've done something that someone likes that much, and that more fanartists need to take a moment to be grateful that people like them rather than acting like they have a right to pageviews, comments and attention from the lowly peons who act so inconsiderately in failing to appreciate the art in exactly the way that the artist wanted them to. I'm not saying that's you – I'm saying that's the kind of attitude that I see so much and which has got me annoyed.

c) Yeah, people do object to that, but it seriously doesn't harm anyone except the person who steals. I think people who get as upset as a lot of fanartists do about someone else claiming to have drawn one of their pictures of a character that doesn't belong to either of them need to find something else to be upset about.

d) I mean drawing it purely for the credit and attention. What kind of reason is that to produce anything creative? I think it's a deplorable one. I'm sure many fanartists have that among their reasons for drawing it, but I think that to draw anything soley because it'll get attention is horribly shallow.

And yeah, if I wanted people to be valuing the opinion I stated in that secret for who it came from, I wouldn't have done it anonymously.

Re: #29

[narugami.livejournal.com]

Thanks for replying to my very long comment! :)

a) Oh sure, I don't like huge watermarks either and I actually try to integrate the signature into the art in such a way that it fits in with the whole picture. But if someone is stressed enough about their pictures to make such a big watermark that it seriously impedes viewing, that's their problem and they'll likely get less visitors for it. I generally don't bother looking at art with such huge watermarks, anyway.

b) I don't mind people passing around pictures that they like, really I don't. Who doesn't like showing nice stuff to their friends? What I object to is the way some people - I'm not saying everybody - sort of industrialize the process and put up downloads of literally thousands of pictures and pass it around for icon use and completely divorce the picture from the person who made it. Or even worse, who get offended by people they call 'fanart Nazis' (I hate this term for so many reasons) and feel entitled to do whatever they want with pictures because it's 'only fanart' and the artist shouldn't have made it if they didn't want it used. How is that passing it to your friends? I don't think most people have several thousand friends! :/

I hate arguing and whenever I talk about this I tend to get flamed, but it really bothers me when people show such disrespect for others. Just because the person who makes the icons (or whatever) is a fanartist who doesn't care if their own art gets plastered all over, doesn't mean that the reactions of the people who do mind are invalid.

c) I have to disagree with you there; it's stealing the good reputation someone else deserves and claiming it for their own. It's dishonest and juvenile. On the net, a person's reputation is built on stuff like their posts and their icons and their fanfiction and their art. Taking any of these things and passing it off as theirs when it's actually not is theft, at least in ethical terms. I know the internet is serious business LOLZ and all that, but there's still another person at the other computer and I wish people could be more respectful.

...And hold hands and help little old ladies cross the street and never shoplift, but that's human nature for you. Oh well.

d) Oh yeah, I was exaggerating a little there. But you know, if someone draws something without love for the subject matter, that'll be visible in the picture, too. It'll be lifeless and flat. Like with my first point, they're just sabotaging themselves, so it's their own problem, not mine.

I mean, I tend to draw for relatively minor fandoms, so this year I went to a con and had exactly one customer. *sweatdrops* But if I were to draw Naruto, that doesn't mean I would have done any better, because there's so many other Naruto fanartists that the lack of enthusiasm in my picture would have been immediately apparent anyway.

That last comment wasn't really directed at you; I just think it's a an overly inflammatory phrase...