Sticky: The Copy FAQ

[Kiki_Coco_Meh]

*breaks intop best buy and steals a scanner...* stare i wish that would happen that would be sweet

[shi Nai]

i wish deviantart agreed with gaia on these terms, it really btohers me taht if soemoen wants to copy my art, as long as they dont trace or doc teh my origional image they have all righst to call it All their own .__. ((isnt taht illegal becuase its reproduction of a copyrighted image?))

i especially love the "Q. What is the difference between "referencing" and "copying"? Aren't they the same thing?
A. Referencing usually comes with many sources, taking small bits from each source. See below image for example." part. peopel Directly copy an image and say tehy "used a refference" so often i could scream, atleast Someone knows what "reffence" means o_O <3

[sakura_Asakura]

thanks for writing out the FAQ~ ^^ Yeah it would be good if Deviant agreed with Gaia but some people might get angry some people draw by eyeballing other pictures for fun or practice and would like others to view how they did. I personally eyeball a few pictures for practice but I don't show them.

[Ithaya]

This would be classed as a copy, right?

http://www.volks.co.jp/en/superdollfie/sd13/isaonanjou_dolpa12/isaonanjou_dolpa12_image/01.jpg

I just want to check...

[Floof Wolf]

Yes, it would... and not only that, it just looks like filters were put over the first image to make it look like the second...

[crystal_blue_eyes]

i had no idea....... is my sig ok? i just made it...

[leloi]

crystal_blue_eyes

i had no idea....... is my sig ok? i just made it...

Sigs are another matter altogether.

In general you can post whatever you want as long as it obeys the size and content rules.

But if you take someone's image and either show it or hotlink to it, they can request that the image be removed.

Like... for instance... I created several inuyasha animated gifs. I've seen them show up in sigs either uncredited or crediting some animated gif archive. Since I AM an artist and I DO like my work credited, I will request that the sig be credited to me and not the animated gif archive that distributed it. That's my right on Gaia.

The ones I see the most often in gif archives:
http://home.comcast.net/~wilburns1/leloi/shippou.gif
http://home.comcast.net/~wilburns1/leloi/eartugging.gif
http://home.comcast.net/~wilburns1/leloi/brooding.gif
http://home.comcast.net/~wilburns1/leloi/inuannoy.gif
http://home.comcast.net/~wilburns1/leloi/monk.gif

The Miroku one is WEIRD. I have five other bouncies, all are the other Inuyasha characters (human inu, inu, kagome, sango, naraku) and yet he is the only one that gets distributed... none of my others. So I really have to wonder... how come he's the only one that gets ripped? What's wrong with the others? Were they just not "good enough" to be ripped and uncredited and float around the internet?

Back on topic... Yes, it would be my right to request that the images be removed or credited.

[crystal_blue_eyes]

leloi

crystal_blue_eyes

i had no idea....... is my sig ok? i just made it...

Sigs are another matter altogether.

In general you can post whatever you want as long as it obeys the size and content rules.

But if you take someone's image and either show it or hotlink to it, they can request that the image be removed.

Like... for instance... I created several inuyasha animated gifs. I've seen them show up in sigs either uncredited or crediting some animated gif archive. Since I AM an artist and I DO like my work credited, I will request that the sig be credited to me and not the animated gif archive that distributed it. That's my right on Gaia.

The ones I see the most often in gif archives:
http://home.comcast.net/~wilburns1/leloi/shippou.gif
http://home.comcast.net/~wilburns1/leloi/eartugging.gif
http://home.comcast.net/~wilburns1/leloi/brooding.gif
http://home.comcast.net/~wilburns1/leloi/inuannoy.gif
http://home.comcast.net/~wilburns1/leloi/monk.gif

oh.... i understand now...

[Osayidan]

leloi

The Copied Art FAQ
Q. Mine looks nothing like that... I've never even seen the series...
A. Coincidence does happen... But if it LOOKS like a line for line copy even if you've never even dreamed of the series, it will be taken down as a copy. That's just the way life is. People see the connection, that's the way the brain is programed. It's too close to a pre-existing image to be considered "unique."

Or you could just be trying to make an excuse to get out of it... I could lie and say I never saw the image one the right... that the way the one of the left turned out was pure coincidence... and that he's my original character... named "Bubba."



But I would be a liar... and only I would know that for sure. It still looks the same and it still will be taken down regardless of what excuses I give.

Does this mean if an image has the same pose as an already existing image its considered a copy? For example, in the image you are using above that kind of a pose is kind of "cool" and im sure it would be used alot, and anime guys with long hair and a mysterious gaze are something im sure alot of people draw. So the way i see this its first come first serve then no one can ever submit a anime guy in this pose who has long hair? o.O If thats the way it is, I personally find it rather unfair for anyone to be aloud to claim rights to a certain pose for a character with similar features such as long hair or whatever it may be... Tracing/eyeballing is one thing but creating your own stuff that just so happens to be similar to someone elses is entirely different. let me just give a simple example:

person #1 had a homework asignment to draw a 'classical' yellow pencil. he rather liked it, scaned it and submited it, and it gets aproved.

person #2 is bored, sees a yellow pencil on his desk and decides to draw it and he too likes the results and scans it. person #2's friend, to cure his friends boredom shos him Gaiaonline. person #2 finds the art section and decides to submit his yellow pencil drawing.

Now wouldn't it be unfair for one person to be able to submit a picture just because they got here first while someone else can't because somethig like it is already there? no matter what the circumstances, unless its obvious it was traced from the original or eyeballed (which is teh same at tracing if your good at it).

*edit for some typo*

[amakakeru]

Firstly, thanks for that thread, it's pretty understandable. biggrin However, I just have one question. The thread mentions copying/referencing characters, poses, etc. What about techniques? If I refer to another picture to see how, let's say, lighting is done in a certain situation, like how light falls in patches when a character is under a tree... is that counted as copying?

[nuzrath]

Tnx. Now i'm more informed.

[Kilarra]

Osayidan

Does this mean if an image has the same pose as an already existing image its considered a copy? For example, in the image you are using above that kind of a pose is kind of "cool" and im sure it would be used alot, and anime guys with long hair and a mysterious gaze are something im sure alot of people draw. So the way i see this its first come first serve then no one can ever submit a anime guy in this pose who has long hair? o.O If thats the way it is, I personally find it rather unfair for anyone to be aloud to claim rights to a certain pose for a character with similar features such as long hair or whatever it may be... Tracing/eyeballing is one thing but creating your own stuff that just so happens to be similar to someone elses is entirely different. let me just give a simple example:

person #1 had a homework asignment to draw a 'classical' yellow pencil. he rather liked it, scaned it and submited it, and it gets aproved.

person #2 is bored, sees a yellow pencil on his desk and decides to draw it and he too likes the results and scans it. person #2's friend, to cure his friends boredom shos him Gaiaonline. person #2 finds the art section and decides to submit his yellow pencil drawing.

Now wouldn't it be unfair for one person to be able to submit a picture just because they got here first while someone else can't because somethig like it is already there? no matter what the circumstances, unless its obvious it was traced from the original or eyeballed (which is teh same at tracing if your good at it).

*edit for some typo*

Poses can't be copyrighted. If two artists draw the same thing, the pictures won't look the same. Similar, yes, but they'll obviously be two different interpretations of the same subject matter. In a figure drawing class, a dozen people might sit around the same model and every single drawing would be different from the rest.

Copies are not the same thing, and the guide's pretty clear on what counts as a copy. It's usually pretty obvious, once the source image is in front of you, to determine whether something has been directly eyeballed or traced. I wouldn't worry about drawing the same 'thing' as someone else, as long as your work isn't drawn directly from an existing image.

[xXxTubeSockzxXx]

if i had i golden ticket, i'd go to willy wonka~ CHOCLATE 4laugh