#(like google images or someone had linked/reposted my stuff somewhere)

[rouge-the-bat]

god i always feel so awkward asking people to give me credit when theyve used my icons or transparents jfksjjfd

like ik i didnt like. draw these or anything, i just took official art and did a bunch of edits.... but it Does take quite a bit of time to make them, and it also requires having a good eye for icon-making to have them actually look nice in Icon Size

like i gotta keep it visually pleasing and add color adjustments but have it still recognizeable what is in the picture when small, cropping just right so its not too zooomed out/too close and also centered or off-center in a way that fits the pic better, choosing/editing the background, any extra details i edit/draw on, dont have it be cluttered, etc. some of the transparent i make are even from bad quality and/or small pics that i have to manually clean up and basically draw over bits to make them look nice.

im always putting a lot of thought and work into making my icons nice and my transparents clean so i feel like i deserve credit for them! and yet when it comes down to approaching someone to ask for credit when theyre using one im just like ah, >.<;; could you credit me pls... if you dont mind... if thats okay with you... 👉👈

[parisiansulfur]

How Not To Commit Art Theft

Because this is tumblr and people can’t read, I’m gonna start this entire post by saying this:

I DO NOT BELIEVE PEOPLE WHO COMMIT ART THEFT IN 2K18 ARE DOING SO MALICIOUSLY. I SINCERELY BELIEVE PEOPLE SIMPLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS WRONG, AND THAT NO ONE IS DOING THESE THINGS TO BE AN JERK OR BECAUSE THEY WANNA STEAL. 

Good? 

Read that again.

Alright, let’s move on.

So, art theft. People get accused of art theft a lot, especially now, especially on tumblr, especially in relationship to anime and manga fandom. Let’s talk about what is and what is not art theft.

In the past, art theft (especially on DeviantArt) was a thing where Person A would post an image, and Person B would trace it or color over it or do some other sort of manipulation to it (or not! people are crazy), then post it as original art. Someone would accuse Person B of art theft, Person B would argue that they changed the art significantly enough that it wasn’t theft (or not, who knows), and then there would be Drama.

This isn’t at all what I’m talking about.

Art theft in 2k18 is different than in 1998.

Art theft in 2k18 looks like this:

I’m using this as an example, and while I realize this looks like a callout post, it’s not meant to be a callout. But I need some sort of indication to show. No falsified example is going to show exactly what the problem is as clearly and precisely as something that is exactly the problem. (To point, I have tried, through multiple channels, to get in touch with the person from this blog, to no avail. So on we go.)

Let’s call this a teachable moment. Let’s call this a chance to be better. Let’s call this an example in a fandom that is, frankly, fraught with this kind of stuff. 

Let’s call this an explanation of why art theft is so prevalent and common that it can be hard to recognize.

Moving on.

“How is this Art Theft?” you demand.

Well, chitlins, gather round.

Here’s the source of the screenshot above:

http://grimtwin.tumblr.com/post/177119081910/summer-twins

Let’s look at this image. This is an image, posted on a blog that is not owned by the artist. The blue text underneath is a text, which leads here: 

https://twitter.com/yuyu_hamu86/status/1021016848622481409

If you click on that, you can go to the artist’s twitter page, with the image: 

So how is posting a picture on tumblr art theft? 

First, let’s talk about what was done.

The person who posted this on tumblr went onto this twitter page, downloaded/saved the image, then went back to Tumblr, uploaded it, posted a link with the translated name beneath (the artist’s name is NOT in the link), added some tags (including the artist’s twitter handle as a tag), and posted it.

Now, let’s talk about what this means. As of this posting, the tumblr post has 1310 notes. The artist’s post, on twitter (this particular artist also has a pixiv account, but this image was not posted there) has 563 retweets, and 1643 likes, for a combined total notes of 2206 notes. 

The tumblr page has 1310 notes that the actual artist will never see.

“So what?” you might say. “It’s exposure, and there’s a link to their twitter. What’s the problem?” 

Well, for starters, don’t just decide for someone else what they want and don’t want. Artists who want their art shared are pretty vocal about it, but for the most part, most artists clearly state: Do not reupload onto other sites. Most image sharing sites like Pixiv (a closed service, meaning you need to have an account, agree to the Terms of Service, and be logged in to view images) clearly have it in said Terms of Service to not do exactly what was done above, to the point that Pixiv has it as the second point in a highlighted section at the very top of their Terms of Service that you must not repost an artist’s work without permission:

So even if you willfully ignore both the will of the hosting site and the requests of the artist, even if the art is posted somewhere without a terms of service, and even if the artist doesn’t explicitly say 'please don’t reupload my art elsewhere,’ the best policy is to move in respect for the artists, and understand that if they wanted their art on other sites, they would post them there themselves.

And also, since you really should want to ask permission in the spirit of like, you know, the kind of consent we’re always going on about on this site, you can always ask the artist.

Here’s a really great breakdown on why asking the artist matters.

Please also understand that fandom is not monolith. Just because YOU don’t mind exposure doesn’t mean someone else feels the same way. Just because your friends don’t mind exposure doesn’t mean someone else feels the same way.

Anecdotal: I had a eastern-fandom friend whose family found out she drew BL doujinshi semi-professionally. She was outed, and she was kicked out of her house, lost support from her family and close friends, and basically had her life ruined for a good chunk of years because of it. There are still consequences to this, despite it having happened some fifteen years ago.

Anecdotal: I have several fandom friends have their work shared onto sites like Facebook and Tumblr, where they’re found by people they work with/family, to the point that they’ve left fandom altogether because the risks were too great.

“But Paris, the person above put a source, a link to the twitter where they found the art!!! You’re just splitting hairs!” you say. “The artist is still getting credit! Don’t be a bully!”

Nah, boo. I’m not being a bully. I’m trying to educate you, darling.

What you have to keep in mind is that even by putting a source, you’re still committing art theft, because you are taking away the ability to choose where an artist puts their art.

“But Paris, like, what about unsourced art in like museums?! Are you saying we shouldn’t put anything in museums if we don’t have the artist’s permission?” 

Listen, I can’t believe I’m honoring this absolute garbage with a response, but you and I both know there’s a huge difference between a piece of art from a lost artist, and an artist publicly asking for their art to remain under their control, and people deciding to ignore them.

“But Paris, you big old jerk,” you ask, "how can I have pretty things on my tumblr if I don’t just download art and post it?”

Well, one of two ways:

1) You can contact the artist and ask permission to post. Here’s some cute templates for how to do so. If you don’t like these, there are others, or, you know, you can use Google Translate. It’s not hard, and even if it was hard, that’s not an excuse. You can even reach out to people like me or other multilingual people to help you if you aren’t comfortable trying to contact them in English.

"But what if the artist says no because they’re a giant meanie who doesn’t want free exposure?"

2) The second way you can keep your blog full of pretty shiny things is by linking to the image properly. On tumblr, when you link to things, an image shows up. For example, if I copy the above twitter link and post it as a twitter link here in tumblr, I get the following:

This allows the very cute art to appear on my blog, without having to going out of my way. Anyone who clicks on it will go directly to the twitter page, and it includes the artist’s name as the primary part of the caption.

If the link is from pixiv, it looks like this:

(Please notice how Pixiv has been so fraught with art theft that at this point, they have an automatic filter that appears on the art itself, with a hard link to the image and the artist on the bottom right. This is because art theft is a huge problem.)

We have an obligation to the artists who enrich our fandom lives with their beautiful, beautiful porn art, to treat their works with respect. We can respect the wishes of the artists for the totally selfish reason of wanting to encourage them to make more art, but it should be enough to say we don’t want to be assholes. I mean, it’s simple niceness, people. I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care about other people.

If someone says, “Please don’t repost my art,” don’t repost their art. If a site says, “Please don’t repost the art found here,” don’t repost the art. Simple mathematics, kids.

“But Paaaaaaaaris!” you wail. “What am I supposed to do when I come upon stolen art on my feed? I wanna reblob it! :C And since I’m not the one who posted it originally, it’s totally okay to just reblob it, right? :D Right?”

Well, darling, you have a choice. You can just hit that big ol’ reblog button and continue to perpetuate the same issues I’ve rather clearly delineated above. OR YOU CAN FOLLOW THE GUIDE ABOVE AND MAKE A NEW POST. For example, let’s say I really like the “Summer Twins” image above. I could just hit reblog and move on with my life, who cares, la-dee-da, or I could go to the source, and post a link from there. 

The choice is yours, fandom. It’s all about the kind of world you want to surround yourself with. If you want to be a person who treats others with respect, you shouldn’t repost or post stolen art. If you want to be a person who is a credit to the fandom, follow the guides above, educate yourself, and make changes to the way you interact with content.

IN CONCLUSION, I WILL RESTATE MY THESIS: NO ONE WHO IS COMMITTING ART THEFT IN THIS WAY IS DOING SO TO BE A JERK. THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS WRONG. BUT KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AND WE SHOULD ALL STRIVE TO KNOW BETTER.

DON’T STEAL ART.

DON’T REPOST STOLEN ART.

More reading, because I know y’all love to read:

http://raspomme.tumblr.com/post/68028153710 http://raspomme.tumblr.com/post/69226532697 http://chocoleeto.tumblr.com/reposts

And sources that can help you find out where that stolen art is from:

https://saucenao.com/ https://www.tineye.com/

Thanks, and my inbox is open, and ready for hate. 😘

[donnerpartyofone]

remember that time someone got mad at you for ripping off their vhs covers

Come now, anon. Surely you're not interested in my ability to retain information. Of course I remember that. What's your real question? Is it something more like "Why did you used to do that?", or alternatively, "Let's talk about what an asshole you used to be!" I'll tell you about that stuff, there's no need to be so coy.Anybody who was around for the early days of this ~8 year old blog (jesus...) knows that I used to post a lot of old vhs covers, in part or whole. I grew up around a mom & pop video store where the metalhead clerks called me "Igor" for spending so long hunched over the scary, forbidden-feeling horror boxes while my parents checked out LABYRINTH for me for the zillionth time. As an adult, I started incorporating them into my "art", which are like these clutter drawings that swipe from sources like comics and pulp novel covers and stuff. So, when I found out about Tumblr, I was super stoked, because I suddenly had this new outlet for my undying obsession, somewhere I could stockpile useful images to my heart's content.Whatever else I'm guilty of, I have at least never knowingly and deliberately reposted, as opposed to reblogging, another Tumblr's content. I never took something right off my dash to pass off as original content later, and I never lied to anybody if they spoke up. It's still very hard for me to understand why people do that, what comes over them, how it gets them off to just steal shit and lie about it. My crime had more to do with wilfull ignorance. My process was pretty simple: I'd just do a Google image search, and pull whatever I found directly out of there. Sometimes I'd find some specific resource like, for instance, an incredibly primitive-looking Dutch web forum where guys were just showing off their tape collections to one another, and I'd work through that for a while, but mainly, I never even looked at the URLs that the images came from. It could have been ebay, or it could have been Tumblr itself--in fact, we all now know a bunch of it did turn out to be from Tumblr--but this just seemed irrelevant to me at the time. My instinct was that these were prefabricated images that had been around in the world for decades, so I had no imagination for who could be hurt and how, by what I was doing. I didn't even ask myself. Basically, I had a very idiotic sense that it was all just "stuff on the internet". I did not have a sense of like, a human being who had spent years accumulating specific things that they loved and grinding away at the scanner for hundreds of hours to present their collection of rarities to the world. If I had been even slightly more thoughtful about it, I probably would have said that these images were not the original "art" of the person who posted the thing online, even the way a great gif is, and I wasn't interrupting anybody's ability to put food on the table. I hadn't been around long enough to develop the awareness and empathy to "get it". In fact, somebody called me out at one point, and I didn't even totally understand what they were saying. My response was to post their complaint and just cheerfully say "ok everybody, please check out this other person's cool blog!" I didn't even get the deeper (obvious) message, at that time, of "please take this stuff down, or go back and add sources, and stop doing this altogether, it's painful that you just took all my hard work."Another contributing factor in my behavior, though, was a feeling that I think a lot of people have about Tumblr, that it's supposed to look like the inside of your head. I remember that in the beginning, I didn't even like it when OTHER people added a whole bunch of tags and captions and links and stuff to their posts, I felt like it cluttered up this collective stream of intuitive, instinctual, wonderfully mysterious imagery. It brought something of the unwelcome real world into this sanctuary, something dry, stiff, didactic and anal retentive. Mainly I think I just felt like, none of us "owns" these old found images we're posting, in fact most people don't know who produced the original art for a video sleeve, so what's the big deal? At a certain point, I started to turn around on it. One reason had to be that I managed to witlessly snag at least one image that had been scanned by someone I knew and liked from Tumblr. Ironically, I think it turned out that I had taken it from a site where it had been posted by a whole other thief--but the point is, my friend recognized that it was his scan, due to some old sticker residue on the cover. Surely the very thing that I did was the bane of this friend's existence as a real deal collector, but for some reason, he was relatively gentle with me about it. He definitely didn't have to be, I was wrong, but it probably helped me understand the problem better, than just someone telling me bluntly to go fuck myself, from which I had demonstrably learned nothing.I remember I had a few hiccups after that. I had posted a couple of panels from a Simpsons comic that I picked up, and they were immediately spotted by this big important fixture of the independent comics community (who I have come to think of over the years as an unnecessarily combative blowhard in general, but hey, he wasn't wrong about me then!). So I'm like oh shit, ok, and then the next time I posted panels from a comic, I loaded them up with tags--artist, series, whatever occurred to me--and I STILL had some total stranger call me out for not crediting the artist. I'm not sure if this person just saw reblogs that didn't have the tags on them anymore, or whether they were offeneded that I used tags instead of a caption (which people can and will delete, but I digress), or that I hadn't found a source link for the images, since I owned the books. I only know that this person felt that I was somehow interfering with the livelihood of the artist by posting their original work on my blog--or I think that's it anyway, I guess this was more than five years ago. Hopefully they didn't think I was pretending to BE the artist? Anyway, it was around then that I realized there was no way to preserve the dreamlike stream of consciousness character of Tumblr, which I was so precious about. Everything had to be indexed and cited and attributed and crossreferenced and have its provenance verified and everything. Oh well, I said, petulently.This happened to me once, too--somehow, I spotted an original drawing of mine posted to somebody's blog with no credit or anything. Naturally I freaked out and threw a fucking fit, but the person asked forgiveness right away, and explained that they didn't want to reblog something out of my very old archives because apparently that is considered really stalkery by a lot of people. I found it pretty baffling, that anyone would PREFER to have their content reposted rather than reblogged for any reason, and moreover, that people get upset at the idea of someone else looking through their totally public archives. But, apparently that's a real thing, according to this person and others I heard from later. It's probably too bad this didn't happen to me earlier in life though, I might have been more sensitive.It's also too bad this story doesn't end with me having a nervous breakdown from guilt, although I do feel bad enough about it to want to talk about it publicly when prompted. Eventually I just grew out of posting this kind of content, though. It felt like everyone in the world was posting the same thing over and over, and it became extremely rare for me to see vhs art that I hadn't already seen on Tumblr, or in person, or in a book on my shelf, etc. My enthusiasm for this imagery has never waned, I just ran out of reasons to keep posting it. I got more interested in just flexing my ridiculous personality anyway, and that's the way it's been on here for years now. And here you still are, years later, so it must be working.