Plagiarism

[einahpets]

Way back in April I recced an amazing Russian artist who did some fabulous manips and graphics.  Later that same day I saw a piece of art posted to drawmelot, by a different artist, which was an exact copy of the Russian artist's manip.  Strange timing but I was really upset at the obvious duplication of an artist's work.  As you'll read in my report, I interacted with the artist to try and get further details and found he did not have permission to use the original art.  I could not just sit back when something was so blatantly plagiarized and decided to take some action.  I asked my fandom friends what to do and with some help I wrote up a post and submitted it to stop_plagiarism for review.  Almost two months since writing that post it has finally been made public to the community.  In the downtime, I made contact with other fandom artists who helped me compile more evidence and examples.  The final report and all evidence is here.    

As for my own personal thoughts on fanart plagiarism in general, here they are...
I consider myself a very flexible artist and fanartist.  Throughout art history there are hundreds, thousands, probably millions of examples where students are copying master paintings to learn technique.  However, there's a difference between using preexisting imagery to grow as an artist and using imagery that is just plain stolen.  By copying the original artist, students are able to better grasp how to create a piece so when they grow into a master themselves the original work they create has strong technique and is something they worked on to achieve.  Furthermore inspiration, ideas, and technique are gained by looking, learning, and copying all sorts of imagery throughout time. 
Fandom is a tough place for art just because knowing what is right and wrong can be very obvious to some and not to others.  While there are no 'official rules' I really believe there is a scale of right and wrong.  While I can be very flexible about fanart in general, to me there is a more distinct line of 'wrong' when it comes to copying another fanartist's work.  When the choice is made to join the fandom community, I feel there are rules agreed to if it is decided to add to fandom as a creator.  As an example, would a fandom writer appreciate finding another user reposted/stole half of a story, including a link to the original story post, and saying in the writer's note the original story was 'inspiration' without the new poster seeking permission?  I would think not.  Neither do artists. 
While I can easily say I do art for art's sake, I also like being recognized as the original creator of a piece and having my art and imagery treated with some respect and ownership.  It's for reasons like this that I am wary of tumblr and how easy it is for art to be striped of it's original creator.  Heck I get wary when I think about who may have downloaded a copy of my art to their computer not knowing what may happen (but I don't toss and turn over it or I wouldn't even bother to post art to the internet at all).  Anyway, I understand ideas and art can be shared, and I understand when I see similar compositions and styles.  Heck, I take inspiration from fellow artists and fanartists all the time.  However, I don't think it's right to directly duplicate a fanart, nor is it right to copy all/most of a fanart without consent from the original artist.  Should fandom try and chew each other out over this, no.  But should it strive to be honorable when it can and learn from past mistakes?  I like to think so.

I'm sure my thoughts are all over the place ... I'm not the most eloquent verbalizing my thoughts, and this is one of those topics where every individual has their own thoughts what is right and wrong.  We can easily talk in circles about this.  I just wanted to make people aware of these things and get a little insight on my personal stance with it.

Comments

[alby-mangroves.livejournal.com]

Wow this all really sucks. I use photo references when creating fanart, but it's a reference only, not a copy. I can't imagine using anyone's actual artwork this way.

I mean, certainly it's rife in the writing sector of fandom, but artwork? Wow, I had no idea.

Is it because manips aren't really seen as artwork by the plagiarized? Perhaps they're unaware they're committing plagiary if the manip isn't signed or something? It's easy to come across something you don't know the origin of, I guess.

Though it does sound like this particular guy was unrepentant.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I use photo references as well. All the time. But my drawing background (and I'm sure yours) is drawing from observation. Heck even dadaists, who created the first photo collages, created something new from pre-existing photography.

I think when it comes to fanart it's a little less done. Probably more to do with the ratio of fanartists in fandom vs. writers.

I personally think this is a combination of not knowing any better and ignorance. However, after being told more than once that the artwork is fishy, I wonder if stubbornness is getting involved to. But I can't begin to think like someone else.

[iichristinll.livejournal.com]

It is easy to find a photo and not know the source, which is why I'm certainly more open minded to people who repost a single picture on tumblr that doesn't have a watermark because it's possible they found it on unsourced facebook and just wanted to share.

The unfortunate thing about what this guy is doing is he's not just resharing something he found. He rarely ever says "this was inspired by ___" in his posts with a link to the original. It's always posted with a title like "Originally by kristianabel22" when he crossposts to comms. As a casual browser of fanart I would have no way of knowing he's ripping off other fanartists without people like you and amph pointing it out to me, and I'm so grateful you have.

Stuff like his trace of the NSFW manip of Bradley, how he can even attempt to claim it was original/freehand is beyond me. Any doodler would at the very least have finished drawing the part of his knee where the manip cuts off. What he does is just plain pathetic because even when he's confronted with it by someone saying what he's doing is not appropriate, he continues. There's no excuse, he can't claim he didn't know it wasn't acceptable or that he couldn't find a source to credit, he's been told.

People can bring up the controversy about fanart and manips all they want - oh but it's already fanart of someone else's creation - someone who spends significant time and effort on something that they want to share should not be told it's not as important because it's just fanart. It might not be their original creation and every fanart they produce is directly sourced simply by it being fanart, but the execution was their original concept and to have someone else come along and trace that or repost it is taking something someone else made.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I feel guilty that his posts didn't raise a red flag earlier. The thought was there, but did I dismiss them because the copied pieces were from poor manips? I'd be lying if I said no.

Though you could make the argument that because he took time to make a copy of a fanart, isn't his work a worth while creation? This is where I like the more definite line of 'this is wrong' in fandom vs. the art world. (Chances are it would be argued in the art world, but there's a probability if philosophical arguments were used by the artist they would probably be able to get away with it)

[iichristinll.livejournal.com]

The amount of time it took him is directly relevant to how fast his hand moves. It took zero planning, zero effort, and zero experimentation. That's not creation, and it's hard to convince me it's even art when the case falls to directly tracing an image because then you have to say every second grader who puts tracing paper over a picture of the Mona Lisa is a thoughtful artist, rather than just getting their toes wet. Art isn't just the lines on the page, whether it's fanart or original.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I like that you're including conception as part of what makes an image meaningful. To be honest, from Yue's examples I'm pretty sure it's not even a tracing but a smudging of the original art.

[spacii.livejournal.com]

Reni I love you for this. I really, really do. I have seen SO MANY pictures in passing that are obviously just copies of photos with filters and smudge strokes added. Some people even try to say "This took me almost 40 hours to paint!". It's so sickening.

Matte Paintings use photos sure, but there is more to it than just a few filters.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

It's something that I just had to stand for.

When I see promo pictures and screencaps used as experimentation for photoshop techniques or just to play around, I have no problem with it. After all we have to start somewhere and it's definitely a step to learning a technique.
But you make a good point if they try to pass off an image like that as more than an photoshop exercise.

[superfluous-emi.livejournal.com]

I think it's cool that you took a stand with it. I most definitely would not be alright with someone taking my artwork essentially passing it off as their own.

Hell, I've redrawn art (non-fandom) a couple of times (one was even as assignment I had in college), but I would never, ever post it somewhere in fandom without huge disclaimers of THIS ISN'T MINE! I COPIED IT! ORIGINAL ARTIST HEEEEERE! all over it.

This dude's 'art' always kind of just made me roll my eyes and scroll by without even looking.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

It's tough, because on more than one occasion I have done fandom copies of some famous original artwork. However, I never pass it off as anything but a fandom copy, fully linking to the original artist, and I think more importantly it's never traced from a photo. The point is to learn from the style and have some fun doing it. Heck, there's a show on British television of an artist who creates celebrity portraits in the style of a famous artist, which I think is really cool!

[superfluous-emi.livejournal.com]

The one thing I never, never do is trace. I try to explain to non-artists how I can look at a picture and just transfer the line to my own paper. I know I'm very good at visualizing; I'm sure that helps.

I think altered copies of artwork are fine, as long as you do what you do.

That show sounds awesome; what's it called?

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

It's training the hand eye coordination, and mental measuring! Good stuff.

I forget the name of the show, but I think the guys name is Shaun Greenhalgh.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Actually? You are passionately eloquent, Reni, and I hope a lot of people see this post, and maybe more will understand that your art, all fanart, should be as protected as writers strive to protect their written words.

Go you! Seriously. Go you.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I was worried my words may have gotten lost with it being so late at night XD I had my 'Post and Entry' screen open for a long time. My sister would look over my shoulder and say 'You're still writing that??'

I hope so too. Even though I create images for all to see, I expect some respect to be given, while at the same time sharing and enjoying.

[fuzzytomato02.livejournal.com]

Reni, I'm so proud of you standing up and speaking out. A lot of us saw this person's work and rolled our eyes, knowing it was smudged but never said anything. I'm glad you did. You're awesome and like c said, passionate about art.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I appreciate all your help, tomato.
As I've said before, I draw the line when I see stolen imagery, promo photos and other official whatnot are definitely free reign in my opinion, but another fan's creations and efforts aren't.

[eyesofapanda.livejournal.com]

I think you were more than eloquent here, bb. *hugs* You did a good job bringing that plagiarism to light.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I know it's a touchy subject, but it finally got to that point you know?
*hugs*

[disco-mouse.livejournal.com]

I think this happens far more often than most people think. His was obvious and flagrant, but there are far more slightly more subtle works being plagiarized all over the place. Perhaps because I look at fan and original art all the time, and equally look at photographs with human subjects all the live-long day, I can guess the source so often. . Sometimes I lay over drawings and wala, they match.

It is a great way to learn to draw, but not a great way to grow. I started out copying and tracing. I still use references more often than not, but I like creating vastly different each time.

I theorize that the internet has created an atmosphere of getting likes, hits, followers, comments and the need for that kind of validation fast -- so people take shortcuts. And often the viewer cares nothing more than to look something pretty no matter how it got there. That sucks for those who work hard at their craft, and it is a test to let that ego that needs that sort of validation go. It is especially hard when you see your own work ubiquitously stolen and there is little you can do about it.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I feel there is a difference between observing a reference photo and tracing one. My art education started with life only drawing, and once I got to college photo reference and even some tracing happened depending on the project and technique I decided to go with. I traced a lot when I was doing etchings in printmaking, but even then I was using my own photos so I wouldn't have to worry about copyright if I ever sell my work.

It's true, the internet is definitely an environment cultivated for instant gratification where things can get dodgy and out of control fast. I don't think it's bad to have an ego and validation for your art, but as an art poster on the internet I understand that the chance is high something will wind up where I don't want it. Should that make me stop posting art, no. Does it make me wary what I share on the internet, yes. At least with fanart most people who may shuffle it around are in a domain I'm following.

I know out of anyone, you suffer with theft the most and it's a shame it happens at all.