My opinion is that more companies should allow and promote the sale of fan art. Fan art is a way of expressing one’s love for a fandom and sharing it with others through creative means. I understand that some companies may have legal or ethical issues with fan art, but I think that fan art also helps to increase the popularity and visibility of the original work that wouldn’t be as strong without them.
In a way it's actually been done already, a fan did an art piece for tales of vesperia and was actually hired by the company to make it, and that sonic animation for I think it's called sonic rumble or Sonic mania, I'm sorry I can't remember, that was fan made too and was greenlit by Sega.
This is why I like hoyoverse despite its flaws. They often go through dry patches of material, and the fandom has to entirely sustain itself on fanart and fancontent for a while until more content comes out. Thus, if they banned the sale of fanart or profiting off of fan merch, a decent amount of people might stop participating in the community. And smaller communities with less interaction especially kills gacha games because no one's hype for the new characters. So companies who ban the sale of fanart or fan merch really hurt their own company, because the people who buy the fan merch probably weren't going to buy the official merch anyway. And having fan merch can really integrate you in a community because you're reminded of it every time you look at it. It's just a win for companies, but they'd rather be tryhards about it. For some companies with products you have to collect I understand, since you want people collecting official cards/figures and not getting lost in the sea of fan creation.
heck, one of my local artist friends I look up to got hired to work on Castlevania precisely because the director of the series saw her works and contacted her asking if they wanted work on the show. There’s also a character designer who got to work on that series for more or less the same reasons. I’m pretty sure that without fanmade stuff there’s a whole lot of cool things that would not have existed were it not for fanart inspiring others in the first place.
I have mad respect for people like some game devs who allow the sale of fan art *if* they have played the game, isn't mass-produced and don't claim to own the original thing etc. I feel like that's how it should be
It's simple, fanart is healthy for the original source, it moves a community around your product as free advertisment and keeping alive your product even if you are not giving new content
Whenever I'm applying for conventions to sell at, i see in some of the guidelines for vendors that they either can't sell fan art or a majority has to be original art however if I were to go to those conventions as a normal person, guess what I'll see? 99% of all vendors have fan art, products based on existing IP and other things not their own characters. It just feels gross and false for so many conventions to put that guideline when they clearly don't follow it. It makes it hard as a new vendor such as myself to feel comfortable selling my products without running into potential legal trouble because "if everyone else is doing it, why can't I?". Now I'm not saying conventions should stop allowing fan art, but we as a society just should allow fan art instead of the hammer of the legal system being over our heads, waiting to strike if they don't see us stay in line.
Agreed. I'd LOVE to sell my hand made chibi fan dolls at cons... but what happens if they sweep through and confiscate all my merch? Now I'm out my time, money etc.
Maybe they just made up that rule with the intent to protect artists, but if the truth of the matter is "you bear all legal responsibility for your product, if the rights holder catches you we can't help you" they should just say that.
Fanart/fiction can also give the original creators creative inspiration. If I'm working on a story (all I do now is fanfiction, but if I ever manage to publish my original stuff, this will still apply) and someone comes up with a theory that's way cooler than what I actually had in mind, that theory will probably end up becoming the story.
I don’t doubt this at all lol. My friend and I have been doing a role play for over 15 years based on a show - and it was probably 3 years after we started sharing our ideas online; the show came out with a second series and there were so many similarities between our RP and the show; that the two of us that it was like watching our role play come to life 😅 I still to this day think that where they got a lot of the inspiration from haha.
For everyone questioning if selling fanart is "okay": I would like to direct your attention to the thousands of biblical fanart that has been created, sold, and displayed in museums over the years
That is because those things fall under what we would call public domain. At least in the U.S, public domain refers to any intellectual property that is 50 years old or older. Biblical stories would definitely fall under that, as well as a lot of classical literature. In cases where companies like, say, Disney, wanted to include a copyrighted piece of work in one of their movies, like they did with Elvis's music in Lilo and Stitch, they would have to get legal permission and likely have to pay royalties to the company that owns Elvis's music. This is because his work doesn't fall under public domain yet, as his death was in the 1970's (it isn't 50 years old yet). If an artist tried to display art of, say, hello kitty in a classical museum, they would most likely have Sanrio's copyright team after them, unless they got permission from the company itself, which from what I hear is really hard to get.
@@ceinwenchandler4716 @sierrarogers5667 While true, this isn't really about copy right. Back in the days, when people made art of the bible, legends and folklore, there wasn't really an existing copyright system like we know it today. The bigger question, and why I said "[..] if selling fanart is 'okay'" instead of "is selling it legal", is the question of morals, creativity, and legitamacy. Many people claim selling fanart isn't "okay" becouse it "unoriginal and not real art". Despite fanart having existed for as long as art itself has existed.
As a fanartist that DOESN'T sell their work, i think it's absolutely ethical unless the creator has expressed a desire for it not to be sold. It's an expression of love for the fandom, and I've actually gotten INTO multiple fandoms because of the fanart.
Okay real talk for a second I've been watching your vids for a while and it's crazy how much you've grown, especially in terms of shading. Idk it's just really nice to see. Great job, Doubled Fester Confiscator!
ZUN's Touhou Project is the perfect example. You can basically do whatever you want with your fan work so long as you follow the right crediting guidelines, and has because of that spawned a MASSIVE doujin community that creates countless terabytes of fan remix albums, countless fanart, and many fangames that are even sold on steam.
To add context to this, Comiket is the largest fan-works market in Japan, happenning twice a year (3 days in summer, 3 days in winter). It draws 150,000~200,000 people per day. Last time I was there, basically a full third of the space was Touhou-related works, with doujin music and doujin games joining doujinshi as major presences in the space. ZUN's approach to Touhou and fan works is what allowed this to happen and what keeps allowing it to flourish. (for anyone not specifically aware of the series, doujin music like Bad Apple are probably where you'll be exposed to it)
I'm so glad I didn't skip the sponsor. I always trust that whenever you have a sponsor it is going to be a good one and this seems like such an awesome tool to use!
Maybe if the fan art merchandise was of a small creator then you could be hurting their income and I'd have a problem with it. But most IP is owned by giant corprations that wont be hurt by fan art, and the ip isnt even owned by the creator but a corparation that owns it and many other ips.
On the topic of fanworks, I'd just like to mention the GOAT: Toby Fox. After his fans have spent YEARS making fanworks of his precious characters that ultimately ruined the reputation of his game, he's still fighting HIS OWN MUSIC PUBLISHING COMPANY to allow fangames to use his motifs in their music. This man's will to allow people to create derivatives from his works has changed the internet forever.
I've had 3 of my stories badly plagiarized and honestly I felt flattered that someone liked it enough to do that. I think it's about mindset. I want to see how other people see what I see. It's facinating.
As someone who recently drop almost $500 on artist alley prints and merch, most of which was fan art, I think the making and selling of fan art is fine. The fact that more creators/IP holders don't have explicit guidelines or even expressed opinions on the matter says to me they probably don't care either way, at least not enough to say or do anything. I think the benefits of fanworks, including the selling of it, outweigh any cons in allowing it and most creators/IP holders see that. As far as copyright infringement goes attempts to profit off knock/rip-offs of IPs or the unauthorized distributions of officials materials seems to be a greater point of concern for them. And just in case anyone what to say something in regards to me spending $500 on fanmerch when I could have used it on officials merch, the majority of what I bought was based on Hoyoverse properties, a company that allows and has guidelines for selling merch. and who did not have an officials merch booth at the con I went to this year. This was a major point of disappointment for me because getting official merch was one of my main goals but the artist alley ended up coming in clutch to make up for the fact. All in all, artist should follow the wishes of creators/IP holders whether its in regards to the selling of fanwork or even just in how characters are represented but if there's no guidelines set, it free real estates imo, just be smart about.
so i have a story relevant to this -- a long time ago one of the people at a company for a fandom i was making art of had a PUBLIC FIGHT with me over selling made-to-order cosplay props. [i had sold less than 10 of these total, ever.] they were NOT the original creator. i wasnt creating something they were already creating. i wasn't making much money. i sold the props at the cheapest i could get away with because i wanted people to HAVE THEM, not to make a profit. a bunch of my friends were cosplayers and thats who was buying them. due to being a public target, i left the fandom and completely deleted things so i couldn't be followed to my new fandoms. so all the traction i had built up over years and years of creating was completely gone. my future was ruined. i still haven't recovered. nobody knows my art now, i never got traction again. as a result i now take the stance that all selling of fan work should be allowed. loving something should be just as valid an option to SURVIVE as any other occupation.
Ann Rice went after people legally for writing fan fiction about her characters. All it did was spawn a general hatred of draconian authors. No one wants to make movies of her books at all even though she passed 2 years ago because any traction she had as an author was ruined by her litigation against her own fan base. It did not help her brand and it sure as heck put a dent in her book sales. So I agree with you. All fanwork (barring pedo stuff) should be legally allowed as long as it does not cross the threshold of mass production.
i agree that one part of her when she said about when fanart takes it in a way where even i think that other people might get the way with them and what i mean is those ship art they do with characters 🤷♀️😅😐
Like I'm not dislike rather just a balther let explain Like I get people likes their expectations of the characters but if someone looked at art of them people would think of them as a couple wich they are not but shown in the reality of the characters that would make someone mistake what they thought of the characters 🤔 🤷♀️
I've been a fan of your channel for over a year now- you may not see all my comments since I might have made some of them using a different google account! When I get older, I'll be nostalgic for all the weeks I have spent watching whatever new Duchess Celestia video has come out! But for now, it's the present and I will enjoy it
i really like your conclusion pf whether or not fanart is ethical, i feel like all of the criteria seem very reasonable. the only thing i have to say about the buying a license to use the art is that i feel there should be some sort of profit margin to make sure large portions of income arent somehow taken away
i think another interesting conversation is how this intersects with the idea of 'separating the art from the artist' in particular, i found myself thinking about instances where i do not want to financially support an original creator who is using that money and their platform to cause harm to marginalized groups, so that is particularly a case where i would choose fan made works instead
7:40 a perfect example of this happening to myself actually is the shipping of ciel x sebastian in black butler! I saw so much of it online and hear about it alot and it was obviously problematic because thats a proship but i had no idea it wasnt actually in the series untill i got reccomended the so many times by like friends and stuff and then gave the manga a try
This is a great video and I agree with a lot it brings up, but I'm still a little on the fence about this topic. There are a number of criticisms I have with regards to the points brought up in this video. - It is a little reductive to say: The fan artist is not responsible for if other people make false assumptions of the original work based on the fan art. Fan artists are (accidentally) engaging with on of the weak points of human psychology and to fully abdicate responsibility for that is similar to casinos abdicating responsibility for people developing a gambling addiction. Sure, it is a lot less outrageous and I'd argue fan artists have less responsibility than a casino, but I wouldn't say they have no responsibility. It's not a black and white issue. - I'd argue against labelling all fan art as "discussions, opinions and beliefs" on the original works. This would be the case of some pieces of fan art, but probably not the majority of it. Saying: "What if character X did Y?" isn't a belief or discussion on the original, so this definition wouldn't apply. - I find the argument of fan art probably having monetary benefit to the original creator probably the least relevant, as there are plenty of immoral ways of making money and it is very reductive to say more money = good morals, which is something you didn't directly say, but is implied trough the way this part of the video was phrased. - I don't think it is helpful to say "you should expect it to happen" as an excuse for something happening. Just because something is happening doesn't make it right, and doesn't mean we shouldn't change how things work. "Something is already happening" has no place in a discussion attempting to find the theoretical most ethical way to do something. - Reducing the question of morality to a question of originality is leaving out the impact fan works can have on the original work and on communities as a whole. This was already brushed aside earlier as "not their responsibly," but I've addressed that already. - While centring a discussion around morality and purposefully not about legality is a great angle for thinking about a topic, it does mean one cannot read from existing laws to support their arguments. This kind of argumentation is present in this video and is kind of misplaced. - The whole reasoning behind official merch vs fan merch seems to consist mostly of guesswork as to how people view this topic rather than actual facts and should be taken with a huge grain of salt. I also don't have the facts and therefore cannot comment on whether these guesses are accurate or not. Finally, I would say I agree with all other points made here, though I'm especially impressed with how honestly and impartially opposing viewpoints are investigated.
honestly; I just try to play it safe and ask when possible. If they say no, then nbd I just dont sell it. Most of my sales are original works atm so it's not a bridge I have to cross lol
Haven't watched the video yet, but I'm gonna have to give a blanket statement. And say "it depends on the company/the person who made the original thing" 'Cause a lot of them, will have different opinions on this kind of thing
I think it would be best if companies give/sell licenses to sell their art cause even if most people that sell fan art don't sell any fan art that could damage or is against the morals of the company or whatever that own the characters but there are still some other fan artists will sell some fan art that is against it but in the end it still kind of benefits them
While I agree with your take, and believe that the sale of fanart should be legal and fine if the creator hasn't said their stance on it, I do have this debate with dad, who is a lawyer who specializes in the Copyright law in the USA. According to the law, fanart is illegal UNLESS you have whoever owns the copyright's permission to use it. Without it, the law can deem the fanart as plagiarism, as your using the character, you don't own in a way to profit without the owner of the copyright's permission, in which if they were to sue you, you don't have the rights to the character. And still are liable to all of the reprecussions, since the law sees it as your gaining a profit off of characters or motifs, that could have been a way to gain profit for the original creator and their merch. Although it is different for Video games, and the more technical aspects, as you are able to take movements of characters or poses and sell it off as your own, as poses and movement by law are seen as technical aspects, and think all people should have the ability to use that. This is why I'm not allowed to buy fanart online, but only in-person, as that is the agreement me and my dad settled on. The reasoning as he believes without the creator's permission, you are infringing on the copyright, and what their doing is tencalliy illegal unless the creator has expressed permission to you that you're able to sell their content. And by purchasing and buying their product you're directly encouraging the artist or whoever is profiting to keep selling their content, and creating what is deemed by the US law "illegal works". Although the artist will not have any action taken on them or the law won't get involved unless the person who owns the copyright to that source character or work, decides to press charges. (BTW this is HEAVILY simplified, as our convos often involve other complex terms, as it involves a lot of nuinces and exceptions, to this rule and also a lot of hard rules as well, with other terms and rules coming into play as well as different copyrights and laws coming into play as well) (I hope this helps)
That was a good info-filled comment! I personally don't think OG creator of brands are losing anything from fanartist selling content, but I understand why the law and the brands would still stick to it, they love money so much they would be ready to bankrupt you to your grave (it's vile, i hate companies, governments and the copyright laws are Effed up). This is a good point though and a good summary awareness 👍
For me it's just the matter if the IP owner allow it or not. I always check the company guidelines and just sell fanart from titles that allow it. For example, Disney or Nintendo will never allow you to sell or even create fanarts of their titles, but most games or VTuber companies will allow you to sell one. Just don't forget to check the series' company guidelines before you create the fanart. I mainly sell Genshin or Hololive fan merchandise, combined with merchandises of my VTuber children when they allow it. At the end of the day it's someone else's IP. They're the only one who have the right to allow or disallow you to use their characters at their own discretion.
It can also vary from creator to creator when it comes to massive companies, for example, Dana, the creator of The Owl House is SUPER supportive of fanart, which might not be the case for another show's creator
@@MsMvsc I was talking about my personal view, not what is right or wrong in general. I don't know about comic con as I don't live there, but from my experience with comiket (Japan), we do sneak some fanarts that aren't allowed by the organizers (ex: R18 artworks of certain series that the companies/original artists explicitly forbid).
Cona are typically more relaxed,and you get away with more. Its much harder to go after someone whos selling in a hall for three days then online listings that are always there if you get what I mean. It's still illegal, its just very unlikely you will face any reprcussions.
Basing your morals off of the law and not vice versa is not the take you think it is. Also you're just flat out wrong, making fan art isn't illegal lol
@@mo7311 oh I never said anything about morals I just wanted to point out something I've heard but I'd be happy if that's not true. Like the video said I really think it depends Like a big company who cares. Making fan art to sell from somebody's else's OCs and stuff that feels skummy. I heard the illegal thing from legal eagle but I don't think it was one of his videos unfortunately I don't know how I'd track it down
I can see a lot of this. AAs someone trying to get a book out, I see the artform there also having the same problems. But at the same time, a lot of stuff that they are doing is essentially fan fiction in and of itself. Sleeping Beauty, Greek Mythology, Robin Hood, King Aurthur and more have all had things changed, removed, and added to for both better and for worse. On the other hand, I can also see a creator wanting to protect their work, but still finding ways to roll with it. I believe the creator of Bayonetta asked the fan art community to not depict the namesake heroin in a submissive manner as a lot of fans were drawing her as. Could be apocryphal and not have actually happened. Nor does it mean its official therefor its good (last three seasons of Game of Thrones anyone?).
Imo, it depends. If the creator of the original work allows selling fan art or selling fan merchandise out of their works, then absolutely yes. But if not, it’s better to not do it.
Like I even want fan art of fan art. Like the MHA Viridian time travel au. Like the writer should have a patreon or a kofi or whatever it’s called. Better than cannon. Or even webcomic series like Undertale ones where they are really good and really long. Like I wanna make MHA au art and comics!!! But it’s just if I am unable to make anything off of a drawing or comic I’d have to do other stuff before that.
As someone who draws fanart, sells it, and buys fanart: it's not wrong at all. As long as someone isn't ripping an image off the internet, slapping it on something, and calling it theirs...as long as someone is actually doing the work required to draw, then it should be fine. Also, I love when I see Otafest content when they post it, go "huh that looks familar...is that celestia's??", then I get to see that yes, it is, and I get to see how the piece is made in these videos.
It's illegal. As someone who makes fan art, I wish it weren't true, but every piece of fan art is illegal, even if it's not being sold, and just shown online, illegal. The original copyright owner could at any moment swoop in and issue a takedown. It's like kids sledding on a golf course though. So many people do it, it just doesn't matter, so most original Copyright just don't. Although some are forced to. In order to maintain their original copyright. Copyright law sucks, and is basically horrible for everyone. It creates more problems than the original it's trying to create. It's why even when this whole ai mess started taking over, the thing I was most afraid of was a tightening of copyright and massive accusations of theft. You could have literally never seen the little mermaid, but if you create a mermaid and make her a redhead. Violation.
Sometimes fan art is better quality than the official art. But some fan art is hurtful and damaging. It's one thing to make fan art, but it's another thing to fix canon depictions with one's own opinions. However there's also toxic responses to fan work like rooster teeth copyright claiming fan animations of RWBY despite being a company that made Red vs Blue as a parody of games like call of duty
This video has come in handy seeing I'm righting a essay on this axsact topic 😅😊. Would you mind linking some your sources in the description I would like to read further into them. 😅
in my opinion you should be able to sell fanart. I mean for many years artists have been drawing other people with or without them knowing it and selling it. There's also religious art that is basically fanart in its own way. So pretty much since the creation of art people haven't only been creating original characters and environments. Now of course not everything we continue to do and has been doing is good but I feel like in general this is harmless. I see much more positives for all partys rather than negatives. I mean it is free advertising for for the brand. The artist can have fun making art for something they love. And the viewer will get more content from the brand they love (and getting more engagement with the community which will likely mean they continue to stay with that franchise longer). Or will bring more people in. As someone who has autism and very much has fixations it is a dream come true if I could make a living off just doing stuff and making art of those fixations. And if I had made my original characters and story personally I'd feel honored and so incredibly happy if I came across fan art. I think it should be fine as long as the artist isn't claiming it as their own characters or something. For the royalty fee I'm quite conflicted. I feel like a fee may hurt many smaller creators who may not have that extra amount of money to spend on it. Especially considering the fact that fan art is what a lot of commissioners get commissioned to do. Especially for teens or young adults who may be just starting out their artists career and starting to sell their work but their parents won't let them pay for the rights to sell it. Especially if they haven't made much money off of it yet. I also don't feel like huge companies (and I'm talking like big ones like Genshin impact, Call of Duty, Mario and so on) shouldn't have a royalty fee or it should be very very low considering they make a lot of money off their games alone. Now that leads to another dilemma which is for smaller brands. On one hand they could charge more so they get more to support themselves and the brand. But that also will likely mean less artist would buy the royaltys to it considering bigger brands that will likely get them more popularity and money have theirs much cheaper. And only artists who want to help support the company will likely get it. On the other hand selling it for cheaper then larger companies may also mean they won't get what they deserve from it. I feel like the cost would also depend on which the environment you sell it in. For example if you sell art at conventions the fee may be different than being a commission artist and commission artist will likely have more restrictions/rules. Overall I feel like royalty fees are a lot harder to work out with drawings. I can see both sides but currently I think it's better without a fee.
I honestly didn't know it was a controversial topics since most spaces I hang out in do fandom and OC/Canon commissions all the time 😅 The one incident I've heard of with someone getting in some trouble was when an nsfw Pokémon artist ended up getting sued for a commission, if I remember correctly. Then again, Nintendo can be strict with their IP in terms of fanart. Still kinda sucks that you can't commission something involving a game or show without potentially getting in trouble.
I'm hella bias on this topic but I'm going to say something anyways. 😅 I'm a huge Undertale fan both canon and AUs and what most people don't realize is that Undertale itself *is also* a fan made game! If the creator of Undertale, Tody Fox, wasn't a fan of Earth Bound then Undertale and Delta Ruins wouldn't exist! Meaning that artist of alternative timelines/universes wouldn't have created their works that inspired me to become an artist! I owe my artistic career and passion to fan art and without it, I probably won't be where I am today!
Great video. This is a very interesting debate. I see the selling of fan art at cons all the time. Personally, I think the art world would be stronger and more interesting with original content at cons. Do we need yet another fan art print of a scantily clad drawing of Sailor Moon? Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
If I had the energy to finally draw and post the comics I've been working on for years, tbh, if I had the luck that ppl like my stories, I would allow ppl to make merch and sell it. First off bc that's one way one gets to have their story talked about, GI taught me how that's free publicity, specially if it's BL, because most of the ppl who draw, ship mlm, the least I could do is allow my fans to sell merch, besides, maybe they would eventually buy some merch from me too, for being "the official merch", maybe I'm helping someone have a meal through that merch they sell, maybe I just wanna be happy and for ppl to enjoy my stuff and be happy as well. This is smth I already do with my adoptables, I allow ppl to resell it, after all, if they like my work, they may buy again if they know they can resell, that's what money is for, it comes and goes, it circulates. Also, i actually advocate for ppl having fun with fiction, if I had my comic be popular, and ppl loved the characters and they want to ship them in the most crack shipping way, I would just allow that because it's FICTION, I know what it's like to have fun with those things, I want ppl to experience the joy I did with my fav series and games.
Honestly to me, while it isn't wrong to sell fanart, the artists need to be aware that they are profitting off someone's ip. If someone were to sell arts of their fanarts of my oc claiming it's their own, i would feel sad because they didn't make the character. I think a good balance is to draw your original characters and balance it with fanart. If i looked at a portfolio and they made so many fanarts but cannot create their own characters then i would question what their skills are you know? Not everyone needs to write ocs and draw them but balancing them with fanart is a win for the artist, not a bane
To be honest ive been questioning this as well ^^; ive seen fnaf and ena merch but i wasnt sure if it was allowed i always wanted to make fanart merch but i don't it just confusing
No it isn't Source: I said so For real though fan art MAKES fandom and elongates the life of any series and the official merchandise linked to it. Most brands are realizing by now that it is valuable and they should not be fighting it and they don't mind us profiting from it because they benefit just as much. They usually don't mind as long as we are individuals selling our transformative work and not corporations who have not paid for licensing rights. There is an in-between spot there where it gets muddy as some indie shops are getting pretty big these days but generally that is the unspoken rule.
7:12 Moral rights theory sound like the inverse of "separate the art from the artist". That is, it argues that the artist is inherently entitled to a particular interpretation of their work, and that if you think differently, you can just go &@*# yourself. 16:58 "Originality is undetected plagiarism" is... interesting, if only because the AI bros have appropriated the shit out of this argument. 24:59 I'd be OK with this, except that pretty much *every* large corporation hates the idea of a compulsory licensing regime where you can just pay money and get a license. They have fought tooth and nail to prevent the same situation that happens with music covers from happening anywhere else. They want the right to say no, not the right to be paid. This is not because they think artistic creativity with other people's work is equivalent to rape (though I have heard Nintendo fans argue that, which is deeply appalling to me). It's because withholding consent gives owners more negotiating leverage. If the government says "fan artists can pay 10% of their gross sales and get a license", then you can't ask for 20%. More generally, the underlying logic of copyright is that any fan art at all is a sale that the original creator can no longer make. I *hate* this concept, but it's the one that carries water with legislators, so it's the shitty system we get.
Technicality -- if the original creator *might consider selling* something along the lines of the fan work, then you could be considered to be competing against the original creator
I think selling fanwork should be fine. Realistically, it's not really going to impact sales of official merch (we know this because people are already selling fanmade merch, it's often just "legally distinct" (ex. punkitt's "party horse" stickers)) and besides plenty of fandoms dont even have merch, whether because they're obscure or because they just don't bother.
as with everything, the problem is capitalism, if we didn't have to protect our intellectual property rights to make money off them, I don't think many would care about copying or adapting all that much, unless it would be something outright offensive which we do have unfortunately.
3:03 im only here and here is my stance on this so far 1) I am 100% pro free speech and free expression, thus i don't mind the creation of fanart. 2) I dislike commercial use of fanart, because at this point it's simply stolen property. This includes publicizing it on SNS for example. name, branding, etc this is also all commercial use, even if not a direct sale. I know there are few companies who give explicit permission (with certain rules) to do and sell fanart/products, such as Hoyoverse, most don't. So legally speaking most other things are actuallly sue-able. And ethically/morally? speaking, I think it's just as bad as using certain AI generated Art (ppl claim it to be, i don't necessarily agree on that). 6:20 I personally not care about "sufficiently original" if someone takes a character, they take that character (same with fanfic). No matter if AU, different hair, other clothing, OOC, different style, other medium, no matter what, its still a character they did not create. 26:00 this is kinda of an "entitled" attitude. "lets just take their stuff as long they dont explicitly randomly state they dont want it" rather than making the effort to get that statement first. Yes ofc it's hard, not convenient etc. It's the same as piracy. Now I don't judge ppl for doing doing that negatively, as long as they don't try to justify it or make it somehow morally right. Again, it just doesn't sit right with me. if you wanna be creative then BE creative and do ur own stuff, instead of taking other things and "do it in ur own style" kind of thing. If you want to express something with fanart, because u love whatever it is, then do that. Don't advertise with it, use it's name or sell it in any way. it reminds of like: [fanartist]: oh man disney always doing remakes lately. nothing new/original anymore
> Making Fan-art doesn't make the original brand lose anything, it's advertising, and people would go for official merch if they could, they simply go for fanart because official merch sucks 95% of the time and is unaffordable or unshippable in their country. > You comparing fanart to AI is incredibly disrespectful and weird. I can't even explain without losing my mind on how wrong you are. > Fan-art. it's in the name, nobody is trying to approriate the franchises material. In that sense, selling fan-merch vs selling self-branded merch that contains pre-existing intellectual properties is a whole different can of worms. selling fanarts is more indie and doesn't result in much, plus you are respecting its franchise and not claiming it as your own intellectual property, the only thing is the physical artist effort. On the other hand, branding and selling something that is clearly pre-existing brand, is like stealing the franchise or character to make your own , its like bootlegs. Which exist, a lot. bootlegs is a grey area. While morally wrong, someone can get away with it if they change the material enough, and to be honest, that's fair. Like imagine a pikachu but pink with different ears and different cheeks. The inspiration is clear but you can't copy right claim that, especially if you name it bubblebear instead. > I don't know your personal extent of what is considered original if someone is highly inspired by a pre-existing character, honestly. There's bound to be resemblance, we see them everywhere. some are blatantly stealing (bootlegs are easy to spot) so i could see that if someone is creating their own franchise and trying to brand it but 99% of it looks like a copy pasted, that would be stealing property. Like people making spider-man, im sorry but if you copy spider-man it's going to be blatant. > *Every inspiration comes from an agglomeration of content we consume, so at the end of the day, everything we create is subject to copyright claim if you go this far.* > Funny thing is Disney has bootlegged and stolen stuff from other artist since forever. They aren't doing fan-made stuff, they just completely stolen without crediting the source. The lion king is an example.
Characters that I drew for the Best Fanart Contest 2024 📄✏🖍💖 Yoh, Amidamaru and Anna from Shaman King Goku, Chichi and Bulma from Dragon Ball Monkey D. Luffy, Nico Robin and Nami from One Piece Naruto and Hinata from Naruto Shippuden Tanjiro and Kanao from Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba Ranma, Ryoga and Akane from Ranma 1/2/Inuyasha, Kouga and Kagome from Inuyasha/Ataru and Lum from Urusei Yatsura Train and Kyoko from Black Cat Eren and Mikasa from Attack On Titan Deku, Bakugo and Uraraka from My Hero Academia Meliodas, Elizabeth and Diane from Seven Deadly Sins Natsu and Lucy from Fairy Tail Shaggy, Scooby Doo, Fred, Velma and Daphne from Scooby Doo Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo and April O'Neil from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ryu and Chun Li from Street Fighter Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beastboy from Teen Titans Fred, Barney, Dino, Wilma and Betty from The Flintstones Martin Mystery, Diana Lombard, Java the Caveman and Billy from Martin Mystery SpongeBob Squarepants, Sandy Cheeks and Mindy from SpongeBob Squarepants Pomni, Ragatha, Gangle, Jax and Kinger from The Amazing Digital Circus Momotaro and Urikohime from Forever After Webcomic Katie, Kevin, Martina, Molly, Marc, Nicole, Alice, Stephan, Lucas, Anabelle, Beatrice, Francesca, Daniel, Michaela, Vanessa, Alexia, Valerie, Maggie, Liam, Emilly, Lillia, Momotaro, Kaguya Hime, Urashima Taro, Otohime, Kintaro, Urikohime, Issun Boshi, Sun Wukong, Jade Princess, D'Artagnian, Porthos, Athos, Aramis, Amelie, Arthur, Vivianne, Leilani, Kanekehili, Jason, Penelope, Wurruna, Anjea, Little Red Riding Hood, Friedrich, Diego, Isabella, Quetzalcoatl, Xochiquetzal, Bastet, Anubis, Anansi, Zuri, Vasilisa, Ivan, Glooscap, Atahensic, Guillaume, Jacqueline, Duncan, Sierra, Baatar, Zhana, Lesley, Evelyn, Rama and Sita from Puppy In My Pocket Magic (dog), Bella (dog), Princess Ami (cat), Mela (cat), William (dog), Balloon (cat), Danny (dog), Wallace (dog), Eva (cat), Zull (dog), Gort (dog), Krakia (crow), Evershell (turtle), Durilia (crocodile), Toby (dog), Goldie (hamster), Robbie (American robin), Slowpoke (turtle), Juno (dog), Orilliam (pig), Sketch (dog), Swimmy (dolphin), Dr. Carrot (rabbit), Pinna (goldfish), Phoebe (dog), Pia (dog), Ginevra (horse), Kikki (dog), Frankie (dog), Leo (dog), Otto (dog), Camo (cat), Ribbon (baby chick), Tray (dog), Lenny (monkey), Precious (pheasant), Luna (rabbit), Virgo (lamb), Diana (moon moth), Rocky (sea turtle), Coral (tropical reef fish), Maomao (cat), Amethyst (turtle), Crystal (silkmoth), George (cat), Maybelline (parrot), Blush (horse), Elliote (falcon), Malorie (dog), Charlie (cat), Polly (hedgehog), Angela (Hawaiian honeycreeper), Matthew (sea turtle), Sylvester (dolphin), Octavius (octopus), Oscar (tropicbird), Gabriella (swallow), Andy (wallaby), Bouncer (bandicoot), Carmen (numbat), Star (billby), Roxy (dog), Freddy (squirrel), Charcoal (cat), Lilly (dog), Obsidian (snake), Ruby (bat), Holly (cat), Zachary (jackal), David (spider), Glimmer (butterfly), Millie (cat), Chase (wolf), Joshua (turtle), Mary (bobcat), Alex (peacock moth), Roderick (dog), Briana (Mexican tree frog), Tony (anole), Rufus (ground squirrel), Manisha (sandfish lizard), Harry (longhorn beetle), Sarah (cat), Patch (tiger) and Faith (dog) from Puppy In My Pocket
Thanks to Milanote for sponsoring this video! Sign up for free and start your next creative project: milanote.com/duchesscelestia
Just a question, are you excited for The Boy and the Heron (New upcoming ghibli film)?
My opinion is that more companies should allow and promote the sale of fan art. Fan art is a way of expressing one’s love for a fandom and sharing it with others through creative means. I understand that some companies may have legal or ethical issues with fan art, but I think that fan art also helps to increase the popularity and visibility of the original work that wouldn’t be as strong without them.
In a way it's actually been done already, a fan did an art piece for tales of vesperia and was actually hired by the company to make it, and that sonic animation for I think it's called sonic rumble or Sonic mania, I'm sorry I can't remember, that was fan made too and was greenlit by Sega.
This is why I like hoyoverse despite its flaws. They often go through dry patches of material, and the fandom has to entirely sustain itself on fanart and fancontent for a while until more content comes out. Thus, if they banned the sale of fanart or profiting off of fan merch, a decent amount of people might stop participating in the community. And smaller communities with less interaction especially kills gacha games because no one's hype for the new characters.
So companies who ban the sale of fanart or fan merch really hurt their own company, because the people who buy the fan merch probably weren't going to buy the official merch anyway. And having fan merch can really integrate you in a community because you're reminded of it every time you look at it. It's just a win for companies, but they'd rather be tryhards about it. For some companies with products you have to collect I understand, since you want people collecting official cards/figures and not getting lost in the sea of fan creation.
@@MusicFan752there is also DreamWorks promoting fanart as well, they care about their fans.
yess as a genshin player@@ettaetta439
heck, one of my local artist friends I look up to got hired to work on Castlevania precisely because the director of the series saw her works and contacted her asking if they wanted work on the show. There’s also a character designer who got to work on that series for more or less the same reasons. I’m pretty sure that without fanmade stuff there’s a whole lot of cool things that would not have existed were it not for fanart inspiring others in the first place.
I have mad respect for people like some game devs who allow the sale of fan art *if* they have played the game, isn't mass-produced and don't claim to own the original thing etc.
I feel like that's how it should be
It's simple, fanart is healthy for the original source, it moves a community around your product as free advertisment and keeping alive your product even if you are not giving new content
It's not healthy it's theft by parasites wanting to make money fan art is not needed at all to keep a fandom alive
Whenever I'm applying for conventions to sell at, i see in some of the guidelines for vendors that they either can't sell fan art or a majority has to be original art however if I were to go to those conventions as a normal person, guess what I'll see? 99% of all vendors have fan art, products based on existing IP and other things not their own characters. It just feels gross and false for so many conventions to put that guideline when they clearly don't follow it. It makes it hard as a new vendor such as myself to feel comfortable selling my products without running into potential legal trouble because "if everyone else is doing it, why can't I?". Now I'm not saying conventions should stop allowing fan art, but we as a society just should allow fan art instead of the hammer of the legal system being over our heads, waiting to strike if they don't see us stay in line.
Agreed. I'd LOVE to sell my hand made chibi fan dolls at cons... but what happens if they sweep through and confiscate all my merch? Now I'm out my time, money etc.
Maybe they just made up that rule with the intent to protect artists, but if the truth of the matter is "you bear all legal responsibility for your product, if the rights holder catches you we can't help you" they should just say that.
Fanart/fiction can also give the original creators creative inspiration. If I'm working on a story (all I do now is fanfiction, but if I ever manage to publish my original stuff, this will still apply) and someone comes up with a theory that's way cooler than what I actually had in mind, that theory will probably end up becoming the story.
I don’t doubt this at all lol. My friend and I have been doing a role play for over 15 years based on a show - and it was probably 3 years after we started sharing our ideas online; the show came out with a second series and there were so many similarities between our RP and the show; that the two of us that it was like watching our role play come to life 😅 I still to this day think that where they got a lot of the inspiration from haha.
For everyone questioning if selling fanart is "okay": I would like to direct your attention to the thousands of biblical fanart that has been created, sold, and displayed in museums over the years
That is because those things fall under what we would call public domain. At least in the U.S, public domain refers to any intellectual property that is 50 years old or older. Biblical stories would definitely fall under that, as well as a lot of classical literature. In cases where companies like, say, Disney, wanted to include a copyrighted piece of work in one of their movies, like they did with Elvis's music in Lilo and Stitch, they would have to get legal permission and likely have to pay royalties to the company that owns Elvis's music. This is because his work doesn't fall under public domain yet, as his death was in the 1970's (it isn't 50 years old yet).
If an artist tried to display art of, say, hello kitty in a classical museum, they would most likely have Sanrio's copyright team after them, unless they got permission from the company itself, which from what I hear is really hard to get.
I think the Bible's copyright has long since lapsed, though.
@@ceinwenchandler4716 @sierrarogers5667 While true, this isn't really about copy right. Back in the days, when people made art of the bible, legends and folklore, there wasn't really an existing copyright system like we know it today.
The bigger question, and why I said "[..] if selling fanart is 'okay'" instead of "is selling it legal", is the question of morals, creativity, and legitamacy. Many people claim selling fanart isn't "okay" becouse it "unoriginal and not real art". Despite fanart having existed for as long as art itself has existed.
@@aniflowers1998 Yeah, fair. The ethics are way more interesting/relevant than the legality.
the bible isn't copy righted, it falls under public domain
As a fanartist that DOESN'T sell their work, i think it's absolutely ethical unless the creator has expressed a desire for it not to be sold. It's an expression of love for the fandom, and I've actually gotten INTO multiple fandoms because of the fanart.
Okay real talk for a second I've been watching your vids for a while and it's crazy how much you've grown, especially in terms of shading. Idk it's just really nice to see.
Great job, Doubled Fester Confiscator!
ZUN's Touhou Project is the perfect example. You can basically do whatever you want with your fan work so long as you follow the right crediting guidelines, and has because of that spawned a MASSIVE doujin community that creates countless terabytes of fan remix albums, countless fanart, and many fangames that are even sold on steam.
To add context to this, Comiket is the largest fan-works market in Japan, happenning twice a year (3 days in summer, 3 days in winter). It draws 150,000~200,000 people per day. Last time I was there, basically a full third of the space was Touhou-related works, with doujin music and doujin games joining doujinshi as major presences in the space.
ZUN's approach to Touhou and fan works is what allowed this to happen and what keeps allowing it to flourish.
(for anyone not specifically aware of the series, doujin music like Bad Apple are probably where you'll be exposed to it)
I'm so glad I didn't skip the sponsor. I always trust that whenever you have a sponsor it is going to be a good one and this seems like such an awesome tool to use!
Maybe if the fan art merchandise was of a small creator then you could be hurting their income and I'd have a problem with it. But most IP is owned by giant corprations that wont be hurt by fan art, and the ip isnt even owned by the creator but a corparation that owns it and many other ips.
On the topic of fanworks, I'd just like to mention the GOAT: Toby Fox.
After his fans have spent YEARS making fanworks of his precious characters that ultimately ruined the reputation of his game, he's still fighting HIS OWN MUSIC PUBLISHING COMPANY to allow fangames to use his motifs in their music.
This man's will to allow people to create derivatives from his works has changed the internet forever.
I've had 3 of my stories badly plagiarized and honestly I felt flattered that someone liked it enough to do that. I think it's about mindset. I want to see how other people see what I see. It's facinating.
As someone who recently drop almost $500 on artist alley prints and merch, most of which was fan art, I think the making and selling of fan art is fine. The fact that more creators/IP holders don't have explicit guidelines or even expressed opinions on the matter says to me they probably don't care either way, at least not enough to say or do anything. I think the benefits of fanworks, including the selling of it, outweigh any cons in allowing it and most creators/IP holders see that. As far as copyright infringement goes attempts to profit off knock/rip-offs of IPs or the unauthorized distributions of officials materials seems to be a greater point of concern for them.
And just in case anyone what to say something in regards to me spending $500 on fanmerch when I could have used it on officials merch, the majority of what I bought was based on Hoyoverse properties, a company that allows and has guidelines for selling merch. and who did not have an officials merch booth at the con I went to this year. This was a major point of disappointment for me because getting official merch was one of my main goals but the artist alley ended up coming in clutch to make up for the fact.
All in all, artist should follow the wishes of creators/IP holders whether its in regards to the selling of fanwork or even just in how characters are represented but if there's no guidelines set, it free real estates imo, just be smart about.
so i have a story relevant to this -- a long time ago one of the people at a company for a fandom i was making art of had a PUBLIC FIGHT with me over selling made-to-order cosplay props. [i had sold less than 10 of these total, ever.] they were NOT the original creator. i wasnt creating something they were already creating. i wasn't making much money. i sold the props at the cheapest i could get away with because i wanted people to HAVE THEM, not to make a profit. a bunch of my friends were cosplayers and thats who was buying them.
due to being a public target, i left the fandom and completely deleted things so i couldn't be followed to my new fandoms. so all the traction i had built up over years and years of creating was completely gone. my future was ruined. i still haven't recovered. nobody knows my art now, i never got traction again. as a result i now take the stance that all selling of fan work should be allowed. loving something should be just as valid an option to SURVIVE as any other occupation.
Ann Rice went after people legally for writing fan fiction about her characters. All it did was spawn a general hatred of draconian authors. No one wants to make movies of her books at all even though she passed 2 years ago because any traction she had as an author was ruined by her litigation against her own fan base. It did not help her brand and it sure as heck put a dent in her book sales.
So I agree with you. All fanwork (barring pedo stuff) should be legally allowed as long as it does not cross the threshold of mass production.
You know it’s a good day when Celestial uploads💜
i agree that one part of her when she said about when fanart takes it in a way where even i think that other people might get the way with them and what i mean is those ship art they do with characters 🤷♀️😅😐
Like I'm not dislike rather just a balther let explain Like I get people likes their expectations of the characters but if someone looked at art of them people would think of them as a couple wich they are not but shown in the reality of the characters that would make someone mistake what they thought of the characters 🤔 🤷♀️
I've been a fan of your channel for over a year now- you may not see all my comments since I might have made some of them using a different google account! When I get older, I'll be nostalgic for all the weeks I have spent watching whatever new Duchess Celestia video has come out! But for now, it's the present and I will enjoy it
Studying Intelectual property at class has made this video so much easier to understand,,,
i really like your conclusion pf whether or not fanart is ethical, i feel like all of the criteria seem very reasonable. the only thing i have to say about the buying a license to use the art is that i feel there should be some sort of profit margin to make sure large portions of income arent somehow taken away
i think another interesting conversation is how this intersects with the idea of 'separating the art from the artist'
in particular, i found myself thinking about instances where i do not want to financially support an original creator who is using that money and their platform to cause harm to marginalized groups, so that is particularly a case where i would choose fan made works instead
I'm sure you don't mean a wizarding world... ;) and I agree. I feel I'd rather buy fan art of Firefly due to the problematic behavior of it's creator.
7:40 a perfect example of this happening to myself actually is the shipping of ciel x sebastian in black butler! I saw so much of it online and hear about it alot and it was obviously problematic because thats a proship but i had no idea it wasnt actually in the series untill i got reccomended the so many times by like friends and stuff and then gave the manga a try
This is a great video and I agree with a lot it brings up, but I'm still a little on the fence about this topic.
There are a number of criticisms I have with regards to the points brought up in this video.
- It is a little reductive to say: The fan artist is not responsible for if other people make false assumptions of the original work based on the fan art. Fan artists are (accidentally) engaging with on of the weak points of human psychology and to fully abdicate responsibility for that is similar to casinos abdicating responsibility for people developing a gambling addiction. Sure, it is a lot less outrageous and I'd argue fan artists have less responsibility than a casino, but I wouldn't say they have no responsibility. It's not a black and white issue.
- I'd argue against labelling all fan art as "discussions, opinions and beliefs" on the original works. This would be the case of some pieces of fan art, but probably not the majority of it. Saying: "What if character X did Y?" isn't a belief or discussion on the original, so this definition wouldn't apply.
- I find the argument of fan art probably having monetary benefit to the original creator probably the least relevant, as there are plenty of immoral ways of making money and it is very reductive to say more money = good morals, which is something you didn't directly say, but is implied trough the way this part of the video was phrased.
- I don't think it is helpful to say "you should expect it to happen" as an excuse for something happening. Just because something is happening doesn't make it right, and doesn't mean we shouldn't change how things work. "Something is already happening" has no place in a discussion attempting to find the theoretical most ethical way to do something.
- Reducing the question of morality to a question of originality is leaving out the impact fan works can have on the original work and on communities as a whole. This was already brushed aside earlier as "not their responsibly," but I've addressed that already.
- While centring a discussion around morality and purposefully not about legality is a great angle for thinking about a topic, it does mean one cannot read from existing laws to support their arguments. This kind of argumentation is present in this video and is kind of misplaced.
- The whole reasoning behind official merch vs fan merch seems to consist mostly of guesswork as to how people view this topic rather than actual facts and should be taken with a huge grain of salt. I also don't have the facts and therefore cannot comment on whether these guesses are accurate or not.
Finally, I would say I agree with all other points made here, though I'm especially impressed with how honestly and impartially opposing viewpoints are investigated.
Yes I’ve been so split on this topic, let’s hear it!! 😂❤
honestly; I just try to play it safe and ask when possible. If they say no, then nbd I just dont sell it. Most of my sales are original works atm so it's not a bridge I have to cross lol
I really love all your videos 😭 Your channel feels like such a comfy place to grow and learn
Haven't watched the video yet, but I'm gonna have to give a blanket statement. And say "it depends on the company/the person who made the original thing"
'Cause a lot of them, will have different opinions on this kind of thing
I think it would be best if companies give/sell licenses to sell their art cause even if most people that sell fan art don't sell any fan art that could damage or is against the morals of the company or whatever that own the characters but there are still some other fan artists will sell some fan art that is against it but in the end it still kind of benefits them
seeing a funny undertale fan animation prompted me to actually buy undertale which happened to be on sale at the time :3
While I agree with your take, and believe that the sale of fanart should be legal and fine if the creator hasn't said their stance on it, I do have this debate with dad, who is a lawyer who specializes in the Copyright law in the USA. According to the law, fanart is illegal UNLESS you have whoever owns the copyright's permission to use it. Without it, the law can deem the fanart as plagiarism, as your using the character, you don't own in a way to profit without the owner of the copyright's permission, in which if they were to sue you, you don't have the rights to the character. And still are liable to all of the reprecussions, since the law sees it as your gaining a profit off of characters or motifs, that could have been a way to gain profit for the original creator and their merch. Although it is different for Video games, and the more technical aspects, as you are able to take movements of characters or poses and sell it off as your own, as poses and movement by law are seen as technical aspects, and think all people should have the ability to use that. This is why I'm not allowed to buy fanart online, but only in-person, as that is the agreement me and my dad settled on. The reasoning as he believes without the creator's permission, you are infringing on the copyright, and what their doing is tencalliy illegal unless the creator has expressed permission to you that you're able to sell their content. And by purchasing and buying their product you're directly encouraging the artist or whoever is profiting to keep selling their content, and creating what is deemed by the US law "illegal works". Although the artist will not have any action taken on them or the law won't get involved unless the person who owns the copyright to that source character or work, decides to press charges.
(BTW this is HEAVILY simplified, as our convos often involve other complex terms, as it involves a lot of nuinces and exceptions, to this rule and also a lot of hard rules as well, with other terms and rules coming into play as well as different copyrights and laws coming into play as well) (I hope this helps)
That was a good info-filled comment! I personally don't think OG creator of brands are losing anything from fanartist selling content, but I understand why the law and the brands would still stick to it, they love money so much they would be ready to bankrupt you to your grave (it's vile, i hate companies, governments and the copyright laws are Effed up). This is a good point though and a good summary awareness 👍
For me it's just the matter if the IP owner allow it or not. I always check the company guidelines and just sell fanart from titles that allow it. For example, Disney or Nintendo will never allow you to sell or even create fanarts of their titles, but most games or VTuber companies will allow you to sell one. Just don't forget to check the series' company guidelines before you create the fanart.
I mainly sell Genshin or Hololive fan merchandise, combined with merchandises of my VTuber children when they allow it. At the end of the day it's someone else's IP. They're the only one who have the right to allow or disallow you to use their characters at their own discretion.
It can also vary from creator to creator when it comes to massive companies, for example, Dana, the creator of The Owl House is SUPER supportive of fanart, which might not be the case for another show's creator
then how does comic con exist? people sell disney princess and marvel stuff all the time.
@@MsMvsc I was talking about my personal view, not what is right or wrong in general. I don't know about comic con as I don't live there, but from my experience with comiket (Japan), we do sneak some fanarts that aren't allowed by the organizers (ex: R18 artworks of certain series that the companies/original artists explicitly forbid).
Huh? They don't allow creating it either? 😭
Cona are typically more relaxed,and you get away with more. Its much harder to go after someone whos selling in a hall for three days then online listings that are always there if you get what I mean. It's still illegal, its just very unlikely you will face any reprcussions.
In the eyes of the law just MAKING the fan art is illegal. So with that stingy draconian standard i refuse to care
huh?? since when is even MAKIGN it illegal? /gen
Basing your morals off of the law and not vice versa is not the take you think it is. Also you're just flat out wrong, making fan art isn't illegal lol
@@mo7311 oh I never said anything about morals I just wanted to point out something I've heard but I'd be happy if that's not true. Like the video said I really think it depends
Like a big company who cares. Making fan art to sell from somebody's else's OCs and stuff that feels skummy. I heard the illegal thing from legal eagle but I don't think it was one of his videos unfortunately I don't know how I'd track it down
Huh? Since when? Ik here in germany it's legal, is it really illegal in the US (I'm assuming you're talking about the US)?
I can see a lot of this. AAs someone trying to get a book out, I see the artform there also having the same problems. But at the same time, a lot of stuff that they are doing is essentially fan fiction in and of itself. Sleeping Beauty, Greek Mythology, Robin Hood, King Aurthur and more have all had things changed, removed, and added to for both better and for worse. On the other hand, I can also see a creator wanting to protect their work, but still finding ways to roll with it. I believe the creator of Bayonetta asked the fan art community to not depict the namesake heroin in a submissive manner as a lot of fans were drawing her as. Could be apocryphal and not have actually happened. Nor does it mean its official therefor its good (last three seasons of Game of Thrones anyone?).
Imo, it depends. If the creator of the original work allows selling fan art or selling fan merchandise out of their works, then absolutely yes. But if not, it’s better to not do it.
Like I even want fan art of fan art. Like the MHA Viridian time travel au. Like the writer should have a patreon or a kofi or whatever it’s called.
Better than cannon.
Or even webcomic series like Undertale ones where they are really good and really long. Like I wanna make MHA au art and comics!!! But it’s just if I am unable to make anything off of a drawing or comic I’d have to do other stuff before that.
I'd LOVE to have someone make webcomics of my fanfic but I know that's not going to happen sadly.
meow meow the thumbnail
As someone who draws fanart, sells it, and buys fanart: it's not wrong at all. As long as someone isn't ripping an image off the internet, slapping it on something, and calling it theirs...as long as someone is actually doing the work required to draw, then it should be fine.
Also, I love when I see Otafest content when they post it, go "huh that looks familar...is that celestia's??", then I get to see that yes, it is, and I get to see how the piece is made in these videos.
wah
I love your videos, ms. Celestia!!
It's illegal. As someone who makes fan art, I wish it weren't true, but every piece of fan art is illegal, even if it's not being sold, and just shown online, illegal. The original copyright owner could at any moment swoop in and issue a takedown. It's like kids sledding on a golf course though. So many people do it, it just doesn't matter, so most original Copyright just don't. Although some are forced to. In order to maintain their original copyright. Copyright law sucks, and is basically horrible for everyone. It creates more problems than the original it's trying to create. It's why even when this whole ai mess started taking over, the thing I was most afraid of was a tightening of copyright and massive accusations of theft. You could have literally never seen the little mermaid, but if you create a mermaid and make her a redhead. Violation.
Sometimes fan art is better quality than the official art. But some fan art is hurtful and damaging. It's one thing to make fan art, but it's another thing to fix canon depictions with one's own opinions. However there's also toxic responses to fan work like rooster teeth copyright claiming fan animations of RWBY despite being a company that made Red vs Blue as a parody of games like call of duty
Thanks so much for these videos they mean so much to me!
This video has come in handy seeing I'm righting a essay on this axsact topic 😅😊. Would you mind linking some your sources in the description I would like to read further into them.
😅
in my opinion you should be able to sell fanart. I mean for many years artists have been drawing other people with or without them knowing it and selling it. There's also religious art that is basically fanart in its own way. So pretty much since the creation of art people haven't only been creating original characters and environments.
Now of course not everything we continue to do and has been doing is good but I feel like in general this is harmless. I see much more positives for all partys rather than negatives. I mean it is free advertising for for the brand. The artist can have fun making art for something they love. And the viewer will get more content from the brand they love (and getting more engagement with the community which will likely mean they continue to stay with that franchise longer). Or will bring more people in.
As someone who has autism and very much has fixations it is a dream come true if I could make a living off just doing stuff and making art of those fixations. And if I had made my original characters and story personally I'd feel honored and so incredibly happy if I came across fan art.
I think it should be fine as long as the artist isn't claiming it as their own characters or something.
For the royalty fee I'm quite conflicted. I feel like a fee may hurt many smaller creators who may not have that extra amount of money to spend on it. Especially considering the fact that fan art is what a lot of commissioners get commissioned to do. Especially for teens or young adults who may be just starting out their artists career and starting to sell their work but their parents won't let them pay for the rights to sell it. Especially if they haven't made much money off of it yet. I also don't feel like huge companies (and I'm talking like big ones like Genshin impact, Call of Duty, Mario and so on) shouldn't have a royalty fee or it should be very very low considering they make a lot of money off their games alone. Now that leads to another dilemma which is for smaller brands. On one hand they could charge more so they get more to support themselves and the brand. But that also will likely mean less artist would buy the royaltys to it considering bigger brands that will likely get them more popularity and money have theirs much cheaper. And only artists who want to help support the company will likely get it. On the other hand selling it for cheaper then larger companies may also mean they won't get what they deserve from it. I feel like the cost would also depend on which the environment you sell it in. For example if you sell art at conventions the fee may be different than being a commission artist and commission artist will likely have more restrictions/rules.
Overall I feel like royalty fees are a lot harder to work out with drawings. I can see both sides but currently I think it's better without a fee.
I honestly didn't know it was a controversial topics since most spaces I hang out in do fandom and OC/Canon commissions all the time 😅 The one incident I've heard of with someone getting in some trouble was when an nsfw Pokémon artist ended up getting sued for a commission, if I remember correctly.
Then again, Nintendo can be strict with their IP in terms of fanart. Still kinda sucks that you can't commission something involving a game or show without potentially getting in trouble.
I'm hella bias on this topic but I'm going to say something anyways. 😅
I'm a huge Undertale fan both canon and AUs and what most people don't realize is that Undertale itself *is also* a fan made game! If the creator of Undertale, Tody Fox, wasn't a fan of Earth Bound then Undertale and Delta Ruins wouldn't exist! Meaning that artist of alternative timelines/universes wouldn't have created their works that inspired me to become an artist! I owe my artistic career and passion to fan art and without it, I probably won't be where I am today!
Great video. This is a very interesting debate. I see the selling of fan art at cons all the time. Personally, I think the art world would be stronger and more interesting with original content at cons. Do we need yet another fan art print of a scantily clad drawing of Sailor Moon? Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
all I'm saying is that without Fanart, a lot of big fandoms such as Kantai Collection, Touhou, Azur Lane, Genshin Impact etc. simply wouldn't exist.
OMG *i* USE MILANOTE! i WAS LITERALLY ON IT WHILE WATCHING THIS VIDEO
The is the earliest I've seen on your your vids
funny how i was drawing gin akutagawa (yes, from bsd) fanart while watching this
If I had the energy to finally draw and post the comics I've been working on for years, tbh, if I had the luck that ppl like my stories, I would allow ppl to make merch and sell it. First off bc that's one way one gets to have their story talked about, GI taught me how that's free publicity, specially if it's BL, because most of the ppl who draw, ship mlm, the least I could do is allow my fans to sell merch, besides, maybe they would eventually buy some merch from me too, for being "the official merch", maybe I'm helping someone have a meal through that merch they sell, maybe I just wanna be happy and for ppl to enjoy my stuff and be happy as well. This is smth I already do with my adoptables, I allow ppl to resell it, after all, if they like my work, they may buy again if they know they can resell, that's what money is for, it comes and goes, it circulates.
Also, i actually advocate for ppl having fun with fiction, if I had my comic be popular, and ppl loved the characters and they want to ship them in the most crack shipping way, I would just allow that because it's FICTION, I know what it's like to have fun with those things, I want ppl to experience the joy I did with my fav series and games.
Honestly to me, while it isn't wrong to sell fanart, the artists need to be aware that they are profitting off someone's ip. If someone were to sell arts of their fanarts of my oc claiming it's their own, i would feel sad because they didn't make the character. I think a good balance is to draw your original characters and balance it with fanart. If i looked at a portfolio and they made so many fanarts but cannot create their own characters then i would question what their skills are you know? Not everyone needs to write ocs and draw them but balancing them with fanart is a win for the artist, not a bane
If the artist have added their special, personal style on their fanart.
I will buy it.
*That it.*
My app is glitched and says this video has 75K likes
Celestia, how do you feel about your popularity breaking the bounds of time?
To be honest ive been questioning this as well ^^; ive seen fnaf and ena merch but i wasnt sure if it was allowed i always wanted to make fanart merch but i don't it just confusing
OMG NEW CELESTIA VIDEO HELL YEAH!!
Yes.(also no if there is permission etc. lmao)
Did you draw a dragon in this video?
It's weird seeing this be discourse when Patreons and ESPECIALLY doujinshi culture is sort of normalized.
Has someone already made a comment relating to Gumball's "The Shippening"? Just sayin. 🤭
excellent nuance, thank you
No it isn't
Source: I said so
For real though fan art MAKES fandom and elongates the life of any series and the official merchandise linked to it. Most brands are realizing by now that it is valuable and they should not be fighting it and they don't mind us profiting from it because they benefit just as much. They usually don't mind as long as we are individuals selling our transformative work and not corporations who have not paid for licensing rights. There is an in-between spot there where it gets muddy as some indie shops are getting pretty big these days but generally that is the unspoken rule.
7:12 Moral rights theory sound like the inverse of "separate the art from the artist". That is, it argues that the artist is inherently entitled to a particular interpretation of their work, and that if you think differently, you can just go &@*# yourself.
16:58 "Originality is undetected plagiarism" is... interesting, if only because the AI bros have appropriated the shit out of this argument.
24:59 I'd be OK with this, except that pretty much *every* large corporation hates the idea of a compulsory licensing regime where you can just pay money and get a license. They have fought tooth and nail to prevent the same situation that happens with music covers from happening anywhere else. They want the right to say no, not the right to be paid.
This is not because they think artistic creativity with other people's work is equivalent to rape (though I have heard Nintendo fans argue that, which is deeply appalling to me). It's because withholding consent gives owners more negotiating leverage. If the government says "fan artists can pay 10% of their gross sales and get a license", then you can't ask for 20%. More generally, the underlying logic of copyright is that any fan art at all is a sale that the original creator can no longer make. I *hate* this concept, but it's the one that carries water with legislators, so it's the shitty system we get.
big companies have enough cash already, they can survive without that $15 i got from fanart
Technicality -- if the original creator *might consider selling* something along the lines of the fan work, then you could be considered to be competing against the original creator
7:15 Undertale has a HUGE problem with that. There's so much disgusting fanart out there that a lot of people actually think the game is p*rnographic.
i saw chuuya so i clicked
I think selling fanwork should be fine. Realistically, it's not really going to impact sales of official merch (we know this because people are already selling fanmade merch, it's often just "legally distinct" (ex. punkitt's "party horse" stickers)) and besides plenty of fandoms dont even have merch, whether because they're obscure or because they just don't bother.
Tbf, your opinions on this heavily depends whether or not you support capitalism
as with everything, the problem is capitalism, if we didn't have to protect our intellectual property rights to make money off them, I don't think many would care about copying or adapting all that much, unless it would be something outright offensive which we do have unfortunately.
Tbh there should be a law if fanart is sold some % would go to the author of that character
3:03 im only here and here is my stance on this so far
1) I am 100% pro free speech and free expression, thus i don't mind the creation of fanart.
2) I dislike commercial use of fanart, because at this point it's simply stolen property. This includes publicizing it on SNS for example. name, branding, etc this is also all commercial use, even if not a direct sale. I know there are few companies who give explicit permission (with certain rules) to do and sell fanart/products, such as Hoyoverse, most don't. So legally speaking most other things are actuallly sue-able. And ethically/morally? speaking, I think it's just as bad as using certain AI generated Art (ppl claim it to be, i don't necessarily agree on that).
6:20 I personally not care about "sufficiently original" if someone takes a character, they take that character (same with fanfic). No matter if AU, different hair, other clothing, OOC, different style, other medium, no matter what, its still a character they did not create.
26:00 this is kinda of an "entitled" attitude. "lets just take their stuff as long they dont explicitly randomly state they dont want it" rather than making the effort to get that statement first. Yes ofc it's hard, not convenient etc. It's the same as piracy. Now I don't judge ppl for doing doing that negatively, as long as they don't try to justify it or make it somehow morally right.
Again, it just doesn't sit right with me. if you wanna be creative then BE creative and do ur own stuff, instead of taking other things and "do it in ur own style" kind of thing. If you want to express something with fanart, because u love whatever it is, then do that. Don't advertise with it, use it's name or sell it in any way.
it reminds of like: [fanartist]: oh man disney always doing remakes lately. nothing new/original anymore
> Making Fan-art doesn't make the original brand lose anything, it's advertising, and people would go for official merch if they could, they simply go for fanart because official merch sucks 95% of the time and is unaffordable or unshippable in their country.
> You comparing fanart to AI is incredibly disrespectful and weird. I can't even explain without losing my mind on how wrong you are.
> Fan-art. it's in the name, nobody is trying to approriate the franchises material. In that sense, selling fan-merch vs selling self-branded merch that contains pre-existing intellectual properties is a whole different can of worms. selling fanarts is more indie and doesn't result in much, plus you are respecting its franchise and not claiming it as your own intellectual property, the only thing is the physical artist effort. On the other hand, branding and selling something that is clearly pre-existing brand, is like stealing the franchise or character to make your own , its like bootlegs. Which exist, a lot. bootlegs is a grey area. While morally wrong, someone can get away with it if they change the material enough, and to be honest, that's fair. Like imagine a pikachu but pink with different ears and different cheeks. The inspiration is clear but you can't copy right claim that, especially if you name it bubblebear instead.
> I don't know your personal extent of what is considered original if someone is highly inspired by a pre-existing character, honestly. There's bound to be resemblance, we see them everywhere. some are blatantly stealing (bootlegs are easy to spot) so i could see that if someone is creating their own franchise and trying to brand it but 99% of it looks like a copy pasted, that would be stealing property. Like people making spider-man, im sorry but if you copy spider-man it's going to be blatant.
> *Every inspiration comes from an agglomeration of content we consume, so at the end of the day, everything we create is subject to copyright claim if you go this far.*
> Funny thing is Disney has bootlegged and stolen stuff from other artist since forever. They aren't doing fan-made stuff, they just completely stolen without crediting the source. The lion king is an example.
Nuh uh
ikr like i drew trump x megamind fanart which in my opinion made megamind even BETTER (im not joking i drew multiple pieces of megamind x trump art)
Characters that I drew for the Best Fanart Contest 2024 📄✏🖍💖
Yoh, Amidamaru and Anna from Shaman King
Goku, Chichi and Bulma from Dragon Ball
Monkey D. Luffy, Nico Robin and Nami from One Piece
Naruto and Hinata from Naruto Shippuden
Tanjiro and Kanao from Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba
Ranma, Ryoga and Akane from Ranma 1/2/Inuyasha, Kouga and Kagome from Inuyasha/Ataru and Lum from Urusei Yatsura
Train and Kyoko from Black Cat
Eren and Mikasa from Attack On Titan
Deku, Bakugo and Uraraka from My Hero Academia
Meliodas, Elizabeth and Diane from Seven Deadly Sins
Natsu and Lucy from Fairy Tail
Shaggy, Scooby Doo, Fred, Velma and Daphne from Scooby Doo
Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo and April O'Neil from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Ryu and Chun Li from Street Fighter
Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beastboy from Teen Titans
Fred, Barney, Dino, Wilma and Betty from The Flintstones
Martin Mystery, Diana Lombard, Java the Caveman and Billy from Martin Mystery
SpongeBob Squarepants, Sandy Cheeks and Mindy from SpongeBob Squarepants
Pomni, Ragatha, Gangle, Jax and Kinger from The Amazing Digital Circus
Momotaro and Urikohime from Forever After Webcomic
Katie, Kevin, Martina, Molly, Marc, Nicole, Alice, Stephan, Lucas, Anabelle, Beatrice, Francesca, Daniel, Michaela, Vanessa, Alexia, Valerie, Maggie, Liam, Emilly, Lillia, Momotaro, Kaguya Hime, Urashima Taro, Otohime, Kintaro, Urikohime, Issun Boshi, Sun Wukong, Jade Princess, D'Artagnian, Porthos, Athos, Aramis, Amelie, Arthur, Vivianne, Leilani, Kanekehili, Jason, Penelope, Wurruna, Anjea, Little Red Riding Hood, Friedrich, Diego, Isabella, Quetzalcoatl, Xochiquetzal, Bastet, Anubis, Anansi, Zuri, Vasilisa, Ivan, Glooscap, Atahensic, Guillaume, Jacqueline, Duncan, Sierra, Baatar, Zhana, Lesley, Evelyn, Rama and Sita from Puppy In My Pocket
Magic (dog), Bella (dog), Princess Ami (cat), Mela (cat), William (dog), Balloon (cat), Danny (dog), Wallace (dog), Eva (cat), Zull (dog), Gort (dog), Krakia (crow), Evershell (turtle), Durilia (crocodile), Toby (dog), Goldie (hamster), Robbie (American robin), Slowpoke (turtle), Juno (dog), Orilliam (pig), Sketch (dog), Swimmy (dolphin), Dr. Carrot (rabbit), Pinna (goldfish), Phoebe (dog), Pia (dog), Ginevra (horse), Kikki (dog), Frankie (dog), Leo (dog), Otto (dog), Camo (cat), Ribbon (baby chick), Tray (dog), Lenny (monkey), Precious (pheasant), Luna (rabbit), Virgo (lamb), Diana (moon moth), Rocky (sea turtle), Coral (tropical reef fish), Maomao (cat), Amethyst (turtle), Crystal (silkmoth), George (cat), Maybelline (parrot), Blush (horse), Elliote (falcon), Malorie (dog), Charlie (cat), Polly (hedgehog), Angela (Hawaiian honeycreeper), Matthew (sea turtle), Sylvester (dolphin), Octavius (octopus), Oscar (tropicbird), Gabriella (swallow), Andy (wallaby), Bouncer (bandicoot), Carmen (numbat), Star (billby), Roxy (dog), Freddy (squirrel), Charcoal (cat), Lilly (dog), Obsidian (snake), Ruby (bat), Holly (cat), Zachary (jackal), David (spider), Glimmer (butterfly), Millie (cat), Chase (wolf), Joshua (turtle), Mary (bobcat), Alex (peacock moth), Roderick (dog), Briana (Mexican tree frog), Tony (anole), Rufus (ground squirrel), Manisha (sandfish lizard), Harry (longhorn beetle), Sarah (cat), Patch (tiger) and Faith (dog) from Puppy In My Pocket