Art thief! Or not.

[chipotle]

I’ve read Kyoht’s OMG ART THEFT post with a certain combination of ambivalence and amusement. I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who are artists and writers and some of them are very protective of their creations to a point where they go after anyone who’s appropriating what computer nerds would call a distinctive look and feel. In the software world, this is saying that you’re not just making something similar to an existing product in terms of intended market and feature set, but that you’re intentionally aping that product’s distinguishing usability and interface characteristics to capitalize on the existing brand.

And in the art world—particularly at the amateur and “quasi-pro” level of fandom—similar aping is pretty easy to spot. I first encountered Terrie Smith’s artwork not in furrydom but in ElfQuest fandom, and I had to look twice at some of her pictures to confirm they weren’t Wendy Pini sketches. (Terrie’s art style has changed since then and not for the best, but as Alton Brown would say: that’s another show.) In the late ’80s and early ’90s the number of furry fans who were in turn influenced by Terrie was uncountable. And today, primitive “therianthropic” art following the style of Dark Natasha and Goldenwolf is growing faster than kudzu.

I’ve seen this same thing in writing—to some degree, I’ve been a victim of it, as there’s been more than one Derysi clone in both fannish writing and MUCK characters out there, sometimes ones I wasn’t very happy about. (The ones I know of on FurryMUCK that actually are Derysi have my permission.) I’ve seen people get upset about characters who are too close in physical concept to their characters. I’ve even seen people put dire copyright warnings in their character description, apparently because somebody else came up with a character who was too close to their baby.

These people—and I mean this in the nicest possible way—are being stupid. Any computer nerd who’s been around a while can tell you that companies lose “look and feel” lawsuits. Every time.

See, “copyright” is only what the word implies: the right to make reproductions. You don’t get to photocopy Michael Whelan’s artwork, trace it, or duplicate it exactly freehand. But you do get to make your own original artwork that makes everyone think it was done by Michael Whelan (assuming you’re that good). You shouldn’t lift poses, but unless the original artist is suffering material (i.e., financial) harm from that lifting and is willing to go to court to recover damages, her practical recourse is to ask you to acknowledge the influence and stop being a mook.

Concepts and styles are not legally protected. You can trademark character names and likenesses, and even if you don’t put the little ™ symbol after their names, legally it’s a unregistered trademark. But unless the appearance of a “copy” of your specific, well-known character was so close that a layperson could confuse the two, proving plagiarism would be like trying to hammer in railroad spikes with your nose.

Kyoht’s art style and arylkia’s aren’t similar, except on a couple pictures (and even then, not much). What you have are rabid fanboys defending against the perception of plagiarism. We know this story: one fan saw this, told other fans to look at the similarities, and a lynch mob formed in internet time.

The punchline for this particular story is that Kyoht didn’t respond the way some other artists I’ve seen in similar situations have—essentially, to spontaneously combust. From “never posting on the internet again!” to “leaving the fandom forever!” we’re talking high-drama meltdowns whose end result is a pile-on of righteous anger directed at the perceived offender. And on an emotional level, I really understand this. I’ve experienced it a few times.

Kyoht didn’t get upset at Arylkia, though. Whether it’s because they already knew one another or because she understands that people can be influenced by the same things, be influenced by another, and sometimes even come up with nearly-identical ideas independently—and both of those are true—she got upset at the lynch mob.

As much as I like some of the artists who’ve done the combustion thing, as much as it has to be acknowledged that sometimes the “copying” artist has seriously breeched all standards of courtesy, etiquette and respect and deserves a swift kick in the ass, melodramatic, over-the-top responses don’t do anything other than make the responder look—well, melodramatic.

And as much as the fandom may not need other artists copying existing art styles, it needs drama explosions even less.

Watching the comments on Kyoht’s piece has been interesting—the general feeling seems to be: thank you for saying this.

You know what? Kyoht, thank you for saying that.

Comments

[bfdragon.livejournal.com]

Art is like science in a lot of ways, just less formal. It changes, evolves, and creates new ideas on the works of those who came before it. People get ideas and try it out, some of it works, some of it doesn’t, other people take from those ideas to try something else new.

Those artists had their inspirations that they built from, the things that they enjoyed. They probably at one time drew very much like another artist that they admired (I highly doubt that that they came up with all the complexities of drawing a representation of the physical world in 2d on their own).

Going beyond just the style of it though, to 'original creations' like characters. This is a bit more tumultuous ground, but, it's something I see a lot. While of course, I think some people need to have a bit more respect for the original work of someone else, I also think that a person really can't expect people to take inspiration from that, whether outright or subconsciously. IN fact, it seems to me it would be a very high form of complement? I can understand the desire to be able to get some regard for being original, but if that one aspect is the ONLY merit your creation has, then it is an awfully hollow creation.

I'm no fan of Cubism, but I can tell you it wasn't just the blocky forms that made people regard it with such respect, what Pablo Picasso did was much deeper then that. His style, for better or for worse, was a way to bring out something much deeper.

[alinsa.livejournal.com]

You can trademark character names and likenesses, and even if you don’t put the little ™ symbol after their names, legally it’s a unregistered trademark.

It's also worth noting that for something to be a trademark, it has to be used in commerce. Just using a name on a MUCK or an online story will grant you exactly zero ability to use that name as a trademark, in the legal senses of the term.

[cetasdolphin.livejournal.com]

Now only if they will learn this lesson on Macrophile.com in the terms of Ferris and that situation or any future situation for that matter. Personally I think that whole situation got overblown because of the parties involved egos and fanbases. Yes I like the art there but if I find someone copying or posting something similar to what is there I am not going to go cry 'wolf' or setup a lynch mob against someone who maybe completely innocent of any wrongdoing. Now art theft in the form of a picture being manipulatied physically by erasing the original artist's name and put theirs in its place I am all against as that is outright cheating but then most people seem to think the fandom is one big popularity contest or at least a game of "King of the Mountain".

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not particularly interested in taking "sides" in that example; after all, I'm at least a friendly acquaintance of Ferris's and I don't know Ice at all. I think you're basically right, although it's worth noting that some of the artists who seem particularly persnickety have gotten that way precisely because of the "King of the Mountain" syndrome you mention, but perhaps not in the way you think. Once an artist becomes a Big Name Fan, they run a risk of having people treat them as a means to an end--being friends with BNF or getting art from BNF is a status symbol! And when BNF gets prickly about being treated like an object rather than a person, then word quickly gets spread around that BNF is rude and obnoxious and doesn't appreciate all his fans.

You might be surprised how many BNFs who have a "bad reputation" were treated pretty poorly by fans. This is something I've also experienced myself to some degree, and by and large it's been through guilt by association: I'm friends with a BNF who's supposedly rude and elitist, therefore, I'm rude and elitist. I've realized over the years that the people who are most quick to throw accusations of cliquishness around are the people who are most given to cliquishness themselves, even though I suspect they don't recognize that.

[moonstalker.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's always been fascinating how many people view an artist's work not as a piece of art to be enjoyed, but a means to promote one's self to a higher standing in the fandom. It seems to create a mad scramble to faun and cling to the artist anytime they show up in a public place either online or off. Furry politics is quite amusing in all.

I've also seen the effects of what you call the BNF syndrome. What's really annoying is when YOUR friends start getting upset with you over your getting to know people they consider to be those same BNF's.

[brahma-minotaur.livejournal.com]

What's really annoying is when YOUR friends start getting upset with you over your getting to know people they consider to be those same BNF's.

You just made my brain hurt with that statement. They get upset with you for making friends, popular or no?

People are weird.

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

Yes, that can happen. I know there are some people who take my association with "the macrophile.com crew" to be all the reason they need not to associate with me. And, indeed, they don't--they just kind of mutter darknastythings about me and my projects to other people, without ever having actually, well, spoken to me. (And that's what I meant by the ones screaming "clique" the loudest often being the most cliquish themselves.)

[brahma-minotaur.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty low down dirty shame. You'd think I'd be used to hearing about that kind of stuff by now, but I'm not. I guess I'm still optimistic enough to think the best about humanity. I don't want to know what'll happen to make me stop thinking that way, either!

[cetasdolphin.livejournal.com]

well for starters I probably shouldn't have used that example or brought it here to begin with as the forum thread mentioning had died a quick death. Just that was the most recent example I could think of. Beleive me I do know about the way status symbols work online and such, though my position in such usually was on the bottom of such ladders. Sure I may make friends with so called BNFs but I don't treat them like objects I like to think I treat them like the people they are. My goal for when I was able to come online and found about the furry fandom was to make friends not become some status symbol, I am prefectly content to be a wallflower even if that does mean I don't get to interact much with anyone. I do tend to treat others the way I want to be treated at least online.

[typographer.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes…

My favorite is still the person who got all a dither thinking that the term "anti-matter" was a trademark of Paramount, and I shouldn't have used it in a science fiction story, because they'd come sue me…

[kobi-lacroix.livejournal.com]

In the software world, this is saying that you’re not just making something similar to an existing product in terms of intended market and feature set, but that you’re intentionally aping that product’s distinguishing usability and interface characteristics to capitalize on the existing brand.

The term I learned for that is cannibalism, though it was applied to advertising. However, I have seen it used in the wider economic context.
Either way, very good points, all. Thank you very much. Also, that's one of my favorite songs, so double awesome! ;)

OMG post theft

[gatcat.livejournal.com]

I can't believe you're stealing Kyoht's LJ material! Wicked, evil, bad scavenger!

[hyanan.livejournal.com]

Interesting read...thanks for posting!