twisted_ends (original) (raw)

I come across this often.
You would see "buy layouts!"
You go to check out what they have, even though you don't have any intentions of buying any.

And they use official artwork or photographs.
Maybe photographs of celebrities. Or anime/manga images that are obviously copyrighted.
People think it's okay to use anime/manga/celebrity images to make graphics.

The publishers do not like that, but we still do it. Why? Because we can't draw like the Japanese website owners can, and make our own graphics with people in it.

So we "borrow" graphics.
Great.
We don't make any money out of it and the companies get exposures, right?

So is it right to break that cycle and ask for money for things you create using official photographs or images? If you were going to sell something, then shouldn't you make everything from scratch?
If you are going to charge people for something, then you are obviously making a profit.

Becuase you did not pay for any of the images you used, and you used a "short cut", using someone else's work and just adding to it.
Don't web designers get upset when someone uses their work and adds effects/crops it/makes something new out of it?

But we do the same to the people who create the animes, draw the mangas, have their pictures taken to be published or take those pictures.
And some people don't stop there, but actually sell the products?

Many people who make brushes ask that companies that make profit through their websites, to not use them for their graphics.

Most animating companies are “not okay” with having their work ripped and put online nor are they “okay” with people making graphics out of it.
But we feel justified because we love using them and they “add” to whatever we are making.

But I really do not understand the concept of using those images and selling whatever they create that are not theirs to begin with.
Isn’t it like selling someone else’s artwork that you did not buy in the first place?

In order to “resell” something, you have to first buy it from the producers.
But in this time and technology, no one buys images and copyright from publishers.
Some may argue that they “bought the art books and scanned them; therefore I deserve credit.”
But what they bought was the art book. Not the copyright for reproducing the books.

I love getting images off of the internet and using them for my graphics.
I am sure many others agree. And without those people who scan the images for us, we have nothing to base our graphics upon. I am very grateful for those who take the time and effort, not to mention the life of their art books to give the rest of the internet the gift.

But I will not say that it is morally correct.

And I also realize that this is not the topic that I wished to discuss.
Back to the main point.

I believe that graphics are to be shared and adored. If they are created by the author, then they can sell them. But if the graphics use third party material, then I believe that they should not be distributed for profit.

The only times, I believe, graphics should be distributed is when the artists create everything from scratch; the artwork, the designs, the brushes, the coding.

Doujinshis and fanarts are often sold and bought. The artists create them “from scratch”. They simply use concepts that an artist created and made something completely different.

“Fanart” does not include traced art. Why? Because it is not “original”. They do not use their imagination to create it; just copy. So those cannot be sold.

Doujinshis and fanarts are more often than not approved by the manga artists. They do not mind their distribution and take them as honor and token of their works being liked.

Official images, on the other hand, are the products of their own work. Though I do not know how much the manga artists care about the whole “anime graphics community” phenomenon, I am sure they do not “approve” of them.
Because they are not deviating from their work, but rather, using their work and putting effects on them.

We can justify creating those graphics and sharing them: we’re all fans. But I do not know if we can justify selling them. Because to sell, I believe, mean that we are responsible for it’s whole making; not just the effects.

We generally look down upon the using of fanarts and doujinshis in graphics. We believe that they go against the artists’ wishes.
Not the official images are any different.

But think about using doujinshi images in graphics to sell them. Wouldn’t you agree that it’s immoral? How different are official images being used in graphics?
I don’t think I am the only one contemplating if it’s such a brilliant idea.

Tags: graphics, official art, selling