The fanartists in the One Direction fandom are definitely the most talented bunch that I have ever come across and am proud to be a part of. HOWEVER, I have also been astounded by the amount of disrespect that we receive by some people in this fandom.
Us artists make all this fanart because we want to. Not because we have to. We do this out of the goodness of our hearts, taking time out of our lives because we want to share our art with you guys. So much time and effort goes into each post we make and when it gets stolen and discredited we get more and more inclined to stop making art all together. When someone erases our signature it takes away any ownership we have over the art. How would you feel if something you spent hours working so hard on is taken away from you? Like shit I bet. I know the feeling.
I have had my artworks stolen, manipulated, discredited and completely disrespected numerous times, and so have many other artists. Its gotten to a point where we have to keep an eye out on 1D art competitions to see if anyone has stolen our art and report it. And unfortunately, the fact that Zayn has been appreciating fanart more publicly recently means that there has been an increase in art with the original artist’s name erased and replaced by another tweeted at him for his attention.
Perhaps its due to a large chunk of this fandom not being educated enough about how to treat art and creative content, so this is me EDUCATING YOU.
Don’t repost art without the artist’s consent.
Fanartists are motivated by the amount of feedback and love we get from you guys. One form of this is the amount of notes that a post has. By reposting art instead of reblogging, retweeting or liking the art you are effectively taking away that feedback from the artist. If your only intention is to spread the love for this artist by posting it on a social media platform that the artist is not on, then make sure you ask the artist for their consent before posting it.
Don’t alter the art without the artist’s consent.
We spend hours perfecting our skill, style and art. When you alter it in any way its basically insulting our talent and decisions as an artist. One of my past artworks of an OT5 drawing was altered because it was too “Larry”. If you want an artwork that caters to your tastes then create it yourself or find another art account. Don’t alter a finished work just because you like it better that way.
Don’t use any part of the artwork for your own creations without the artist’s consent.
You want to make a video? An edit? Any creative material that contains the artwork? Make sure you’ve asked the original artist first before doing it and give credit where its due.
Don’t erase/alter the caption underneath the artwork.
Even if the caption says “AWURUNFEDIOJS:A"RK” you have no right to erase it from the original post because at least the artist has their url linked when you reblog with their caption so that others can find the original artist. And captions usually contain information about the art, perhaps dialogue, links to inspirational songs etc., so bottom line is don’t erase it.
Don’t send the boys any art without the artist’s consent.
Whether or not you are allowed to send art that is not yours to the boys depends on the artist and their content. I’m frankly fine with it as long as you give me credit and do nothing to alter my original artwork. But, this is different to every artist, because some artists create content that they absolutely do not want the boys to see. So please, before you go tweeting the boys, ask the artist if it is okay.
DO NOT ERASE THE ARTIST’S SIGNATURE
This is the absolute worst thing you can do to an artist. It means that you are erasing any sort of ownership that the artist has over the drawing and giving yourself credit for all the hard work that they have done. THIS IS STEALING ARTWORK. I’ve had many people erase my signature and insert their own and its basically the reason why I have watermarks all over most of my art now.
*Note To: Artists, please make sure you always have a legible signature on any art you post online because that is your stamp of copyright and ownership. For an extra blanket of protection, a watermark is a good idea !
Don’t profit off the artworks without the artist’s consent
You want a t-shirt with the artist’s design? Then go to the artist’s store to purchase one. If the artist doesn’t have a store, then ask them about it. Do not, under any circumstances use an artwork for merchandise and the like to sell and profit from. Its not yours, it’s the artist’s. Any profit form the product should go to the artist unless explicitly agreed upon by the artist and the seller themselves.
Entering competitions with stolen art also falls under this category: By entering a competition with another artist’s work you are taking away the profit (prize) that they would have gained if they themselves won said competition. If you want to design something for any competition, you do not have the right to use art that is not yours in any facet of the design without the consent of the original artist. And its entirely unfair for those entrants who worked hard on their own designs for the prize to be taken by an entrant with stolen art. Even though we have the right to take down stolen entries, the fact that we have to go to all the grief of contacting the competition organizers is just unnecessary if you all do the right thing.
To put it bluntly: profiting, altering, posting and using art without the artist’s consent is an infringement of copyright. And the artist is well within their rights to ask you to take it down and/or report you to the related organisation (i.e. tumblr, facebook, twitter, SONY). In severe cases they have the right to take legal action against you.
It boils down to the artist's consent. If you have their permission then you are allowed to do whatever it is you want to do with the art. But only if the artist has clearly given their consent. Check the artist’s FAQ about this information, and if its not there, send them a message. Its always good to check first if you are unsure.
I absolutely love being part of this fandom and creating art to entertain you guys as I am sure all my fellow fanartists are too. However, you guys need to respect us and our creative content by adhering to these basic principles. If not, you’re gonna be seeing tonnes of heavy watermarks all over beautiful fanart in an effort to protect our ownership. Or worst case scenario, we will stop making fanart all together x
PLEASE RESPECT THE ARTISTS.
snowghoul
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izzy806
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