#gabe-baeham

[philsterman01]

PLEASE SLEEP ITS 12:07AM AND ITS NECESSARY FOR YOU TO BE HEALTHY AND GETTING THOSE NICE HOURS OF SLEEP! (ngl I should sleep too but then I noticed you were awake and LBC isn't gonna put up with your lack of sleep m8)

Sorry @gabe-baeham this time I’m going to be up for personal reasons...I’m gonna stay up as long as I can

[littleblackchat]

ok sorry if this is a hassle but I just wanted to see an opinion from a tumblr artist on this topic. if someone saw your fanart, edited it, & then submitted it to create a product (backpack etc.) for themselves or possibly manufacture it, WITHOUT your permission, would you be upset? A friend told believes this is ok though I don't view it that way so I just wanted to see how an artist would feel about this. (To clarify I am just talking about fanart)

You mean how do I feel about people stealing (and then being brats about it on top of it)??

Art thieves be like

“LOLOLOLOL I SAW THIS ART SO IT BELONGS TO MEEEEEE”

Like, no. Just... no.

I’m assuming you’re talking about the person who recently took someone else’s MLB fanart and used it to make a backpack, but this applies to everyone:

STEALING IS NOT OK. IF IT DOESN’T BELONG TO YOU (you didn’t make it/buy it) AND YOU TAKE IT ANYWAY, IT’S STEALING. DON’T DO IT.

The person who did the backpack thing did SO many things wrong:

1) Posting it online

Did they intend to sell more? Were they using it to get likes?? Either way, they were using someone else’s hard work for their own benefit, and that’s not cool.

2) Using art without permission, aka theft (no matter how people like to spin it so they can pretend they didn’t do anything wrong)

When you buy a shirt or a bag or whatever from the store with a design on it, that design/artwork didn’t just fall from the sky. The Art Fairy didn’t leave it under the manufacturer’s pillow at night. Someone was PAID to make that design for the specific purpose of that use. Even then, the company usually has limits to a number of products or type of products they can make with that specific artwork before they have to re-negotiate with the artist again. Some artists cut out this middle step and sell items with their art on it on sites like CafePress. In both of these situations, the artist is getting paid for their work, and they have control over the use of their art.

Paying people for the hard work they do, WHAT A CONCEPT, RIGHT, ART THIEVES?? 

When you steal someone’s art to make your own products, you’re basically sending a big “fuck you” to the artist who worked hard on that art (art which you obviously enjoyed, which makes it even worse - why steal from people who are already doing you free favors???). The product company (who made the shirt, backpack, etc.) gets money. You get a cool product. But the artist, the one who put in the most time and effort?? They get nothing. That’s not cool.

3) Using non-sanctioned art from an official series

For original art or companies who have ok’ed fan products, only #1 and #2 apply, but because the stolen art in question was MLB stuff, it’s even worse. ZAG has officially stated that fans may not produce fanwork for sale (though they’ve made a few, rare exceptions for charity projects). That means the backpack person not only stole from the fanartist, they also stole from ZAG/Miraculous Ladybug. They could even get the fanartist in trouble with ZAG. 

Remember, ALL Miraculous Ladybug fan products for sale are ILLEGAL as per ZAG’s fan policies. The only exceptions I’ve seen so far have either involved Hawkdaddy directly, or he’s promoted them on his twitter. 

TL;DR: Don’t be a goddamn thief.

 If something doesn’t belong to you, don’t take it. I thought people learned that in kindergarten, but I guess when people selfishly want something for themselves they just conveniently forget basic morals. 

I feel like deep down, even art thieves know this (if I went to an art thief’s house and stole their shoe, or their homework, or whatever, they’d be mad, right???). People just don’t bother to think about it because they’d rather focus on what they want rather than what they know is right or wrong. 

This has been a PSA.