You needn’t be on the internet for long before you encounter some manner of fan art. In a day and age where everyone self identifies as a geek, or some manner thereof, more and more people are creating and consuming fan art, or fan works, in one way or another.
“But, what is fan art?” some of you may be asking. For the answer to this query, we go to Wikipedia:
Fan art or fanart are artworks created by fans of a work of fiction (generally visual media such as comics, movies, television shows, or video games) and derived from a character or other aspect of that work. As fan labor, fan art refers to artworks that are neither created nor (normally) commissioned or endorsed by the creators of the work from which the fan art derives.
A lot of fan art is beautiful, and I will go on record as saying that some of it may even be better than the original content.
However, the world of fan art can get sticky.
Very few copyright issues are as divisive as fan creations. Whether it be fan fiction or fan art, it exists in a weird grey area that could at any time be considered copyright infringement depending on who you ask. A lot of creators think that fan works are great, and love seeing the things that their fans create because they were inspired by the creator’s work. But there are some who straight up hate the stuff — like Anne Rice, or Diana Gabaldon — who will go through the motions of having fan work removed from whatever site that they’re on or simply be extremely outspoken against it. And there are others who kind of just ignore it.
Basically, copyright law states that the copyright holders have the sole right to distribute derivative works based on an original creation. This includes sequels and any other work that includes copyrightable elements from the original creation.
Fan works could be considered copyright infringement, trademark violation, and yet there are only a handful of cases where fan artists and writers have had legal action taken against them. Lawsuits over fan works are extremely rare. The golden rule is basically don’t attempt to make a profit from your fan art, and no lawyers representing Marvel, Star Trek, Doctor Who, etc. will come knocking on your door.
While the world of fan art and copyright can be confusing, the official protocol of fan art and theft or reposting of fan art by others is practically non-existent. Copyright law protects the original creator, but what about the creator of the fan work? Not so much.
It’s nothing new. People have been stumbling upon fan art that they like and reposting it without proper credit for as long as fan art has existed. The problem lies with people who do it maliciously, either claiming the work as their own, or refusing to credit the people who spend hours working on their art and honing their craft.
Make no bones about it, creating fan art, while extremely rewarding can also be a pain in the butt. It can take hours, even days, to bring a piece that you see in your mind onto the page (or screen). It’s hard, often thankless work, but the artists who create find rewarding one way or another. A lot of fan artists create because people love to see their work, while also building a nice portfolio for themselves. On top of that, fan art becomes a gateway into creating original characters and content for most fan artists.
And that’s why it’s always disheartening to see fellow fans take advantage of your kindness in contributing to the fan community essentially stealing from you.
In recent days, a Twitter account called G33k Life has come under fire from many in the geek and art communities for not only reposting fan art without the knowledge or consent of the artists, but also seemingly refusing to give credit where credit is due, even when asked to.
Those who are running the account are under the impression that if the content is already available on the internet, that they don’t need to give credit to the artist. They can simply repost the content while making virtually no effort to loop the creator of the work into the fold, while being passive aggressive to anyone who suggests they do.
However, there have been instances of artists reaching out asking for credit, or someone recognizing a piece of work and suggesting giving the artist credit, and then being blocked by the G33K Life account. Instead of taking down the art that they have reposted without permission and without credit, G33K Life simply blocks people who even hint at displaying some common decency, or even anyone who likes the Tweets suggesting that they do so.
As of writing this, the writer is blocked, and was upon initially stating that the owners of the account credit the creators of the fan art that they were posting. They are unapologetic, and were initially directing people calling them out to this link, which deals with copyright in the manner of creators of the original content and fan art, but doesn’t at all address the issue of creators of fan art having their art essentially thieved. Directing people to it (which they then inevitably block) serves little to no purpose to the point that they are trying to prove.
In age where doing a reverse Google Image Search makes it almost impossible to not know where any artwork or image originally came from, the attitude of those running the G33K Life account almost comes across as wanting to be contentious for the sake of being contentious. By refusing to give credit where credit is due, apologize for or acknowledge transgressions that they have been called out for by artists and fans alike, they are basically the personified equivalent of plugging their ears with their fingers going “la la la!”
There is absolutely no reason to post artwork or images that aren’t yours without giving credit to the original artist unless you actually want to be seen as the one who originally created it. The only reason being that they want the praise for the content shared, instead of the artist receiving the praise for actually creating it. Just because the content is readily available on the internet, or wasn’t personally sent to you, does not mean that you can repost without credit. Even if there are no laws against it, no rules about what you can and cannot do, it’s about common decency.
It’s okay to be wrong sometimes. We’re only human. The problem lies in how we deal with being wrong. Do we acknowledge the mistakes that we have made, or do we act as if that anyone who dares to tell us that we are wrong is a personal slight against us?
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