a little rant on social media's fashion about fanart and credits.

[aragarna]

Social media are fun, if you're into this sort of things. Especially in fandom. I do like the pretties making my wall all beautiful. That's the main reason why I follow certain accounts. (I also follow a couple of ISS astronauts for that very reason, they post cool pictures).

But here is the thing. As a doodling artist, I've been making fanart ever since I've been given a computer (and photoshop). Over the years, I've taken the habit to put my name on the important things I do, like wallpapers. I'm pretty much aware that people don't really care for who did a pretty wallpaper when they want to make their desktop shiny, so I usually put my name in a corner at the bottom. Making it readable, but small enough that the menu bar (granted, if you're on Windows) would hide it. But at least, if someone else repost it without asking, there'll be my name somewhere. I don't do it for the credit or the glory. I just do it for fun, but I do find it irritating when I randomly find my art posted somewhere and the poster is acclaimed for posting it, or when some obscure celebrity image site put my art in their gallery...

This kind of situation used to be very occasionnal. Most people would *not* repost someone else's work somewhere else. But with Social Media now, where it's ALL about reposting and collecting followers and likes, it's very different.

Not only do those people repost without crediting you, they would even erase your name, and put theirs instead. So they would get the credit for using Google Image and posting a picture. And it's not even just fanart, it's whatever photos a crew or cast member has been nice enough to share. They put their fan account name on it. And not in the corner, no no, right in the middle, so that you can't erase it, nor ignore it. If you want to repost it, you'll have their name. If you want to save it, you'll have their name on it. And you can't even go back to the source, because they don't credit the original.

I'm not obsessed about credit. I don't mind people saving my stuff and using them on their computer. If I share, it's so that people can use. I don't even mind people posting my stuff on their account, as long as they don't make it look like it's theirs. I don't think I should put my name on each icon I make. I don't really care. I'm just happy to see them floating around LiveJournal. Even, I wish I didn't have to tag my personal set photos. I don't really like having someone's tag on photos I want to save to my hard drive. But after discovering some of my own photos reposted on forums or social media without my consent, and more recently, people claiming that MY artworks were theirs because they added their name on it, I realized I had to put my name on anything I was sharing online, because it's not just about collecting things anymore, it's about reposting and collecting followers.

And apparently, now, not only do you have to put your name on everything but it has to be annoying enough that it can't be cropped out. So here you go. My last creation, a shiny Neal Caffrey wallpaper. You like ?

And because I'd better do it right, I did use a screencap made by kanarek13 and a texture background created by vamp-kiss.
Wallpaper with a more discreet credit available here.

Comments

[dennih23.livejournal.com]

It is so frustrating that people will just take credit for someone else's work. Fandom is supposed to be for fun, and yet it seems that a few will try and ruin it for everyone else. I try to mark all the icons and photos I use with the artist that made the work.

[kanarek13]

Love the wallpaper and love how it looks with your name on it, almost like Zorro, lol :D

But yeah, it's a major WTF. I can understand someone finding an image somewhere and reposting it, the siggy is there so it's still kinda tagged with the proper credit. But taking a pic, erasing the author's name and putting your own on it and then claiming it as their own creation - there is just no excuse for that.

[leesa_perrie]

I always put who the icon is by on my user pic page, so if someone comments about an icon I haven't made, I can say who made it (though, as you know, I once put the wrong name down for one of your icons *headdesk*). I also tag (via the filename) all the wallpapers etc that I save to my computer, so I know who made what.

I could be better at naming screencap resources, I think that's more a case of getting into the habit. At least I do it on daily_neal, but yeah, could do better on the artwork side with that.

Trouble with fandom is that there's always some who want to take credit for things they haven't made or written. I wish it wasn't so.

Love the wallpaper, btw. Very dreamy... *goes off to stare some more*

[chicca01.livejournal.com]

What a pity that you have to do this clarification, this things shouldn't happen. Why people can't just say "look what I found? XY did it and it is great" . where is the funny in takes something that is not yours???
BTW...your Neal wallpaper is perfect ;-)

[sandy79.livejournal.com]

I totally understand your rant, and I know the problem from some writers over at ff.net, where complete stories are copied and presented as their own, sometimes without even the slightest changes. It's not fair and definitely not justifiable, in even the slightest way, to steal (which it simply is) things others put effort and time into creating it. Not to mention that solving the problem (if possible to start with) is most of the time a long and tedious road.

As for your artworks, my dear, I save them to my hard drive, primilary for my personal enjoyment. But even there, I file them under the creator's name. If I use one, I will always give credit where credit's due, since I only can bow to you (and all the other artists out there) for your seemingly endless talent.

PS: love the "discreet" wallpaper version (that cap is from Season 6, right?) Thanks for sharing!

ETA: do you know why my comments are suddenly marked as spam???

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

why are you marked as spam ?!?! I unspammed you. No idea why... Hopefully they'll fix that.

They do that for fanfics ?! Seriously ?
I know that a few months ago a sort of bot journal here was stealing fanfic posts (or anything tagged "fanfic") but at least since most writer put their name in the header, it didn't look like it was someone else's work.
WOW that really sucks.

Thank you for the credit. It's truly appreciated. Though like I said, I wouldn't really mind if you were saving it without paying attention to the credit if it's just for your personal use. I share my stuff so that people can use them, and I'm just happy that people like what I do.

Yes, that's a shot from episode 6x05. Neal is always beautiful, but in that shot he *really* is *really* beautiful.

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)
Yeah, I think the bottom line is really that they want more followers and likes to their fan accounts, so they post all the stuff they can find and want to show they're important and have cool stuff...

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Yeah I'm not very good at tracking screencaptures either. Though they're either mine or Kanarek's so that makes it easier. ;)

Heee don't worry about the icon mix-up. ;) I do appreciate that you credit. :)

"dreamy" is the right word for that shot of Neal. :)

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Hehe I should make a character Super Credit, the superhero who defends artists LOL (though I think that should be Anod's title, she's the one who always tracks down *all* credits and all the bad people!)

Yeah, deliberately taking my name off the wallpaper was the cherry on the cake. (And if she didn't on the previous ones it's just because she hadn't even seen the name...)

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

yes that's frustrating.
Most people do things right, especially on places like LJ, where there's mostly artists and writers, who understand the importance of it. But there's this bunch of young people on instagram that are really annoying...

[treonb.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is horrible. It doesn't really help, but at least your art is so good, people want to put their name on it ;-)


I'm not sure how much it would help, but it's possible to embed the copyright info in the digital file. that way you can prove ownership no matter what anybody does with it.

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I could do that. But it's not like I'm gonna sue them or anything. Usually I just say "hey that's mine" and that's enough...
It's just annoying but I'm not going to press charges. Oh wait, that's a White Collar crime. I am totally pressing charges. And I want Agent Burke on it.

(though given the grey areas of using caps and making vids, I'm not actually sure I really should... ;-) )

[chicca01.livejournal.com]

O yes Ara you really need to call Agent Burke for this ;-)