This article is meant to explain the relationship between Fan Art, celebrities, and the characters they portray.

First and foremost:

Portraits, pictures, photographs, drawings, paintings, etc. of a celebrity themselves (not in character) are not Fan Art.

Any artwork you create, or photograph you take which is of a celebrity themselves, be it portrait, full body, or somewhere in between should always be uploaded into the proper corresponding gallery (digital, traditional, photography etc.) in the people/portraits category.

:thumb35089247:

All of the above examples are not Fan Art, and reside in their respective galleries.

Furthermore artworks depicting rock stars, sport stars, etc. are also not considered to be Fan Art and should be uploaded into their rightful galleries under the people or portraits category.

So what about artworks or photographs that portray the celebrity as a character he/she has acted as or performed as?

These are Fan Art.

Images which depict the celebrity as a character and not as himself/herself are considered to be Fan Art.



All of the above examples are Fan Art and reside in their respective Fan Art Gallery categories.

In closing I hope this has helped clear up any questions that you may have had regarding Fan Art & Celebrities, remember, when in doubt, just ask, the Artist Relations Team is here to help.  For more information and regular updates regarding the Fan Art Gallery, please make sure to have the Gallery Director of Fan Art `animator on your watch list!

This community has come together on many occasions to sign a petition to help a worthy cause. I never imagined something would have to be started because of a problem within deviantART.

If you haven't read the latest CEA Update, I'd suggest taking a look at it before you e-sign anything. I'm petitioning this revision because I think it's opening a door that will ruin this community.

Allowing members of deviantART to copy, trace, or duplicate any copyrighted artwork is giving a mixed signal to growing artists. Whether or not it's done with the intention of practicing, the act of submitting it into an official gallery here on deviantART is copyright infringement.

If we would penalize these same deviants for copying an artist within the community--who discovers it and complains about it--then we should be penalizing them for copying all artists, as all artists have legal rights to their works.

Having the practice works moved to their own little area of deviantART could be tolerated, but having them in official dA galleries is offensive. We are an art community, originality is what makes art amazing. Don't let dA become an image hosting site by allowing copied, traced, or duplicated artworks to be displayed among the sensational works of original art.

The News Article: CEA UPDATE 20090130; Issues Involving Copying

Petition: deviantART: Crack down on Copyrights

Defining what is and what isn't Fan Art and how it applies to you

This guide to fan art is long overdue, and will hopefully clarify what really is and what really isn't fan art here on deviantART.

It's been a learning curve for me--there isn't one cut and dry answer explaining it, but luckily there are just a FEW cut and dry answers that will hopefully educate all of us.

This guide is intended to be a reference when you've worked long and hard on your amazing artwork and then stop and say, "Hey, is this fan art?" Or if you're browsing the galleries and something in the back of your head says, "Could this be a miscat?"

The Breakdown

When looking at a a piece of artwork, the first question you should ask yourself is, "Is the artwork I did copyright to someone else?" Copyright belongs to the original author/creator of a work. "Copyright applies to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete and fixed in a medium." More information can be found here: [link]

In some cases, this is a fairly easy question to answer.

Your fabulous depiction of Star Wars characters would go into the Fan Art. Your wonderful drawing of Gollum from Lord of the Rings would go into Fan Art.

Sometimes the question may not be so easy to answer.

The question "Is the artwork I did copyright to someone else?" is negated if:

A) The idea in question is NOT copyright to someone else.
B) You were hired by the copyright holder to create the artwork.


So what then?

A) The idea in question is NOT copyright to someone else.





What does that mean? In many cases, books are the easiest examples to cite, copyrights expire.

You don't see so much of it in our age with everyone protecting their intellectual property, but works created from before 1923 (in the United States), and works have not been renewed by any copyright owner, are NOT copyright.  

These sorts of work are considered public domain. _{You can find more on the copyright laws here: [link] Read to educate and know, but don't boggle down your mind with confusion.}

Examples of works NOT copyrighted:
A) Shakespeare works
B) Through the Looking Glass (Alice in Wonderland) by Lewis Carroll


So what about Disney's Alice in Wonderland?
When someone, like Disney, takes a Public domain work and makes it their own, THEIR version is then protected by the copyright laws.


Fan Art: Your Alice drawing from Disney's Alice in Wonderland
Not Fan Art: Your Alice drawing based on the book by Lewis Carroll.


Oooh... so that's why there are so many adaptations...

In any case, your work is welcome in the Fan Art category even if it is based on something public domain, but you are free to post it in the other galleries if you wish.



B) You were hired by the copyright holder to create the artwork.



We have a great many professionals on deviantART, and many of them post their artwork, with permission, from their employer.

Example 1)  If you are hired by Marvel and have permission to post your work, you do NOT have to post it in the Fan Art category.

Example 2) If you are commissioned by someone to create artwork based on their copyrighted works, and have permission to post it on deviantART, you do NOT have to post it in the Fan Art Category.

Okay, so that's why some Spiderman 'fan art' ends up in the Comics & Cartoons categories!

What about People? Celebrities?

VS

A common question is whether portraits of people, celebrities, bands, etc, go into Fan Art? Again, it depends on the circumstances. You can ask the following questions to determine whether your work is Fan Art:

A) Is my actress/actor portrait just a depiction of the person? Or is my portrait depicted with the actor/actress in character?

If your Johnny Depp is just... Johnny Depp (which isn't a bad thing at all...) then it does NOT go into Fan Art. As much as we'd like to copyright Depp... I guess we can't.
If your Johnny Depp is... JACK SPARROW then it DOES go into Fan Art!

B) And bands? Political figures? My best friend?

No, they do not need to go into Fan Art. In some cases, like the Gorillaz, they have images that are copyrightable (since it's all animation), but your Metallica portrait, your Barack Obama portrait, your Aunt Mary--they do not need to go into Fan Art.

Easy Peasy Checklist

If the above information was presented in a way that was too long or confusing, this is a handy checklist to identify whether your work belongs in the Fan Art category:

YES! It's Fan Art:

  Your work is based on a copyrighted work!
It's an actor IN character!
Disney depictions!

MAYBE! It's YOUR choice:

You are commissioned to do artwork for the original copyright owner! (and have permission to post it!)
You are employed by the original copyright owner, like working for DC comics! (and have the permission to post it!)


NO! It's not Fan Art:

Band portraits, political figures, your relatives, friends, etc.
Public domain works: Shakespeare's works, Alice in Wonderland, and a slew of other works not under the scope of copyright law.


Be careful:

Your depiction of Alice in Wonderland from Disney IS copyright. Do your research and make sure your work is based from the original public domain source and not someone else's newer and exciting adaptation.

How this relates to your work:

The Fan Art Gallery encompasses a lot of categories, but there are times where you can't figure out where to put your work!

Fan Fiction:
I didn't cover a lot about fan fiction, as the same rules apply to fiction as they do to artwork. Work written by you, copyrighted by someone else goes into fan fiction.

Sculpture, Artisan Crafts, Costumes/Cosplay, Photomanipulation, Photos etc:

These categories are not yet supported by the Fan Art category, so you need to submit in the main respective categories.
Note: If your photos/photomanipulations/wallpapers contain copyrighted photos, movie stills, actor photos, etc, it is subject to removal as a policy violation!

  The last categories in the Fan Art submission menu: Books/Novels, Games, Movies/TV, Miscellaneous

- Books/Novels: This serves the obvious purpose of books and novels, but if you have work based on a comic book, manga, etc, those would also go here.

- Games: This serves anything game related. If it's a video game, here, if it's a board game, sure!

- Movies/TV: This encompasses the obvious movies, tv shows, cartoons, etc, but it also goes for anime tv shows and movies.

- Miscellaneous: If the work you do isn't influenced solely by any of the above, this is where your work goes. (I don't know why you made a Spiderman-Pokemon-Sonic drawing, but you can put it here.)

Closing

I hope that this guide gives you a clearer understanding as to what Fan Art is from the deviantART point of view. If you have any questions, please don't post them here--send me a note! If you still have confusion as to whether your art is fan art or not, send me a note! $aunjuli


For related Fan Art information, please check out these news articles:
Fan Art and Celebrities: [link] by `cosmosue
Fan Fiction: [link] by `secondmagpie
CEA:Copying and Tracing: [link] by $realitysquared


Now go and be creative!

In celebration for the sixth Harry Potter film, The Half-Blood Prince--to be released on July 15th, deviantART's Fan Art Department will be holding a few impromptu events.

HBP Character Bonanza

Each day for sixteen days, we'll be celebrating a character-a-day. Draw/paint/sculpt/etc the character of the day, each day! You can pick one day, a few, or you can do all sixteen! (writers, check out the third bullet down)

The deviation MUST BE uploaded on the specific day listed for each character. Entries that are days late/early won't be accepted. (Time zone discrepancies and artwork a little early or a little late will be shown leniency)
Send the link to your deviations daily to $aunjuli via note. You may wait and send them all at once at the end, but I'd love to see them as you do them!
For writers! You may participate as well, submit your best fan fiction shorts using the character-of-the-day as the main character! 3,000 word limit! Please no on-going fanfictions--each fanfiction should be a one-shot. In the event you'd like to connect your fanfics day-to-day, each day's fiction must be able to stand alone as it's own story.


Day One (July 16th - Thursday) - Harry Potter
Day Two (July 17th - Friday) - Ron Weasley
Day Three (July 18th - Saturday) - Hermione Granger
Day Four (July 19th - Sunday) - Ginny Weasley
Day Five (July 20th - Monday) - Luna Lovegood
Day Six (July 21st - Tuesday) - Voldemort or Tom Riddle
Day Seven (July 22nd - Wednesday) - Severus Snape
Day Eight (July 23rd - Thursday) - Professor Slughorn
Day Nine (July 24th - Friday) - Albus Dumbledore
Day Ten (July 25th - Saturday) - Draco Malfoy
Day Eleven (July 26th - Sunday) - The Weasley Twins (either or both)
Day Twelve (July 27th - Monday) - Bellatrix Lestrange
Day Thirteen (July 28th - Tuesday) - Tonks
Day Fourteen (July 29th - Wednesday) - Fleur Delacour
Day Fifteen (July 30th - Thursday) Hagrid
Day Sixteen (July 31st - Friday) - Free Character Day! (It can be any character so long as they appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!)

Send your notes to $aunjuli with subject line: HBP Day [whatever day it is for]

Half-Blood Prince Scene Contest!

Illustrate your favorite scene from either the movie or the book! Entries will be accepted from July 16th - August 16th!

- New artwork only! Must be uploaded between the submission dates (July 16th - Aug. 16th)
- If you are illustrating a scene from the book, please list the chapter name & number it is from!
- No photos/photomanipulations
- Writers: Your task is slightly different: write a one-shot fanfiction (of no more than 3,000 words) from the perspective of one of these characters: Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Voldemort, Slughorn, Dumbledore, Mad-Eye Moody or Nymphadora Tonks
-The fiction you write should be an existing scene from the book or movie, or a scene that COULD take place within that time frame. I.E. Something that could've happened that we didn't get to see.
-Canon, please--stay true to either the book or the movie
- In your artist comments, please specify which perspective your writing is in

Prizes:

1st: 6-months subscription
2nd: 3-months subscription
3rd:  1-month subscription

Send all of your entries to $aunjuli via note. Subject Line: 'HBP Contest'


Have a great time, everyone!

TWILIGHT FAN ART CONTEST


Almost all are addicted to Twilight, me too. So I thought it would be a great theme for my first own contest!

I hope you'll send lots of entries and make the contest popular!





DEADLINE


The contest start on February 1st and end at April 15th.
Don't submit your entry before February 1st




ENTRIES


Your entry must be created just for this contest. You can use any kind of references you want.
Your contest entries should be submitted to =WitchiArt Please send a note with the link to your entry.
You can submit up to 2 entries per person.




THE RULES


The drawing can be traditional (pencil, color pencils, paintings, charcoal etc.) or digital
The drawing must made by yourself (no photo manips, plugins or something else)
It would be nice if you support the news article to make the contest popular
Please put in your deviation a link to the contest or add my icon : iconwitchi1976 : (without spaces)





HOW WE JUDGE YOUR ENTRIES


Be creative with your drawing/painting, the more creative you are the better. You can use reference photos from the movie or you create your own. That means you draw for example Edward like you see him in your fantasy as you read the book.
Show your best artwork you can create and show your addiction to the Twilight series.





THE JURY








THE PRICES



1st winner get

1 year subscription donated by !JurgenDoe
3 month subscription donated by =WitchiArt
1 print of =WitchiArt "When the lion loves the lamb" drawing, signed
1 stamp with the winner picture
1 month journal feature by =WitchiArt
1 month journal feature by ~Raishuu
1 month journal feature by $aunjuli
1 month journal feature by ~Angelstorm-82
1 week journal feature by ~xBluepearlx
1 journal feature by $aunjuli
1 journal feature by *DavidDeb
1 journal feature by ~Animus3
1 journal feature of 5 pictures by ~SoLong-AndGoodnight



2nd winner get

3 month subscription donated by !JurgenDoe
1 month subscription donated by =WitchiArt
1 stamp with the winner picture
1 month journal feature by =WitchiArt
1 month journal feature by ~Raishuu
1 week journal feature by ~xBluepearlx
1 journal feature by $aunjuli
1 journal feature by *DavidDeb
1 journal feature by ~Animus3
1 journal feature of 4 pictures by ~SoLong-AndGoodnight


3rd winner get

1 month subscription donated by !JurgenDoe
1 stamp with the winner picture
1 month journal feature by =WitchiArt
1 month journal feature by ~Raishuu
1 week journal feature by ~xBluepearlx
1 journal feature by $aunjuli
1 journal feature by *DavidDeb
1 journal feature by ~Animus3
1 journal feature of 3 pictures by ~SoLong-AndGoodnight

Middle-earth is a world created by J.R.R.Tolkien, one of the most complex creations and foundations of classic fantasy. Many artists are inspired by this amazing world, and there are not many events in its history that escaped a painter's brush... I bring you a short (yes, I call this short ) summary of the events, in a more or less chronological order:  

Before the time:


First age:
:thumb50539141::thumb137356544::thumb4767737::thumb151584066:

The tale of Beren and Lúthien


Narn i Hín Húrin


The Fall of Gondolin and the Tale of Eärendil and Elwing
:thumb165715881::thumb158745902:

The War of Wrath


Second age:
:thumb37192381: :thumb163177826:

Third age:


The Hobbit:


The Lord of the Rings:
:thumb127523483::thumb125910118::thumb34788888::thumb52109759:

The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen
:thumb157680066::thumb11957724::thumb28888080::thumb12918063::thumb58518961::thumb7714883::thumb76507019::thumb53622928::thumb186719422::thumb184635553::thumb175282318::thumb109234637::thumb161382454::thumb158746998::thumb81344130::thumb65502989::thumb12802543::thumb10038865::thumb18426747::thumb150859120::thumb33300333:

Fourth age:
:thumb74620140::thumb141545818::thumb61843251::thumb4805020::thumb140376046::thumb149654924::thumb66823178::thumb100436028:


Other writings:
:thumb8883473::thumb140740832::thumb171995498::thumb75236506::thumb7505746::thumb76829998::thumb104555380::thumb184056620::thumb104555665:

More in my collection: [link]

I’d like to thank all the Snape and Harry Potter artists whose the dedication, vision and talent have inspired me for years: ~Snapesforte, ~MARiKaArt, ~TomScribble, =Lily-Hbp, ~perselus, *inkvine, ~firefly-wp , ~katigerclaw, ~Patilda  and many others. I unfortunately could not feature them all here ... I would like to have included ~hueco-mundo, ~gerre, ~carthasis, !obfuscatesart, ~wandarer3, ~kissyushka, ~play-it-snufkin, *protowilson, ~ildi, ~chicxulub, *laerry, ~liquidscissors, ~lizard-spots and many different dedicated fans and artists...

Naturally, only a few Snape and HP fanartists have been DD'd, while so many others remain without much exposure. This is why I'm sorry not to have found the time a week ago, when there were more HP fans online, but better late than never... And it’s Potter Day on Sunday...

So, here are only a handful of the many fanarts that left a mark in my Snape-loving heart, plus two works from my own gallery. You can find most of these pieces at the #Spinners--End group and of course, in the other groups on dA. Also, you can fave this article . I do hope you will enjoy these features.








:thumb149745919:
:thumb61730495:





© J.K. Rowling

I think alot of people forget the point of "art" on this site. People using sex as an exploit, popularity games, all about who knows whom.

What happens when you take away the people...

what happens when the power is out...

what happens if you are the only one in the world who can show people what it means to dream...



Art is not about sexuality...

art is not about popularity...

art is not about drama...

art is not a tool to become cool or hip or "in"...

art is something different, something more....


It isn't about the points or the money or anything material like that who so many artists seem to only focus on. It isn't about speeding through something to get it over with.


Art is a way to show your true thoughts, emotions...

It's a window into our souls that we make for others to understand who we really are...

It's to show the world and ourselves that we are capable of creating something wondrous and beautiful that we can both revel in, side by side, and maybe inspire each other to do something extraordinary.

... and a lot of us have forgotten that...

art is how we share our inner thoughts and desires with the world, and it was never about page views, llamas, watchers, popularity contests or anything like that.



So whenever you put pencil-to-paper, remember...

...art is how we share dreams...

Ultimate Fandom Contest 4: Inspiration

After a successful last run with Ultimate Fandom Contest 2: Book Characters, Ultimate Fandom Contest: Avatar: TLA, and Ultimate Fandom Contest 3: Video Games, I'm pleased to present Ultimate Fandom Contest 4: Inspiration! Read on for the details:

The Breakdown

All of the previous UFC contests have been sculpted to fit a certain theme, and I think it's time to let the freedom of choice reign over Ultimate Fandom Contest! You can pick any book, tv, movie, anime, manga, cartoon, comic, tv show--anything you want--to use as the topic for your contest entry.

The Purpose

Inspiration is all around us, and many of us draw it from such things as favorite books, whimsical video games or thrilling movies. Whether we use fan art to help us learn further, pay homage to that which we love, or as a stress reliever when we can't quite think of something original, it is always there for whatever purpose we need it for.

This contest is about being inspired by other's creations and sharing how a particular book or tv show has inspired you. Whatever it is, I want to see it!

The Rules

1.) ANY MEDIUM CAN BE ENTERED. Paintings, drawings, sculpture, costume, crafts, writing, photomanipulations, photography--if you can create it, you can submit it. Make sure you have proper permissions for photomanips, and that you credit accordingly. Any work using copyrighted photos/stills in their photos/manipulations will be removed.

Writers: Write fanfictions at minimum of 1000 words to a maximum of 8,000 words. Use judgement and discretion with your writing, but it does not have to be canon! Writing should illuminate what you believe to be the best parts of your fandom.

2.) THREE entries per person MAXIMUM! (You may submit one, two OR three--it's up to you) Entries must be NEW.

3.) Any book, novel, movie, tv show, game, video game, comic, cartoon, anime, manga, etc is acceptable to choose from.

4.) Music/Songs cannot be the source of your inspiration.

5.) ALL submissions must have the following in the description of the deviation:
-Ultimate Fandom Contest 4: Inspiration (a link to this article if you feel generous)
- The name of your source of inspiration (I.E. Legend of Zelda, Looney Tunes)
- What genre it falls in (I.E. Video games, cartoons)
- A paragraph detailing why you were inspired by this fandom. You can include your first memories of it, why it's so amazing, and how it's changed your life--stuff like this, just show why/how it's important to you.


5.) Submit ALL pieces to Contests -> Ultimate Fandom 4

6.) All submissions must follow dA guidelines!

Prizes! </b>

Overall:
1st place: 50 deviantDOLLARS & 1 year subscription
2nd place: 30 deviantDOLLARS & 3 month subscription
3rd place: 20 deviantDOLLARS & 3 month subscription
4th Place: 15 deviant DOLLARS & 3 month subscription
5th Place: 10 deviantDOLLARS & 3 month subscription

Honorable mentions: 3 month subscriptions


Deadline: All Entries must be uploaded to the category by September 25, 2009


GOOD LUCK!

_{* To suggest an idea for a future Ultimate Fandom Contest or Ultimate Fandom subContest, and for any questions or comments, note $aunjuli}

:thumb84726179:


It has been a pet-peeve of mine for a very long while now, and as much as I've tried ignoring the problem but it doesn't seem to be getting any better, and frankly I am very confused about dA's rules concerning the matter. As far as I can see the rules seem to be in contradiction with other rules of DeviantArt.

I am talking about Vector tracing.

I had written a journal entry regarding this matter some time ago and there was some confusion as to what I was really getting at.

I am sick and tired of searching the Deviant Art archives for certain anime titles only to receive literally hundreds of Vector drawings that are nothing more than traces of either official art, screenshots or magazine scans. I am not referring to Vector tracings of photographs, or things sketched by hand first, or collaborations where one person drew the image and another person vectorized it. I am referring specifically to vector traces of anime screenshots, official art or magazine scans or something along these lines. I am sorry, but no mater how look at it, it is NOT art. Even if it took you hours and hours to trace the original, blow it up etc etc, it still doesn't make it art.

In my experience vector tracers have  hundred and one excuses to validate their traced images. from "dA says it's ok" to "I upload it to dA because photobucket scales down images" to "I tend to get a very positive response for making traces"
It doesn't matter HOW true these statements are, it is STILL not art. Unless you have a written letter from the original artist who physically drew the original image (not the company who owns the character, the actually artist who drew that individual frame, official art, magazine picture) can it even come close to being validated as "art".

Now this opens a whole line of questioning about how vectorizing takes a great deal of skill. This may be true (I for one have a very difficult time using vector based programs short of Flash) and yes it takes more than the casual first time fanartist to create a rather good vector trace, but the sad truth is that when it comes to tracing some-one else's art, how good it looks does not matter. Tracing is tracing and it is Art theft.
A year or more ago there was the big scandal involving Disney-Bubbles' art and how 90% of her gallery ended up being traces of screenshots, colouring books, official art, packaging and other images created by other artists for the Disney company. She was severely reprimanded for this by absolutely every-one on dA, the people who watch her as well as the dA staff. Now her traces were of a very good quality and she had a large fanbase, but in the end her traces were severely frowned upon by the dA staff as well as the community.
Now I do not understand why she got such a harsh time for her traces but the site is completely littered by traces who openly ADMIT to being traces and yet nobody seems to even care, and others even commend them for it. Now I admit that often I will see a vector trace and find it very appealing, but finding out that the artist who submitted it merely traced it and had no hand in the actual creation of the image leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth, and then then to find that same image to have over 200 faves attached to it I can only throw my hands in the air.

Now dA has strong rules against art theft and image tracing of other artists, so why are these anime vector traces allowed? the sad truth is, because they are popular and this is the biggest double standard I have had the misfortune to encounter here on dA. Art theft is frowned upon, but vector tracing of Anime is allowed because 1: it is so very popular with a certain fanbase and 2: anime isn't really created by REAL people now is it? oh yes it's all created by robots or something. it' too GOOD to actually have been done by a REAL artist so it's not technically Art theft </sarcasm>
This may be a little harsh though and perhaps there are a lot of paragraphs and loopholes involving this as far as the DeviantArt policy is involved.

but if you stripped away all these extra toppings and added footnotes and loopholes one is left with this:
The site is becoming littered with images, TRACED, not created, and no-one is DOING anything about it.

I expect to get a lot of negative comments on this article but I'm afraid it is the truth. You can validate it any way you want, and defend it to th death, but vector tracings of anime screenshots, artwork and magazine scans is NOT ART

Please. can we not DO something about this? this is suppose to be a community for artistic creativity, not an Otaku fest.




and it makes me feel a little cheap to ask but if you agree with my article or you have some other points or information regarding the matter (even if it goes against what I have said) please share it.

-----

And just to illustrate my point, here are some of the vectors in question I'm referring to
(to the artists of these, this is not a personal attack, I am just using these images to make my point) :
:thumb62850828:
:thumb82809169: :thumb51726693:
:thumb89484282:
:thumb88116379:
:thumb92527902: :thumb86746581:
:thumb86981379: :thumb25348771:





LASTLY! I feel I should give a shout out to the REAL vector artists out there. You guys are great and I'm not referring to you or your art in any way in this article


and on a less serious note, this is my first news article, so I apologise if it isn't the best.