Beware: Teckly

[leahtaur.livejournal.com]

WHO: Teckly, and to a lesser extent, Werefox. Hrs2D is the animator involved but I do not blame him whatsoever; he assumed that Werefox had my permission to alter my work.

Werefox seems to have been the one to go forward with the alteration of my work but when an admin asked him to remove it upon my request, he did so without complaint (to me at least.) Teckly is the one who has resorted to call-out journals and name-calling.

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/teckly
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/werefox

WHAT: Teckly commissioned a two character artwork of his character and Werefox's back in September. He paid $130 on September 3. There was a queue ahead of him and his piece had detailed shading, which led to his piece being finally completed and delivered on January 18. I apologized for the delay but other than a minor fix to the finished product, he seemed to like it. So there doesn't seem to be an issue with the actual artwork.

This is the artwork (NSFW!): http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7237555

However, on February 22, I noticed that Werefox had uploaded an animated version of my piece. My piece had never been intended to be animated and I felt that it represented my work poorly. I contacted Hrs2D, the animator, and asked what kind of permission had been given.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/Leahtaur/hrs2dnotes.jpg

(As a side note, the "issue" I had had with Werefox had actually been with Teckly, now that I remember -- he had asked me to make an alteration to the character after the entire piece had been completed rather than in the sketch stage when it should have been brought up. Nevertheless, it was a very minor change.)

I didn't want drama, so I made a trouble ticket asking that Werefox's upload of the animation be removed. The admin gave him the option of removing it himself, and so far as I know, he did so willingly.

This would have been the end of it but Teckly began noting me.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb70/Leahtaur/tecklynotes.jpg

I regret taking a slightly snarky tone with him. I should not have said that I could have the art I had done for him taken down -- I merely meant that copyright law *technically* would allow me to do so, but I would never do such a thing. I am perfectly fine with Teckly and Werefox having the art I made for them in their galleries provided it remains unaltered. I tried to reply to Teckly's last note but found he had blocked me.

And that would have been the end of THAT but Teckly made a rather rude journal about me.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/47368034/teckly.png

EXPLAIN: Unfortunately all of this could have been avoided had Werefox asked my permission to alter the commission I drew for him and Teckly. I do not like my artwork being altered without my permission, so it led to this. I am not making a beware to advise others to avoid working with either of them, because up until this point, our dealings went perfectly smoothly. However, artists working with them should make it perfectly clear that the commission sale does not come with the right to alter or make derivative works. I did not say this myself because I felt it went without saying, and it bit me in the butt. I also felt that the way Teckly reacted after this went down shows vindictiveness and should not have happened. I was fine with having the piece removed quietly, without fuss, and without all this drama.

Comments

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

Teckly's call-out journal is more than enough of a beware for me. 'Just go die', 'A stupid people', 'when you have no brain', 'just an asshole'. Really? How old is this guy?

[latilombax.livejournal.com]

Teckly's about my age, but sheesh, his attitude really make this beware duly noted

[jasonwerefox.livejournal.com]

My friend Teckly needs to owe an apology to the artist. I can tell the artist was being reasonable with her copyrights but it was still no excuse to write a journal like that.

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

Agreeing with the above, it's more than warranted on Teckly at least. Since Werefox took the altered piece down voluntarily I wonder if it was just a case of ignorance on his part rather than deliberately going against the artist's wishes.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

A lot of commissioners genuinely think the art is entirely theirs even if they only paid like 5 dollars. They see it the same as buying a toaster or the like. I'm 99% positive he just didn't realize this isn't the case and wasn't meaning to be malicious about it. Werefox, that is. Now the other guy...

[jasonwerefox.livejournal.com]

The truth is, Werefox is german and understands little to no english as he is from Germany and that at the time he didn't realize that he needed permission as ridiclous as it sounds since it generally makes sense to ask first before making any modifications of your commission. Its not a case of ignorance nor going up against the artist's wishes on Werefox's side. I told him on messenger about this that he needs to ask permission first before doing any modifications of an artist's work. This is his only first time he's done this. He understands from now on he ask permission before going with any alterations.

[morti-macabre.livejournal.com]

Well I think his journal comments do all the speaking necessary.

It's clear you tried to handle this in a fairly professional manner and were met with strong opposition and venom that could have been easily avoided.

Beware warranted. I guess that's something you'll have to make clearer to your patrons since it's /so hard/ to understand. Ahem.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Wow, I am so disappointed to see this. Both of them have been repeat customers of mine, and they have been nothing but pleasant to work for.

Edit- Gonna have to retract my last paragraph. I can't find said notes at all to confirm it. I still am disappointed to see Teckly act like this. The notion that full rights can be sold for a mere "$130" drives me nuts.

I have been sifting through my notes, and I could have sworn that they asked me for permission to get a commission animated by the animator. Don't take my word on it yet until I can find that note, though. FA's note system is just so hard to track anything down.

[leahtaur.livejournal.com]

If that is so, perhaps they intended to do the same with me and just forgot? I'd be sad if that is the case, all of this could have been avoided. :/

I absolutely agree as well -- they were both absolutely great to work with until this happened.

[leahtaur.livejournal.com]

I agree that full rights shouldn't be $130 or anywhere near that -- but at the same time, the price wasn't the issue, you know? If they had just asked I probably would have been cool with it, for no additional cost. After all, they wouldn't have been asking for full rights, just limited rights to alter (or whatever the correct term might be.)

Now if we were talking print rights for $130 that would be a different story. :P

[jasonwerefox.livejournal.com]

Werefox is a good person and I've known him for a long time. This was only the first time that he has modified someone's work without permission and he didn't realize that he needed permission since he understands little to no english , even though it is generally common sense to ask permission before modifying a work from an artist. Werefox is German and that may explain why he didn't see the TOS, although the artist did now updated his/her TOS after this unfortunate situation. I hope that this doesn't portray Werefox negative in anyway as he is a good person and that it doesn't affect the decision of you accepting any commission request from him in the future.

But as for Teckly, as I mentioned in my comment, Teckly needs to owe a serious apology to the artist based on her behavior shown in both the notes she sent to the artist, as well as the journal she made to the artist with the offensive remarks. I don't portray Teckly bad in anyway, but still its no excuse for what he/she did and whatever came out of all of this, I hope all of this be resolved.

[magusmanx.livejournal.com]

Oh dear... Things like this are so hard to explain to the general public. I've tried explaining it to my husband, relating to various projects he wants to do and it's so difficult to make them understand.

[marus-puppy.livejournal.com]

Teckly is also not a native English speaker (his page says he's from France,) so I imagine that issue is doubly-compounded.

[jasonwerefox.livejournal.com]

Werefox is German and he reads little to no english. I had to eplain it to him on messenger. This was the first and only time he's done this so he learned his lesson and won't do it again.

[chronidu.livejournal.com]

This beware is definitely desreved and will be noted. I don't think you were even being that snarky honestly.

It will never not disturb me the level of self entitlement people will get with artwork they've purchased, nor their unwillingness to educate themselves on just what rights they have over an artists creation, even in the case of commissioning it.

The rights belong to the Artist always unless you have discussed and contracted otherwise. Simple as that.

[leahtaur.livejournal.com]

Thank you for saying that, I reread what I wrote later and had to wince a bit. ^-^' But perhaps it's not as rude as I thought.

I am considering writing a "What Commissioning an Artist Will Get You" type journal to avoid just that type of self entitlement, and perhaps to educate a little. I'm still trying to dig up the A_B posts covering copyright law and the like.

I won't say who, but in a copyright/piracy journal written by Artdecade, I actually saw a frequent commission customer (non-artist, non-writer, non-musician) say, "In furry art, we are the stars." Meaning anyone who commissions art. I think that says it all as far as entitlement goes.

[jasonwerefox.livejournal.com]

I am absolutely agreeing with you as you are correct that despite the person commissioning that artist, all right falls within the artist. Werefox unfortunately modified the work the artist made that was purchased by Teckly. He told me he didn't know that he needed the artist permission and for that he willingly obliged to the artist wish by taking it down. He's german and understands little to no english. I explained it to him after this situation and this was the only time he's done this, so I hope this is all resolved as next time he asks before proceeding with modifying an artist's artwork.

As for teckly she needs to owe an apology to the artist as I can tell the artist was being reasonable within her own boundaries.

[ryunwoofie.livejournal.com]

Wooow someone I will avoid taking a commission from. Beware well warranted. :|

[jasonwerefox.livejournal.com]

If your referring to Werefox, please understand that Werefox didn't know that he needed permission as he told me himself. Not to say that I excuse him for what he did as its generally common sense to ask before modifying someone's work, but Werefox is German and understands little to no english. I explained to him about all of this and this was just the only first time he's done something like this. So he learned his lesson from this mess and he will ask permission from now on from artist. He's a really nice person, just that he understands little to no english that's all.

As for Teckly, as much as I wish you don't avoid taking a commission from since he's a good person I've known for a long time, needs to owe an apology to the artist for his/her behavior in both his/her note and in the offensive journal that was made. I'm not portraying teckly to be negative but from what I've read, she needs to owe the artist an apology for his/her rude behavior.

[leahtaur.livejournal.com]

I did end up making a journal informing commission customers of their rights. Would anyone like to correct me on anything I might have gotten wrong? ^-^' I have almost all of my knowledge of such things from, well, here, but I'm sure some of you have a more intimate knowledge of such things and can correct me.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3206675/

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

This is becoming kind of a "trend" on fa, to go and get commissions animated. It's happened to me, and while I don't exactly BLAME the animator, I was upset he never once asked me if he could do so. Neither did the commission client who bought art from me. I was kind of shocked and a bit angry when I found out, and don't really appreciate people animating my work. I cooled my jets and let it slide the first time. I won't be so nice the second.

Another artist who animates peoples commissions is Washa ( http://www.furaffinity.net/user/washa ), and while it's not enough for me to Beware on them, I think it should be noted that they will animate without asking permission of the original artist.

What Teckly did was low, and I think he's certainly someone I would be wary of after this.

[miryhis.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it makes this any better, but he does require the artist's permission now on his TOS. Though the thought of making money off another person's work like that does make me very uneasy.

[frazzled-niya.livejournal.com]

Wondering if you have a TOS that people need to agree to/read before hand...It may be something to seriously consider now-a-days with all the scamming and stuff like this happening. (if you don't have one.)

:\ and that "call-out" journal. WOW...Um no paying $130 doesn't give you the right to do whatever you want to the image...Up the $$ a lot more...that attitude is horrid, beware indeed.

[ljmydayaway.livejournal.com]

She does: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1698423/

It says right in there "Altering the commission without permission is not permitted."

Sucks that people refuse to read (not you, just commissioners like the two mentioned here :/).

[linksage.livejournal.com]

Somehow I'm reminded of the temper tantrums my three year old nephew gets when he someone tells him 'no.'

Beware well warranted. It's been some time since I'm seen anyone on FA act that immaturely. It's common knowledge that artists generally like to be asked before their artwork is modified. And if it was in your TOS to begin with, then it's even more blatant that they're in the wrong.

[leahtaur.livejournal.com]

It wasn't in my ToS to begin with though -- I wish it had been! I thought my ToS was comprehensive but apparently not. The clause about modifying images was added because of this incident.

[jasonwerefox.livejournal.com]

Alright, I've heard of this issue with Werefox and I am a friend of his. He's a good person as well as Jess but I am not going to excuse with what Teckly did and said to this artist in both the note and journal

Both Werefox and Teckly are very good people that I have collabed with for quite a while and I know that what Werefox did was wrong. He should have asked permission first before going with the animation to the artist's work. While its true that the both of them did commission that artwork, what they both failed to realize is that they have to ask permission first, if they want to do any alterations or anything with the commission they purchased since the commission still falls within the rights of the artist who made it. Because Werefox failed to ask permission first, he willingly took it down. The reason Werefox didn't know that he needed to ask permission first is because he's German and understands very little to no English. I explained to him about this and he learned his lesson, so I hope for those who see this, please don't take it out on him as he is a good person and this issue was just the first time he altered someone's work without permission. I know this will be looked at seriously, but this was his only time he did it and he won't do it again without asking permission.

As for Teckly, I will have to say this, I don't think he realized about the copyrights from artist that you do not make any changes to an artist's artwork without their permission and its very reasonable and understandable for everyone to get it. The artist who made the work for Teckly, I can tell she was being reasonable, but for Teckly to say something in both her note and the journal she made, she owes that artist an apology for his/her rude behavior. Now I hope that the artist who made the work for them would hopefully forgive Werefox for the alteration of her artwork, but I also hope that Teckly would apologize to the artist for what she said to this artist in both her note message and the journal that was deleted so that this issue would be resolved.

I don't want to see neither Teckly nor Werefox be portrayed negative in any way because these two are very nice people that I've known for a long time, I just want this to be resolved without any of this blowing up to be a drama storm. Thank you for those who tool the time to read what I've typed and I hope all of you would understand this unfortunate situation.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

Don't be worried about werefox. I really don't think anyone's judging him much from this entry. It's pretty much all about Teckly and the journal they made and way they behaved.

They may both be good people, but I personally wouldn't want to work for someone like Teckly who would react so violently to such a small, perfectly reasonable request. I'd be wondering the entire time if he was going to blow up at me over some perceived slight, and not many people want that kind of hassle.

It'd be great if he did apologize, but I guess that depends on his pride.

[kathy-lu.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely keep this person in mind...