Customers posting your art on FurAffinity

[foxwolf.livejournal.com]

Hey, just wondering if anyones had problems with their commissioners taking art that you drew or otherwise created and posted it on their fur affinity account. I have one customer whom I've done character sheets, a badge, an icon and most largely a fursuit for, all of which ended up on his fur affinity. I've asked him to at least give me credit in the comment area, which he did for less than half of them. However, it doesnt seem like anyone is reading that and he is getting 90% of the credit for the work, and has 30 people watching 'his' artwork when nothing that he has created himself is in the gallery, every last piece is mine. Just wondering what to do about this, I really dont want to tell him off for it or report him or anything, but I worked very very hard on everything there and I want credit for it.

Comments

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

I'd give him a little talking to. Something along the lines of "I don't want to report you, you're a valued customer, but I am going to insist that you give me proper credit for every single piece of my work, or else I'll be forced to."

And if he doesn't, report him to furaffinity for art theft.

[filthy-animal.livejournal.com]

I second this.

[darkyo.livejournal.com]

it's annoying how when they post it, they get most of the favs instead of you, the original artist.

[aaaamory.livejournal.com]

Well, there's nobody stopping you from saying, "Wow! I'm glad you like this picture. It was really fun doing this commission piece for so-and-so. If you want to see more of it, visit my gallery here: ... " after some of the comments.

[fallimar.livejournal.com]

yup.

If you're getting credit for someone else's art, then technically it's art theft and they can be banned from FA.
Start getting 'legal' (well, FA legal) on their arse and if they still don't stop it then report them, simple as that.

It's always a pity, but just the same you can't let yourself be walked over like that.

[martes.livejournal.com]

If it was work-for-hire, and of his own characters, there's no reason why he can't post it. It's kind of tacky to do that and not give you credit, but if it's artwork bought and paid for he can do whatever he wants with it. If I do a commission of material I don't want posted, i make sure to make that clear to the customer before accepting the commission. So in the future either don't do any more work for the guy, or make him promise not to post it.

[fallimar.livejournal.com]

well... really... unless the artist sold the 'copyright' or rights to the picture (whatever it's called) to the commissioner along with the artwork, even posting it in an online forum witout credit is technically 'illegal'...
or something along thoee lines.

In any case, it's technically art theft, and isn't allowed on the community.

[drake-anaya.livejournal.com]

One of FA's rules is that you have to have permission to post the artwork made by the other person whether it was commissioned or not. If this person doesn't have permission, FA policy will allow the images to be pulled if the artist requests it.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Commissions generally aren't work-for-hire though. Work for hire agreements usually include all the rights to the image which costs a fair bit more than most people will pay for the commission. So no, he can't do whatever he wants with it.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

The guy wouldn't have a golden dragon character would he? There was somebody with a golden dragon anthro who made a big carry-on on dA because the mods kept removing the work when he did something similar. Apparently he thought that because it was -his- character in the commission that made it a collab, not a commission.

Either way, you are in the right here. Good customer or not, he doesn't have the right to get comments and favourites for work you created. Tell him that if he wants to show them off, he'll need to display them in a manner that makes it clear that you did them and he needs to stop accepting kudos for others people's hard work, and I personally wouldn't work for anyone again who did that to me.

[ashendon.livejournal.com]

Question: if you made all these for the client, then why didn't you post it on a webpage of your own?

[katzenflammen.livejournal.com]

I always include in my commision terms that artwork is not to be reposted in anyones gallery, because that irritates me as well.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

He needs your permission to post those images on FurAffinity, if you don't want them there (and I can understand why you wouldn't) just contact Preyfar and they'll be removed.
After all, you still own redistribution rights until explicity agreed upon otherwise.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

"If it was work-for-hire, and of his own characters, there's no reason why he can't post it."

Except for the fact that unless they explicity agreed that he was also buying the redistribution rights that they remain property of the artist. Some artists will let you repost their art but that's a courtesy, not a right.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

As if people read that.

[fiercereaper.livejournal.com]

You can tell him off and report him, or continue to be walked on. It's that simple.

[crssafox.livejournal.com]

but if it's artwork bought and paid for he can do whatever he wants with it.

Er, not really. That whole thing about copyright comes in to play here.

Without proper credit, either in the description or on the image or both, this person is claiming the piece as their own. Especially if the original artist has asked for credit and has not received it, and even more so if they receive comments complimenting "their" work and don't acknowledge that they didn't create it!!!

If it's bought and paid for, then yes, they can do whatever they want to with the original piece - they can frame it, they can hide it away in a binder, they can destroy it if they decide they don't like it. They can even re-sell the original if they so choose.
BUT they can't make copies for redistribution, which is exactly what this (digital) copy is doing on FA - it's redistributing the artwork, without permission - and after being told to either credit or not display it.

Kind of like how DVDs and VHS have that disclaimer on the beginning that say "for private home use only." Artwork is the same sort of way. If you wanna show your friends at your house, great. If you send copies to all of them so they can have their own? Not so great.

I don't think you should HAVE to make that clear to the customer, that you don't want them re-distributing without your consent - it should just be common sense. :\

[growly.livejournal.com]

I know how you feel.

I've had my work reposted on FA, though I was credited... but she put a big watermark on the image o_O That was kind of weird, since I posted the non-watermarked version in my own gallery, and I should be the one worried about theft, not her.

[martes.livejournal.com]

Don't ever do art for a corperation or on a professional freelance basis then, if you expect to own all the rights to it and have the customer never reproduce it.

[rusti-knight.livejournal.com]

That's an entirely different animal, because in that case, the corporation would be purchasing the rights to your work (much more expensive than a plain ol' commission in the furry community) so they can reuse and redistribute.

As an example, one of my instructors at SIUC did a design once that was to go international. They forked over $150k for it, which bought not only the design, but the rights to reproduce nationall and internationally as well. And SIU's ugly-ass saluki dog silhouette logo cost then $60k for the design and the rights.

Until a furry forks over that kind fundage for an image, I'm keeping the rights.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

You don't let logic get in the way of snark do you?

Furry customer =/= corporation.

[xodiac.livejournal.com]

Actually, in that particular case, he DID have permission from the artists. Or at least he said he did, and provided email addresses to the admins so they could ask said artists themselves.

[aaaamory.livejournal.com]

The person who posted the comment will. They get a notification that there was a comment made to their comment.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

You're supposed to have written permission, anyone can say they have permission but evidence is needed, and no he didn't provide the email addys. I should know, I checked every goddamn one and the argument he tried to use was that he held the copyrights because it was a collab, not a commission.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

That's completely different, if someone's working for a corporation, it's usually under a contract that specifys the rights being brought.