I'd say half of all fan art is actually talented people doing something original... the rest is people tracing or copying closely the work of the original artist and passing it off as their own. Kinda sad, really... and a bit illegal. It is a form of plagerism.

Larry

how 'bout coloring images? Is that illegal too? :blink:

I doubt it, as long as proper credit is given. I'm not a copyright lawyer... I just know a bit about it since my writing has been plagerized before.

Larry

well the Japanese have very lax rules with regard to using images from their anime and manga, so i think its ok for ppl to use them.

ooo, copyrights, I know all about these; I had a media law class. Basically, as long as you're not making money off of your fan-art, or damaging the artists reputation with it (i.e. showing the character doing something illegal or pornographic), you can get away with it. The Japanese, as was stated before, are wayyy informal about copyright law, and that's why you get things like hentai doujinshi. So, generally all fanart is okay as long as you're not selling it; and the Japanese seem to be okay with you selling it as long as it's all original fan-art, and proper credit is given. Don't even TRY this with a good deal of American stuff, especially Disney. They'll hunt you down and sue the shirt off your back!

that's another reason way i love anime so much! it's very open and free, it's not over commercialised like the american stuff. I mean something like Disney World may be very family orientated but behind all the Mickey Mouse faces are really big corporate bosses racking in the dough.
With anime/manga creators, they retain their ownership of their creations. Of course money does come into things, but the artist have put a lot of love and care into it to be able to share his/her wonderful creations with the anime/manga fans.
Anime and Manga forever! :)

Sorry i've been absent so long, but one quick second with the picture i found earlier, I no longer no the location of the site i found it in, however it is simply a peice of fan art of someones interpretation of Belldandy as a real person. That is all, no more no less, so perhaps it was a little harsh to call it a tracing ^-^ there was alot of effort put into it. I dunno, im just a huge lover of art and any interpretation is a good one, yes it may not be the real Belldandy, but it is still a pretty vision of someones work ^-^ no more, no less.

I don't think it is harsh at all, because that is exactly what they have done. The original is a screen shot from a full motion video in FFIX. I couldn't find the exact frame online, but I'm sure it is out there somewhere. I did find a shot from the same scene, I think the exact frame they used was a few seconds later (I was able to pause the FMV and get an almost precise match):

http://bluelaguna.net/viewimage/ff9/images/28.jpg

That one is really close to the right position... a couple of seconds latet Garnet raises her head, and you'll see the frame they used. They made a few changes here and there (you'd have to to make it resemble Belldandy), but for the most part, it is the same (although not as well done as the original). Hence, I call it like I see it... a trace job. That's fine, but they should give credit where it is due.

Larry

Ms. Kitori

I do agree with Larry on this one, I too am a lover of art, but when you trace something and add your own touches you should definitely credit the original artist. The same thing goes for music when people sample others songs the original artist should be credited for it.

Its not bad that you posted a link to it, we were simply critiqing it

sorry if I sounded harsh...

Oh no, i want to hear what everyone has to hear, wither it is harsh, good, or constructive criticism, everyone disserves a say, thats what a forum is for ^-^ However i still don't believe it is a trace job, a facial position in that state is common in art and sketches, i msyelf use that position alot. But i respect everyones decisions ^-^ i dont want anyone to think i was affended, quiet the contrary. Thank you for your honest opinions, if anything it is very noble so many of you uphold Belldandy's true image like that ^-^ That shows how the fans on this web site are trie and not false.