Forums » RP Discussion » Crediting the pictures you use (CLOSED)

It is time I said it. It’s annoying when you take an artist’s work (first one you find on google usually) and use it on a character profile. We are all guilty of this, but to put a name on a picture that I see everyone using, just.. No.. If you do take pictures off the internet, do try to credit please. As an artist myself I know how much a piece of art can bring a smile to someone’s face, but stealing art brings a huge frown to the artists that put hours and hours into the work they do.

So please, credit when you can and make the effort to find the name of the artist that you using the art of. It is just common curtesy.

Thank you.

Agreed. I got into this with a friend of mine once. They said it shouldn't matter if they used other peoples' drawings for roleplaying because they "weren't making any money" off the artist's work, which was true; but not the point! It's not fair to steal someone else's creation. Also, when uncredited ripoff images start circulating you could be depriving the artist of possible job opportunities.

Tutorial for reverse image searching on Google. SauceNAO or TinEye can also help you find where a piece of art was originally posted.

Alternatives to art theft: commissioning an artist to draw your OC; just describing them with words; using an online character creator.

Definitely. I have it easy in that I only use art I have either created or commissioned, so I know who drew it lol. I think it's definitely worth getting art of your characters made specifically for you not only to avoid the problem of "generic anime guy #64" but also so you can you know, have proper credit way easier.

Now, I actually did once have a piece of my art taken without my consent and posted of all places, to a fandom wiki for a fandom I knew nothing about.
I felt rather violated by this, not just because this was MY art but it was art of one of my characters, which made it extra awkward seeing HIM listed as an image of a "standard female of this species". He's also a member of a race I created, one that was created whole cloth and i've spent years developing so I of course was rather freaking out about the idea that he looked enough like some video game or something universe race that he was mistaken for one.
As it was, after much research the actual similarities were very very minor and using him as an image for one was I felt stretching things a bit. This other race had horns and pointy ears, like.. just about every fantasy race ever? and that was it, the only similarities.
But it was a very strange experience.
I admit I was pretty angry and insulted. They'd taken my artwork without my permission, they'd misgendered my character and they'd also, in my mind, insulted my creativity by suggesting my personal pet project aliens looked "just like" another franchise.
They did eventually credit me but it didn't really take the icky feeling away. I didn't want credit, I didn't want my image to be used in the context they were using it!

And there's the thing, credit is all very well and good, but what if the artwork you're using, or the photo, belongs to someone who doesn't want it used for the context you're putting it into? What if it's art of their oc and you're basically stealing their characters face and assigning random traits to them they don't appreciate or want associated with them? What if you're using a person, a real person's face to depict a character who does horrible awful things, or has a horrible awful past and the person who's face that is finds this and is super disturbed by this horrific fiction you've written and used their image to depict?
It's creepy, honestly creepy.
Using real photos, that's a real person somewhere out there and they might not be overly happy with the idea of being rped.
and using art, that's quite probably someone's character with a story and a personality. You're stealing their face! Don't steal people's faces man.

By all means seek out inspiration or use these pictures as references. "my character looks a bit like this guy" or "a bit like this image" but please people, there are so many artists out there who will do you a piece of custom art for free or a very small fee. Do that. Or use one of those character creator/doll creators or just use words. It's way way less creepy than stealing someone else's (real or fictional) face.

I just draw mine. .-.

But I think we should credit Rp creators.

I don't usually use art for this very reason, because I don't like stealing art. Sometimes if I can find the original artist I will use it, with full credit of course.

You may feel absolved of guilt if you credit an artist but credit does not equal permission.

RPR's stance on image usage is cut and dry.

Yeah, but it is still better than no credit. I hope that we all get commissions or make our own character art instead.

If you can, contact the artist as well!

No, what's better is not to use art you don't have permission to use. Once I learned this, I cut out all artwork I had that I didn't have permission to use which was the right thing to do. I know it sucks, but the thing is that giving credit doesn't excuse you or make it right.

If you look at my character's you might notice that I have some nice artwork for some of them. I got that art by commissioning artists and it didn't cost me one penny. They accepted and I paid them in virtual currency from some petsites we played on. Lack of money or artistic ability is no excuse, if I can earn my art, then so can everyone else.

If you decide you are too lazy or don’t want to spend money, then use stock photos from pixabay. At least you can’t get in trouble and you don’t to have to ask for permission.

This is notorious on Tumblr and other places. I once saw the excuse of "It's on the internet, why would they upload it in the first place!" excuse.

Some of mine are commished for me. The Gunvolt ones I use for their display pics are in game artwork or official art. Otherwise I credit.

Hey guys, just poping in to link a previous discussion regarding this;
this thread here. Art theft is def not a recent issue....

I disagree, you essentially just admit that you committed art theft which is still in violation of the site rules. This is pretty much non-negotiable, if you do not have the explicit permission to use the material in question, you are breaking the rules. You are essentially telling the mods "I broke a rule and I'm just waiting to be moderated on it".

People end up stealing entire character designs this way because they take work someone else paid for, but somehow 'it's okay because I gave credit'? I've had this happen to me as both and artist and commissioner and it's wrong. The potential benefit of maybe obtaining a random commission versus having your clients' character drawings stolen and reused are two entirely different things, with the latter massively outweighing the former. There's no justifiable reason to do it, honestly. Why would someone commission you if you're okay with their character picture being used by others as long as they give you credit?

Google has an option to filter content by usage rights. There are lots of free stock options available. There is a lot of artwork on DeviantArt that falls under a Creative Commons license where you can use images under specific conditions (my icon is one of such images). The resources available even when you have no money to commission someone are plentiful.

Let's not make breaking the site rules 'okay' just because something isn't a big deal to some people.

I didn’t mention stealing commissions, that’s something else and that’s pretty crappy. I don’t personally support taking pictures online without permission anyways. I tell people to give credit because it might be possible for the artist to ask the person to take it down if they find it, a point I didn’t mention.

Commissions are still pictures and by definition fall in the category that you've been describing thus far. No distinction has been made up to this point, so when you encourage people to credit images they find online, commissions are included.

An artist also doesn't have to ask the person to take it down, all it takes is one simple email from the artist to Kim at admin@rprepository.com with proof that the artist created the work, and it will be removed and the user warned to not do it again. Repeat offenses lead to consequences for the account.

Telling people to give credit when they don't have permission in the first place is still not in accordance with the rules, no matter how good your intentions are or what kind of art it is (commissioned or not). It would be nice if this was acknowledged, because right now this thread reads like it condones art theft because 'it's okay if credit is given'. Crediting images for which you have no permission to use is still theft, no matter how you phrase it.

I think this is enough, I soon won’t have time to reply. Thank you to everyone who joined us. This discussion is closed.