Dear YouTube Spyro fans

Razz · May 03, 2008 5:26 PM

This a rant re-posted from a piece I recently drew. I'm tired of having my art stolen by video makers. Here's the art if you want to see it:
http://razzek.deviantart.com/art/LoS-De … d-84615212

This is a special message for all YouTube Spyro video makers. I will know if you didn't read this.

For the past six months or so, I've been seeing my art pop up in various Spyro videos. Now, I don't really mind this, so long as I am credited somewhere, be it in the video's credits or in the information about the video. However, most of the videos wherein my art has appeared do not seem to be made by people who realize that real people are behind art. If they credit anyone at all, it's usually this faceless viewing site known as deviantART, and, as we should all be aware, dA does not draw its content, artists do.

Well, I am an artist. I work hard on the pictures I provide for all of you. I don't get paid to do this. I do it for free. All I ask is a little recognition. What do I get instead? Complaints, demands for free art, and the work I have done gets stolen by kids who spent maybe half an hour cramming it into a video with a horrible song and claiming they worked really hard to make it.

And just today, not only was my art stolen, it was defaced. A YouTube user put two of my Spyro/Cynder pieces in her video...and defaced them so that Cynder was replaced by her Mary Sue fan character. (It is also worth noting that she took and modified a piece by :devartiste_violet: and ~Spyroflamesredsbum.)

This. Is. The last straw.

From this day forward, if I see my art in your video and my name is not listed anywhere as the artist, I will flag your video for deletion. No polite comments explaining to you that you have committed art theft. Not even a *bleep*y complaint asking to be credited for my own work. You have no excuse not to know who I am and no excuse to leave my name out when my work is involved. Should you decide to keep including my art without crediting me, I will seek to have you banned from YouTube.

I am sick of this and I will not stand for it any more. If you like my art, that's great! I love it when people want to include my work in something they're making, but at least include my name along with it so that your viewers can come and see the original work and, if they feel like it, maybe give me the praise that is all I get for drawing for you people every. Single. Day.

Oh, and Art-Defacing YouTube Thief? Try editing this. >(

Love,
Razz

DragonWithinMe · May 03, 2008 7:02 PM

That's just unfair and stupid from those people. They're just showing lies in their videos. You artists should have a credit in their (stupid and bad songed) videos.

Blaze the Dragon · May 03, 2008 7:12 PM

So, who's the idiot who defaced your art in their video?

Razz · May 03, 2008 8:19 PM

I don't want to name the gal who defaced my art since she's probably just a kid (who doesn't speak English as her native language). I yelled at her plenty and in-depth and got one of her videos removed. She seems like she wouldn't do it again if she can figure out what happened.

As for the people who steal my art without crediting, just do a YouTube search for "Spyro" or "Cynder" and you'll see one or two within the first five pages, if not more.

Doppelgangergang · May 03, 2008 10:38 PM

(And that's why that my music videos are all BeatHarness.)

bmah · May 04, 2008 12:13 AM

Have you ever digitally watermarked your art? Or do you prefer a more direct form of recognition? In any case, it's easy for a random person to take a piece of art for granted and not recognize the amount of work and effort the person behind it has taken. It's one of those problems that's really hard to eliminate on the internet because 1) the person who stole/plagiarized the work doesn't care and/or 2) the person doesn't want to take the effort to find out who created that work.

I think for your purposes, a direct contact to the person should be sufficient. I can't think of an easier but more effective solution.

Razz wrote:

Love,
Razz

I had to chuckle at this.

Razz · May 04, 2008 3:07 PM

I never water-marked my work; I prefer to place my signature somewhere inobtrustive but where someone can't easily remove it. It ensures that it's got a signature that can be seen on the original as well (and it's the way coloring book artists sign their work big_smile ). At this point, I don't mind taking a more personal approach with my thieves. It knocks sense into a lot of their heads and scares the snot out of them. >D

I'm such a nice lady. big_smile

pur · May 04, 2008 4:49 PM

Who says it's quality art, they want? They just want ANYTHING, Razz.

Hell, I've got a picture on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ewFe-5R … re=related

Apologies: There's TWO of my pictures on YouTube. The one with Crash dressed up as Dingodile (...that doesn't count as being Dingodile) and one of said character as a baby (...that doesn't count as being Dingodile, either).

ontels · May 04, 2008 6:13 PM

I can understand your frustration but what if they just got that imige by typing spyro in google and used whatever came up?

pur · May 04, 2008 6:34 PM

ontels wrote:

I can understand your frustration but what if they just got that imige by typing spyro in google and used whatever came up?

Because "whatever came up" was a piece of inflation art. I know, I tested you theorum.

No, when it comes to de-facing a piece of fanart, it usually is very specific. Using un-altered images on YouTube...not so much.

A Guy · May 04, 2008 9:03 PM

While I don't make art, I still to have people take credit for what I made, so I think I know how you feel and I support your actions.

Antr the Rolf · May 04, 2008 9:08 PM

It great that your taking a Stand for this Razz..I'll support you all the way!

Razz · May 04, 2008 9:43 PM

9 times out of 10, the art that appears on a Google search shows up because its in a gallery. In fact, when you type "Cynder" in the image search, two of my pieces come up immediately. There is no excuse to not find out who the artist of a piece is. It doesn't take that much work, even if you got it off Photobucket. Just ask someone where they got it, or do a search, or, I dunno, look at the artist's signature that's right on the piece. >(

There is no excuse whatsoever for anyone to take art and I am through with letting people make them. It is common knowledge that you don't take something that isn't yours, regardless of where you found it. That is discourteous in the extreme.

TheManiacOnWheels · May 05, 2008 5:40 AM

Again, I agree with you. Art theft is bad enough, but defacing it? Though it might just have been a kid who didn't understand what was wrong with what she did. That can happen easily.

Razz · May 05, 2008 10:56 AM

I'd like to make an addendum to my original post.

I do not support flaming of art thieves. If you see someone stealing art, it is very likely that she doesn't know she's done something wrong. If you must say something, try to be polite and let her know that what she is doing really is theft and it hurts not only the artists but her viewers who won't have access to the full-quality images they deserve to see. Insulting the video maker is disreputable, mean, and heartless, especially when the maker is most likely just a kid. There is a difference between constructive criticism and just being a jerk.

Flagging videos for deletion because of art theft is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

pur · May 05, 2008 11:36 AM

Oh, and remember folks - It's illegal to sell art of Spyro characters, even it's your own art.

Just a little something on the theme of art law.

Antr the Rolf · May 05, 2008 4:06 PM

wow....I wonder fi cold get a permit on my art...hmm...

minredd · May 05, 2008 11:04 PM

Yeah, isn't it just SO LOVELY when people do their so professional recolors on MS PAINT? Sorry, but MS Paint recolors tick me off SO MUCH.

That reminds me, on my dA I actually have "You can use my art but credit me." And yeah, at least five times in one video I said "That's Razz's."

If it makes you feel better, one video had every artist credited and a link to the original picture.

Blah. I gotta stop. I'm in a rant-y mood.

corky · May 05, 2008 11:22 PM

this is stupid. people stealing your art are stupid, i mean. your art is really good and it deserves credit. i would probly buy some of it, i reckon. if i could. big_smile wink

bmah · May 06, 2008 7:35 AM

It is stupid to steal art, especially when the situation happens to you. But in reality, humans are so lazy, it's commonplace unfortunately. Razz is doing the right thing so far IMO.

Razz · May 06, 2008 12:10 PM

I might be setting up a store of some sort where people can buy the high-quality files of my original art. There will be a free section where people can get my high-quality fan art files for coloring or printing out, too. I've just got...to...re-scan...everything... D:

Neotyguy40 · May 06, 2008 10:30 PM

Hey Razz, I can prevent your art from being stolen (if you have a website), I have been practicing with a few coding techniques, PM me if you want me to tell you the code.

Razz · May 06, 2008 11:21 PM

Nothing can be done about art theft on dA (which is where I post all of my stuff), but I'd be interested in the code so no one steals the art from Just for Faun. smile

Spyrorocks · May 07, 2008 3:11 AM

Theres some simple code for preventing right clicking, but thats easily bypassable if you know what your doing (Unlike most art theifts, they are usually kids that really dont know a whole lot).

What I would do is convert your art on JFF to swf, then block out right clicking on the page(s).

Spyrorocks · May 07, 2008 3:43 AM

OK, just whipped something up for you guys to use...

On webpages where you want to protect images of yours, paste the following code between the <head> and </head> tags (Preferably right before the </head> tag):

<script type="text/Javascript">
// Art Theft basic protection code
// ========By Spyrorocks (SpyroForum.com)========
document.oncontextmenu=new Function("return false;")
function protectimg(url, width, height){
document.write('<im'+'g s'+'tyle="wid'+'th:'+width+';h'+'eig'+'ht:'+height+';back'+'groun'+'d:'+'ur'+'l('+url+') '+unescape('to'+'p%20l'+'eft%'+'20no'+'-re'+'peat%3B%'+'22%20'+'src%3D%22http%3A//w'+'ww.sp'+'yroforum'+'.com'+'/t'+'rans.'+'gi'+'f%22')+'>');
}
</script>

Now, with that in place, use the following code to display a image and make it PROTECTED (Do NOT use the standard img tags):

<script>protectimg('<url to image>', width, height)</script>

Replace "<url to image>" with the url to the image that you want to display protected, and replace "width" and "height" with the width and the height of the image you are displaying. Its VERY important to input the correct width and height!

An example of the above code to protect the spyroforum logo:

<script>protectimg('http://www.spyroforum.com/logos/regular.jpg', 200, 131)</script>

And I set up an example page for you all to see my method in action: http://www.spyrorocks.com/fun/arttheft.htm

[NOTE: THIS METHOD IS NOT FOOLPROOF AND CAN BE BYPASSED. THE AVERAGE ART THIEF WILL PROBABLY NOT KNOW HOW TO BYPASS IT AND THUS GIVE UP. THIS CODE IS PROVIDED WITHOUT ANY SORT OF WARRANTY! (Don't sue me if people bypass it and steal your art)]

Enjoy,
SR

#1 May 03, 2008 5:26 PM

Dear YouTube Spyro fans

#2 May 03, 2008 7:02 PM

Re: Dear YouTube Spyro fans

#3 May 03, 2008 7:12 PM

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#4 May 03, 2008 8:19 PM

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#5 May 03, 2008 10:38 PM

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#6 May 04, 2008 12:13 AM

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#7 May 04, 2008 3:07 PM

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#8 May 04, 2008 4:49 PM

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#9 May 04, 2008 6:13 PM

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#10 May 04, 2008 6:34 PM

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#11 May 04, 2008 9:03 PM

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#12 May 04, 2008 9:08 PM

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#13 May 04, 2008 9:43 PM

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#14 May 05, 2008 5:40 AM

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#15 May 05, 2008 10:56 AM

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#16 May 05, 2008 11:36 AM

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#17 May 05, 2008 4:06 PM

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#18 May 05, 2008 11:04 PM

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#19 May 05, 2008 11:22 PM

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#20 May 06, 2008 7:35 AM

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#21 May 06, 2008 12:10 PM

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#22 May 06, 2008 10:30 PM

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#23 May 06, 2008 11:21 PM

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#24 May 07, 2008 3:11 AM

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#25 May 07, 2008 3:43 AM

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