An analogy for all those slower people out there that don’t consider art theft to be wrong, specifically fan art theft.
Sandwiches.
Let’s say you’re making a peanut butter sandwich. You didn’t invent this sandwich and you don’t claim to, but you really love them, and you’re making one.
So you set your finished peanut butter sandwich on the table. You’re really proud of this sandwich; you worked hard on it, and you’re going to enjoy eating it. But first! You feel like showing some of your friends this awesome sandwich.
Now let’s say someone takes a look at your sandwich and says “Dang, i love peanut butter sandwiches and that looks like a good one!”
And then they take it.
They take your sandwich. Of course you’re going to be angry about this, it was your sandwich! Now maybe they turn to you and say “Oh, but you didn’t invent peanut butter sandwiches, so this sandwich doesn’t belong to you.” And they eat it. You didn’t make that sandwich for them and you never claimed to have invented peanut butter sandwiches. You made it for yourself, and they took it without asking. Just because they can see it, doesn’t make it theirs. That’s stealing.
Or let’s say someone else sees the sandwich you have on the table, picks it up, and carries it to a different room to show other people. They didn’t ask you, they just took it. Maybe you don’t want people from the other room to see it, and the person who took the sandwich didn’t ask.
Maybe the person comes back and says that they weren’t claiming to have made the sandwich. But the fact is they took the sandwich without asking. So that’s still stealing.
Now someone else sees the sandwich on the table, takes it without asking, and puts lettuce in it. Not only have they stolen your peanut butter sandwich, but they’ve changed it into a different sandwich. You never intended for your peanut butter sandwich to have lettuce in it, and they have wrecked it by changing it like that.
Stealing.
Stop stealing. Stop tracing, re-posting, editing, and/or stealing people’s art.
IF SOMEONE CAME UP TO YOU AND TOOK YOUR SANDWICH, YOU’D PUNCH THEM IN THE FACE. WHICH IS WHAT WE ARTISTS WANT TO DO TO YOU.
STOP BEING STUPID. STOP STEALING ART.
thankyou.
~M
(feel free to link anyone to this analogy)
