Is doing USD art commissions allowed on FFXIV?

[Sigma-Astra]

As an actual professional artist, let me just weigh my experience and thoughts on this.

Selling fan art that has been made solely by yourself isn't considered RMT, however, there are many grey areas and lines that you can cross and ones where you shouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole. I would be careful about advertising such things on the official forums themselves through a new topic/thread simply because it is a reportable thing and could be considered advertising or spam if someone was really petty enough. However, that being said, there's nothing against the rules as far as I am aware of that you can't advertise your tumblr or DeviantART page through your own signature. So, that is probably going to be the best way you could advertise your freelancing without someone's jimmies getting rustled over it (so long as your link doesn't contain a virus or unsavory images like pornography).

Now, usually creating fan art grants you the Creative Commons License in which you have sole ownership and trademark over what you yourself has created. Still, license or not, that won't stop art thieves or copycats from stealing your hard work. Depending on what country the thief originated from and depending on their....personality....usually once something is stolen there's very little you can do about it besides asking them politely to NOT do it. I mean, you could try to sue them, but the costs of legal action is probably not worth it. That's one of the sadder parts of freelancing your art and posting it on the internet since a lot of people think anything on Google is fair game to copy and steal as their own (it's not, don't do it).

Regarding the trademark and infringement topics, in order for someone to claim that what they make is truly fan art and no where near the capacity of the original, it has to CLEARLY look like your own self-made style with various tweaks, etc. Tracing original art is NOT fan art, it's stealing. I don't care how much time and effort it took you to trace over that trademarked and already existing character, it's not your own art. If it looks anywhere exact or close enough towards the original. You stole it, plain and simple. I don't care if you changed the hair color or eye color, or whatever, it's still stolen work and it's rude.

Companies that I have learned over the years to stay away from because they do not take kindly towards anything and will jump at you the first chance they get are Marvel and Disney. Other companies like Nike, Apple, etc don't really take kindly towards you using their logos without permission either, but that's an entirely different part of the field and subject matter away from fanart.

The bottom line is to just be smart about it. You know when you've done something wrong or stole something. You know when you've made something too close towards someone else's work. It's fine to use other artists as inspiration and role models, but those artists don't want you to copy their styles exactly either. And it's good to know that not everything you find on tumblr, Google, Instagram, pinterest, and other social media are fair game to use without someone's permission. References are okay, but that's all they should stay as, as references...and your final product should not look perfectly too close towards the reference pieces.

[AmemeAmeklin]

As an actual professional artist, let me just weigh my experience and thoughts on this.

Selling fan art that has been made solely by yourself isn't considered RMT, however, there are many grey areas and lines that you can cross and ones where you shouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole. I would be careful about advertising such things on the official forums themselves through a new topic/thread simply because it is a reportable thing and could be considered advertising or spam if someone was really petty enough. However, that being said, there's nothing against the rules as far as I am aware of that you can't advertise your tumblr or DeviantART page through your own signature. So, that is probably going to be the best way you could advertise your freelancing without someone's jimmies getting rustled over it (so long as your link doesn't contain a virus or unsavory images like pornography).

Now, usually creating fan art grants you the Creative Commons License in which you have sole ownership and trademark over what you yourself has created. Still, license or not, that won't stop art thieves or copycats from stealing your hard work. Depending on what country the thief originated from and depending on their....personality....usually once something is stolen there's very little you can do about it besides asking them politely to NOT do it. I mean, you could try to sue them, but the costs of legal action is probably not worth it. That's one of the sadder parts of freelancing your art and posting it on the internet since a lot of people think anything on Google is fair game to copy and steal as their own (it's not, don't do it).

Regarding the trademark and infringement topics, in order for someone to claim that what they make is truly fan art and no where near the capacity of the original, it has to CLEARLY look like your own self-made style with various tweaks, etc. Tracing original art is NOT fan art, it's stealing. I don't care how much time and effort it took you to trace over that trademarked and already existing character, it's not your own art. If it looks anywhere exact or close enough towards the original. You stole it, plain and simple. I don't care if you changed the hair color or eye color, or whatever, it's still stolen work and it's rude.

Companies that I have learned over the years to stay away from because they do not take kindly towards anything and will jump at you the first chance they get are Marvel and Disney. Other companies like Nike, Apple, etc don't really take kindly towards you using their logos without permission either, but that's an entirely different part of the field and subject matter away from fanart.

The bottom line is to just be smart about it. You know when you've done something wrong or stole something. You know when you've made something too close towards someone else's work. It's fine to use other artists as inspiration and role models, but those artists don't want you to copy their styles exactly either. And it's good to know that not everything you find on tumblr, Google, Instagram, pinterest, and other social media are fair game to use without someone's permission. References are okay, but that's all they should stay as, as references...and your final product should not look perfectly too close towards the reference pieces.

^^^^

As another artist and having also worked for a professional printing company that had to deal with internet copyrights and stolen images, this post is correct and you should take it all to heart.

[JackHatchet]

Now, usually creating fan art grants you the Creative Commons License in which you have sole ownership and trademark over what you yourself has created. Still, license or not, that won't stop art thieves or copycats from stealing your hard work.

You can't legally sell fan art--even if you created it yourself. So you wouldn't be able to legally profit from it regardless. Creative Commons basically says "I made this, but you can use it, and also the original creator of the copy-righted material can't sue you (or me) for it. So why does it even matter if someone 'steals' it. What the heck are they going to do with it? You can't legally sell it. They can't legally sell it. Why does ownership even really matter at that point? Fan art should be about fun and doing something you enjoy because you have a passion for it or the character you want to pay tribute to.

Art is always so weird. I'm an artist too, and I've never felt offended when people steal or use my work. I do (non-fan) art because making art is fun. Whatever happens to it after I'm done with it--I could care less. But It always comes off as super hypocritical when people cry bloody murder about stolen art, and yet half their portfolio is fan-art of copy-righted characters.

Ah, you got me all ranty. ^.^ I still love art, but the art community just pisses me off sometimes. It's like somewhere along the lines people stop doing art as a passion, and it becomes an ego-trip. Such a buzz-kill. I never copy/trace/fan-art, because those things are boring to me. But if another artist wants to--why hate on them? Art is about fun. And once you get into copy-right/fan-art territory--no one should have the right to talk down to those folks, because y'all stealing at that point. Live and let live.

[HyoMinPark]

I'm an artist too, and I've never felt offended when people steal or use my work. I do (non-fan) art because making art is fun.

As someone who used to draw frequently, I don’t understand this sentence at all.

How can you be okay with putting in the effort to create a piece of work that someone else tries to claim is theirs, or that soemone else uses without asking you for permission to do so?

I once had an individual steal some old Sailor Moon sketches I had done and try to claim they were theirs, and I was furious. It’s never okay to take someone else’s work and claim it as your own, and I don’t understand how someone can be okay with such a practice. It doesn’t matter if the pieces are done as commissions or “for fun”; it’s still stealing.

I don’t draw anymore; I stick to writing. But the same would still apply—if someone took a story I wrote and tried to say they wrote it, I’d be very mad about it. I write for the sake of creative expression (so, “for fun”), and it’s not okay for someone to take my work and say it belongs to them. I don’t really find it “flattering” to have someone steal my work—I find it rude and disrespectful.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I never copy/trace/fan-art, because those things are boring to me. But if another artist wants to--why hate on them?

Because they aren't an artist. They've a thief. How does this even compute? You claim people have lost their passion for art yet think it's perfectly okay someone literally copy your work? It's one thing if they look at your drawing and attempt to recreate it with their own flair (i.e., not trace), but another thing entirely if they simply try passing it off as their own.

It's only a problem if you let it be a problem. It's all about how you let other people affect you. Don't let other people dictate your happiness and enjoyment. Own yourself, or else you're letting them steal more than just your art. ^.^

What??? o.O

Let's apply this warped logic to say, a household item. If someone stole your PS4, PC, money from your dresser, you'd just shrug it off, "Oh, no big deal. People just do things like that ^.^" I get trying not to let it ruin your passion, but people can still be happy with their craft and equally pissed off when someone steals it. I've had someone copy my character wholesale once on a RP forum. I was neither amused nor forgiving about it. They didn't ruin my enjoyment of RP though. They were just a thief, which I called them out on.

I mean, to each their own, I guess...

[Miste]

I still love art, but the art community just pisses me off sometimes. It's like somewhere along the lines people stop doing art as a passion, and it becomes an ego-trip. Such a buzz-kill. I never copy/trace/fan-art, because those things are boring to me. But if another artist wants to--why hate on them? Art is about fun.

I don't even consider myself an artist nor was I ever any good at drawing, but you seem extremely out of touch with reality?

Sure, art can be fun, but you seem to forget that some people live off being an artist? It is literally their livelihood and provides them with the necessities of living like a roof over their head, food, and clothes on their backs.

Someone stealing someone elses art can have a bad impact on them financially. If someone steals someone elses art and tries to sell it or trace it they are taking profits away from the artist who drew it.

How can you be this out of touch??? Ego-trip? Nope, just needing to LIVE and make the proper profit off of THEIR OWN WORK instead of someone else stealing any of it.