Main Menu
Menu

Show posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Show posts Menu

Messages - cutekick

#1
I won't be selling at the swap meet but I am moving right after Fanime and I am looking to sell some things I have doubles of while at the con. Prices are negotiable. If there are any questions feel free to ask. I may be adding things if I find more as I pack for my move. I am willing to trade for some of the rarer sega system rpgs (Magic Knights Rayearth, Dragon Force, Lunar 2 for Sega CD, and many more).


Manga:

$2 a Volume


Alichino Vol 1-3
Deus Vitae Vol 1
Hollow Fields Vol 1
Psychic Academy Vol 1
Saikano Vol 4
DNAngel Vol 1
Samurai Deeper Kyo Vol 1-4

All volumes are in good to like new condition. They have been sitting on my book shelf for a while so there may be some standard shelf wear.

Anime:

Gurren Lagann Limited Edition Movies 1 and 2: $45 Each or $75 for both
Both are in new condition. They even still have the plastic wrap which has been cut on one side to allow the contents to be removed. Everything is included in these. Nothing has been removed.



Games:

Suikoden 2: $150
This is a complete set. Case, manual, disk, and back cover. Manual does have some water damage, see second photo.


#2
I know staff is working their hardest to get AA sign up all set up and ready to go and that nothing has been announced. I am not asking you all to work faster or harder, I know you are doing your absolute best and I cannot thank you enough for that. I have this terrible feeling though that somehow signup is going to happen on Sakura-con weekend (March 29-31). I don't know if this is a realistic concern but I know I am not the only one to have it.

So, I just want to ask to please take that into consideration when you are finalizing everything. I know I am not the only artist in the bay area that is going to Sakura-con and would love to attend Fanime as well but it would be very hard to sign up while at another convention.   
#3
@ chibimonster You are right, looks like Otakon isn't banning fanart buttons. I think that added that last line "Fan created drawings do not violate this rule." on their definition after I read it (I did read it the day it was released) but I could have just read it wrong. Thanks for pointing that out. That is also a really good article on Etsy! Thanks for the link. Con goers really do prefer to buy fanart. Back when I did prints my fanart sold so much better then my originals. I would sell a handful of originals but tons of the fanart. I greatly prefer to make original art. As I concentrated more on that I started making less and less at cons because my fanart became more and more dated. I have since moved to crafts because pokemon are never too old (I am not allowed to sell these at Fanime) and my original stuff is more appreciated and still sells quite well. Not to mention people love commissioning hats, plushies, ect of their own original characters.

@Laggy Yes, it really does depend on the company a lot. Generally the companies that license the anime for release in the US are more lax because they know that pissing off the fan base would not be a good plan. Disney, in part is quick to act because they have most things trademarked. I doubt that Disney really wanted to file a lawsuit against an elementary school when they painted Mickey Mouse on the wall in a classroom. But Mickey Mouse is trademarked and trademarks can be challenged in court if they are not upheld. Really, it is an ugly beast.

As a note, trademark law is why official logos are not to be used in fanworks. Logos are generally trademarked and trademark law is much stricter. While it does have its own terms of fair use fanart does not apply and parody is so subjective you do not want to depend on it.

I think that the Fanime staff looking at what artist make it a great way to protect everyone. My only concern if that one day this screening will turn into checking everything you plan to sell, which I have seen happen at other cons. Each piece will have to be approved of and besides that being a major strain on the Fanime staff it is also hard to the artist. I do not know a single artist that continually attends AAs that does not rush to get new pieces done in time for the next con. The whole thing is complicated and hard. It also really just points out the major problems with the laws.
#4
I did not want to join in this topic but I feel there is a major lack of understand of US copyright (and trademark) laws and as an artist that was also told I was not allowed to sell some of my goods I feel I have to join in. I am going to go over the basics of copyright law as best I can and to the best of my understanding. I am not a lawyer so do not take my word for this. I have done my own research on this topic but that does not mean my understand of it is absolutely correct. Please, do your own research on US laws and correct me if I am wrong. I am going to use the Legend of Zelda and Nintendo for my examples since most people are familiar with it. And I apologize, this is going to be long.

Copyright law allows the original creator of a work to make copies of their work, distribute their work (selling it, giving it away), display their work, and making derivative works. Now this "derivative works" part is where thing get a bit complex.

Nintendo owns the copyright to the Legend of Zelda, this allows them to make more games based on it. This also allows them to make movies, music, plays, poster, t-shirts, jewelery, ect., based on the Legend of Zelda because they own the rights to it. This also means they are the only ones allows to make games, movies, music, plays, posters, t-shirt, jewelry, ect based on it.  Under this if you, an random person that is not Nintendo, make a fanart piece for the Legend of Zelda you cannot display it or distribute it in any way. This means you are not allowed to display it (post it online, print it out and tape it to a public wall) or distribute it (sell it, give it away).

So yes, according to copyright law all fanart is illegal if you display or distribute it. Unless you are granted permission from the copyright owners to create, display, and distribute such a work. But there are two loopholes that allow for fanart to be displayed and sold as it is in Artist Alley, parody and fair use. Both of these are in the gray area and if you were to be sued you would have to prove that your work fell under at least one of them.

Parody is when you make fun of something. If you drew Link in a way that made fun of him or the Legend of Zelda games it could be protected by parody. If Nintendo took you to court over this it could come down to if the judge thought it was funny or not. If you drew Link and used him to make fun of something else, that was not Legend of Zelda related, this would not be protected under parody. Parody protects you making fun of the same thing, not using it to make fun of something else.

Fair use is a far more complex. Fair use has four guidelines:
(Copied from US code 107 link: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107)

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

If we take #1 verbatim fanart is still illegal when you sell it. But more and more it is being interpenetrated as if it was created solely for profit or to provide stimulation of creativity and enrichment of the community. This is because in today's society nothing is free and everyone wants to make a little money off of all of their hard work. So, for #1 fanart should pass as long as it is original fanart.

#2 does not really apply to fanart in the anime/games community since we are dealing mostly with visual media and this has more to do with other types of work. Please read up on it if you are curious.

#3 Is more about using an copyrighted work exactly in another piece. If you took a picture of Link from the cover of the game and then added him to a much larger piece of work would that be allowed? This really depends on what you made and how much of it was original. This really should not apply here because we are dealing with original works with copyrighted characters. Again, please read up on it if you are curious.

#4 This is the other big one, especially for craftsers like me. If you draw Link in your own style how does that drawing effect the market value of the all of the Nintendo made Legend of Zelda merchandise? For prints, not much, because it is your own style which Nintendo is not replicating.

Now, for craftsers, if you make a Link costume how does that effect the market value of the all of the Nintendo made Legend of Zelda merchandise? Again, not a lot because to my knowledge Nintendo does not offer a Link costume for you to purchase.

But if I make a Link plushie how does that effect the market value of the all of the Nintendo made Legend of Zelda merchandise? This one is harder to answer because Nintendo does offer Link plushies. Now your plush might be in a completely different style, for example you make him into an onigiri, you are probably okay. But if you made a plushie similar to the ones Nintendo offers this gets a bit harder to say you have little to no effect on the market value because you are directly competing with them. In general that is what you want to avoid.
Also, parody is still protected here, if I make a Link plushie that would directly compete with the Nintendo made ones but it was making fun of Link or the Legend of Zelda games I would still be fine even though it could/would effect the market value of the other Zelda merchandise.

@Hachimitsu-ink About those Perler bead creations, if the creator of those is distributing them they are no better then someone who traces art work and they are breaking copyright law. They are creating exact replicas of copyrighted images that belong to Nintendo and Capcom. This is a clear violation of copyright law because there is no originality involved in this, there is no style change, no parody, nothing. If they had taken Link from Wind Waker and turned him into a 16-bit pixel art and turned that into a Perler bead creation this would have been fine to sell. This is because they are creating something that Nintendo did not. Also, I know at least east coast conventions banned the Yaoi/Yuri paddles because of con goers being harassed by other over zealous con goers. People would get a smack in the bottom and such, this caused some major problems and the best solution was to ban the paddles. This would not have happened if people would not have hit other people, especially strangers. I know other conventions have had to start looking at banning the high-fiving across opposite direction escalators due to similar problems.

Also, as an east coaster that moved west and I am now attending west coast conventions I can tell you these cons are much more open then the large east coast conventions. Otakon full-out banned all fanart one year, it did not go over well and was removed but harsh restrictions were put in place instead. They have since banned almost all crafts that are not original and you cannot put your fanart on buttons at all. Artist at Otakon are also only allowed 10 prints of each fanart piece and at least half of their artwork must be original. They also require artist mark which pieces are fanart and which are original so that they can check that you are following the rules. All this extra policing has led to a need for more staff members and in turn higher table prices. (I found Fanime's $75 fee to be cheap.) So please, do not blame Fanime staff, they are doing their best and trying to protect us, the artists, as well as themselves.

So, general rules to follow with fanart because I know: tl;dr
1. Use your own style or apply another style (Wind Waker styled Naruto characters)
2. Create something new (do not redraw/recreate official works)
3. Do not directly compete with any official merchandise even if you are creating/recreating it yourself

And everyone please, please, go read up on US copyright law yourself if you are selling in any AA, it is extremely important to know what your rights are and what you can and cannot do.
#5
@Chloe I am totally going to find you, are you there both days? I want some of those figures....