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What makes a char original? Some musings.
15 years ago
General
Believe me when I say we have a difficult time ahead of us. But if we are to be prepared for it, we must first shed our fear of it. I stand here, before you now, truthfully unafraid. Why? Because I believe something you do not? No, I stand here without fear because I remember. I remember that I am here not because of the path that lies before me but because of the path that lies behind me. I remember that for 100 years we have fought these machines. I remember that for 100 years they have sent their armies to destroy us, and after a century of war I remember that which matters most... We are still here! Today, let us send a message to that army. TOnight, let us shake this cave. Tonight, let us tremble these halls of earth, steel, and stone, let us be heard from red core to black sky. Tonight, let us make them remember, THIS IS ZION AND WE ARE NOT AFRAID!
Okay, so this has crossed my mind several times, after several other artists claiming another artist took something off of his or her character. And even before then
I've been thinking a lot about this. Now, what makes an original character? Does a beard or long ears make a character? Glasses, wings, tails, eye color, etc make a character? No. None of those do. It's the thought and the time and the artists spirit that is put within the character.
Let's take.... my dragon elf species for example. Now, I see a LOT of people who baww sometimes about how people will rip off the long ears, tail, etc. off of their character. Now, that's just it. You see long ears, tails, lots of things on a lot of characters.
Since the dragon elves are a mix of elf and dragon, then it's natural to think of them with long ears, tails, and wings. And there are a lot of characters with long ears, horns, tails, wings, etc. I can't think of one off the top of my head, atm, but there are a lot of em. Both here online and through out cartoons and etc.
I think *Pr0jectGemini even has a stamp about this sort of thing. What constitues a rip off? Well, I see it a lot with the X-Men series. People like some sort of aspect of Logan, Jean, or Scott, and give it to their offspring. An example of this is the phenoix power or the bone claws. With the endless powers of imagination, something like this is created. >.> Now,I've done it before. A lot of people have, within the confines of the X-Men universe. Alexander had Gambit's power. I changed it though. Because deep down, I truly knew that he was a rip off of Gambit.
It's major things like that, in which things are noticeably taken from a character, be it cannon or OC. But, where do we draw the line. That's been wracking my brain a bit. What constitutes a true rip off and a true OC? There are many aspects to what a rip off can be, but I do agree with several people, it has to be big, in which it's something like an appearance thing to powers. Colors as well, I suppose would make up a lot for rip offs. I see this a bit too. But the problem still lies within the character.
To be honest, I have been accused of ripping off someones character on Furaffinity. Never having been to this users page before, they complained that I took the name Sapphire. Now, Sapphire is my birthstone, which is why Sapphire is named Sapphire.
Again, I had NEVER been to this users page before,never commented, had only joined a day prior, and this user had the gall to claim that. But she had apparently done it to several users whose character's name was Sapphire or if they had the name Sapphire within the user name. This is what got me thinking about what could be considered a rip off and what can't be.
To give you an example of a rip off, Repo Men. Yes, you've heard me rant about this before, but I have looked into both sides of the argument. What made my final decision for this being a rip off, was in an issue of Fangoria, in which they were interviewed. They said that the original repo men did have singing and dancing. But previous to that, I looked at the plot, I looked at what they were saying, I looked at what all was going on. I did the research to determine my own answer. I looked at it through an artist eye. This being said, here's what I came up with: It is indeed a rip off. Why? Well because of not only the plot, but how they went about making this, where they had set up, the people being at some of the showings of Repo TGO, I looked at interviews, and I saw the singing and dancing, I watched the trailer, I did everything I could to make up my mind. In fact, I did come around to seeing the movie because a friend begged me to see it with her. And I did and it was a rip off. And that's why I still go by that today. But I didn't look at it like a passerby would or some of these people here on dA do. I looked at it like it was a crime scene and every detail counted.
And I've thought about it since then. Then, this previous semester, my art professor showed us several pictures in which art was inspired by another picture. Venus has several if I'm not mistaken. They, too, are very much alike, and yet so different. Would you call them rip offs? Probably not, but that's because it's been classified as a work of art. But then, what defines art? According to my professor, art has to have an intent and a purpose.
Now,what does this have to do with originality? Well, here's what it has to do. Those artworks were original, but they were inspired by something else. In fact, the original Venus was inspired by something else.
Also, Sephiroth, the mighty Sephiroth, was the name of a God. That's why the character has that name. The creator liked the name and gave it to the FFVII Sephiroth.
The way I see it is that it isn't a beard or tail or name or ears or eyes or what ever. If you take something big, like everything about the character, name and all and tweak the hair a bit or tweak some personality trait of a character, then yes, it's a rip off. But something as small as a beard or a tail that is used on so many characters, then no, it isn't a rip off. Lots of characters have them.
What truly makes a character original is that the time and effort put into thinking of the appearance, doing the research, creating the world they live in, creating the name, making the personality, everything. It's the heart and soul of an artist.
An original character' s name or body part doesn't have to be original. But the name does have to come from the heart, as does the artwork itself. What makes something original isn't an aspect that can be seen when glancing at it. It's truly looking at the piece of work and saying to yourself, 'hey, that's original.' seeing the story behind the artwork and actually reading the artist comments on how they came up with the character.
And thats it for my thoughts on this sort of thing. It was just some musings I've had for well over two years now. And I wanna hear your thoughts on this guys! Speak up!
And no, this isn't because of some drama thing, it's just some thoughts I needed to put down and decide upon. >.>
I've been thinking a lot about this. Now, what makes an original character? Does a beard or long ears make a character? Glasses, wings, tails, eye color, etc make a character? No. None of those do. It's the thought and the time and the artists spirit that is put within the character.
Let's take.... my dragon elf species for example. Now, I see a LOT of people who baww sometimes about how people will rip off the long ears, tail, etc. off of their character. Now, that's just it. You see long ears, tails, lots of things on a lot of characters.
Since the dragon elves are a mix of elf and dragon, then it's natural to think of them with long ears, tails, and wings. And there are a lot of characters with long ears, horns, tails, wings, etc. I can't think of one off the top of my head, atm, but there are a lot of em. Both here online and through out cartoons and etc.
I think *Pr0jectGemini even has a stamp about this sort of thing. What constitues a rip off? Well, I see it a lot with the X-Men series. People like some sort of aspect of Logan, Jean, or Scott, and give it to their offspring. An example of this is the phenoix power or the bone claws. With the endless powers of imagination, something like this is created. >.> Now,I've done it before. A lot of people have, within the confines of the X-Men universe. Alexander had Gambit's power. I changed it though. Because deep down, I truly knew that he was a rip off of Gambit.
It's major things like that, in which things are noticeably taken from a character, be it cannon or OC. But, where do we draw the line. That's been wracking my brain a bit. What constitutes a true rip off and a true OC? There are many aspects to what a rip off can be, but I do agree with several people, it has to be big, in which it's something like an appearance thing to powers. Colors as well, I suppose would make up a lot for rip offs. I see this a bit too. But the problem still lies within the character.
To be honest, I have been accused of ripping off someones character on Furaffinity. Never having been to this users page before, they complained that I took the name Sapphire. Now, Sapphire is my birthstone, which is why Sapphire is named Sapphire.
Again, I had NEVER been to this users page before,never commented, had only joined a day prior, and this user had the gall to claim that. But she had apparently done it to several users whose character's name was Sapphire or if they had the name Sapphire within the user name. This is what got me thinking about what could be considered a rip off and what can't be.
To give you an example of a rip off, Repo Men. Yes, you've heard me rant about this before, but I have looked into both sides of the argument. What made my final decision for this being a rip off, was in an issue of Fangoria, in which they were interviewed. They said that the original repo men did have singing and dancing. But previous to that, I looked at the plot, I looked at what they were saying, I looked at what all was going on. I did the research to determine my own answer. I looked at it through an artist eye. This being said, here's what I came up with: It is indeed a rip off. Why? Well because of not only the plot, but how they went about making this, where they had set up, the people being at some of the showings of Repo TGO, I looked at interviews, and I saw the singing and dancing, I watched the trailer, I did everything I could to make up my mind. In fact, I did come around to seeing the movie because a friend begged me to see it with her. And I did and it was a rip off. And that's why I still go by that today. But I didn't look at it like a passerby would or some of these people here on dA do. I looked at it like it was a crime scene and every detail counted.
And I've thought about it since then. Then, this previous semester, my art professor showed us several pictures in which art was inspired by another picture. Venus has several if I'm not mistaken. They, too, are very much alike, and yet so different. Would you call them rip offs? Probably not, but that's because it's been classified as a work of art. But then, what defines art? According to my professor, art has to have an intent and a purpose.
Now,what does this have to do with originality? Well, here's what it has to do. Those artworks were original, but they were inspired by something else. In fact, the original Venus was inspired by something else.
Also, Sephiroth, the mighty Sephiroth, was the name of a God. That's why the character has that name. The creator liked the name and gave it to the FFVII Sephiroth.
The way I see it is that it isn't a beard or tail or name or ears or eyes or what ever. If you take something big, like everything about the character, name and all and tweak the hair a bit or tweak some personality trait of a character, then yes, it's a rip off. But something as small as a beard or a tail that is used on so many characters, then no, it isn't a rip off. Lots of characters have them.
What truly makes a character original is that the time and effort put into thinking of the appearance, doing the research, creating the world they live in, creating the name, making the personality, everything. It's the heart and soul of an artist.
An original character' s name or body part doesn't have to be original. But the name does have to come from the heart, as does the artwork itself. What makes something original isn't an aspect that can be seen when glancing at it. It's truly looking at the piece of work and saying to yourself, 'hey, that's original.' seeing the story behind the artwork and actually reading the artist comments on how they came up with the character.
And thats it for my thoughts on this sort of thing. It was just some musings I've had for well over two years now. And I wanna hear your thoughts on this guys! Speak up!
And no, this isn't because of some drama thing, it's just some thoughts I needed to put down and decide upon. >.>
Well, the original journal is on my deviant art page, and it had to be said, lol. My problem is, I have heard, for so long, that something is ripping off something else, and that's normally not the case. If it's something like... I dunno, Repo vs Repo, then yeah, I see it because it's so major, but if someone is complaining about a name, or a... I dunno beard or even blue fur, then yeah, it's over the top.
Every artist has the right to be protective over their characters, but the line gets drawn when the aritist is being overprotective.
It's not anything big, it's just the blue fur and how they look like big cats. Honestly, they don't look like her character, and they sure as Hell arn't some stupid shit like her characters. ANd it's over the top stuff like that that gets people trolled and bullied.
And she just sounds a bit silly to me
Well, the original journal is on my deviant art page, and it had to be said, lol. My problem is, I have heard, for so long, that something is ripping off something else, and that's normally not the case. If it's something like... I dunno, Repo vs Repo, then yeah, I see it because it's so major, but if someone is complaining about a name, or a... I dunno beard or even blue fur, then yeah, it's over the top.
Every artist has the right to be protective over their characters, but the line gets drawn when the aritist is being overprotective.