Legal Question?

[crimsonnight]

If I make a custom wallpaper and include say a bit of official artwork - if I put a disclaimer on the page with the wallpaper on, is that OK? - Does the same also apply if I heavily edit the official artwork? Thank you

[Vintniv]

Alright, first of all, great question. One of the things I see a lot in terms of wallpapers is people that just loot images, dont modify them in any way and slap their name on the the stuff and call it theirs.

The thing about wallpapers that really determines a lot about it is how much you've done to it. Wallpapers where you go from a scan to something completely different are great. But the thing of it is, you certainly must credit who, or whatever helped you make that wallpaper. For example: This Wallpaper

Because I used a stock image, along with other images in order to make the back ground, I had to credit those who supplied the images because they arent mine. Its also important to mention things such as, who is in the wallpaper, where that person is from (IE. Movie, TV show, Anime, Manga, etc).

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

[crimsonnight]

Cool, thanks for the reply ^^ Just gonna give you a couple of scenarios to help me clarify if you dont mind:

Scenario 1: Instead of using unofficial art, I use say an official character image, then do my own thing around that. If I feature wallpapers based around numerous anime on one page of my site, would it be acceptable to put a general disclaimer at the top of the page? Something such as:

'Some official character art has been used in the creation of the below wallpapers - the creators of the original art own all the rights to the characters and their art, if you have any issues whatsoever please contact me.'

Would something like that be alright?

Scenario 2: The same as above, but with editing the official art (such as a hue shift or an applied artistic effect):

'Some official character art has been used in the creation of the below wallpapers. Although I have edited some of this art myself, the creators of the original art own all the rights to the characters and their art, if you would like a link to the unedited art or have any issues whatsoever please contact me.'

What do you think? Thanks again for your help!

[Vintniv]

Cool, thanks for the reply ^^ Just gonna give you a couple of scenarios to help me clarify if you dont mind:

Scenario 1: Instead of using unofficial art, I use say an official character image, then do my own thing around that. If I feature wallpapers based around numerous anime on one page of my site, would it be acceptable to put a general disclaimer at the top of the page? Something such as:

'Some official character art has been used in the creation of the below wallpapers - the creators of the original art own all the rights to the characters and their art, if you have any issues whatsoever please contact me.'

Would something like that be alright?

Scenario 2: The same as above, but with editing the official art (such as a hue shift or an applied artistic effect):

'Some official character art has been used in the creation of the below wallpapers. Although I have edited some of this art myself, the creators of the original art own all the rights to the characters and their art, if you would like a link to the unedited art or have any issues whatsoever please contact me.'

What do you think? Thanks again for your help!

In both scenarios, you dont need to be so thorough in stating that the characters dont delong to you. Waht you really should do instea is state where the anime is from, who the character is, who drew the character or created the original illustration you use (VERY IMPORTANT IF YOU ARE USING A FANART).


In your 1st scenario, you are basically saying what a collage is. Now with that, you could probably get away with 'All character belong to their corresponding animes and their companies.' You probably dont need to be very specific with every single name and/or anime.


2nd Scenario. Same basic thing, credit the artist. I typically go with 'Original Character design by SO-AND-SO.' You can add things like the name of the anime and the studio that owns said character if you want to.


But the BIGGEST thing to keep in mind is your performance with your wallpaper. You dont want the wallpaper to look generic and unmodified. You want to contribute as much of your own ability and skill as you can. I really cant tell you how many wallpapers and such I have to delete or decline because people just havent modified the original image they use and have instead just slapped their name onto a scan or something.

[crimsonnight]

Thanks again! Is it a legal requirement to state who created the illustration? I ask because in some cases it'd be hard to find exactly who the creator is. Would is be OK to add: 'All characters belong to their corresponding animes and their companies. If you would like more information regarding the original artist/creation studio, please contact me'

Basically, I really enjoy making anime-based wallpapers and would love to upload them to my site, but I wouldn't want to compromise my site's integrity in any way

*EDIT* Couldn't hold back any longer - let me know if the current disclaimer looks alright to you: http://crimsonnight.com/Wallpaper.html - I'll just update it to include more series over time