Post by Dingo on Nov 2, 2020 18:55:19 GMT 10
Art Rules
Here on Naruto: New Era we value having a fun and diverse cast of characters! We understand that it can be exciting to show off how you would imagine your character to look like, however there are some rules that you will need to understand and follow in regards to art used on forum while you are participating here.
Below are three lists, one of things that are welcomed to be used for characters appearances and ones for what to avoid when doing character designs. The third is for help if its needed on making characters!
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- Face Claims – This rule is stated in the General Site Rules but expanded on here. Don't have art of your character yet but plan to commission some in the future? Want something in place of that waited on commission art? Or just know of a canon from an anime that would fit perfectly for your characters design? This is where Face claims come in! Please remember to not use real life people for face claims. Official art or screencaps of canon characters from other anime, manga, or games are accepted here. Furthermore, using Picrew character makers or other similar sites— so long as it is plainly stated that you are allowed to do so— are also welcomed. There will also be a list of character makers at the bottom to help you find some!
When using faceclaims please be sure to include who the faceclaim character is and where they are from as well! - Editing – Expanding off of the face claims rule, you may also do edits on official characters art/snippets that you collect as well. If the character you are intending to use is relatively close to what you're wanting but the hair or eye colour for instance is not quite there, you may edit it to fit what you imagine your character to have! Like the other rules, this does not extend to art you do not actually own. For edits to art you do own, it is encouraged that you ask the original artist that the gift or commission was from to edit it for you unless they are already okay with you doing it. Please remember that any edits you make have to be done yourself or by another member of the community and all the edits must be personally done or also be from other official sources, you cannot edit fanart works or edit fanart work pieces onto official works.
- Commissioned Art – Art you paid for or art paid for you by someone else is highly welcomed! This includes for designs, if you bought a character design over ToyHouse or other similar sites then the design belongs to you, which means you're welcome to use it here if it fits the tone and setting of the forum! Remember if you're struggling with designing a character that you can commission artists to design characters for you if they take design commissions. Keep in mind this does not extend to commissioned art in general, you may not use someone else's commissioned characters or art.
- Credit – You must provide credit to the artist in all things art! (Unless you are the artist of course, in which case credit yourself!) If you have commission art in your bio providing a little snippet underneath for the artist is best! Using character makers, bases for art, lineart or free to use vectors is also good to provide credit on. Providing the sources to art is also encouraged when linking art in the discord. If you outright have permission from an artist to use fanart also or the fanart is stated as free to use by the artist themselves, with credit provided this is the only time the Fanart rules may be overuled provided you source proof.
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- Fanart – Fanart of our favourite official characters is plentiful and often times very easily accessible but just because you found something on Google Images does not mean you are free to use it. Keep in mind that the art you found still belongs to the original artist and is not free to use. This extends to all canon characters drawn as fan art, regardless of if they are from Naruto or other media. Having outright permission from an artist to use fanart or the fanart is stated as 'free to use' by the artist themselves, with credit provided this is the only time the this rule may be overuled provided you source proof.
- Plagiarism – This is touched on in the General Site Rules but will be expanded upon here. Anyone caught stealing another members characters/art, or stealing characters/art from individuals off-site will be punished in the same as they would be when stealing others written works. Inspiration is great! But straight up copying is not welcomed, and highly frowned upon.
- AI Images- This expands off of the Plagiarism rule given the nature of how AI image generators work. The datasets that AI image generators have been built off of contain thousands upon thousands of stolen work from artists and due to this we do not allow their usage here on New Era. Any use of these AI image generators will be treated the same as all other forms of theft/plagiarism.
- Adult/Mature Content – Our site is PG13. Even if most members end up being adults, explicit mature content does not have a place on this forum. Please keep character references SFW and within the PG13 rating. Please note that 'curvy and attractive' character designs in a general sense are of course okay, people like that exist just as much as anyone else. However, over sexualizing a design/character, and objectifying the idea of a person is not okay. This applies to all kinds of characters no matter the gender or ethnicity, please be respectful. If you are ever unsure of if something is appropriate or not for the forum please feel free to contact a member of staff to check first.
Character making help
- Picrew – Picrew has plenty of character maker games that are free for you to use usually with credit to the individual that created the character maker game! If a creator requests that the art not be used outside of Picrew or listed sites, please respect this. There are plenty of other creators on the site who are happy for their maker art to be used as you like, just be sure to look for character makers made with that in mind. Please also note that the site tends to be not in english so you will probably need a translator extension.
- GaiaOnline – GaiaOnline requires that you sign up to the site but beyond the sign up, the Dream Avatar maker provides plenty of diverse outfits and options for character designs, you will need to use its search function to find things but the amount of options it provides is quite extensive and vast enough that you probably won't go through all outfits when making a character!
- Reddit List of Makers – Reddit itself wont be much help on making but this list of makers made on reddit can! This list provides a variety of makers and even examples of what you can make with the makers looks like for some.
- Video Games – A variety of video games come with character creation segments that could be used as references for your character, though not always free you may have a game or two already on hand! Here are some games with character creation for you to consider taking a look at;
- Naruto To Boruto: Shinobi Strikers - As far as these examples go, this one is by far the most topically on point; as a basic character creator there are a few cool things you can do just to get a feel for what sort of character you might like to design while also looking through a specifically Naruto-verse lens.
- Jump Force - Jump Force offers quite a bit in the customisation options department with individual eye options, hair palette gradients, tattoos/markins/scars and clothes— some of which are of course based in the Naruto franchise.
- CodeVein - As far as anime based videogames go, Code Vein goes absolutely wild with all sorts of details and options in it's character creator; it goes a fair bit beyond some others in terms of general range and options; and some people have even recreated characters from the Naruto franchise quite faithfully within it's limits. This game also has a Free Demo which includes the character creator, that— while limited in terms of clothing choice, offers a great range of options for the face/hair/head of your character that can be used as a reference.
- Please note that the game itself is of a higher ESRB rating than many of these examples and some of it's content may push the limits of the forum's rating. As such, that we are going to ask that you only use it's character creator for images related to your characters.
- The Sims (1 - 4) - The sims, especially sims 3 and 4 have a broad character creator and even if you don't have the game/s itself you can try out a free demo! The game itself also comes with a variety of fan created mods that help expand on the character creator, including Naruto inspired mods.
There are of course other options beyond this list as well but this list is to help provide examples!
Why do these rules exist?
These rules have been put in place to help protect our fellow artists, writing is also a form of art as well after all. Much like how your writing is your work, so is the art created by an artist, yes— even fanart. Even though the character in the fanart does not belong to them the art itself still does. If an artist so chooses they would be able to pursue the likes of a DMCA Takedown if they believe that their art has been wrongfully posted which can get this site into trouble.
That said, many artists have put out free resources and the like to provide other options for you to use outside of re-uploading their work, so please feel free to use those! If you still feel confused or unsure as to why these rules exist you can always look up many artists' view points on the matter.
But I use art for my discord icon, what's the difference?
There are quite a number of differences between using fanart under these rules as your private discord icon and using it on a public forum as a character portrayal. Using something such as this for a display icon does not imply ownership of the art or design.
However, if an artist were to plainly state on their original post that they do not want you to use their art for this purpose or ends up asking you to not use their art for personal display icons you should respect their wishes.
Furthermore, please understand that public spaces such as forums have a much more negative impact on independent artists and that while most things like private icons (For Discord or otherwise) are more accepted, re-uploading/reposting work on other medias and forums is not. For instance; re-uploading their art can impact the search results for the artists' work, therefore making it difficult to find the original artist or true source. In general, it is considered to be incredibly disrespectful in the art community to re-upload or re-post someone's work.
Apply this to your own creative works, either writing or art, being reposted elsewhere by someone else. For most people this is not a comfortable thought— and it really shouldn't be. Just think about how you would feel if some stranger took what you put time and effort into, and passed it off as their own work. This can also effect artists' chances at being able to get a job in the industry in some cases, if an artwork included in their portfolio has been reposted it can cause trouble identifying who the actual artist of the work is.
I've been approved already but have art that goes against these rules, what should I do?
These rules will apply to everyone so this does include you but there is no need to worry, you're not in any trouble for not knowing prior! We will highly encourage that you of course remove the artwork that goes against these rules and simply swap it for something that follows them!
You can use the resources above, put in art that you purchased as a commission yourself, art that was gifted to you, and art that you have been given proven permission to use, etc.
We also encourage that if you have commissioned, gifted, permitted works, or anything of the sort to please also add a little section underneath the artwork or somewhere in your tracker or bio to properly credit the correct artist directly as well.
Please no "Credit to the artist!", as it is not actually credit, it is a weak excuse for 'credit'. Always credit the artist by their artist name or link directly to them if you'd like.