Well said but it’s also a matter of how some manage their relationship with the rights holder, or how people approach the reality of (as you state) which is that no one owns it bar the owner, and its even more grey area if fans ultimately then get into spats with one another when no one actually has the right to own it. It seems a grey zone particularly with AI to that effect. However, that’s not to ignore the reality that plenty of fan’s have actively crossed lines knowing said owner might look at them in new light if they do. Fan’s with experiences of this need to share with others who do not necessary know the full story or need guidance on what they can and shouldn’t do.
I'm worried about the future of fanart.
- Thread starter IRW Bloodwing
- Start date
As one of the regular fanart producers (hey my comic counts as at least 6 different pieces every week!) I continue to stop here because I get different reactions sharing it here than I do on DeviantArt or on Archive of Our Own or even on the SciFi Meshes forum. I quit posting it to site like Tumblr or Instagram because there just wasn't any interaction. Sure I make the art because it amuses me, but I share it for the discussion and to get other people's thoughts. I do some pretty regular random render posts that I do throw up on DeviantArt that eventually make their way here, but that's a lot of random stuff and not necessarily Trek. Just, 'had a whim, here it is' type of stuff.
As with anything, your mileage may vary.
As with anything, your mileage may vary.
Indeed, I only post Trek related images here... but I have tons more crap on my DA gallery that is not Trek related...
I only have a DA gallery specifically to inspire others with art... Kinda why I post things in general.
I typically post on Insta (the gram?), and mostly because I'm sharing with friends and family who are there, though meta's policies are making me reconsider.
I've never started my own TrekBBS thread (to my recollection) because my brain simply recoils at using an image hosting service and making posting into a multi-step process. Not saying it's overly complicated or a bad way of doing things, just that it's more spoons than I have for that sort of thing. Also, if I were to do a thread, I'm much more keen on process threads than just result threads and I am just way too busy to even think about creating process images while I work. I'm already on the slow end with my hobby projects, but they'd really reach into infinity if I did that.
Over on twitter and bluesky, there's a ton of very active fan art communities. I see new Trek fan art every day, and usually at least once a week "meet" a new fan artist.
Lot of words to get to: no, I don't really have any fear about the future of fan art. Even if the IP holders or merch licensers got really incredibly strict, fans swerve to the side and make things that are inspired by the things they love. (Don't tell us I said this, but that might even be good for some of us.) And while this corner of TrekBBS isn't as active as it has been at some points, it's still going, I'm seeing great stuff here all the time. I'm pretty cynical about a lot in the world, but the future of fan art isn't one of those things.
I've never started my own TrekBBS thread (to my recollection) because my brain simply recoils at using an image hosting service and making posting into a multi-step process. Not saying it's overly complicated or a bad way of doing things, just that it's more spoons than I have for that sort of thing. Also, if I were to do a thread, I'm much more keen on process threads than just result threads and I am just way too busy to even think about creating process images while I work. I'm already on the slow end with my hobby projects, but they'd really reach into infinity if I did that.
Over on twitter and bluesky, there's a ton of very active fan art communities. I see new Trek fan art every day, and usually at least once a week "meet" a new fan artist.
Lot of words to get to: no, I don't really have any fear about the future of fan art. Even if the IP holders or merch licensers got really incredibly strict, fans swerve to the side and make things that are inspired by the things they love. (Don't tell us I said this, but that might even be good for some of us.) And while this corner of TrekBBS isn't as active as it has been at some points, it's still going, I'm seeing great stuff here all the time. I'm pretty cynical about a lot in the world, but the future of fan art isn't one of those things.
I post my images on a free weebly page, occasionally on Twitter.
It would all be a lot easier if CBS would simply work with the fans to allow easy licensing. I'd more than happily sell my work and give a cut to CBS, they could make so much money! They really need to distinguish between fans making a little bit of money on the side with artwork or garage model kits and companies making large revenues on the license.
Personally, I do commission work and I happily share my watermarked work for free. I have sold high res print files of some of my work, mainly as I got tired of people taking my artwork and selling it themselves. I see my work almost daily on social media being sold as posters and mouse mats, so I felt putting the unwatermarked art behind a pay wall would be a good way to limit that.
In the end I did get a C&D from CBS and all of my artwork got taken down in a few locations, some of it was my own designs as well. Sadly the people selling my work did not get effected though! I've never received a response from anything other than a bot when trying to contact them for a license though.
I'll admit I find it a bit disheartening and demoralizing doing Trek artwork these days knowing that I could spend months on a peace of work, only for people to just take it and sell it, whilst I personally can't sell it. :-/
Personally, I do commission work and I happily share my watermarked work for free. I have sold high res print files of some of my work, mainly as I got tired of people taking my artwork and selling it themselves. I see my work almost daily on social media being sold as posters and mouse mats, so I felt putting the unwatermarked art behind a pay wall would be a good way to limit that.
In the end I did get a C&D from CBS and all of my artwork got taken down in a few locations, some of it was my own designs as well. Sadly the people selling my work did not get effected though! I've never received a response from anything other than a bot when trying to contact them for a license though.
I'll admit I find it a bit disheartening and demoralizing doing Trek artwork these days knowing that I could spend months on a peace of work, only for people to just take it and sell it, whilst I personally can't sell it. :-/
Unfortunately, with planned austerity cuts to legal and marketing departments due to budget that's probably not going to happen.
Sorry to hear of your rough experience.
Ugh. That's all kinds of terrible. Sending you some big hugs!
I've found in my experience that folks in the Fan Art forum here have been incredibly supportive when I post my non-Trek art. Granted, I still have a high percentage of Trek content in my portfolio, but I think folks by now have become used to the other anime and manga art that I make.
That '90's crackdown hit model kits as well. One guy I'd dealt with a lot had his inventory seized at a con, even original designs that had nothing to do with Trek. It's like that line from "Animal House" where the character said: "They took everything, even the stuff we didn't steal."
LOL
I have over 5K worth of images on DA... Trek is a fraction of them.
So I'm not sure that in a TrekBBS it would be appropriate for me to "hijack" the boards with what I feel is non-relevant art. Just saying, that is how I feel.
I will not continue on this subject on this thread, as it has nothing to offer to its true intention. If you wish to open a dialogue privately, I'm all there brother
Oh, we‘re definitely interested in your non-Trek related art, @Atolm! And it‘s absolutely fine to also post that. Especially if it‘s sci-fi related and as long as it‘s not the only thing you‘re ever going to post. That has always been the practice here and that’s pretty much what it says in the Fan Art FAQ that @Vektor wrote like 20 years ago and that are pinned to the top of the forum.LOL
I have over 5K worth of images on DA... Trek is a fraction of them.
So I'm not sure that in a TrekBBS it would be appropriate for me to "hijack" the boards with what I feel is non-relevant art. Just saying, that is how I feel.
I will not continue on this subject on this thread, as it has nothing to offer to its true intention. If you wish to open a dialogue privately, I'm all there brother
I recall this being the case as well. The one time I went to Shore Leave in Baltimore around that time and I noticed all the resin kits were gone. One of the guys I recognized at the dealer tables told me that cops and Paramount reps came through and confiscated everything the day before when they were setting up. I remember recounting this story a few years back here on TBBS and there was someone else who refuted the story and told me that never happened, but now that you mention that it did, I'm kind of thinking that's what actually occurred. It was definitely Shore Leave - might have happened at Creation as well down in the DC area, but I never heard about it.
Paramount was quite intently serious on protecting its IP back then during the Berman era. They were definitely on the warpath - it was a dark time and people were literally looking over their shoulders at the con dealers rooms. They still had unlicensed merchandise available, but it was hidden and they only sold to you if they knew you. I was fortunate to be one of those regulars that folks recognized at the time and knew I wasn't a narc. The "good stuff" was always under the tables or behind curtains. It actually felt like I was going to some back-alley deep in the bowels of a crumbling city looking to score a dime bag.
Don't get me wrong - Paramount has every right to protect its IP - but (at the risk of sounding like a certain notorious/infamous fan film producer) they took a big risk alienating a large swath of the fanbase in this way. The consequential damage of this scorch-and-burn policy lasted for decades in the form of fan distrust and reluctance to embrace new forms of Trek. Many felt that the "licensed" products were nothing more than Chinese-child-slave-labor-made pieces of shit, and the fan-made merchandise were labors of love and generally higher quality than anything that could be mass-produced. They weren't wrong about that last part.
Hand made is usually that way.
It's such a hard line to balance. My friends and I use to make replica uniforms or find model kits to paint and such and it would take time and attention to detail, and gave me an appreciation for the pricing at cons. But, CBS/Paramount also have to look at the bottom line and get a return on their investment. And, as the old business adage goes, "Some things you can't afford to give away."
