Good day to all my deviant watchers, and those just passing by.

This is my first, and most probably my last, journal entry here in DA.

Today, i received tons (and i mean tons) of notices from deviantart informing me that many of my deviations (actually almost all, 47 out of 60 deviations to be exact) have violated copyright rules here in deviantart and that they have removed them. While i agree that the images that i used are not my property, i don't think that no one who sees these deviations would think that the images are mine, as they are very obviously the properties of their respective franchises/companies. i also did not state that the images i used as base are my creations, and that George Lucas copied them from me.

Since almost all of my deviations are parodies of actual movies, and thereby having to use some "copyrighted" images of these movies, then that leaves me with no images to work on, or base my parodies on. In short, i have a tabula rasa--a blank slate. I can always draw everything from scratch, but that would defeat the purpose of it being a parody, and it would not have the same effect of actually using the original images and editing them to fit the parody.

Deviantart actually has a rule which states that you can use the copyrighted images, provided that the original authors gave me explicit permission to use them. And so, i was thinking, i've to write letters to Mr. George Lucas, Mr. Peter Jackson, Mr. Stan Lee, Mr. Hasbro etal, and ask permission from them to use their copyrighted images for my parodies.

A draft letter could be something like this:
Dear Mr. (name of copyright holder)
Hello there. I'm Kons, and a big fan of (name of movie/franchise to be spoofed). I was thinking of doing a parody to make fun of... erase that, to pay tribute to your wonderful characters. And so, i would like permission to use your images for my parodies, specifically the following (insert list of movie images to be used). By giving me explicit authorization, this clears me of any possible copyright violations or art theft accusations that may be raised against me. As a token of my gratitude, you can use any of my spoofed movies as ideas for your next big movie project. I personally like (name of movie spoof that i did) as it captures the essence of your movie franchise, albeit with a new twist. i think with the right casting and script, it will be big hit! Maybe even bigger than your biggest hit so far!
Sincerely yours, Kons
PS: If possible, can you notarize the said permission, or do anything to that authorization letter to make it legally binding. Thanks.

i've actually been flagged down by deviantart about 5-6 years ago for this same offense. At that time, the deviation that they flagged was Shrekkerman, which is supposed to be Shrek imposed on a wallpaper of Spiderman 1. And it is for that reason that i did not send any more deviations after that because most of my works/deviations are parodies, and thus uploading them would be subjected to copyright violations.

Last year, when Transformers the movie opened, i was so impressed by the art behind it, that i did some own variations of the robots design. Something like this
[link]
(Oh no! Another spoofed copyrighted image!)
And another Transformer movie robot variation made by another artist using the same principle as mine:
[link]
(Oh no! Yet again another spoofed copyrighted image!)

Of course, i did not do the work from scratch.
Of course, i used original copyrighted images from the movie.
Of course, i did not ask permission from Ben Procter, Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg, Paramount Pictures, Optimus Prime, Unicron or whoever holds their copyrights.
i just did what any normal artist-fan would do upon seeing a great work: do their own variation of the thing.

i emailed the edited images to my friends, who then emailed these to their friends, and so on. One day, a total stranger emailed me that he was so impressed by the work that i did and ask permission to post it in deviantart--with proper citations, of course. I actually did not have any objection on it, but remarked that the transformers spoofs that i did may be subject to copyright violations. If he thinks that it's okay with DA, then i've got no problems with him uploading it. And so he posted it. And for a week, there appeared to be no problem, as the Transformers spoofs that i did were not flagged down for copyright violations.

When he knew that i also have a deviantart account (albeit dormant), he then encouraged me to put up the hi-resolution versions that i have in my own deviantart gallery. i was wary at first knowing that i have already been flagged down before for uploading spoofs using copyrighted images without any permission whatsoever. i also checked again about DA's rules to see if they have relaxed on that ruling, and saw that the rule still hold true. But seeing that the dude did not get flagged down after 2 weeks, i decided to give it a shot.

And so i uploaded the images, and i got no notices from DA of copyright violations. i also saw that other deviants were also posting their own deviations USING THE SAME COPYRIGHTED IMAGES THAT I BORROWED FROM THE MOVIE, and they were NOT flagged either. That gave me the impression that maybe DA has maybe "relaxed" their rules when it comes to parodies or tribute art. And since then, i uploaded some of my old parody stuff, as well as new ones from time to time. Since that first re-upload, i was able to upload almost 50+ of new deviations, predominantly spoofs. There are just about 10 or so deviations which were entirely made from scratch. And from 56 page views and 8 comments in July 2007, i already have 7,337 page views and 859 comments as of today. Maybe some of these viewers ratted me out to DA!!!

From an old gallery of just 4 deviations, i actually got to 60 now, or until yesterday. Now, it's back to 13, as all of my spoofs have been removed. i was actually shocked when i checked my DA account today and saw that i had 30+ notices! Originally, i thought i had received new messages/comments from my adoring fans. But lo and behold, it were notices that i had violated copyright rules here in DA. Never did it entered my mind that it would be announcement from the DA staff no less, that they had removed 78.3% of my gallery.

i mean i had been doing it for more than a year already. If it were really a clear violation of the rule, i would have thought they would have flagged down those deviations much earlier, maybe a month after i've uploaded them. Maybe the DA staff were so busy hunting down other copyright violators here in DA for the past year, that it took them a while before getting to me. i wonder if there are still others there using stock images for their spoofs which still slipped DA's prying eyes. Something like this...
[link]
and this
[link]
and this
[link]
and this
[link]
and this
[link]
and this
[link]
and this
[link]
and this
[link]
and this
[link]
and this
[link]
ok maybe, i should stop now. Wouldn't want to be ratting others deviants here.

And so, it is with a heavy heart, that i'm announcing yet another leave of absence from deviantart, as i cannot comply with their rules on copyrighted images for parodies/spoofs. i'm actually not saying that they're wrong or those movie spoofs of mine are free of copyrighted images. i understand where DA is coming from. They have to uphold the rule here, especially since DA is a website with tons of copyrighted art works. Otherwise it will open up avenues for violations by other unscrupulous art thieves. As they say, "the law applies to all, or not at all."

i may be back, i may be gone forever. It will all depend on whether my new deviations contain copyrighted images. (which i think the chances are pretty slim since i do parodies). For sure, no more spoofs uploads here. So very sorry to all my deviant watchers who liked my spoofy gallery, and are anticipating more to come. There will be no more...

...at least here in DA. I have uploaded some spoofs in my multiply site, [link] Rules there on copyrighted images are pretty lax and so i'm quite confident that i won't get 30+ notices from the web administrator informing me that they have deleted 80% of my works. i shall transfer my DA gallery there, as well as new ones, so those who wish to view the parodies may still be able to see them. i shall also update you from time to time when i have uploaded new stuff in my multiply site.

Till my next deviation...

MAY THE FARCE STILL BE WITH YOU ALL...

PS: i don't get it why desktop screenshots showing UNEDITED/UNALTERED copyrighted images like this
[link]
and this
[link]
do not get copyright violation notices, while EDITED/ALTERED like mine get flagged down, even when we both USE THE SAME COPYRIGHTED IMAGES as base. Hmm... maybe i should label my spoof works under Customization or Scraps categories...? Or i just simply put "The images are not mine." disclaimer in the deviation write-up, as some of these deviations did.
Or maybe i'm just being too paranoid, and these deviations which i've cited here have actually gotten permission from their original copyright holders, or actually did all these works without using nary a copyrighted images,... meaning they did it from scratch!