Friends at deviantART, here is the article that was part of the inspiration to create this club. Before you can understand this article you'll need to have read it.

While I have the utmost respect and appreciation for the job that the CEA team does, I was shocked, disgusted, and incredibly disappointed when I came across the aforementioned article. I've been a member of deviantART for quite some time and I remember the days before all this tracing nonsense was allowed.

Given recent events which I will not directly link to, but I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about- it's hard for me to believe that the staff is still turning a blind eye to tracing, still letting this farce go on. In the past few months there have been several incidents related to tracing that have caused large stirs in deviantART, and I thought it would perhaps become clear that a lot of people are angry. It's not just a few people. Remember the uproar over the AX poster contest?

So, I would like to bring up a few points related to the aforementioned CEA update.

1. "Beginning artists often trace or copy other works in an effort to hone their skills. This practice is an accepted part of the learning process and the staff here at deviantART recognizes this fact."

I have already touched on this in a previous article. Yes, people trace to "hone their skills" but there is NO reason for them to show it off or take credit for the work. Not to mention, there are certain artists on here that are obviously not tracing to learn to draw. In particular, the so-called artists that "vector" anime screenshots do so simply for the attention that they get. Is that what this community is about?

2. "Referenced, copied or inspired works should be created completely through your own efforts and must not directly contain any portions of the referenced work revealing it to be a paint-over, recolor, edit or some other sort of manipulation of the original."

First of all: the minute something is a trace, it is no longer "entirely through your own efforts." You are using someone else's lines as a guide.

Second of all: Screenshot vectors ARE paint-overs. They start with the vectors as the base. The FAQ, too, includes a section that should, logically, COMPLETELY rule out tracing:

FAQ #572: What does deviantART consider "Fan Art" to be?

The type of fan art which is deemed acceptable for submission are those work in which the submitting artist has done 100% of the work. This means that the artist had started with a blank slate and perhaps a reference (a pose, character, location, or other source) and proceeded to draw, paint, or otherwise create every line and place every color with their own hand.

Tracing:
-is not 100% the tracer's work
-does not start with a blank slate
-does not involve the artist creating every line by themselves

3. "It is considered proper etiquette to cite the original artist of the inspiring work and give them credit for having been the reference, especially if numerous details have been copied or otherwise borrowed. It is also always a good idea to actually ask the original artist if they mind if you trace or directly copy from their original work."

YES! Up to this point, see, I was okay. Getting permission and crediting properly is good. We like permission and crediting!

4. "A referenced, copied or inspired work which shows evidence of being directly traced, re-colored, ' painted-over ', vector traced or which reproduces the original in exacting detail will be at increased risk of being removed by staff, but these situations will be judged entirely on a case-by-case basis and preference will be given towards allowing the work to remain if there is any ambiguity."

Uh oh, warning flag #1! "Increased risk" is a very dangerous phrase. I've discovered that in staff language it means "we're not going to remove it." Because it never happens. Since this update, I have even seen work traced from deviantART members- reported with proper credit- go ignored by the staff.

5. "One area which receives more complaints of this behavior is the various Fan Art galleries. Now the staff views the fan art galleries in a slightly different manner from the other galleries on deviantART."

My first question here is, why? Why should fan artists not have to obey basic artist etiquette? Why should the Copyright Policy, the Etiquette Policy, and the FAQ (the FAQ ABOUT FAN ART nonetheless) not apply to them?

My second question is, if you are still receiving so many complaints about tracing, isn't it obvious that the users here still have a problem with it? Isn't it obvious that there are a lot of people that remember the old policy and want it back?

6. "For one, the very nature of a fan art gallery indicates that you will not find very much originality; all submissions will be directly based upon someone else’s artwork and concepts. One is also more likely to find a younger, less experienced artist submitting to these types of galleries."

This paragraph here I find almost insulting. "Oh, fan art's not very original anyway, so you can steal stuff." Also, not every fan artist is a little kid. Please don't generalize like that! I have seen a lot of "grown-ups" doing fan art!

7. "For these reasons the various fan art galleries are granted far more leniency when it comes to the subject of direct copying or tracing. The works which will receive the most leniency are those that copy from official sources of popular shows and series while those which copy from original artist creations will be afforded less leniency."

This was the final strike, really.

First of all: Since when are popular television shows, comics, and well, any type of artistic media- since when are they not "original artist creations"? Did Walt Disney not create Mickey Mouse? Did Masahi Kishimoto not create Naruto? Did Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster not create Superman?

Why is an "official source" different from the "big guys" somehow so different from the lesser-known "little guys"?

Popularity does not mean that it is not still an ORIGINAL ARTIST CREATION.

Not to mention it is still a copyright violation! When you post traced work here, you are putting a copyright symbol under something you have PLAGIARIZED.

This is incredibly disrespectful and an insult to the creators of these popular works that so many of us know and love.

Until you have permission from the original artist to post a re-creation of their work, you absolutely should not post it online.

I realize, of course, that some "big companies" don't mind this sort of thing and take it as free advertising. However, that is a flaky defense for the staff's new policy. The key word is some- not all. To say that because one company is okay with it, another will be the same, is a ridiculous, baseless argument based on an uninformed assumption.

It's all a respect thing. Some people don't mind if you pick flowers out of their garden, and some people do. If your neighbor allows you to pick their flowers, don't assume that someone down the street will! It's only polite to ask.

Would it really hurt us to ban tracing?

The answer is no.

Tracing brings nothing new and original to our community. On the contrary- it brings us recreations of what others have already done (not very "deviant," is it?). The people that comment and +fav traced fan art do not do it because they like the artist's work- they do it because they like the original artist's work. They do it because it is a picture of a character they like and nothing more. This is true of a lot of people who +fav fan art, however...

"Original" fan art- for lack of a better phrase- has meaning. It's a show of appreciation for the work it's based on. It also reflects the artist's actual skill, which tracing does not.

And I mean, jeez, guys. Even GaiaOnline doesn't let you post traced anime screenshots.

If anything, banning tracing would help us. As an art community, we should be teaching these "young fan artists" that plagiarism is wrong, just as we already enforce the rules about other kinds of art theft.

deviantART needs to shape up. There are many other online artwork communities that strictly do NOT allow tracing, fan art or not. And guess what? They manage to enforce it. I hate to present the "everyone's doin' it" argument, but for once, a little conformity wouldn't hurt us.

So that just about sums it up.

As I've said, I've been a member of deviantART for quite some time and I love it here. It's my home on the internet. Up until the January 2008 CEA update I have supported the staff all the way. I spent a lot of my time reporting policy violations because I wanted to help keep this site free of art theft. Now that they are allowing art theft to go on, I can't help but speak up and say, "No, this is wrong!"

I'm saying this because I love deviantART and I want to help make it better. I don't want to see anything happen to the site over a silly little thing they could have avoided by just deleting copyright infringement.

If you still have questions, I'd recommend reading the club's other articles, and our FAQ, which can all be found on our main page. Or you could just ask.

If you support what's being said in this article, please join ~stop-tracing.