Is it okay to "fix" someone's art? (+poll)

[Mari]

If you ask first then yes

if you don't ask you're an asshole

[rajillustration]

If it's part of a critique, that's fine, that's one thing--but if it's a professional artist who you don't know or didn't ask--that's totally different.

Most professional art has a lot of influence by non-artist comittees, and they don't get to have full say in what goes down in the final product. To call them a bad artist because of something they may have no control over (I mean look what happened to Sonic) is a complete misunderstanding of how the business works. That, and I think the whole "correcting" thing pushes more and more that only one or two art styles are "good" while the rest can just rot.

Remember that what may look good on instagram or on twitter, is actually maybe not good for the original product (especially when people do Photoshops of 3d characters--yo, you have to rig and animate those characters--do you have any idea how those are made? they don't make them in Photoshop. 3D characters are made to be animated, and that rigging is a PAIN in the ass.)

I do think it's OK to direct criticism at a company when that happens if there's something really wrong (again, like for sonic), but you have to be careful because if you do these "corrections" it can make the original artists look really bad in their managers eyes--it could potentially lose them future jobs for, again, something they may not have had any control over in the first place.

Like it's hard to explain unless you've had that client--but the worst thing ever, is when you finally finish a job to a client's wishes, and then they love it, and then they show it to a friend or someone random comes over and mentions "oh, but maybe it should be this way instead?" And GUESS WHAT, 100% of the time, you will be asked to redo everything because one of one random guy who has no idea what he's talking about. Don't be that random guy.

If you do decide to "redo" something, make it in the spirit of appreciating the thing. Like when people "redid" anime screenshots for a meme a while back, it was a celebration of the anime, not a criticism. There's a right way and a wrong way.

[darthmongoose]

I'm going to weigh in here as somebody who has done work on these big corporate projects where it's owned by the company and not me.

My feelings are: Do it if you want, but tag in the company, don't scour the internet doing detective work to try to work out which artist did that piece and tag them. Half the time, people are wrong anyway! They assume one person from the team drew a thing and it turned out it was somebody else. Artists on a project get pretty good at imitating each other's style and drawing "on model".

But more than that... I'm very careful about my research and sensitivity. I like things to be accurate, I prize my characters having personality and feeling authentic over being conventionally attractive and I fuss over small details. I'm the kind of person who is behind the scenes going "I know you like that yukata, but young ladies at new year who wear traditional dress would wear a full kimono, not the informal yukata which would also be too cold to wear at that time of year. Also Obi sashes are really thick and rigid and aim for a straight silhouette, so she shouldn't have that hourglass waist" in fact, it's a big part of my day job, they have me go through scripts and manuscripts looking for nitpicks. But sometimes... the person in charge of you hands you what in the business is known as a "JFDI" (Just F-ing Do It). The stakeholder really likes that Yukata, or oh the audience are stupid they don't know the difference and this is easier for the contractors to copy, or aah see, we asked for your opinion but we actually already got this design approved and it can't be changed, or oh no, a full kimono is too bulky and we want her to look sexy, and we want to keep that hourglass waist because that's what a western audience find sexy.

...I'd be pissed if after all my internal criticism and being told to do it anyway, somebody was like "Hey @kateholden totally screwed up this character design so I fixed it for her". when I was the person trying to fix it, but for contract reasons like NDAs, or just wanting to be able to keep getting paid in the future, I can't then say "actually... listen, these choices were made by @bossdude and I told him all these things. I hate that design as much as you do".

Like yes, feel free to call corporations out on this crap, but remember that the humble artist rarely has much agency.

[Kiweevil]

In a modern day setting it could potentially come off as rude. If you are "fixing" vintage pieces it might be acceptable. Public domain sort of things, perhaps redrawing it in your own sort of style or doing a study based on it. But personally I'd find it very rude if someone where to try to "fix" my characters or designs. They have no idea what I was envisioning while I was drawing it. For all they no, what I drew could be the spitting image of what was in my head.

[skicoak]

There's something to be said for HOW is someone seeing/finding the art that's being "fixed".

Posting art on any form of public/social media has to come with an acceptance that others are going to see it...and potentially comment on it in a positive or negative way. And if it's someone with a strong enough opinion to attempt to start a discourse on how to get "better" ...Great! You don't have to agree with them, but just the act of defending your choices will strengthen your future choices.

It's frankly a little silly we don't help young/new visual artists to develop a thicker skin to critiques.

You don't see this nearly as bad in the other arts.

[Inspector_Spinda]

If it is professional art that is being sold for sure. There are even Instagram challenges that involve redrawing art. If a non professional asks for criticism redraw their art may be helpful to them

[Kelheor]

I see this as that you proclaim yourself to be the better artist than the artist of original art. ...are you though?
And even if you are, even if they screw up, you don't know under what circumstances this art was made. Just make your own art, if you think you can help the artist, ask them personally.
If someone would write me "hey, I fixed your comic", I would be furious. Thanks for nothing, you have no idea what went into this panel, and yeah, maybe the ambience could be different, or I screw up the anatomy, you think I don't know that?

[martinadenatale]

There is an artist on instagram who randomly asks his follower to sent they artwork so he can fix them. He does not redraw the entire artwork but only makes some adjustments that gives the artwork a better quality.
Fixing someone artwork without permission is probably rude but, if there is no bad intention in doing it, I think it could be really interesting. There is nothing bad in being an immature artist who needs to work more on his skills and there's also nothing bad in admitting that someone do draw better than you. Having a really good artist or simply more skilled that makes you understand your mistakes is really helpful. This is a gift, a lesson that you not pay for

[sushy00]

I would not be OK with it if someone would just randomly fix my drawings if I didn't ask for it actually.

[Iris-Grimoire]

Only if permission was obtained first. If you're privately discussing the art with your friends, whatever, but coming up in public on the art's comments with your "fix" both imply you're trying to ride on the artist's trending status with some nice outrage clicks(especially when it comes to outfits/anachronism or ref accuracy), or that you're being extremely pretentious by saying you'd do better than the artist. It doesn't mean it's true, but being the internet, we have no context and usually no answers.

[Kann]

Asking for permission first is okay.

Fixing it without permission and shoving it in the artists face is not okay. What are they trying to prove? That they are better artist or what? And maybe I could understand the need to fix proportions or posture or technical stuff like that, but why would someone go and try fixing other's person design without their permission? I'd be mad if that happened to me.

[Cavechan]

If someone is going this, I would be very curious as to WHY they are doing it. I would have to question is it actually for the sake of the artist? Or an ego trip? Or hopping on someone else's popularity?

Believe it or not, most artists are not perfect even as we strive to be perfect. I can't count the number of times I have drawn something, reworked it, thought it looked okay and then posted it only to realize there was something completely off about it and then going back and fixing it would be frankly more time and effort than it's worth.

I have seen this happen a lot with a popular artist I follow. Absolutely amazing artist, but sometimes the proportions are off and if they are off even a little bit, the mob will go crazy in the comments about it (sometimes it's not even something that is actually even off. Like a finger was obscured by something the character was holding and everyone was like "She's missing a finger!!" when she wasn't). The person is a professional artist and I'm sure has a booked schedule and likely doesn't have time to fix these things. They have to create new stuff to make a living. Not to say that people can't point these things out, but I have seen some really vicious comments. Like people saying they are betraying their fans and being lazy by not going back and fixing things.

Luckily I haven't seen it to the point where people are "fixing" it, but then again I haven't heard of this before and I haven't looked for it... considering the popularity of the person, I really wouldn't be surprised if there are even several out there.

Come on, people, we're artists, we're not machines. We work hard and have imperfections and we get frustrated and depressed when we notice them, especially if it's done so in such a crude manner.

[NickRowler]

It depends...

If it is just some random person posting their art on Twitter and you come along to fix it, don't do that. Especially if you are doing so because you think they are not good enough. It is a bit of a slap in the face and can be very insulting.

If someone post on a forum that they need help fixing their art, then it is OK. In this case, they are reaching out for help.

If the art is from a large publication (like a wonky book cover), I think you can redraw it. In this case, there is no way for your art will replace the original, it has already been published. You are more or less just creating fanart.

[LadyN]

Honestly, don’t say “fixing” it. Just say you redrew another piece of art you saw and credit the original artist. Saves a lot of drama.

[AmysGames]

As a lot of other people have said, the only time it would be okay is if you have explicit permission to, like in a critique setting. Otherwise, it's pretty rude.

Redrawing or adding to a professionally produced piece, though, I would say is generally okay? Though I would still say it's pretty arrogant to claim you're "fixing" it.

[TAMAnnoying]

It always depends for me, context is everything.

If your doing it to simply be salty cause you don’t like the artist- even if I agree with your “fix” it’s gonna put a bad taste in my mouth. A lot of people do “fixes” to snipe at people’s hobbies or art styles, some people “fix” things like people’s skin colors to be more or less darker and it’s just really petty. I’ve also seen people “fix” women’s breast and other features in an artwork cause it dosn’t fit their ideas “feminism” even tho the entire point of feminism is to love yourself no matter what Your body type is. I’ve seen this happen from everything to flat chests to giant boobalus and it just feels like everyone in the world HAS to be born with B cups to make these people happy.

I disagree a lot with this kind of art “fix” I also feel like if your gonna do it- don’t act like a victim for being called out- your not helping anyone your being salty. Also if the artist asks you to remove it because you’re not properly siting their original piece or spreading your “fixed” piece around more then their own. Maybe do what they say and take it down.

Now the “fixes” I do like are not really what I’d call fixes but I understand the #fix movement that has come out of Twitter in order to get as much clout as possible being a starving artist- I get it- just like I get clickbait- don’t like it, but I get it. In truth these are redesigns or proper red line fixes where you actually take the Design of the character and actually try to make it better or see if it’s possible to improve. I think this is good cause your now making your own artwork rather then drawing all over someone else’s in order to “fix” it, it’s also good for your own personal development because you are taking an existing broad idea of a character and trying to redesign them as you would personally. Overall I think it’s a fun exercise so long as your doing it for your own personal development and not doing it cause your super salty about a successful artist.

I also really appreciate red lines, tho I rarely see them, prob cause most people- at least people with some manners, Tend to only do it if the artist has asked for advice- or- they already know the artist well enough that they would appreciate the corrections, ie being a friend or irl friend. Redlines can be helpful tho more for young developing artist then professional ones. Tho I’ve seen a few times professional artist try new poses they’ve never tired before and they usually appreciate the help.

So yeah that’s my thought prossess of “it’s ok” with my detailed asterisk

[IdiotWithPencil]

if you do it for fun then sure go nut, but if you do it to call out the original artist or touting you did it better
then sorry you are a deuce

I mean you can "fix" and art piece (usually composition and anatomy errors are what I mean by Fix, or perspective which let's be frank is something most artist get wrong) but if you show off like you did it better or berate the og artist cause they aren't as good then you may please go to hell

[Luminosophy]

I voted no but I shoulda put 'it depends', lol. Honestly there's two contexts where I don't mind it. First is obvious, if someone is just asking for way to improve their work sometimes the best way is to show rather than just tell. Secondly, I don't mind if someone's edited something to be fun and exploring an idea. Like: "Hey what if Sailor Moon, but Edo period Japan".
In that case just link to the artist's original work and be respectful. I know most artists will just re-draw their own thing but it doesn't largely bother me if it's someone who isn't confident in their ability to draw and just wants to make some edits to make something transformative out of it - which does fall under copyright law.

But when we're talking about the subject of "is it ok to 'fix' someone's art" more than likely it's touching on the people who are claiming they've "fixed" a professional's artwork for a game character and the only modifications they really made was a hack job at covering bits of exposed skin because they were offended over the designers using sex appeal. And I cringe every time. You're allowed to not like a design because you think it's "too much", or whatever. But there's a reason those guys were hired, and it's because they understand basic principals of good design regardless of whatever theme they're designing for. I'd sooner rather look at a boob'd up heroine in colourful streamline spandex than Hobo Baggins who's got so many layers and random conflicting shape language tacked on that I can't even really distinguish who they're meant to be. I also would caution some of those youngsters about the potential ramifications of insulting working professionals if it's an industry they're hoping to break in to.

[33rdCenturyCaveman]

So me am still doing unauthorized edit of popular webseries. Yes, it asshole thing to do. Can't say that me don't have selfish or trollish reasons for doing this. On the other hand, me can take moral stand on this too. Story have literary significance, and it terrible shame that it not more popular. It also terrible shame that author not more popular and financially-secure.

[Hodge]

I just don't like the word "fix". Like even if I'm giving critique, I wouldn't use that word.

However, I think the word is effective if you want to work up outrage on twitter, and idk maybe if a fanbase is genuinely upset by how a character or title was treated its understandable. But even then I don't think it's fair to direct it at who they think the character designer was, for reasons others already went over.