What's with all the hate on Sakimichan?

zoonland 2015-08-09 08:24:14 UTC #21

People may make boatloads of money from "fanart", but if you don't have permissions, you can be heavily sued for it.
Probably those artists at cons that you mentioned have just been lucky or have a permission. I remember that there were some artists (professional) couldn't do this or that character on their commissions because they worked for a different company.
Or do you think you can make and sell to cinemas a Frozen spin-off without being sued by Disney, just because you justify it as a "fan-art"?
It's like FOX (example) takes your OCs and make a cartoon serie out of it, saying that is "inspired by" your work, without according royalties or rights to you. Would you be happy? I don't think so.

keii4ii 2015-08-09 08:55:28 UTC #22

There's a big difference between individuals selling unauthorized fanarts of characters owned by well known companies and professionals, versus the other way around. Either way it's illegal, but one isn't nearly as bad as the other.

Also consider that in some cultures, professional creators are openly welcoming of small time artists selling fanart of their characters. Japan is one of them.

In Korea, for example, one convention had to hang up a huge sign requesting that professionals be discreet when purchasing fanarts of their own characters, lest the fan artists get intimidated. Creators there LOVE seeing fanarts of their stuff, even when it's for sale. It's still illegal over there... but no one considers it unethical or 'wrong.' I'm from that culture, so I dream of the day when my comic has become big enough for people to sell fanarts of it at artist alleys. If that ever happens, I'll buy the hell out of them and support the artists! (Unless they're making boatloads of money... in which case I'd work out a license with them and take my fair cut of the profit.)

Now, I realize not all creators feel the same. The creator's preference should be respected. If the creator/license holder is okay with it, then no one has the right to condemn the artists for selling fanart. If the creator is not okay with it, then no fanart sales of their characters should take place. The problem is that THAT can be difficult to find out. Ideally, there would be an easy way for fan artists to obtain permission/license for this stuff, but there isn't. (Apparently there is for music, though? Not necessarily easy, but at least feasible) Some companies are releasing official statements on their stance on fan art sales, though, so that's a start.

Caelestie 2015-08-09 16:24:18 UTC #23

well I personally dislike her style, since it is really bland pretty people (skinny girls that has a baby face with big breast are not what I think is high art) from what I have seen. Though I haven't looked intensively. It is rendered pretty well but it is bland and that it is fanart really doesn't help her with her blandness. I never heard that she made 18+ work and I don't care about it so I am not judge her on that. I don't think it has much to do with her being female. But it might so I am not an expert on her situation. I do know most female artist receive more flack for their art than male artists.

TAMAnnoying 2015-08-09 17:57:42 UTC #24

Im not sure she gets slack for being a women :v only because most of the people i talk to think shes a he... i mean... i thought she was a he till a month ago

zoonland 2015-08-09 20:58:43 UTC #25

Japan and Korea have a different (and better) view on comic-book art,because they consider it more culture than business, but in the rest of the world it's not the same (and that's what I was talking about in the previous post, always referring to Sakimichan's art that is mostly from Disney and Marvel etc. characters).
Disney has a specific part of its website regarding the licensing of her characters and other stuff. It's very detailed and they answer pretty quickly (4/8 weeks is fair for the biggest company in the world).
Unfortunately not all the companies provide specific information about it, but there's always an email address where you can ask and get an answer.
For my own -wallet- safety, I'd ask before selling my art done with copyrighted characters, to make sure I am not doing any copyright infringement

UzukiCheverie 2015-08-09 21:15:08 UTC #26

Actually, Nestle is, or at least closest to, the biggest company in the world, at least in terms of what they own and sell (which is what makes a company a company when it boils right down to it lol and when it comes to nestle, they basically have a monopoly on the entire world >.>).

off topic tho lol

I know a lot of people are bringing up the issue of copyright infringement and such with Sakimi-chan's stuff, but let's just stop for a moment and think . . . would an artist seriously get away with making 60,000+ a month using characters that aren't theirs? It's pretty clear she's purchasing licensing fees; she would have been caught ages ago if she wasn't, and Disney is pretty good at catching that stuff, as they have entire departments dedicated to that sort of thing (plus, she's not Korean; she's a Canadian artist, so she's not operating under these "Korean/Asian fan art customs" that people have brought up /woot canada).

Now as for selling the NSFW versions of the Disney art? There are none. At least as far as I know from my knowledge of her gallery. Most of her NSFW art tends to be of characters outside the Disney fandom, and we can obviously see why; no way in hell would Disney give the rights to her to let her draw what's essentially Disney porn.

zoonland 2015-08-09 22:13:34 UTC #27

Oh, I don't know her works but I noticed that on her Patreon she shows only Disney etc. characters and not her own OCs. So I hope for her she only does commissions based off her characters (or her Patreons' ones). I guessed messages ago that she probably put them in her Patreon homepage to showcase her skills...
Yes, an artist can actually get away making a certain amount of money using copyrighted characters. Bigger companies aren't usually too much interested in sueing a single person making a little amount of money from it, but making more and more may attract their attention in the future: the more famous you get, the more exposed you are.
I'm speaking in general, though (not only about Sakimichan).
Copyright issues are interesting for everybody trying to make a living (or some money) from art, so it's not a bad thing to talk about them.

And, by the way, kudos to her for making so much money from her art.

UzukiCheverie 2015-08-10 00:44:07 UTC #28

This is probably due to the fact that she built her main fanbase off of the Disney crossgender fanart she did way back when. She does lots of other fan arts though (TV shows, video games, comic books, etc.; some examples include, Dexter's Laboratory, Scooby Doo, Betty and Veronica from Archie, and a bunch of other stuff). She still does non-Disney stuff, it's just her main showcasing portfolio is the Disney stuff, because again, that's what launched her to stardom.

kklekc718 2015-08-10 02:04:41 UTC #29

I remember seeing robots that she made earlier. I have never seen them before in any franchise, and obviously not Disney or Warner Bros. The robot is also not Jenny (X-J-9) from My Life as a Teenage Robot, so not from Nickelodean(?).

GlanceReviver 2015-08-10 10:28:35 UTC #30

I watch her on tumblr, and every so often there is a complaint about social justice issues. Particularly with body types, since she is usually drawing women's anatomy with extremely skinny waists and large breasts. When she drew the male version of Ursula from her Disney genderbend series, she didn't make the genderbent version fat, so people read into it as fat-phobic and it was a thing for an internet minute. It was a lack of thought with no ill intention behind it, but rather a lack of awareness on these issues. Definitely nothing to merit all this backlash and hate that I see all the time on Tumblr, DA, etc.

Other DA-famous artists like Reiq and Genzoman have also gotten flak for their success with fanart, but not QUITE the amount of public anger I see over Sakimichan. Probably because her earnings are posted so publicly through Patreon.

When she just started up her Patreon I used to throw a dollar at her because I like her style, but since she has so many supporters now, I just felt it was better I give my money to a more needy artist. As much as I do like her art, I have to say she hasn't really evolved much in the last couple of years, and her work actually looks less finished now. I haven't seen her do actual backgrounds except for on the rare commission she does for a video game or something.

AndrewSutton 2016-08-15 14:50:26 UTC #31

Their art is gorgeous, I imagine most people bashing are jealous or bitter

PotooGryphon 2016-08-15 15:02:01 UTC #32

Retiring this thread since it's a year old and all points have been made. It's not healthy to bitterly begrudge fellow artists for being successful or compare your own series' success based off of others. There's no set path to success and each has to find their own path.

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