Katarina's Information Page (as of March 30, 2004) _________________ General information Requests Art exchanges Auctions Purchasing pre-existing original artwork Purchasing merchandise Prints Commissions Usage and copyright Can I draw a picture of one of your characters? Is it okay if I use some of your art on my webpage? Can I use one of your pictures as a picture of my character in a MUCK/profile pic on a forum/etc.? What is copyright? What are your copyright and usage policies? Why do artists get so angry when it comes to copyright? *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ General information Requests A request is basically free artwork. I only do requests for my friends and relatives. Unless I know you personally, I cannot do a request for you. This is because many people that I know who do requests get overloaded with them, and the requesters tend to be unappreciative people who take advantage of their generosity. Even though I clearly state that I don't take requests, people still send me their art requests, assuming I will do them. Please don't be offended when I turn down a request from you. Requests take up time where I could be working on a commission or on my own work. I hope you understand. Besides, there are many other talented artists out there who would be willing to do a free drawing for you. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Art exchanges I know that not everyone out there can afford to pay for a commission. However, if you're still interested in having me draw something for you, there is the option of an art exchange. In an art exchange, if you want for me to draw something for you, you have to draw something for me in return. If we agree to do an art exchange, please take this seriously and uphold your end of the bargain. Note that I usually require the person who initiates the art trade to finish their half before I do mine. This is just an incentive to keep people from trying to get free art without giving anything back. Also, please remember that any commissions I may have take precedence over all trades. If you are interested in an art exchange, please send me an example of your artwork, and we can hammer out the details via e-mail. I usually accept, unless I'm really busy. If I'm busy, try again later. NOTE: I'm currently taking a break from art trades. I need to finish up commissions and I'd actually like to do some art for myself sometime. I'm not accepting any new trades right now unless I initiate the trade. Thanks ^_^ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Auctions Sometimes I place artwork up for sale on E-bay (http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=artwench) or Furbid (http://www.furbid.ws/cgi-bin/auction.pl?justdisp&Katarina). Follow the link to see if I have anything available right now. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Purchasing pre-existing original artwork If you just happen to see something on my site that catches your eye, and you just have to have it, it is possible that I may be willing to sell it to you. If the item that you are interested in is a drawing I have done of someone else's character, then the answer is no. The selling of character which belong to Disney or anyone other than me is a violation of copyright, and may result in legal action from the owner of that character. However, if the character in the image is yours and the requested image was done as gift art or in an art exchange, the answer is probably yes. If the drawing that you are interested in is of one of my characters, or a random piece of artwork, I might sell it to you. This does not mean that I am by any means willing to part with every piece of art on this site. Please e-mail me if you are interested or have any questions. Also check my page of originals for sale at http://www.silabub.com/katarina/originals.html or my art clearance sale page at http://www.silabub.com/katarina/clearance.html *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Purchasing merchandise Selected merchandise featuring my artwork is available at http://www.cafepress.com/katarina42 *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Prints Prints of my artwork are now available. Please see this page for more information: http://www.silabub.com/katarina/printshop.html *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Commissions A commission is artwork that you pay me to create for you. However, please be serious about paying when you commission me. I will send you scans of the preliminary sketches for your approval beforehand and I can easily change anything that you do not like at that point for no additional charge. Even with the finished product, I will be willing to fix or change anything that you don't like, although there may possibly be an additional charge if it is a major change. Due to tardy payment in the past, I now require payment for half of the full commission price upon the commissioner's approval of the final sketches. If you are interested in commissioning custom artwork, please see this page: http://www.silabub.com/katarina/commission.html *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Usage and copyright information Can I draw a picture of your character? Sure! I love to see what my characters look like in other people's styles! All I ask is that you please don't draw my characters in anything higher than a PG-13 context though. If you do draw any of my characters, please make sure that if you post the image somewhere you mention that the character belongs to me. Also, I'd appreciate it if you send me a copy of it so I can put it up in my Guest Gallery ^_^ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Is it okay if I use some of your art on my website? Please *ask* me first. I'll probably say yes, but ONLY if you agree to the following terms: - You *must* state specifically that the image is "© Kayleen Connell", preferably along with the phrase "do not alter or distribute". No stealing, m'kay? - You must upload the image to your own website. Don't just link to the original location. - Resize the image if you must, but please keep the signature and/or any copyright information on the image intact. - Please don't alter it in any way. - I would also *strongly* prefer it if you would link back to my site if you're going to use my artwork, but I'm not going to insist. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Can I use one of your pictures as a picture of my character in a MUCK/profile pic on a forum/etc.? Please *ask* me first. I will decide on a case by case basis. Don't be too disappointed if I say no, though. If you wish to display an image of mine, you MUST be able to post the copyright information for that image. You MUST be able to state specifically: "This image is © Kayleen Connell. Do not alter or distribute." If there is NO way to post the copyright information, then NO, you may NOT use my art in that manner. You may NOT alter my original image, with the possible exception of cropping for a forum picture. Also, if the character in the image that you wish to use is NOT my character, you may not use it for copyright reasons. Thanks :) *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ What is copyright? Copyright is a law that protects artists and other creators from the theft of their creations. This theft is called copyright infringement. What exactly constitutes copyright infringement? To quote directly from www.rightsforartists.com/ : "INFRINGEMENT- The unlawful use, redistribution and/or exploitation of intellectual property that is protected by copyright, patent or trademark. "The four basic elements that can establish copyright infringement: - All of the work is exactly copied or reproduced - Part of the work is copied or reproduced - Reworking (or paraphrasing) - Copying the TOTAL concept, feel or essence of a work " Infringement can be punished by law including but not limited to recovery of monetary losses, punitive damages and/or misdemeanor or criminal prosecution." Various examples of copyright infringement include: reposting artwork without the consent of the artist for whatever reason, claiming another person's artwork as your own, using characters that belong to others without permission or credit, and altering. An example of altering would be if you took a pic of Katarina and stuck your own character's head on her body, or colored her pink, etc. Please do not do any of this! These are all violations of copyright. Copyright also applies to areas other than artwork. Everything on this site, including its name, writing, design, artwork, and any created web graphics is copyrighted to me and may not be copied or altered in any way. So in other words, look, but please don't touch. For more information on copyright, please visit this site: http://aimee.wyvernweb.com/copyright/ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ What are your copyright and usage policies? The short version: You are free to download my artwork for your own personal use. You may store it on your hard drive, use it as your desktop wallpaper, or print out a copy for your own personal enjoyment. However, don't try to sell it, make your own site with it, copy it directly, claim it as your own work, or alter it. If you see anyone using my work in any of these ways without obvious consent, please let me know. Check out the full details at http://www.silabub.com/katarina/copyright.html *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Why do artists get so angry when it comes to copyright? There are some individuals who claim that copying is the highest form of flattery. This is not true. That's like saying that you should be honored when someone steals your car because that means that someone out there really likes it. Most artists won't be flattered if you copy from them. Artists put a lot of time and effort into their artwork, and having someone rip off their creations and hard work makes them very angry. Again the car analogy - if you worked hard to save the money to buy a new car and someone went and stole it from you, that probably wouldn't make you very happy. As for the naysayers that claim you shouldn't put your artwork on the internet if you don't want to have it stolen, I say this - would you scoff at someone who had just had their new car stolen and tell them that they shouldn't have taken it out of their garage? Blaming the artist instead of the theif is asinine. Besides, the internet would be a very boring place if no one braved the risk of theft to display their art and writing. Can you imagine an internet with no text or images? It wouldn't be very entertaining. Some people violate copyright on purpose for their own profit whereas others honestly just don't know that what they are doing is wrong. Please be aware that copyright infringement is wrong. Copyright infringement is not only disrespectful towards the hard-working artist; it is also illegal and prosecutable in almost every country in the world. This practice is very dangerous, and it can lead to the perpetrator being taken to court and being sued. Obviously, it's to your own advantage not to do this. Please discourage others from copyright infringement. Art that is up on the internet is not free and up for grabs. It has a creator. Please keep this, and that creator's feelings and legal rights, in mind. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ For any information not on this page, please see my full FAQs page at http://www.silabub.com/katarina/faq.html