Put fongmingyun as your referral.


That is, until my own pet site is up and running. (I've been coding in the forums so far.)

Anyhow, on to the meat of all this. I hit 50k pageviews a few days ago - ironically, on April 1st, which was the same day I opened this account two years ago! What a nice DA-versary! Congrats to ~Yreka on getting a conditional kiriban, ahah. The next one is at 100k - can I make it there by this time next year?
So, I've decided to celebrate by holding an Outfit Design Contest! It's kind of small, but I don't really have that much time to spend on DA as of now. Yes, so one of my most beloved characters needs a new outfit.

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Bohren of Tabir (fyi, Tabir rhymes with "saber")
Gender: Male
Age: 17-23
Ethnicity: Brennan (somewhere between German and English)
Body Characteristics: Tall, fit, athletic, and broad-shouldered build. Dirty blonde hair, a little sunbleached. Eyes change from black to brown to yellow to red. Caucasian skin. Adorable smile is notably best feature. Very boyish-handsome.
Personality: Works as a knight, employed by the royal family. Specializes in two-handed swordsmanship and synchronized fighting with his best friend, Rivek, who he has a secret crush on (Tip: Draw them in clothing that works together!). Is brash and loud but light-hearted with very good social skills. Is also highly protective and gets emotional to the point of violence. Has Ward-mage abilities, meaning he can nullify others' magic within a certain radius. However, this power is really weak (he has to really be concentrating and stressed out to actually nullify anything, otherwise, it just hurts a little less.), so he's more reliant on his sword.
Likes: Alcohol, Dirty Jokes, Sweets.
Dislikes: Rascists, Math, Lettuce.

PICTURES CONTAINING CHARACTER:
[link]
[link] (warning: BL)
[link] (warning: BL)
[link] (warning: BL)

LOGISTICS:
1. You can do any media, digital or traditional. B/W and Color are both fine, but since this is design, the latter is preferred.
2. You can make any costume you want, from samurai to modern to his canonical armor. Feel free to play with his haircut and bodily markings, too. Please note, though, I obviously can't draw him wearing a kimono if I'm doing a story illustration.
3. Keep it in his scope of personality. No dresses, plzkthxbai.
4. Please don't change anything that's part of his genetics (eg - hair color, eye color).
5. Please credit me for the character. Again, for reference, his name is "Bohren Tabir" and mine is "Grace MingYun Fong."
6. Submit by uploading to DA and sending me a DeviantART Note. Entries will bu judged by as much design as by piece quality. Outfits should fit the character.

ENDS: May 12, 2008

PRIZES:
1st Place: 12 Month DeviantART Subscription (or cash equivalent*) + any print from my gallery + a sketch from me
2nd Place: 3 Month DeviantART Subscription (or cash equivalent*) + any print from my gallery
3rd Place: 1 Month DeviantART Subscription (or cash equivalent*) + any print from my gallery
Referral Prize: 1 Month DeviantART Subscription (or cash equivalent*)
*for cash prizes, you must have Paypal. Prize money does not include fees.

REFERRALS:
If any one of the winners says you referred them to this contest, then I'll give you a 1-Month deviantART subscription (or cash equivalent)!

Simple and sweet. Comment if you have any questions. Good luck and happy drawing.

ENTRIES:


Several people have asked my opinion, so here it is:

Let me start off by saying - I think copyright law has extended too far. Copyright is not about ownership - it's about profitability. Don't go try and sue that kid who posted up your OC as their RP character. They've done something wrong, but the way to go after them is not to sue them. Seriously. Think of all the music videos on YouTube. Technically, corporations can sue most of the people there, but they're actually found that it increases sales to leave them up. The way Copyright Law is now, a lot of people who start out making derivative works can be punished if someone decided to go on a rampage. As for Orphaned Works specifically, though:

I think Orphaned Works is a decent idea that unfortunately, has a number of possible exploitations. But, as you know, Bills go through Congress multiple times and therefore will be revised.

READ THIS (it is NOT the Mark Simon article): [link] (click the link that goes to the actual bill.)

Any article with an ALL-CAPS, "IT PISSES ME OFF" is meant to make you angry and biased. And that Orphaned Works is the end-all be-all of the world. What pissesme off is the number of people who are not reading the actual legislation. This, although obviously biased because a human being wrote it, would be what went through and became a bill - so it's the closest material to original source as you can get.

Yes, there is some vague language and legal loopholes, but what constitutes an Orphaned Work (here on referred to as an OW) Search will obviously differ in each case. Say an artist dies - must someone contact every one of his descendants to use a sketch he made when he was bored? "Reasonable Search" is something that will probably be defined - not through legislation - but through judiciary. The Court has given much clearer lines as to what constitutes what.

The legislation does not say you have to register everything. However, registration makes your ownership airtight. Think about it. What work do you think people would use from you and not compensate you for? Nobody's going to want that little doodle of InuYasha in my sketchbook that no one's ever seen before. Not to mention, that itself violates copyright law because it is fanart (which is a whole different issue). I would recommend registering work that you think people would be likely to take and profit from and that is legally of your own entire creation. A number of high-profile commission work that actually has their copyrights sold to companies, so individual artists don't really have a say in the matter. Remember, some kid making a banner out of your art doesn't actually affect you monetarily.

My solution is just append another clause. Yeah, I know, more text - whup dee do. But just add something that says, if an artist can provide sufficient evidence of creation, that they can un-Orphan the work without the necessity of registration. Such evidence could include signatures, original copies, digital data, and witnesses. I haven't thought it through completely yet, but artists leave a footprint not just in what they're making but during the making process.

And of course, my disclaimer - I have a lot going on in my life right now. I'm not a professional illustrator - actually, I'm not an artist at all (those of you who know me know my issues with this word), so I have other things to deal with. My reaction to this will be minimal and limited to this single post. I am not in clear favor of OW, but in my opinion, a number of people here on DA are getting infuriated without a link to the actual source. It is a bill that needs work. I urge you, if you are contacting your representatives think of changes or an alternative to the OW act that you would like to see and suggest that.

Oh, and join my contest.