I honestly do not see why there is such a huge fuss over the proposed “Orphan Works.” It takes away zero rights from the owner of any piece. Its goal is to provide people the ability to use old, unclaimed artwork where the owner cannot be found. For example, if I wanted to create a documentary on the cold war era and found a couple of filmed interviews and pictures I would like to use, I would first have to hunt down the owner to said items. There is no problem there, right? But what if the owner could not be found? That is where the Orphan Works comes into play. This copyright law would allow me to proceed with my documentary with the images and filmed interviews that I found. This does not mean that I own the work, it just gives me the ability to use it for my documentary.

In regards to searching for the owner of whatever work, it does not mean that you type into google "picture of cold war" and hope to find the source. One has to do a thorough search in attempts to find the original owner. Within a certain amount of time, the original owner can surface and again lay claim to their piece. Thus, compensation is made and no right is lost. Who is owner is still clear while the person borrowing the piece would be without confusion as well.

Now, is that really so scary? But with anything, do not take my word for it or what Bob wrote in an article or posted on his journal, read the source. Here is direct link to the government’s page on the Orphan Works. [link]

If you are still concerned about your images online being stolen under this guise, simply watermark and put a signature on each piece. This is not a new concept either; many artists do this because of theft. So really, what is the difference?

On another note, I find myself often questioning deviantART when I check in. Mainly, I wonder about the people on this site and why certain things are so popular here. Since when are stick figures of Professor Snape saying “OMG!1!!!11!! PNWD!!1!111!!!!1" qualify as art? Or how about other fan work, such as girls dressing up as characters from Kingdom Hearts (mainly Sora, Riku, Roxas, and Axel) and making out with each other? The characters in the game are primarily kids, or teenagers if you prefer. Apparently, a lot of chicks here like children porn (or “erotica” as they prefer, because it doesn’t sound like pedophilia) involving homosexual boys. Yea, that is so “hot.” I do wish there was a way I could filter this out.

I’ve been requested to make a couple of my pieces here into prints. Unfortunately, dA Prints sucks and only allows the artist to have profit in the margin of cents. I’m sorry, but I am not going to let someone else make a lot of money on something I spent hours on and receive nothing in return. I rather give things away than peddle like that. So, for those of you that are interested, I am going to be offering prints on RedBubble. I’ve heard much better things about them anyways. There isn’t much there at the moment, but I plan on editing pieces for print to upload next week. If there is something in particular you’d like, just send me a message. Anywho, click the link to be taken to my RedBubble account. [link]

For something completely unrelated... Is anyone here interested in WWII, more on the Nazi and Holocaust aspect of it than battles?

Sites:
Here kitty kitty, Original work for sale, LiveJournal, myspace

Clubs: