We do lots of DOA manipulations here...it's what we do. However, this forum is alot more laid back and fun from my experience. I decided to take some old stuff I showed to YOU guys a long while back (which received praise and nice comments) and take it to a forum that is seemingly alot more loose (though it isn't...they just let you spam on EVERYTHING). I knew a few members (or alot...) were complete jerkwads and would hate the idea of manipulating existing pictures because their definitions of art are definitions that closed-minded people give.

Either way, I posted 4 topics. One of my color manipulations, one of a re-coloring a did on a drawing, one of the majority of all the sigs I've ever made, and one of a few abstract things I can do in photoshop. These people absolutely HATED the manipulations to the point where people were threatening to report me for art theft because I manipulated an existing picture. They treated me as if I had claimed that I created the pictures with my own hard work when I did in fact TELL them that I didn't create the DOA characters, I just manipulated the pictures they were seeing. Long story short, I got a PM as a "warning" telling me that I had stolen art and that the punishment was a ban but he was going to go "easy" on me. He claimed that I said I didn't do anything to the pictures I posted and said that they were another person's work. I'm sure he was refering to when I said that I MANIPULATED the photos and that the pictures themselves belonged to DOA totally. Proving that either he misunderstood...or that he was a complete idiot and put some words I didn't say into my mouth.

BY LAW, Even if I HAD created the pictures I still would have been in trouble for taking the characters if Team Ninja decided to take me and the other 15 million photo manipulating fans to court. Yeah, I know a little law on it and I did check the rules before I posted my manipulations. NOTHING I DID WAS OUT OF ORDER according to their own rules. My other topics went well actually. Even though some of the sigs were DOA sigs, I wasn't threatened at all, just critiqued by some buttmunch people who couldn't have made those sigs if they tried.

In fact, on the re-color of a drawing I posted, some people tried to tell me that my amateur re-coloring was amateur...nice observation Sherlock. Others tried to talk to me about the drawing itself, which was my friend's and mines. They just took that and ran, stating that it wasn't mines at all when in fact, it was more of a joint drawing than one I took from my friend. I'd never do that to her -.-
One day in Geometry, we got bored and I asked her to draw cats. She drew the initial outline for the cats, but I was the one to add shading and more detail here and there. I was also the one to take it home and add color to the drawing. So really, its 2 parts of my work and 2 parts hers (she had to draw it, I give her extra points for that).

To end this already long post, I'd like to ask...just what is "art theft"? It was just a test to see if I was right about how the said test forum really was and the results came back alot more harsh than I initially thought they would be.

I was scolded by bossy members who like to THINK they have authority over me, threatened with a ban if I posted any topics similar to it, and it was removed from the art section to a miscellaneous section somewhere as if it shouldn't be considered art. At the VERY least it could have been considered fan art, which is still ART. To add injury to insult, they called me a theif as if I walked in, snatched the picture and ran off and gave NO credit to Team Ninja, Itagaki, and whomever else needed to be credited with making the original copy.

If ever I needed yet ANOTHER reason not to go to Gaia, that was it...they're dunderheads that misread what I say and talk about me like I should be locked up simply because I'm a DOA fan and I wanted to show people some manipulations. It was confusing enough to try and find the right topic to post it in as there are about 70 million boards and they can repeat the same thing, which is confusing, but to be moved to a misc. section when it's technically fan art and threatened when I have broken no rules of the forum is a little too far for me. It was lame in the first place, but for it to be lame, boring, AND run by idiots is just a little too far for me.

(P.S., I know its not injury to insult, but saying that my manipulations aren't at all art was more of an insult than anything else)

to answer your question, art theft is when you walk into an art gallery and take the pictures, 5 finger discount :rofl:

art theft is like me saying i drew the mona lisa [and if anyone knows me, i cant draw to save my own life. unless its stick people]. but what you did, as far as i see, merits no qualms to what is known as 'the rules.'

That's what I was thinking too. Which is why I purposly said I didn't make Ayane, Leifang, etc O.o
(Sure, I'm sure they could probably get all of us under some kinda infringement, but its more publicity for THEM and even if they were like that...could they really catch every 12 year old with photoshop and an internet connection >.<)

thats your problem, it shouldda been kasumi.

OH SNAP! >.> im done now

gaia is like one big hideous pit of intarweb drama. lol @ claiming 'theft' of public domain images.

aaanyway. for photo manips, afaik they are generally not considered to fall under the 'fan art' category (not in gaia -- just in general). stuff like signatures, avatars, and manipulations are usually considered a seperate category.

true, but that's all they had to say >.>
if i posted in the wrong topic, TELL ME AND MOVE IT
don't threaten to BAN me for a totally different and DUMB reason o.o