This is another frivolous post, but I heard about it today and thought I’d share my 10min of detective work!
I was pointed to this recently:
This is the back cover of the Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) Sourcebook, Collapse of the Republic:
My pre-caffeine musing of the morning had me thinking about the Juggernaut/Clone tanks that dominate the bottom of the shot. Made me think I did a great job following the original model references from Revenge of the Sith. Except, then I realized there were lots of details that I added, and that weren’t in the originals. Clearly, the artist for this sourcebook was inspired. Perhaps, too inspired:
Protips:
Don’t keep the shadows the same next time. Maybe remove some of the distinguishing features or apply stronger perspective filters. Repaint, don’t just copy-paste!
This reminds me of something else related to art theft. Eckhart’s Ladder on YouTube has pointed out that marvel comics has stolen Fan art for their ships.
Hi, I’ve tried to contact Fractalsponge twice now to no avail, I’d
I’ve for him to do a commission for me, please let Jim check his email for my communication.
Damned piracy
It looks like this picture was taken off the artist’s artstation.com webpage.
https://www.artstation.com/vladracean
At least it was present in the thumbnails of his gallery page, but when you click the thumbnail, you get an error. Maybe he took it down because he was getting heat.
Just took a look and there’s NOTHING on his Art Station page anymore…
My advice to you is to change the wording on your ships. By that I mean as long as it isn’t a Canon design or look too similar I would say don’t label it as having anything to do with Star Wars. As long as your work isn’t a derivative or labeled as a conception of a vehicle in the SW franchise, they will have no standing to pursue legal action or legally lift your designs. This will only work though with designs not based off obvious things like a TIE fighter, x-wing etc. Lastly I understand that yes technically as fan art you have ” infringed” on their trademark, however if you were commissioned as an artist they would have paid you for your work, therefore the scummy part isn’t so much the theft, but the legal loophole that allows them to steal your labor for free, when they should be required by law to pay you a portion of cost for your work since they chose to include it in their work. They are capitalizing on your labor and not offering any compensation. I’m legitimately thinking of trying to get a bill put up to protect people from having their labor stolen. Anyway sorry for the long rant, but yeah in the future I personally would take any fanon design that you create and just call it a generic starship or create your own little universe and it will be a model for something in that universe.
Just out of curiosity, why would it not work for something like a TIE fighter? Is it because of the acronym ‘TIE’ or something?
Its funny how every vehicle except for the Y-wings are ripped from pre-existing screenshots, images, and artwork of those craft. The Acclamator and the 2 lowest LAAT’s come from TCW, while the highest LAAT is ripped from the cross sections book for AotC lol… As for the Y-wings, I am convinced they are original simply because they have defective genes and were born with stubby engines, which is something we don’t see (or at least I haven’t seen) in any official content or fan-made model/drawing of that Y-wing.
even the Y wing is stolen. Go watch Eckhartsladder, He covered this topic. He managed to find the model of the Y wing and it was identical.
Are you going to pursue legal action?
No standing to. I’m mostly annoyed.
Are you sure?
I don’t see how they don’t even bother to acknowledge this… It’s not as though their artists can’t create a good cover, so why do they feel the need to take someone else’s renders and copy them?? And the nerve to take something like this without asking and then pretend they didn’t is completely absurd. They’ve done it, what, 3 times now? There was that one Guide to Warfare book where they took the Lambda and the Assertor, they stole your Allegiance for the ROS poster, and now this! (I don’t know if this is official Star Wars or not) This is laziness at its purest form.
Also, I just noticed that the closest Juggernaut has the random shadow of an ATTE on the side of it, now I see what you mean when you tell them to not use the exact same shadows.
“There was that one Guide to Warfare book where they took the Lambda and the Assertor, they stole your Allegiance for the ROS poster, and now this!”
Correction, they stole the Lambda and Assertor for the Imperial Handbook: A Commander’s Guide, not Essential Guide to Warfare (in the latter case, they actually DID use his works with his explicit permission). But yes, agreed, the guys at Lucasfilm and their associates are blatantly stealing art right now.
The bit about the Allegiance in the Rise of Skywalker poster’s a new one, though.
The Essential Guide to Warfare PAID me. None of the commercial assets do anything for free. If you see something misappropriated, *someone* got paid to do that. I don’t necessarily blame the publisher, but they are ultimately responsible in part for it.
A star wars book..stealing fan art without crediting people! Why I NEVER!
They are gits, pure 110% gits.
I’m pretty sure they once used the claim that they created the original models so they ‘own’ fan art
The company name is Fantasy Flight Games. Easy mistake to make.
Oh my god, such a derp on my part! Fixed
after seeing FFG, my first instinct is to always think ” Guided Missile Frigate Games? I’ve got to get this. ” and then being disappointed.
As US Navy (retired) I approve this. LOL