#reposting because the format of the other one was weirdly fucked up

[sugarbabywenkexing]

Make it look good.

[repost-this-image]

All right Tumblr, let’s talk about art theft in PowerPoint format, because I’m hearing a lot of complaints, and some artists I know have literally stopped putting out art to the public because of rampant theft of their art.

[Transcription:  The story of art and art theft goes hand in hand with the history of copyright.  So why does that exist, anyway?  Whose genius idea was copyright law??

In the beginning there was no such thing as copyright. 

Books and artwork had to be carefully produced by hand.

Each new copy of a book took the same amount of time to produce, no matter how many copies you wanted, so there weren’t a lot of copies of books that weren’t religious text (like the Vedas or the Bible).

Because it took so long to write and bind a new copy of a book, an author’s livelihood wasn’t affected by other people making a copy.

Gutenberg changed everything

The invention of the movable-type printing press was HUGE, y’all.

You didn’t have to write really slowly to make each letter neat and legible; the type blocks were already made before you produced a book.

Once you’d set up a page, you could make as many exact copies of that page as you wanted, which meant you could print hundreds of copies of a book at a time.

Because it was easier to print a lot of books, you didn’t have to charge as much, so lots more people could afford to buy your books!

(Image of people using an early printing press with the caption, “These guys are printing 240 pages per hour.  So much faster than fancy handwriting!”)

There was just one problem...When it’s easy to publish and print lots of copies of your books, other people can also print lots of copies of your books.  And make money off them.  And if their copies are cheaper than yours, you lose sales, which means you don’t make money and could become a starving artist.  (Or author.  Whatever.)

But that’s not all.  That other printing house?  Doesn’t give nearly as much of a shit about your book as you do.  They’re printing out the bargain-basement version of your book, after all, so it doesn’t have to be as nice as your Super Official Version.  So they’re gonna make a lot more printing errors than the official copy that you originally ordered.

Oh, and if they don’t like the ending?  They could just fucking change it, and then people don’t know which ending is the real one that you wrote.

So in addition to not making that sweet, sweet sales money, your reputation takes a hit.  Ouch.

Copyright was the solution, but it wasn’t perfect.  On the one hand, an author got to choose which printers had the right to make copies of their books, and nobody else would get to print copies for 14 years after the original print date.  So you could control the quality and sales of your books, and actually make enough money to support you while you wrote a second book.

BUT without those cheap, shitty bootlegs, books got a bit more expensive again, so fewer of the unwashed masses could afford books.  It’s a tradeoff.

Why 14 years?  Because it was assumed that most of the people who were gonna buy your book, would buy it within that amount of time.  Sure, some people would buy it later than that, but not enough for you to really rely on those later sales.

Wait, only 14 years?

That’s right.  In 1710, when England and Scotland created the first copyright laws, your copyright expired after just 14 years.  Copyright law has been changed several times over the centuries to make that period last longer.

The most recent change to US copyright law, for instance, was the Sonny Bono law in 1996 (yes, that Sonny Bono).  This is why there were a lot of companies selling VHS tapes of popular cartoons before 1996, but when DVDs became mainstream a few years later, there were no DVD versions made--those cartoons had their copyright renewed right after the Sonny Bono Law passed, so it wasn’t legal for those other video producers to make and sell unlicensed copies of those cartoons anymore.

(Picture of VHS tapes with cheap, off-model images of Mighty Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Daffy Duck on the covers.)

That’s right, the tapes on this slide, that look like cheap bootlegs, were legally produced.  Because the old cartoons on them were, at that time, in the public domain. And they’re not anymore.

So what does this have to do with online art?

Copyright law still applies to art.  Yes, even if it’s made on a computer.  Yes, even if the artist chooses to post that art on the Internet.

Because the artist gets to choose how their art is distributed, an artist can say “Do not repost to other websites, and do not reblog without this caption,” and it is legally binding.

If an artist wants to sell prints of their own art, they can legally do that.  But you can’t sell or distribute prints (or digital copies!) of their art without their express permission.

Because we currently live in a capitalistic society, artists need to make money off of their art in order to be able to produce art full-time.  If they can’t make money off of it (say, because some asshole is off posting hi-res copies of it on other websites without permission and without giving the artist credit), then they have to get another job and don’t have as much time to produce art.  Which means you get less art.

Small-time artists aren’t like major corporations.  When you make a bootleg of a Disney Movie, or Disney’s promotional art (for legal reasons, I wish to point out that you should not do this because it’s illegal and Disney can and will sue you into the poorhouse), you’re preventing a massive, multinational corporation (which has unethically devoured hundreds of other corporations, btw), with already earns billions of dollars in profits every year, from making $20.  That’s a drop in the bucket.

But when you make illegal copies of a small-time artist’s art, that’s just a regular, not-ludicrously-wealthy  person, who relies on sales and commissions to earn a living.  That money could be the difference between them buying groceries next week, or having to have a glass of water for dinner for a few days.

The moral of the story:

Support small artists and small businesses!

The only viable replacement for copyright laws that both allows artists to spend time Making Art and also allows you to make all the copies you want, is socialism.  You just can’t have it both ways under capitalism.  It doesn’t work.

This, by the way, is also a reason I support a Universal Basic Income:  so that art theft doesn’t prevent independent artists from being able to do what they love full time, because their survival doesn’t depend on selling prints or drawing commissions for That One Guy who wants art of his unusual, weirdly-specific fetish that the artist REALLY isn’t into but hey, he’s shelling out $300 for it and money is money.

Also, if you remove an artist’s watermark to repost their art somewhere else, you’re both an art thief and a huge asshole.  Don’t do that.

End of transcription.]

[alkhale]

that soulmate au was sooo angsty but it was SO GOOD :)) thanks for another amazing chapter!! ❤️❤️❤️ btw did you watch voltron season 7 yet?

you’re absolutely welcome!!! thank you so much for reading and yes I have and GOD I HAVE A LOT TO SAY BEAR WITH ME ANON

spoilers for voltron season 7 below tread carefully

I love Voltron a lot, as I’m sure a lot of you already know with the stuff I repost/reblog and the fact that I’ve gotten off my ass to write for it is another. Recently, Voltron’s shift into more serious topics and the fact that this is war and all is amazing, the animation these recent seasons have been absolutely A1 and shit, that fight with Shiro and Keith? Stunning work, it was beautiful and heartfelt and everything and I went into season 7 super stoked and hyped up, stayed up till midnight and everything to watch it

when adam died, had to stop the episode half way because i was so pissed and sad and confused that i just went to sleep and vowed to finish it in the morning

a lot of it is because i never thought queerbaiting could be a thing with voltron. i never expected them to announce shiro was gay and when they did i was like, wow, that’s so cool they’re confirming stuff and coming out with it, and he has a boo too? hell yeah. the thing is, the voltron writers and studio don’t owe us anything with what they come up with. it’s how we don’t expect anything from bnha that’s necessarily progressive and what not because it’s shounen, you know? we’re here for fun character development, cool fights, cringe fanservice at times and the works. it’s why no one was burning down Jump because naruto and sasuke weren’t madly in love, these creators don’t have to have this kind of content, and i’m fine with that. But hyping it up and being super proud about it only to not have anything to show? yeah, that is a let down. (i know apparently the fingers need to be pointed at dreamworks but honestly i’m kinda just numb and hoping for redemption in season 8 otherwise of the stars and you is going to have some heavy changes later on with what i think should’ve happened)

weirdly enough, i never had a solid ship watching voltron. i was pretty game for anything, as long as it had good and reasonable development. I really liked the idea of klance especially after season 3 because, omg, development, i never saw allura and lance being a thing because it was always so comedic and brushed aside and never felt right to begin with, honestly. Lance could’ve ended up with Pidge or they all could’ve just been a happy family with no real pairings and i still would’ve been fine. but that shit with suddenly turning a platonic, trust worthy friendship into a romantic thing with no development whatsoever and that kacxa shit i ain’t even gonna touch that because like

what the fuck?

HE HAD FOUR OR FIVE INTERACTIONS WITH HER AND OVER HALF WERE ON OPPOSITE SIDES AND LMAO NOW I’M SUPPOSED TO SWALLOW THIS LOVE PILL YALL SHOVING DOWN MY THROAT?

no thanks. i love acxa’s character design and think she’s always been kick ass but she deserves more than a sloppy romance that didn’t need to be necessary

also tired of lance not getting the development he deserves and being written off as second hand comedy relief and very tired of everyone calling him and idiot because my precious baby was ready to fucking die twice and he deserves more god damnit

(will also not stand for how keith suddenly became an asshole this season like, i’m sorry what?)

i’m kinda just holding out hope that season 8 is gonna come and slap amazing development and storyline in my face and the voltron writers are gonna be like “hahaha, you all thought we’d shove that crap down your throats? here’s the good shit”

because all the mad stuff aside, i still love this show a lot, and i still am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. i don’t think all this writing and these hidden meanings behind scenes are going to be dumped down the drain, i think lance’s development is still on the horizon, and maybe we’re all just overreacting and jumping guns because like i said, voltron’s gonna slap us in the face with some clutch amazing writing and development (and lance is gonna realize what he needs is not the rebound but the angry hothead who left for awhile but he’s back now and he’s not leaving again Lance dw)

adam and shiro deserved the world and i wished we could’ve seen them be happy because i understand the argument that we all built up this beautiful relationship we knew nothing about but, was killing his ex-fiance really necessary to teach shiro about war? i think he fucking knows. he lost and arm and suffered immense abuse from his captors, was tortured and cloned and died and sorry, i think he gets the point. Shiro deserved to be happy and no one can convince me otherwise.

Adam’s alive and lost in the desert because he doesn’t know earth has been liberated you can’t convince me otherwise.

i also wrote this because i was so mad and sad about the whole thing, it’s gonna be a small fic on ao3 soon because i’m still sad about it :(

Their first meeting isn’t the kind that they deserve.

But it’s what they didn’t know they needed.

Shiro tugged the helmet off his head, exiting out of the flight simulator as he sighed. It’d been a rough decision to intercept the ship on his right wing from engaging enemy fire, but it’d been his call as the head of the formation and the one he deemed necessary. I got everyone out of it alive, didn’t I?

Shiro ran fingers through the fluffy tufts of his hair that still stuck out from the neat cut he kept close to the sides. His eyes strayed to the other cadets exiting the simulators and he straightened, prepared to line up alongside them for their debriefing. Great things were expected of him, and if he wanted to do this right (he had to do this right) then he needed to hit the ground running–

“Hey, asshole.”

Shiro stopped in his tracks. Several cadets beside him froze at the drop of a clear confrontational tone. Shiro’s shoulders automatically squared, his back straightening at the aggressive tone and preparing himself for the worse as he calmly turned on his heel. Must be the wing pilot– “Listen, I know-”

Shiro felt his whole world slow.

His eyes were a soft, fiery sort of hazel. He couldn’t help the split second thought of wondering what they’d look like in better circumstances. His skin was a gentle hue of milk chocolate, smoothed over lean arms and a slightly shorter stature than himself. His hair was a shade different against his skin, fluffy and sticking up in tufts from where his helmet had pressed it in and his glasses were askew across his face as he marched straight toward Shiro and wow, that’s a very pretty shade of hazel-

“Next time you decide to make a decision like that,” his fellow cadet bit out, shoving his helmet roughly into Shiro’s arms and he felt air escape his lungs with a soft whoosh as he stumbled back a step. “Do us all a favor and stay in your own lane.”

Shiro blinked dumbly, realizing the hazel in his eyes had flecks of green and the cadet scowled, irritated and grumpy and reminding him an awful lot of a cat that’d been caught in the rain and didn’t want to admit it. Words stumbled over his tongue and failed to escape past his lips as he held the other cadet’s helmet and the cadet scoffed, rolling his eyes as he turned on his heel to leave.

don’t leave don’t leave don’t leave yet

namenamename

say something!

“There’s no lanes in space,” Shiro said dumbly.

A few of the cadets beside him snickered and the one with milk chocolate hair and skin merely scowled, flashing him one final glare over his shoulder before he stalked off, completely ignoring the fact that there was still a debriefing to be had.

Shiro quickly realized he needed a proper explanation to the commander now walking toward them as to why one of their crew was missing.

And that he needed that cadet’s name, now.

i kinda headcanon that Adam was a rough, hotheaded kind of guy who is actually super soft and dorky and sweet but it just depends how he gets to know you and how you guys start off on the right foot (shiro didn’t)

Shiro, being straightforward and awkward and Shiro totally falls flat on his face for the guy that’s trying to match him step for step and he’s always seen Adam as an equal and never someone below him and he’s so in love for him its hilarious (half the crew knows but they just don’t say anything) Adam is totally oblivious and thinks Shiro’s just pitying him because Adam works really hard but Shiro always manages to pull just a bit ahead so Adam sees him as a rival but it’s actually a one-sided rivalry with the his “rival” actually being completely in love with him.

- yeah i’m still really sad about them