Ciaran
Senior Moderator
友情は魔法だ
@Background Pony #E408
Base Used is really a DeviantArt term that we don’t support as such in our processes. For us, ‘Base Used’ is just DA slang for ‘Trace’, but the word we really use and depend on is ‘Edit’ (which indicates a derivative copyright) and the artist tag of the other copyright holder.
Base Used is really a DeviantArt term that we don’t support as such in our processes. For us, ‘Base Used’ is just DA slang for ‘Trace’, but the word we really use and depend on is ‘Edit’ (which indicates a derivative copyright) and the artist tag of the other copyright holder.
‘Base Used’ often obfuscates things more than it clarifies it, so personally I wouldn’t imply that tag ever for any purpose, and would instead imply ‘Edit’ and add to the description that the uploader should also tag the creator of the ‘Base’ that was traced or recolored.
In the example of
, the traced ‘base’ is by the base maker ‘ElementBases’ - it looks like all their bases are from the TV show so the copyright ends there. That is, there’s no fan artist on the other side of that base who also needs to be credited because the work is derivative of their own work.
If the work is derivative of Hasbro’s art, then we usually don’t mention it. We just go back as far as we can see Fan Artists and when it hits something Hasbro branded we’re done.
But ElementBases does ask that anyone using their bases give them credit for the base, so the uploads here using bases by that artist should somehow credit the artist - either via a mention in the description (which is what they ask for) or by adding their tag to the image (which is what helps us with our processes).
I’ve added “Edit” and “Artist:ElementBases” to that image … that is actually preferable to just adding the “Base Used” tag since that isn’t actually functional within our practices.
So … I don’t think we should imply ‘Base Used’. Ever. But I think there are likely many images with this artist’s tag that do not reflect the true copyright path or crediting all the artists who should be credited.
Maybe a better solution is to add a description asking people to make sure they tag all the artists involved and also tag the image as an ‘Edit’ to mark it as a derivative copyright, and then work through all those images to make sure the appropriate ‘Base’ creator is credited as they would like to be, and to ensure there is no fan artist upstream of the ‘Base creator’ who also needs to be credited.