Nathan Merzke

CRINGE RANT: It's pretty wild watching these types of artists suddenly discover IP rights the second Trump's Department of Education runs someone's Avatar fanart through AI for a meme. I personally make art, memes, and content that gets spread across the internet, and all I have to say is: welcome to the damn Internet, is this your first day? My work gets stolen, altered, and used constantly. Sometimes I get credit, sometimes I don't. Sometimes people don't even believe that I drew something myself, especially if it goes viral. (I'll answer questions on that privately) Sometimes I don't watermark my shit, AI or not, and I don't have anyone to blame but myself. That's how this place has always worked. AI didn't invent it. What makes the outrage especially ridiculous: this is Avatar fanart. These aren't characters or stories the artist created. They're derivative work based on someone else's IP. People have been tracing frames, copying compositions, and drawing other people's characters for decades. That's what fanart is. The moment an AI does the same thing under an administration they hate, suddenly it's "theft" and the artists are the victims. You don't own Aang because you drew Aang. The original IP still belongs to the rights holders. You might have copyright in your specific expression if it meets the bar, and fair use can apply to your fanart just like it can apply to someone else using or transforming it. If they took your exact copyrighted file and altered it, use the law. Show the proof. But don't pretend that AI-generating fanart of a fictional character is some unique crime against you. Especially when anyone can do Zuko and Aang doing the Dragon Dance surrounded by orange smoke. The selective outrage is telling. I strongly doubt this level of reaction would exist if an administration they liked had done it. More likely we'd get "OMG the White House used my art!! Senpai noticed me!!" And the she/her in the bio makes the script pretty predictable. Pronouns in bio, principles out the window the second politics is involved. If you think your specific work was copied, prove it. From what I can tell, there is not even watermark the supposed original so who is to say. Maybe I am just blind. But if you just hate that the Trump administration made some Avatar content with AI, say that instead of pretending this is about artists' rights. The internet has been using your favorite fictional characters for years; it has been copying fanart and will keep doing it. Drawing them doesn't give you veto power over everyone else.