Harmful or No?

[Just_A_Tundra]

There is plenty of art pieces out there, and there is so much to draw. However, there is one question that has been on my mind for the past few months....

Nsfw works of characters that do not belong to the one doing the art...aka: Rule 34. I have been around the internet, and I have seen plenty of this stuff going on. But, I often thought about the idea on how the creators of these characters would feel if they see an over-sexualized image of their own character.

Two characters, Roxanne Wolf and Loona, are probably the most recognizable examples I can think of right off the bat. Should these odd images exist of these characters? How would their respective creators feel if they saw everything that has been posted?

I, myself, wouldn't mind seeing my characters being drawn in such a manner, as I feel like it is a way of showing appreciation in some regard, BUT not everyone is going to feel the same way. So, here is the question: Should this NSFW work of other people's characters exist without the creator's actual written permission?

To me, it depends, as some people will either find it offensive, flattering, or not even care about it. I honestly believe it does depend on the creator of that character's creator's feelings on the matter. I just see a lot of NSFW art of characters and ask myself, "How would the creator react if they saw this?"

So, what do you think? Do you think NSFW art of others' characters is harmful? Should it even exist? What are your thoughts?

 

[vickers]

I think that it's only harmful if it's not tagged properly, or posted in a place where kids can easily find it (think of the poor little girls trying to google their favorite My Little Pony characters...)

Porn is kind of inevitable though, I mean that's the meaning of Rule 34 right? "If exists, there's porn of it." I think that a creator has to eventually come to terms with this reality, because knowing the internet, asking someone to not do something only make them want to do it even more. I personally get uncomfortable at the idea of drawing NSFW art of an indie property, unless I get permission from the creator. But if it's a big IP, then I see no harm. (especially if it's an IP geared towards a more mature audience.)

Besides, there are certain character designs that are made to look hot on purpose. I can think of several IPs in which the creators already expect that people are gonna draw NSFW art of the characters. The newer pokemon designs come to mind, both the pokemon themselves and the gym leaders.

Big companies like Disney and Nintendo definitely know that there's people drawing NSFW artwork of their characters, and they probably don't like it but there's nothing they can really do about it (or at least, nothing that would be worth fighting over.)

Nintendo actually tried to sue the makers of "Super Hornio Brothers," the Mario porn parody, but as far as I know they weren't able to because the parody was technically fair use I think? So they basically just bought every copy of the porno in existence, to keep people from watching it. Obviously, they can't do that anymore, otherwise they'd be broke xD

 

[Deleted member 160111]

NSFW on characters from children's shows looks rude and even terrible, but children grow up, and with this comes an interest in the intimate side of life. That's how they remember chaste things that quickly turn into depraved.
Any creativity promotes content, whether it's good or bad.

I think who really wouldn't want their characters to be NSFW is Disney, and studios like him. Any shows for children in principle.

The reality is that erotica and porn are inevitable. If anthropomorphic female characters are drawn breasts according to the human type, this is already a weighty reason to know that the character's future fate is obvious.
A female character can be female and without breasts. Why.
Okay, actually, the lack of breasts will not save any character from the fate of being NSFW.

 

[Judge Spear]

Legally you shouldn't be making fanart at all. But no one upholds that because it's extremely impractical to sue every case of it and it's a really stupid, douchey thing to seek legal action against.
Additionally for intellectual property, it's free marketing. Drawing porn of Loona is only a benefit to VivziePop and her team since it puts more eyes on their show. A specific hero shooter got outrageously more popular from SFM porn in conjunction with it's existing AAA marketing that actually had to be paid for. Getting hundreds of thousands of more players for free? You'd be insane to say no to that. Which is why only idiots like Nintendo and the fucking Mouse strike down fanart.

So it might be hurting someone's "feewings" (extremely doubtful), but it's certainly not hurting their wallets in the overwhelming majority of cases. I'll take a few thousand dollars to look at something I don't like. Sure.

 

[Foxridley]

I’ve thought about this myself a bit. I wouldn’t say it’s harmful so much as, arguably, disrespectful. But it it seems a different standard is applied to personal OCs versus characters in well-known media. This applies to fetish stuff as well, since someone might be fine with vanilla nsfw art of their character, but not fetish art.

The main area where I see Rule 34 being harmful is where porn of characters from kid’s shows turns up where kids are likely to see it, including on the first page of Google Images.

Legally you shouldn't be making fanart at all. But no one upholds that because it's extremely impractical to sue every case of it and it's a really stupid, douchey thing to seek legal action against.
Additionally for intellectual property, it's free marketing. Drawing porn of Loona is only a benefit to VivziePop and her team since it puts more eyes on their show. A specific hero shooter got outrageously more popular from SFM porn in conjunction with it's existing AAA marketing that actually had to be paid for. Getting hundreds of thousands of more players for free? You'd be insane to say no to that. Which is why only idiots like Nintendo and the fucking Mouse strike down fanart.

So it might be hurting someone's "feewings" (extremely doubtful), but it's certainly not hurting their wallets in the overwhelming majority of cases. I'll take a few thousand dollars to look at something I don't like. Sure.

it can get tricky, though, since a company can effectively lose its copyright if it does not act on infringement. I remember back in my Brony days when fans posted MLP episodes on YouTube. Hasbro let them stand for a bit, because they made a lot of money off of the Bronies, but eventually had them taken down. Rinse and repeat.

 

[MiwaKitsune]

NSFW of existing media will ALWAYS be a thing. However, it is really poor conduct to take someone's private or personal OC and draw/commission any kind of unsavory art of them. It's not like you can ask the creators of Helluva Boss or Zootopia if they want their characters drawn like that, but with artists online, you can and should.

 

[Troj]

• NSFW art and fanfics that feature popular sentient adult characters are broadly fine.
• NSFW art and fanfics involving popular characters that are canonically children and/or are canonically non-sentient is creepy, IMHO. Also, strictly in my opinion, aging down characters in NSFW art or fanfics is creepy, and aging up child characters is still a little bit sussy-wussy. No sir, I don't like it.
• NSFW art or fanfics of people's OCs or fursonas should only be done with the blessing and permission of the people to whom those characters belong, and those individuals' "dealbreakers" and boundaries should be respected.