Hello

I have a question about copying.

Someone recently got inspired by my "Hero" and made derivative sprites. There are obvious reuses of shape and solutions.

Original


Copy


How is this looked upon in the pixel art community? Do individual artists care about stuff like this or is there a common opinion around it?

At first i am flattered but also worried. I created a sort of archsprite i could derive from with the sole purpose of creating several different indie games. I'm worried that i have to hurry up and finish my own games before someone else does.

Turning to your experience and wisdom for guidance.

Cheers
Bitslap

In the US any art one makes has inherent copyrights. However, in pixelart sometimes this can be a tough call and its far easier to copyright and control a whole project instead of an asset such as your sprite.

A couple of things to note:

1.) The Berne Convention gives the creator of a given work automatic copyright once that work exists in a ‘fixed medium’. (Pixel art would certainly count.) This allows you to at least have some form of copyright claim to your work, but to have a far better claim, you’d need to register your work with the copyright office in your specific country.

2.) As jalonso said, an artist can only do so much given a 16x16 space with which to work. Duplications of ideas will inevitably happen, even if it happens unintentionally. People taking inspiration from other people’s works also happens. As an example: last night, I used Dawnbringer's new 32-color palette to pixel (I can use ‘pixel’ as a verb, right?) a treasure chest that I based on a design from Final Fantasy 6. Those works inspired my work, and my work may inspire someone else down the line. Culture grows and changes and becomes something entirely new because we look to others’ works for inspiration.

My suggestion: if this other pixel artist plans to rip your pixel art off to use in a commercial project, consider all your legal options (including the dreaded DMCA takedown notice), but if they just want to dick around with the design you made, I say let ’em so long as they don’t take full credit for your work.