Avatars at Tazlure

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Maeve
The Dragon & Game Designer
Posts: 15536
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2002 1:29 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Avatars at Tazlure

Post by Maeve »

Welcome to the Tazlure Avatar FAQ- everything you need to know about Avatars for use on the Tazlure forums. If you have a question that is not answered in this FAQ, please reply below or pm a GD.

APPROVED AVATAR SITES
You can use the following sites to find an avatar of your own. Remember to give credit to the artist in your profile under interests!

Make your own avatar
http://illustmaker.abi-station.com/index_en.shtml
http://elouai.com/doll-makers/candybar-doll-maker.php
http://www.heromachine.com/

Artists that allow you to use their art as avatar for free
http://www.allavatars.com/
http://www.dragontree.net/
http://www.nwcreations.com/home.htm
http://quietsiren.com/
http://home.simplyweb.net/suedawe/
http://www.dreslough.com/main/index.html
http://www.mutedfaith.com/
Interplay/Icewind Dale art: http://havak.db-forge.com/
Neverwinter vault, portrait section: http://nwvault.ign.com/index2.shtm
WOTC Online PC gallery: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp? ... c20030218b



Artists that will make you an exclusive avatar for a small fee
http://pixieface.deviantart.com (Yes! This is our very own Finley Ward!) [note from Finn] Contact me by PM for pricings, etc. :) [/note from Finn]
http://www.alanesart.com/
http://www.mutedfaith.com/

Artists that may grant you permission if you ask nicely
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/elfwood.pike
www.deviantart.com

Sites where you can host your avatar
http://www.imageshack.us
http://photobucket.com/


Q.What kind of pictures can I use for an avatar?
A.You can use any sort of picture on the Tazlure boards as long as it fits within the guidelines defined below. Essentially that means it needs to be a medieval/fantasy type image of the proper size and dimensions, not remote linked or spiderharvested, used and credited with the permission of the of the original artist.

Q.What does Tazlure consider copyright?
A.Avatars fall under our copyrights policy. This means that you have to provide a credit to the original artist who created the picture and must have obtained the artist's permission to use it.
All of this is part of our TOS, in addition to being illegal according to international law. You agreed with our Terms of Service upon registering. Not complying with our TOS means we will delete your account with the offending picture.
Frankly, we aren't going to quibble words over what falls under or over the line of "fair use/public domain" We will leave that to the lawyers and in the mean time, we will play it on the side of caution. Get the artist's permission, please. Period.

Q.What size of Avatar may I use?
A.Avatar can't be any larger then 110 x 110 pixels. They must be under 20kb in file size. GIF's are usually the most compact image file types.

Q.How do I resize an avatar I've found?
A.You need to use a photo/graphic editting software program, such as Photoshop, or Paint Shop Pro. If you do not have one, the following people have offered their services to resize avatars (You must be able to send/receive attachments on your email):
•Tygress

Q.How do I upload the avatar to the boards?
A.You upload an avatar in the profile section of the boards. Enter the URL where you've stored the picture (Ex.: http://www.yourpicturesite.com/thefilename.jpg), and submit!

Q.What is remote linking/spider harvesting/bandwidth theft?
A.This is when you link your avatar directly to the website you found the image at originally, or any website you do not have the author's permission to link from. Do not DO this. It increases costs to the original site owner's website and can get Tazlure in trouble as well.


Q.The picture doesn't show up, why not?
A.You've likely hosted your picture on a site, such as angelfire, tripod or geocities, that does not allow remote linking. Please try finding a site that does allow it. Otherwise, it might be a problem with either your site or ours. Give it some time and see if it will load up later.

Q.Someone said my picture is copyrighted, what do I do?
A.Usually, they'll also know where the picture came from. Ask them and then proceed to ask the original artist's permission to use the picture. Otherwise, please remove the picture and find another avatar.

Q.How do I credit my avatar?
A.Please include something along the lines of "Avatar is ©Somebody, used with permission" If you have a link to the artist's website, or their fair usage policy where they state their policy on allowing the use of their art on the net, please include that as well. Also make sure your avatar fits within the file size requirements and is not remotely linked. Oftentimes, webmasters change filenames to prevent bandwidth theft.

Q.Where do I put the credit for my avatar?
A.We are currently working on including an Avatar Credit field in the profile page, but until Meri finishes coding it, please put the credit in an unused field in your profile, such as occupation, interests, etc. Many of our users have taken to including the credit in their sigline, and that seems to work very well.

Q.What constitutes permission from the artist?
A.Permission is considered a 'fair usage' policy posted on the web by the original artist, or written/electronic permission from the artist that you can produce upon request.

Q.How do I get permission from the artists?
A.Search their website/gallery to see if they have a fair usage policy. If not, email them, explain to them that you wish to use their piece (it is usually nice to identify the piece) as an avatar/character portrait on a pbp RPG, but that the game admin's requires you to obtain the artist's permission to do so. Feel free to link to Tazlure so they know where their work is being used. Please give them a week or so to reply- if you do not hear from them, a follow up email can be sent, but please do not harass artist's who are unresponsive- simply look for another piece of art to use as an avatar.

Q.What if I can't get permission?
A.If the artists refuses or does not respond to your inquiries, frankly, you must simply move on, and find another picture to use, hopefully with a more responsive artist as it's creator. It would be nice also if you let us know, so we can post their website to inform others the artist does NOT wish to have their art used as avatars, saving them a slew of requests. Please do not harass, berate or further argue with the artists. It's their art and they have every right to set the rules on how it is used.

Q.What if I can't find the original artist?
A.If you find it on the web, you might try doing a search of major online art galleries (elfwood or epilogue), using the subject matter as a keyword. Try asking fellow Tazzies if they know who the artists is. Or try doing an image search on google. If you can still find no way to identify the artist- or no way to contact him/her- again, you must find another picture to use as an avatar.

Q.I really like this avatar, so how about I just lie about where I got it? Or just alter it, send it through some photo filters! Huh huh!?
A.Well. Ok. You could. But think about this for a second. You're playing on an online community of over 200 players, many of whom are active fans or artists in the sci-fi/fantasy art community. The chances of the work remaining unrecognized is VERY slim. Then, once it is recognized, you will not only be called for a TOS violation of our copyright policies, but for lying about it as well. And as is well documented, lying is something guarenteed to bring about the instant and terribe wrath of the Dragon.

Q. What if I don't remove my illegal avatar?
A.Once we initially ask you to either credit or remove an avatar, we give you a reasonable amount of time to comply. If you don't, or refuse, we remove it for you. If you put it back up again, we will have no choice but to delete your account. If you still persist, then we ban you from the site. If this ever becomes an epidemic of rebellious stubborn copyright thiefs, then we will disallow the use of avatars site-wide. And make sure everyone knows who is responsible. :twisted:

Q.What about avatar sites?
A.When selecting avatars, it can be hard to know just what IS and what is NOT copyrighted, especially when you come across one of those oh so handy avatar sites that says "Here, use these as you will!" Unfortunately, a lot of those avatar sites simply take pics willy nilly, from book covers, artists' websites and lots of other places, without getting permission, or even creditting the artist for their work.

Therefore, in an effort to help you out, we're going to be listing avatar sites that we DO reccommend you try. It's nothing against the 'unsuitable' site or site owners, they simply don't use a strict enough copyright policy to make us comfortable. Keep in mind though, if you can find a pic on any of these 'unsuitable' sites, can trace it to the original artist and get THEIR permission, then you may of COURSE use it!

Q.What about online art galleries?
A.Online art galleries/communities such as Elfwood & Epilouge very specifically state that you are NOT to take the art for the use of avatars, character portraits, web graphics or anything else. However, if you find a picture that you can not live without, I suggest you first read the artist's profile and see if they address the issue personally. If not, email the artist and ask, just as you would anyone else. Do NOT use art from these galleries without permission, do not remote link to them. Tazlure has worked very hard to maintain a professional reputation in these communities.

Q.What about celebrities/movies/screen shots?
A.For the purposes of this site, they are considered copyrighted. Making a screenshot and/or altering a picture doesn't absolve you from obtaining permission either. These pictures are still copyrighted plus you have done something illegal by altering an original picture.

Q.If I wanted to use a detail from a medieval painting/sculpture/tapestry as an avatar, could I? would there be any copyright problems?
A.Anything from the old masters (that is .. anything older than 70 years which hasn't not been protected by an estate of heirs) can be used copyright free as it is considered part of the public domain. For instance you could use part of a painting of Jeroen Bosch or the Mona Lisa.

Q.Can I put images in my sig line?
A. Pan's Hooves, no! It clutters up our forums and detracts from the story we are writing in the game forums. Please keep your sig limited to a few lines of text :)

Q.Can I use animated gif's as an avatar?
A.If you keep the animation simple and smooth, then yes. We don't want threads to look like the streets of Las Vegas.

Q.Why are you being so strict about copyrights?
A.Sorry for being hardhanded on this, but this is one of the points of Administrative Ethics that we hold very high. Copyrights protect the intellectual property of artists. Without such legal protection we, and many more of our community besides, would be robbed of something that we all spend many, many hours on in creating. Since we protect Tazlure, it is only fair that we uphold the copyright of others as well.

The internet should not be used to undermine international law regarding copyrights. It would only lead to no original material being made available on the internet anymore, with many of the real life authors and artists withdrawing from the virtual community. It would be a lesser place than it can be.
Last edited by Maeve on Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:02 am, edited 3 times in total.
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