Is fanart legal?

Question

Does anyone know for certain if fanart is legal to download/create in australia or if there is a law for it at all?

Answer 1

Strictly speaking, it is not legal to make artistic representations of copyrighted characters without the creators' consent. If you are making an artistic representation of a popular character (fanart these days is heavily focused on animated characters) you must have the permission of the creator or owner of the subject of your art.

If you are making an artistic representation of a real person, the question is a little more complex. If it's just an ordinary person on the street, you need that person's permission, because a person owns the rights to his or her own face. But it's different for public figures, who are assumed to have given up some of their privacy. Most fan art of real people is of celebrities, of course. You can download or create art of a famous person. But if you download or create art of a famous person PLAYING A CHARACTER, you still need the permission of the copyright owner.

That said, though you officially need permission of the copyright holder, you're very, very unlikely to be prosecuted if you ignore this requirement. Large companies lack the time and resources to prosecute everybody with a set of Prismacolors and a scanner. And even if they had those resources, most of them consider fan art to be too penny ante to be worth the trouble. Only if you make money off somebody else's creation will you be worth the trouble; if you just want to share your art with other fans, you'll probably be okay.

So if you want to draw up a character from Fullmetal Alchemist or whatever and put it on your Myspace page, go right ahead. You're not selling prints, and you're not pretending you've created something wholly original, so you're probably not undercutting the rights holder. Just keep a low profile and don't tick off the rich, and you should be nice and happy all your many days.