Attack of the Recolor Artist

*Please note* Even if you have not noticed it (until now) i'm aware that i missed the 'T' in 'whatever' in the second speech bubble. **

This was originally going to be called 'Curse of the Mouse Cursor', but for the life of me i couldn't decide which title to use. I eventually went with the one i have now; because it's a little more direct for the discussion topic today. If you can't already tell, this is about TLK recolors and traced base OCs.

I've been wanting to do this comic for months, but I decided to put it off considering how many people this may/will 'offend' (since there are HUNDREDS of TLK recolor 'artists' here on dA) But eventually I couldn't hold this thought in any longer; so I decided to just say what I think REALLY needs to be said about this....we need to talk.
I know this doesn't seem like it's a big deal, and maybe I am overreacting. And you know, it wouldn't bother me so much; if it wasn't for the fact that these recolors and base OCs are plaguing DeviantART! They are EVERYWHERE! I'm not kidding; at least 10-20 of these ugly things are uploaded under the Lion King catergory every single day! Looking at the numbers, there is currently over 200,000 deviations with 'Lion King' as one of the key words, I can almost guarantee that at least 70% of those deviations are recolors and/or base works! That's ludicrous!
And it's not just TLK that gets this treatment! Many other popular franchises have been flooded with these things too! My Little Pony, Danny Phantom, and probably most of all Sonic The Hedgehog! How did this even happen??

Let me just say this though, I'm NOT attacking recolorers or base users. I'm not going to stamp my feet and get really angry about it, or demand that you don't use them anymore, I have no right or authority to dictate what you use for your work. This isn't a hateful rant. Think of it more as 'constructive criticism'. So no, i'm not a 'troll' or a 'hater' (don't ever use that terminology towards me, it's childish and i won't dignify it with a response). Also, I do have a good reason to even discuss this; as I will explain..

1. THEFT
The best reason to bring this topic up in the first place. It's art theft. There's no way around it and no use denying it. It's just tolerated theft, there are far too many of them to police and control; so DeviantART decided to just not do anything about it and let them keep coming. I don't really understand how this became tolerated to begin with. Users who steal other artists' deviations, alter them and claim them as their own; are hunted down relentlessly and forced to take down the stolen work and sometimes even exiled from DeviantART altogether. Yet people can trace screencaps from copyrighted films, alter them and claim the alteration as their own; and have no consequence to come of it. How is one considered theft but not the other?? I don't get it. Is it because Disney is far less likely to complain and track you down for it? Probably, but that hardly seems fair. And there is NO 'fair use' claim that defends this, 'fair use' is only applicable if the resulting product (created from scratch) serves a completely different meaning from the original. It mostly applies to online reviews, educational purposes, parodies and other justified uses. Recoloring and tracing is NOT fair use.

2. CONSEQUENCES
Even if it's not apparent now, I do think there will be eventual consequences for this copyright infringement. SOPA is already trying to crack down on websites like DeviantART and other sites. I'm not necessarily suggesting that recolors and bases are the sole cause of this, but I can say this with certainty...they're NOT helping! And if DeviantART gets in trouble for these things, we'll ALL have to pay the price for it. So watch it!

3. ORIGINALITY
Ok, now for the more nitpicky complaints. Recolor artists use bases and screenshots to create their OCs, OC stands for 'original character'....does anyone else see the painful irony in this?? How is it original if you needed a template to create it?? It's....not. Or at least, the design isn't. You could take a shot of Simba, you could color him bright pink, strap a polka dotted dildo on his head, give him a Mohawk, stripes, spots, a dead eye, half a tail, scars, wounds etc. It won't matter because you can still see Simba underneath, same goes for ALL the canon characters. Unless you create the actual character design yourself, your OC will NEVER be original or unique.
My favourite part is when some recolor artists actually have the balls to put a disclaimer like: 'This is mine. DO NOT STEAL!' Do I even need to explain what's wrong with saying that?? How can you claim ownership of something you've already stolen?

4. EXCUSES, EXCUSES
I've heard them all. Most excuses are terrible and in no way justify this. The most common one i often hear is:
"I NEED BASES BECAUSE I CAN'T DRAW!"
OK, please don't use this excuse on me; it won't work. Because a strong question comes to mind whenever i hear it, the question is this: "how do you expect to ever improve if you restrict yourself like that?" I don't just mean mentally, but creatively as well. Lion King characters (especially) are hard to draw, yes i know this. I've been drawing them for over fifteen years and I STILL screw them up sometimes! But you can't expect bases to help you improve on that, they most likely won't and they never will. It's all about effort and perseverance with art, otherwise; what's the point? What are you even doing on an art site if you're not even going to try? You might as well stick to coloring books, because that's what they are, digital coloring pages. Nothing more. 
"USING BASES IS MUCH EASIER THAN DRAWING BY HAND."
Yes, they are. But isn't that a problem right there? Anyone can use them because they are easily obtained and used, so what's the point? If any moron can do it, then EVERY moron will do it! So your OC will get lost and forgotten among the literally thousands of other base OCs that look much like yours. If you were to show me a base OC or recolor, i won't know what character that is; or which artist it belongs to. When i think of good OCs i think ones like: Rinja by , Rhoadie by or Nadra by , and many others from artists who actually put some time and creative energy into creating their original characters. OCs that don't resemble any other canon film character, and so are easily recognizable not only by name; but by artist as well.
"I NEED THEM BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE A SCANNER!"
I know this can be a problem, but there are some ways around that. Taking photographs with a smart phone for instance, take a photo of a drawing YOU did, email it to yourself and...voila; there's a good drawing to use as a template or upload on its own. If you don't have a smartphone or the resolution is really bad, just draw with a computer mouse. I know it's not as good quality and it's more frustrating, but at least it would be more original.
"IT'S JUST FOR FUN."
OK, this is probably the only excuse i can somewhat understand and tolerate. However, it still doesn't justify the copyright infringement as i discussed earlier. If you need a base to map out your OC's design and color palette before actually designing it yourself, that's fine. Or if you design the base template yourself WITHOUT tracing a screenshot, that's perfectly fine too! I'm mostly talking about traced bases. You can use them for fun or as a time waster, but perhaps you could just rethink actually posting them online once you're done with them. Using the bases isn't theft, but posting them online is. And no, crediting Disney doesn't make up for it. They can be good training wheels for getting to know the anatomy of the character, but such practice tools are best kept for private use. But with all this, I have to ask: don't you get bored? This medium is so restricting and limited, don't you want to do more with your OC than only what the base template will allow? Where IS the fun in that exactly?...just asking.
"I PUT A LOT OF TIME AND EFFORT INTO MY BASE OC!"
Well, no you don't; not really. It would probably take you about fifteen minutes, perhaps an hour at most; to 'create' your OC using a template. That's hardly effort, I know this because a comic like this one; would usually take me up to a week to complete. However, because 'Bleh' was blocked in with no shading or anything, this comic only took about five hours to do. And each shot of 'Bleh' took about ten minutes from lineart (which I did MYSELF) to completion. There is no real effort or honor in using a template already done for you. It's a cheat sheet at best.
"RECOLORING IS THE SAME AS FAN ART."
No, it's really not. Fan artists don't claim anything on the characters they draw, they pay homage to the film or show they are illustrating and often add their own style to personalize it. Recolor artists claim ownership of what they alter without much effort, that's the key difference between fan art and recolors. Respect, effort and intention is where the difference lies. Fan art is creation, recolors are vandalism.
"I MAKE REAL MONEY OFF OF TRACED BASES."
If you actually do this...fuck you. That's a step above theft, that's downright illegal! Please stop before Disney stops you.

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I'll say this again, if this resembles what you do, i'm NOT attacking you! But to all of you base users and recolor artists reading this, i challenge you - even if it's just this one time, please put the base away and try actually drawing your OC by hand! It may not look the way you want it to at first, but trust me; you'll feel a lot better about it. You'll probably even have fun! Go crazy! You won't have to worry about copyright infringements, or having to credit anyone for a base template, and your character will finally have its OWN identity, and it will actually be yours! Please try, even if it's only this once.
If you do take my challenge, i'll love to see it when you're done; and you can even link it to me if you want

Final Footnote:
Man, this comic was fun to do! But really frustrating at the same time! I am by artistic nature; a perfectionist (as many of us are). And knowing that i had to color Kiara so badly like that was killing me!! I had to constantly remind myself NOT to fix up the coloring and/or add shading and texture! XD

Kiara, Kovu (c) Disney
Various screencaps were used as references
BLEH IS MINE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?! DO NOT STEAL HER 100% ORIGINAL DESIGN BECAUSE IT BELONGS TO ME! DEATH TO ANYONE WHO STEALS HER, I MEAN IT; OR I'LL BE VERY UPSET! (LOL )

Sequel: nostalgicchills.deviantart.com…