ast week we published the video of Josh Wattles, $makepictures Fan Art Law panel from Comic-Con. An educative, passionate and very enlightening conversation soon followed in the comments section. You can participate in that conversation here.

This week the superstars of deviantART panel will provide unique insight and advice for artists on the rise in the deviantART community.

Being a member of the deviantART community might be the most important support system a young artists could ever hope to have. That being said, there is also the problem of finding a way to stand out when surrounded by so many fellow talented artists. What are the ways, the secrets, of shining a light on one’s own work? Profile presentation is key. And perhaps no better way of helping deviants achieve the maximum possible impact by creating the very best presentation of their profile and presence on their individual profiles, is to hear from an inspiring group of artists who joined us for a panel discussion on exactly that subject.

The artists who were kind enough to share their thoughts with +spyed on this panel may represent divergent currents within the deviantART community, but they share the one imperative of always lending advice and assistance to fellow artists. Whether an artist is a veteran of a lifetime of barely scraping by in the arts, or the hottest thing hanging in galleries, all true artists are of one current forever flowing through the world, all travelers on the same course working toward truth and beauty through creativity.

t seems there’s nothing quite as dear to the hearts of many of our deviants as their production of fan art, and at the same time, there is nothing so knotted with legal and ethical headaches. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but in the form of fan art it has also become one of the most frustratingly complicated. At some point, the sheer volume of fan art around a single property may become so large that the issue rises to another level of scrutiny by the creators of the original work.

With this dynamic in mind, we thought the following panel that Josh Wattles, our Advisor In Chief here at deviantART, and a mystery guest named Harold Smith, gave at Comic Con this year might be of immense help in understanding the ever evolving elements of fan art law.

Josh Wattles, $makepictures is an expert on copyright law bringing perspective and experience to the issue from multiple creative industries. From art, film, music, and books, Josh has been directly involved in or advised on copyright issues for the biggest properties in the world. He is also a copyright professor teaching courses at at Loyola, Southwestern and the University of Southern California law schools in Los Angeles.