Recreating a Character Fan Art

TrendsofVendetta·6/23/2017, 9:49:57 PM·1 votes·291 views

I was wondering if it would be okay to recreate a character with a different ethnicity as Fan Art to sell in an Etsy Store. Like turning Ahri into a Black Fox or Sona as an African DJ. I would of course give credit to League Of Legends, saying it is a Fan Art version of the original character "Character's Original Name" if this is allowed. Could anyone give an answer to this based on legal issues?

It is more of a way to share ideas and create diversity among the league of legends franchise and for fans of the game to own art of their favorite champion with an ethnicty that is their own or has similar features to them... I want to explore creativity and bring people together through art and racial acceptance, but I don't want to do something wrong.

3 Comments

ModThe Djinn6/23/2017, 9:53:44 PM1 votes

Looks like a job for Legal Jibber Jabber!

Specifically, the following line:

For other products, we’re generally fine with you creating stuff as long as you provide that stuff for free, and don’t use League of Legends content in an inappropriate manner.

So likely not, although this statement is made with the understanding that I am not a lawyer, and so am just providing an interpretation to the best of my ability.

Tormentula6/23/2017, 9:54:24 PM1 votes

Selling it would probably be a no due to copyright laws.

People do commissions where they can draw stuff like ahri through a patreon, but that's more of a donation for art rather than trying to sell a product in a store. but trying to sell artwork based on a patented character wouldn't be legal, and could get a copyright strike. (saying "league of legends" isn't enough.)

The only way you'd be allowed to do that is if riot games flat out gave you permission to do it and then you have evidence they said ok. That or no one said anything and riot didn't care enough to do something about it.

Of course if you drew something that was unrelated to league of legends and just happened to be a fox girl and a DJ girl that wouldn't be an issue, but with your intention of why you're doing so it seems unlikely that this would be the case.

TrendsofVendetta6/23/2017, 10:32:26 PM1 votes

Thank you for your thoughts guys!!! I think I will just make a fox girl or dj character unrelated to league of legends so there won't be any copyright issues. I am thinking about creating line art and editing in photoshop to blend a look that is a drawing and a digital look. That way it has both compositions and is different from the usual art people see (: