Guy Gives Up His Entire Anime Collection Worth 10,000 Dollars To Fund His New Anime Tattoo Business, And Ultimately Restore His Collection
There are thousands of “follow your dreams” success stories out there. So much, in fact, that it has become a bit of a cliché in today’s world. However, despite some people being skeptical about many of them as they often involve some form of change, risk, or discomfort, it doesn’t negate the fact that they happen and that people are better off as a result.
A tattoo artist and avid anime fan, inkbypnut on Twitter, recently decided to sell his entire anime collection to finance his anime tattoo shop. He asked Twitter for some help in making it successful, and Twitter delivered.
Artist decides to follow his dream by selling 10k dollars worth of anime collectibles to buy a tattoo shop
Image credits: inkbypnut
Just a few days ago, on November 25, inkbypnut posted a tweet of him in an empty commercial space with the caption: “Hey twitter sold all my anime [stuff] to buy my first anime tattoo shop… I’m located in downtown Dallas Texas… opening day is Dec 7th, I hope this goes viral so I can start my anime collect over!”
The artist sold off quite a sizable amount of anime collectibles—to the amount of 10,000 US dollars. So far, he reinvested the money into a commercial space for his tattoo shop, as evident in a video and photos posted on his Instagram account.
The artist also filmed his new tattoo shop to be
Click to unmuteImage credits: inkbypnut
Since then, his post went viral, garnering nearly 40,000 retweets and over 93,000 likes in just 3 days. On top of that, a number of Twitter users reached out to help his business. From interior decoration to replenishing his anime collection to booking appointments prior to opening, people were there to support his dream.
This stroke of good luck couldn’t have come at a better time. The artist has had a rough year in which his house burned down, he had to sleep in cars, and worked his hide off to make ends meet. He is happy to announce that he will be hiring 8 artists, a piercer, and some shop hands. The shop will be called 1UP Ink.
Here are some highlights of the tattoo artist’s work
Image credits: inkbypnut
Image credits: inkbypnut
Image credits: inkbypnut
Image credits: inkbypnut
Image credits: inkbypnut
Image credits: inkbypnut
Image credits: inkbypnut
Just honestly wondering: Would tattooing a well-known anime character on a client (and making money in the process) be copyright infringement?
Having studied copyright law, & having tattoos, my understanding is that it's only copyright infringment if it's a direct copy / tracing of someone else's work. If it's the tattoo artist's interpretation, no, it's not necessarily "copyright infringement". (ie yes, they can argue it in court, but it's highly highly highly unlikely to be deemed "copyright infringement", because the tattoo artist created it fully by their own hand). P.S. it also depends on how the artist markets themselves. eg if they use a recognised brand-name as part of their marketing eg "Disneyland Tattoos", then they'd be in trouble, because they're presenting themselves as being aligned with Disney. They could however, promote the fact that they can do tattoos of Disney characters..... because they're promoting their skill, not saying they're from Disney. (subtle, but important difference - and yes, all of this can be argued in court, but this is the basic premise of copyright, within this context)
Kurisutofu, there are so many nuances to copyright law, and the context of each situation. In essence though, as long as the artist is selling it as THEIR WORK, eg "Art by Jane Doe", as opposed to it being promoted as eg "Pictures of Disney characters for sale", yes, you can. It is more about not using a known brand eg Disney, in order to make money. It's all about not misrepresenting the originator of the work - which comes down to multiple nuances within sooooo many various circumstances. As Kali Zive has correctly mentioned, some companies like Disney, have been rather strict re: their characters being used within certain circumstances ie anyone can be taken to court re: copyright breech. Whether they'd win or lose is a different thing altogether.
The "disney characters being used in daycare centres" etc, brings in a whole different dynamic, where it could be assumed by the public that the daycare centre was run by Disney, because their characters are so recognisable. (this would depend of course, on how & where the characters were being used). And as Kali Zive also correctly mentioned that if an artist wants to protect themselves when using another artist's work as 'inspiration', putting their own twist on it is helpful - as are other things like putting your own signature on it in some way. There are actually "percentages" within various copyright circumstances, that say X% can be used without copyright infringement. As I said, it's highly nuanced.
So by that definition, does it mean one could draw a famous character without tracing and sell it?
It really has to be an interpretation - the artist has to put their touches on it - rather than being a close copy, but the money behind individual tattoos is small enough that unless you advertised yourself as doing a particular company’s characters and did a lot of volume in tats that could be mistaken for their art, it’s unlikely even a litigious giant like Disney would go after you. Having said that, Disney has gone for some pretty ridiculous cease and desist orders and even law suits over the hand-painted murals of Disney characters in places like hospitals and daycare centers. To be definitely safe, you need to interpret the characters and put your own spin on them.
Thank you for the information @Pseudo Puppy
i'm on my way 🚶♂️
-MY FAVE WAS DONKEY KONGG UWU!!!!✊-
Just honestly wondering: Would tattooing a well-known anime character on a client (and making money in the process) be copyright infringement?
Having studied copyright law, & having tattoos, my understanding is that it's only copyright infringment if it's a direct copy / tracing of someone else's work. If it's the tattoo artist's interpretation, no, it's not necessarily "copyright infringement". (ie yes, they can argue it in court, but it's highly highly highly unlikely to be deemed "copyright infringement", because the tattoo artist created it fully by their own hand). P.S. it also depends on how the artist markets themselves. eg if they use a recognised brand-name as part of their marketing eg "Disneyland Tattoos", then they'd be in trouble, because they're presenting themselves as being aligned with Disney. They could however, promote the fact that they can do tattoos of Disney characters..... because they're promoting their skill, not saying they're from Disney. (subtle, but important difference - and yes, all of this can be argued in court, but this is the basic premise of copyright, within this context)
Kurisutofu, there are so many nuances to copyright law, and the context of each situation. In essence though, as long as the artist is selling it as THEIR WORK, eg "Art by Jane Doe", as opposed to it being promoted as eg "Pictures of Disney characters for sale", yes, you can. It is more about not using a known brand eg Disney, in order to make money. It's all about not misrepresenting the originator of the work - which comes down to multiple nuances within sooooo many various circumstances. As Kali Zive has correctly mentioned, some companies like Disney, have been rather strict re: their characters being used within certain circumstances ie anyone can be taken to court re: copyright breech. Whether they'd win or lose is a different thing altogether.
The "disney characters being used in daycare centres" etc, brings in a whole different dynamic, where it could be assumed by the public that the daycare centre was run by Disney, because their characters are so recognisable. (this would depend of course, on how & where the characters were being used). And as Kali Zive also correctly mentioned that if an artist wants to protect themselves when using another artist's work as 'inspiration', putting their own twist on it is helpful - as are other things like putting your own signature on it in some way. There are actually "percentages" within various copyright circumstances, that say X% can be used without copyright infringement. As I said, it's highly nuanced.
So by that definition, does it mean one could draw a famous character without tracing and sell it?
It really has to be an interpretation - the artist has to put their touches on it - rather than being a close copy, but the money behind individual tattoos is small enough that unless you advertised yourself as doing a particular company’s characters and did a lot of volume in tats that could be mistaken for their art, it’s unlikely even a litigious giant like Disney would go after you. Having said that, Disney has gone for some pretty ridiculous cease and desist orders and even law suits over the hand-painted murals of Disney characters in places like hospitals and daycare centers. To be definitely safe, you need to interpret the characters and put your own spin on them.
Thank you for the information @Pseudo Puppy
i'm on my way 🚶♂️
-MY FAVE WAS DONKEY KONGG UWU!!!!✊-