Animation Source Forums

[NOTE: Given the popularity of the adoption section, I fully expect this to be met w/ a lot of argument. But I figured I'd take the time now to vent a little, and maybe just one person will agree w/ me? Anyway, I apologize for any of the following coming off as excessively abrasive & rude... I found the easiest way to voice my displeasure was to write 'from the heart', unfiltered emotion, yknow... and it's what came out I don't mean to offend anyone who takes part in adoptions or who may find my examples applicable to themselves. I am not naming names or even trying to subtley target anyone. Just... my feelings in general on the subject, and what I see quite often upon browsing adoption threads. Mkay? Phew.. on w/ the rant. ]

...Most of them at least. I have nothing against *some* adoptions, like the ones where you have 2 characters who had a litter or something in your own fanfics or roleplaying or something, and you want to share them w/ people who'll use them, and in some cases, ones auctioning off old characters. But there are some things about adoptions that just irk me and make me wonder why it's such a popular concept. For one, where's the originality in just "adopting" a character from someone? A large part of making characters is to think of something yourself and have fun fleshing it out, developing their story, etc. When you just take someone else's design, even one given to you, I feel like the personal touch is gone. Not to mention you can't really even call it "yours"; you'll always have to remember to tack on some annoying copyright/notice about how someone else designed them for you.

Some common lines found in adoption threads:

"LOOKING FOR A PUPPY/NEW BEST FRIEND..."
> YOU know what you're looking for... design it yourself and you'll get the perfect specimen, I'm sure. All it takes is an ounce of brainpower, really. Even if you just use a lineart or something. And if you really lack that kind of creativity... keep browsing the threads cause I assure you there is no shortage of available characters... and if you still can't find "that perfect someone", I suggest you wait 2 days and then you'll have 10 new topics to look at.

"TONS OF OLD CHARS FOR ADOPTION!!"
> And they're all MS Paint, flood-filled renders of catwhohas14tails' or Kay Fedewa's lineart Yes, I'm sure all 24123 of the doggies you posted were old characters you used in your own art, stories, or whatever - that's why they're all hastily colored linearts w/o bios, links to previous use, etc... couldn't possibly be that you sat down one afternoon and colored a buttload on MS Paint so you could have your own adoption topic, too!

"NO LINEARTS"
> Even though you used lineart for the original pictures (and I'm sure the only ones that exist of your alleged 'old characters')?

"NO WHINING"
> I sure would whine about not getting the crappily drawn, crappily colored, black-and-neon wolfie I wanted...! That thing was once-in-a-lifetime! No way I could *gasp* DRAW MY OWN CHARACTERS?!

"IF THEY DON'T GET ADOPTED SOON THEY'LL BE KILLED OFF!"
> Because it's possible to "kill off" a fictional character, much less one that appears in one unremarkable drawing (lineart) - they're irreplaceable! *Killing them off* will deem them GONE FOREVAR! And everyone will feel so bad about the death of an innocent little make-believe wolfdog

"THESE GUYS ARE SPECIAL"
> Then why aren't you keeping them? If you're giving them away, they can't have that much sentimental value to you... 9.9 "well I want them to be w/ someone who will love them & use them!" You couldn't do that yourself? It takes literally seconds to imagine scenarios n stuff for them, and just a bit of effort to bring your ideas into fruition through drawing or writing or whatever floats your boat. If they're so special to you, act like it.

"BUMP" / "NO ONE WANTS THEM? :'( "
> Calm your hormones. It's been one day.

Things I find funny/ironic:

The rules that state that you "must actually use them"... when the creator of the topic probably frequents the adoption section & hoards their own collection of adopted characters, using maybe a couple favorites and no more than that.

Extravagant "breeding centers"... I know it's just "for funsies" and they're not real dogs, but doesn't this just strike you as an odd concept coming from a community of avid animal lovers, all standing so firmly against *puppy mills*? What do you think your "breeding centers" are doing? It's like the Balto-fandom (or any cartoon animal related fandom really) equivalent of a puppy mill. Tons of studs & dams pumping out new litter of "kawaii pupz" after another for the shallowest reasons... pft.

AND AND AND

one more miscellaneous complaint about adoptions. The breeds being offered. After you wade through all the wolves & huskies & German Shepherds, you may find a small handful of "unique" and "uncommon" breeds... except... surprise! It's only a label, and the actual character looks nothing like its real-life counterpart. Example: so-called dalmatians w/ pointed ears, long/scruffy fur, patches instead of spots, tricolor, etc... Or what about those crazy mixes that read something like "Akita/German Shepherd/Husky/Wolf/Collie/Lab/Doberman"? WTF? And the picture just looks like a generic wolf w/ twelve thousand diff. colors in random patches & thrown-together markings 1. Choose a breed or make a plausible mix. 2. Give it a plausible appearance, unless of course you're advertising it as a fantasy creature.

...

Hence why I don't participate in adoptions I don't believe in *adopting* personal characters, there's lots of annoying quirks about it, and I like to design my own characters and things anyway... more fun for me, it's from my own head, and I don't owe anyone a copyright notice every time the char makes an appearance... *shrug* I mean, if you really are happy doling out all those designs you thought up or being the one to adopt them or somesuch, who's to say "no"? Certainly not I, said the Kiche. I'm merely voicing why I think some instances are a little ridiculous/annoying

Good day!

Lol, this was brilliant.
I totally agree aswell, the adoptions section really does make me facepalm...

There are a few and I think "Hm, that's a good idea" or some that are made for a plausible reason, like the one Kirada made adopting off designs she created for her comic but later decided she didn't want to use - I did the same with a few designs I created for my comic.

Ones that are just created for...no real reason get boring quickly though. It also boggles my mind to see one person create an adoption topic saying "Adopt these pupz!!!1 8D Loving homes only plz!" only to then notice that same person has just adopted several more characters from other topics...if you're getting rid of a load of characters because you "don't use them any more and want them to have a good home!!" then why are you adopting a ton more characters??

I like how your putting your feelings,but your making it seem like everyone who is on the adoption topic is an Idiot!But steet choose to put an adoption topic,so honestly it's not as stupid as you make it seem.If you don't like the adoption topic,just don't adopt,many people LIKE the adoption topic,you probably think I'm just another Idiot that likes the topic,But I'm telling what I feel just as you did.But the whole"You see a dalmation with shagy fur and pointed ears" thing kinda did tick me off,there is no "Dalmation lineat" on here,and It's kinda hard to make a perfect dalmation out of a wolf!I havn't seen you try!Please try to make one an see,It's not to easy is it?I only make wolves and huskies and other commom breeds like that on mine,you make it sound like EVERYBODY does.....

@zasha10: You're right, I do apologize for the tone of my rant. I don't mean to insult members personally, but only to voice the facepalm-frustration UK mentioned Please don't take everything I said too personally. I do realize I sound pretty jerky though... so sorry.

As for there being no dalmation lineart, I have to say, if you really want/need to use a lineart for your adoptions, I'm sure you could find plenty of breeds on dA, etc., offered by people who'll let you use their work (lineart) for the purpose you intend if only you ask, or may have a notice right in the description permitting free use. However, the reason I would not be found trying to make a dalmatian character out of wolf lineart, is because I would don't use linearts :/ If I were to offer characters for adoption, more than likely I'd just draw them all myself. No copy/paste linearts. Drawing & coloring them myself, by hand, makes it more 'homemade' feeling, and adds more personality to individual characters, IMO. Because, as I tried to say, offering bulk amounts of random characters for adoption, characters you designed in 1 minute on MS Paint, for no other reason than to toss them out there for people to "adopt"... strikes me as just a little silly.

I totally agree with you Kiche. About everything. I've only ever adopted one character, and it was a fantasy breed called a chiteri cat. While sadly, I haven't had time to draw it since, I did take the time to draw out a sketch and colour it digitally.

But like you said,



Oh gawd. I frequently use lineart and render myself, because I'm not the best drawer. But seriously, if they are you're "old characters" you should at least have a fanfic or drawing or something about them. And yes, no bios whatsoever. I don't know why people even adopt characters that have no value at all. I mean, if there was a fic that you really liked and one of the characters was up for adoption, then sure! I can fully understand adopting then.

But the



I just don't get it. At all. When are you going to use a black-and-neon wolf anyway, hmm? Why would you want to pretend that you're going to use it?

Kiche, you've said what I've been wanting to say for a long time, I agree with you 110%... no, 1000%!

Thanks for the support, VividLegacy ;P

I come this evening bearing a bit of news! It's called... after pondering the whole characters-looking-nothing-like-their-alleged-breed(s), etc, I decided to take it upon myself to draw up a bunch of diff. breed linearts... so people can use something that actually looks like the breed they're aiming for, rather than trying to make a poodle out of a wolf I have 9 finished so far that I'll prolly scan tomorrow... I have no qualms about people using/altering them freely. Right now I've done a Great Dane, Akita, Malamute (or husky or generic sled dog), German Shepherd, Lab, Dalmatian, Border Collie, Rough Collie, and English Bulldog :3 I currently have 9 more breeds on the way too. *yawn* *crack* my back hurts from being hunched over my clipboard so long... x.x

...so that was kinda off topic but... kinda not... I dunno *shrug* <.<;;

EDIT: hate to spam my own topic so I'll just add in a link here, though it should be added to the official lineart topic soon enough; finished linearts here: http://anbu-flashez.deviantart.com/gallery/#Lineart basically no limitations on usage besides that my name & link remain there. Otherwise go wild w/ coloring, editing & altering as much as you want/need to ;P

Yay! Thank you for doing this, Kiche. Especially the Rough Collie, I definitely need that.

The "breeds not looking like their breeds" thing is the reason I finally got around to revamping my fursona so it looked like a thylacine.

Everything you have said is true. I have sent off the pups of my characters to other people because it's fun to see what they come up with for a set design. But some of the designs I've seen on characters are just... appalling.

lol the purple one is mine razz phails.

This is why I usually don't let my oddly colored characters loose; because the ugly designs ruin it. We all have our bizarre dogs/wolves, and that's fine. But if you're going to make a litter, it would be a good idea to... oh, I don't know... FOLLOW GENETICS.

Why am I peeved? I got called out on a design? No, that's not it. If you think my design is ugly, fine, press the back button. But at least have the balls to say it to my face. If you think you can make it better, I'd like to hear your suggestions.

And another thing? This goes along with the people making characters simply to be adopted, AND the ones who put no effort into the designs, with no real regard for others.

What the hell is up with people pawning off someone else's characters in the form of someone else's lineart? You know how many knockoff characters I've seen up for adoption? This is when they see a character with markings they like, spew it onto another artist's lineart and change the character's name.

Hate to disappoint you people, but thats STILL THEFT, you know! You're still using the character (I mean, you're putting it up for adoption, aren't you?) and anyone who gets it is stealing as well. And most of the time, they are INTENTIONALLY aiming to adopt that character due to the fact that it looks "just like" another one. Its some kind of false hope to be popular or some crap.

*nods* Very convincing rants, I must say Vivid. (don't be to hard on yourself; most members deserve to hear this kind of ranting, especially if it's about them).

I too, was quite obsesed with adoptions for many months. Evidence is in that 50-odd page long adoption topic I made. I'm trying to get it to die... However, I have never used line art from any artist on adoption topics or for my own characters, and I try to create unique designs when I do post those 'prom night dumpster baby' adoptions(a rareity now, accept for my fansaty breed topic). Yes, I am somewhat of a character packrat, >< but I can't get rid of any of tem because they are all relativly necessary on some level or another. So, really I accept most of these rants with a mature attitude. I am trying to ammend my ways. ^^

Now that that's out of the way...:

Cat~ Totally agree with you. Just recently, someone took one of the poses from my gallery and colored it so it looked EXACTLY like another one of my chars. It irked me so much...I busted them, but they never PM'd me back, nor admitted to the flagrant art theft.

One other thing I noticed is that the certain members who are guilty of awful designs, character rip-offs, crappy lina-art coloring, and mass breeding centers are members who have been members of BaltoSource for a loooong time, years even! You'd think they'd get a clue that those kinds of adoptions are not attractive or skillfully created at all by now, and maybe would've bothered to PUT SOME EFFORT into the designs. But nooooo, they just keep on using the same lineart and recycling the same sucky designs over and over.