anyway, please don't pretend to be "woke" if you still think art theft is super cool. fanart is always done "on spec". the legal issues of doing it for profit are immense. the only way an artist can receive any sort of recompense for their hours of hard work is through exposure. by not doing something as simple as linking back, you are robbing the artist of the one way they can recoup any of the costs they put into making that piece.
if you respect their labor, don't steal from them.
fanart is less clear-cut than other types of art theft because of these legal issues which means that profit is nebulous or best. for a fanartist, compensation comes in terms of gaining a wider audience, gaining recognition, etc. and this can directly become ways they keep themselves alive - people who know of them when they open commissions, people who slip them money on ko-fi.
if you're woke enough to see capitalism as exploitative, don't then exploit artists making your free entertainment.
and moral, legal, ethical issues aside - there's a lot more to say on all of those - it's also a shitheel thing to do to your audience.
now somebody who goes "woah! i really like that piece!", because you haven't credited it, is unable to go find more of what interests them. you gave them a dead end. you gave them frustration.
instead of happily participating in fandom culture, you've now killed that pathway for them. you've robbed them of that chance to participate.
that kills fandoms.
and for what? you hurt the artist, you are in the moral wrong, you have helped kill fandom, and for what?
a little bit more attention for yourself? boosts and clout that you can feel is for you instead of the actual creators? momentary smugness that people are paying attention to you?
pretty bullshit, honestly.
tldr, source your fucking fanart or else i will come into your house at three in the morning and rip out all your toenails. thank you for your time.
