I'm pleased too. Everything has pretty much been addressed now. 

Get some rest. c:

Kolibri, not to sound proofless, my avatar griffin was originally posted here: http://angel-86.deviantart.com/art/I-willl-fly-too-82222543

The date of publishing is in the right sidebar.

 

Whatever my or anyone else's opinions may be, and whether or not the art was actually referenced or not doesn't really matter.

What does matter is that this image above shows that the two gryphons aren't just in "sort of the same position" but that every.single.piece.of.anatomy is in the same place.

I've worked with patent and copyright law for 4 years now (I am not a lawyer myself, but I do work for them), and I just wanted to let y'all know that the image above is all a copyright lawyer needs to make a pretty solid case. Not that it would go to court (art theft/referencing/whatever you want to call it usually doesn't) but you could end up with a cease and desist letter.

That being said, like many others here I love the concept of the site and I'm not trying to just rail at you or get mad at you or anything like that. I'm just trying to help you before something like what I enumerated above does happen.

As to getting art from someone for free, if you're worried about backlash from that an easy way to curtail any problems would be to write up (or get a lawyer to write up) a written contract stating that all rights to such and such art from such and such person transfer from said person to you (Angel). You could also ask the people over at khimeros how their contract with Hibbary works and mold it off of that. A written contract WOULD require you to at least talk to the prostpective artist over email, phone, AIM, etc to get their real-life information such as their name and state that they live in. A contract can be electronically signed, or emailed, printed, signed, scanned, and emailed back, etc. There are many ways to do this and if you would like any help with this in particular, feel free to message me.

Part of the problem that you're going to start encountering at this point, is that even if you are completely 100% justified, you didn't reference anything, etc, people are going to be mad about it. No matter what you do at this point (short of changing the art- the gryphon specifically, maybe others at a later date), people are going to throw hissy fits. It is what it is, and maybe changing the baby gryphon art would soothe some feathers, whether the art really needs to be changed or not. Compromise is everything.

As to all the other art (stock images etc) I don't believe you're in any trouble with those at this point, as long as there is a reference somewhere on the site (I haven't looked). What you might be able to do is what a lot of budding petsites have done in the past: over time, slowly change out an image for a redrawn one. It doesn't have to be done in bulk, and it doesn't have to be done right away. Kind of an "I'm bored, I'm gonna draw a rock and upload it to the site in place of this other rock picture I'm using." No hurry, no pressure. You could also do as I mentioned above and get a contract from an artist who is willing to work for free and have them do the same thing. Just a thought.

Sorry for the insanely long post, but I felt that it would be prudent to get everything out there in full so that nothing is left unsaid and nothing could be misconstrued. I can see that you're a great artist, and my opinion doesn't go one way or the other on everything everyone's posted here so far. I just want to maybe be able to give some advice from a third party perspective.

EDIT: Heh. Seems I took too long in writing. My offer of help still stands, though, if you ever need it.

Well, I'm satisfied actually. Angel you have beautiful work on your Deviantart just to say that :3 It's realy amazing.

That's proof enough for me, and I'm sure a lot of other people (not to mention very adorable). We appreciate you taking care of us, Angel, and thank you for butting heads with us. I have confidence that you're going to do the best you can for the site. Work within your means and don't over-do it, stay healthy and don't get stressed out too much. Most of us will be here to help you if you need it. As you can clearly see, we're not afraid or shy about voicing our opinions and concerns.

I believe with this, I'm satisfied with the end result and will continue to provide suggestions, support, and feedback where it is asked of me. Again, thank you for your hard work.

^ Well said Kolibri. Shall we get back to work on squishing Bugs, everyone? :D

Agreed, Kolibri!

freevortex, Kolibri, Entity, thanks for support and kind words! :)

freevortex, my special thanks for a third-party lawyer opinion (and offer of help!), we really needed that. I hope we will sort out this situation ourselves for now :)

You're very welcome, Angel! I hope this gets sorted out and in the mean time, we will continue to be supportive of you and the site, and all of the staff here who makes this place a wonderful one. *runs off to do some work*

I've read the drama and know I'm posting after the resolution of the issue but I do want to throw in my 10 cents.

Don't feel like you have to do everything yourself. Nearly every site like this I have ever played "employs" an admin, coder, and artist (usually several artists and sometimes multiple coders.) You don't have to feel like you have to do all the art yourself if it's taking your time away from other things that are more important, and you don't necessarily have to hire someone either. There are people who will work for "free" and be paid in the sites dollar equivalent currency. Or like other members have suggested, a contest with a prize of site-items for the winner.

I've done a small variety of art for aywas, tygras, wajas, khimeros, exhibited-sim, and aramii; the sites own the copyright to that artwork. They purchased it from me as a commission and have sole rights to it. If you hired (for real money or not) an artist to produce images for you, you would own what is "sold" to you, not the artist. Don't be afraid to take this option. Even if they later replace what I did, like in the case of aywas which redrew the colors I did for them, they still own that artwork even if they no longer use it.

You also don't have to feel like you have to change everything right now too (though I would change the baby gryphon as soon as possible.) Things like the stock images can be replaced in the future, either as you can afford to hire an item artist, have time yourself, or gradually with user-submitted art.

Like I said, I want to see this site and you do well, I love the ideas behind it. It's one of the most unique I've found, and I would be sad to see people refusing to join or leave because of concerns about the art. I feel like you've taken too much work for yourself lately, with the launch of your site, and you don't need to stress yourself out so badly.

Excellent that a decision has been reached. 

By the by, if you're looking for new items and to increase your art portfolio for the site, artist contests are a wealth of new ideas and styles. It also creates excitement and takes the pressure off you a little, as well as your wallet. You can offer in site prizes and trophies that people can crave.

I can now play the site without worrying I'm enabling theft. Thank you for addressing the concerns.

Thank you for addressing our concerns. I love your mechanics. It would be a shame if the site failed due to an ethical boycott. 

As many users have mentioned, your players are a great resource. We may not be the most reliable when we aren't officially on-the-job (You still can't get employee quality dedication for volunteer level pay.), many of us are trained proffessionals in various fields, with certification, who have jobs in buildings with offices. 

Some players might even be professional artists who make a living doing art full time.

Don't brush us off as children and stay at home mothers, and don't be afraid to rely on our expertise. 

Humorous Note at Tallman:  

Banning people who are considering whether or not they want to leave, on a site where the current problem is not-enough-people. Think about it for a second. 

If there's a place for mature discussion here, I can do the whole community based business model lecture, but as petsite players, I'm sure we've all heard that one before.

Agreed, Spiringdragon c: Thanks for your support!

Springdragon and all who offered to use user-created images: let's talk frankly, it's only a trust issue. We can't trust an artist who tried to turn people away from our project because of one single image which is very doubtful. And even after our official announcement and the fact that we concerned the Aywas community request, this artist didn't change anything in the accusations in his newsfeed, not saying about apologies. That's why I was talking that we don't want "free" images. They will cost us more than those ones which we will purchase. The only way out is a written agreement like freevortex offered, but I don't see any reason why shouldn't we work only with people we trust. I doubt that after this case we will have image-related contests, at least at this level of project development. 

You should always seek a written agreement with images you need to use for a site. I think springdragon was suggesting that you consider sourcing players of your site for art-- many people who play pet sites are artistically talented and can probably help you.

Also if Springdragon thought you were doing something that was ethically questionable he had every right to attempt to warn users-- especially from the site that was the most concerened, about your work. Just because he has not altered his warning yet doesn't mean he isn't going to at some point-- he may simply be busy. The issue was unresolved when I went to work today, and now is resolved with a solution being worked towards as so far as I can tell.