Stealing Ideas from Others

Well, you're taking pretty general ideas from the doll. As long as yours doesn't have the same faceup/wig/clothes/character/backstory as well I think it should be okay.

Why don't you talk to her about it when you meet up with her? Tell her how her doll inspired you and how much you liked her ideas and the necklace and such.

 

My Art professor always told me, "Art is comprised of idea theft. The only rule is you have to do it better." We were encouraged to look around at other works of art, steal whatever idea or inspiration, and do it better. If you're going to follow the same route as someone else, it's fine. Just take that idea and push it further. What can you do to make that idea even more-so? Don't just stop at what you've seen; build on it.

Of course, the above mostly applies to artwork. If you think of your doll as artwork, then awesome. There will be people that get annoyed at you for having a similar idea. It's up to you if you want to 'copy' someone else's doll or take an inspiration and expand on it. Eventually, it will morph into your own. Everything starts somewhere.

The short answer is: It's your doll, blah blah blah. I don't get offended. I think it's great if someone likes one of my ideas. Chances are, that idea started somewhere else and found its way to where it is now.

 

Part of why I love being a part of this community are all the ideas floating around it doesnt hurt to be inspired by someone else's idea, but a good rule of thumb on the whole "stealing" moral quandry is if you yourself are happy with it. If you feel guilty or nervous about going so far as to giving your doll a medical necklace then maybe you should try something different-- like a medical bracelet? Or have your doll's character nervous about wearing the necklace because then others might find out about his disease, so he keeps it in his pocket. There are lots of ways the same idea can work differently for every individual doll's character

 

Blatantly copying other people's imagery and concepts is looked down upon, and not only because a truly creative person should be able to come up with their own thoughts. However, being inspired by the imagery and concepts of others is a perfectly natural part of the artistic process. Internalizing and creatively re-imagining reality is the essence of art.

 

*Shrugs* I don't see anything wrong with it. If you enjoy your doll more because it has these details which were introduced to you by another person, I can't see what could be wrong with that other than people just looking for things to get upset about. I wouldn't be in this hobby at all if I hadn't have been inspired all throughout my life by other people's words, actions, emotions, thoughts and ideas. Every part of who I am up to this point has been a reaction of the people in my life who have inspired me one way or another.

A quick example of that is: I learned to love cartoons from my dad > then I learned to love anime from friends > then I learned to love lolita style from other friends who I met through anime > then I was introduced to photography from people who did lolita photoshoots > from there I was introduced to BJDs > Here I am today.

Inspiration is a great thing which can change lives and I find people are too quick to look down on it in favor of trying to feel victimized.

 

In the realm of OC's... I've always had the idea of, it's your mind, and there's no such thing as thought police, so have at it.
Once it gets to the point that you're claiming said ideas are YOUR'S it get's kind of iffy. (Which you are not so, not a problem.)
(I lurk around a forum dedicated to a specific anime... and ever so often, you get kids posting their OC's. So a group of people took it upon themselves to patrol the kiddies' OC's and determine if they're "original" enough. I just have a problem with that. )
Especially in the BJD hobby, it's more often (not saying ALL the time) that the dolls will be "Mary Sues". (As much as I hate that word. Just saying, usually people who make up a backstory just for their BJD aren't planning to publish a book about it, or sell it as "omg the best story evar.")
A couple of my OC's have an illness, or is really good at playing an instrument, or is lusted after for some reason or another...
I'm not saying you should give up and not try to make your character more original, but there's a ton of tropes like this in OC's.
If you want to make your doll sick, then do it. It's not like the other girl was the first one to do it. (Maybe instead of using the exact same bracelet, try to think of some other hospital paraphernalia to include on it?)

 

I think you're treading the line between coincidence and out right copying personally. Based on what you said, to me it seems like you're only seriously considering an epileptic doll character because you saw it done. If that makes sense. -shrug- People are more than their conditions, so make the character more than their's. What separates your character from hers? You haven't said anything about that. Focus on that. There are many people with seizure disorders and they're all indivdual.

 

You know it wouldn't bother me if some one had a doll character concept that was close to mine. They couldn't do the character exactly the same as me anyway. And no idea is ever wholly original so I must have gotten the character, or parts of the character some where. And even if some one did try to copy a character of mine perfectly it wouldn't matter because every character we create is peppered with bits of ourselves so eventually theirs would branch off and differ from mine.

I think I would only be offended if the person perfectly copied my character, claimed the character to be entirely their own and was a general jerk about it. Copying the odd idea here and there is perfectly fine though. Nothing is ever entirely original.

 

Aiko-chan my graphic arts teacher also told me this quote as well and I found it really interesting.
I like the idea of seeing someone's ideas on their doll or whatnot and really turn and make them into something personal. I don't find anything wrong with borrowing ideas from others as long as you can twist it up a bit, so it's not exactly the same.
Just some thoughts.

 

If you're really concerned about copying ... instead of epilepsy, maybe your boy could suffer from borborygmic convulsions, which are far more exotic/romantic/glamorous. And instead of a medical necklace, he could wear a blessed medal from the shrine of St. Borborygmus.

But if you really want an epileptic with a medical necklace, follow your bliss!

 

I have to be honest and say it would really, really bother me if someone copied my doll. I've had enough of people copying me in real life (clothes, hobbies, you bloody name it), I'd hate to see it in the doll community too. There is a difference between inspiration and outright copying, and I think since you've given credit to the originator of the idea, that's fine (not that my opinion matters as its your doll, but in this case I would not consider it copying)! Copying is catty.

 

I love this quote.
Personally I don't see it really as coping. So both dolls will have epilepsy and a necklace. I also see a lot of dolls with blue eyes and black hair, doesn't mean anyone is copying. Just because the dolls share a few common traits doesn't make it "copying."

I'm sure somewhere out there someone copied a doll or two. But I'm really sick of the copying thing. Its very rare to have a completely original idea, it came from some where, something inspired it. How many people have the swing/inverted bob because Victoria Beckham had it a few years ago. A good third of the women who came into my salon, plus many hairdressers. And yet I still heard many girls complaining that others were copying their hairstyle.

No one is truly original. But I think with dolls (and hair), just do what makes you happy.

 

i think its easy to forget that concepts/ideas are not always unique..

i have had in my head to do a pierrot doll for ages .. a few days ago one of my contacts on flickr posted photos of one they had commissioned... i still want to do mine not because i have seen one now but because its still an idea i want to pursue my own way.... if i went out and copied her doll that would not be ok

 

I was going to paint one of my girls a roses tattoo near the eye *she is a rose queen* and I was only waiting for her body to arrive before I send her out for face-up so the artist could match the skin color of the head with the body and also to do some tattoos on the legs but Pipos came with their new LE doll which has the exact tattoo I wanted T__T . Now I'm hesitating whether should I send her as I planned or should I change the face-up and body blush concept?!​

*most probably I'll change it coz I hate the thought of copying others even if I came up with the idea before them >.>​

 

I think lot of good points are said already, and I´d like to add one more thing to think about.

If you are taking inspiration of person in your local doll community, which you´ll meet in meetings and see her/his doll, I think it makes it more personal than getting an idea from someone in internet, which may live in other side of globe and you´ll never hit in same place with your dolls with such similarities. Because people see the "copying" in different ways, I think it would be polite of you to talk with the person in doll meet and tell how inspired you were about her/his doll and how you had planned something similar. Maybe you´d get new good ideas when discussing about it together, and you´ll very likely see if she/he is ok with your plans or feeling offended or sad. Being part of the same community it may cause difficult situations _if_ there is a problem and bad talks about copying, and it would be unfortunate.

After all, there are many ways to make same thing, and I personally would rather go for something different than something similar that already excisting. This hobby goes for individual and unique, and it´s more appreciated here.

Of course everyone has free choise to make even a very straight copy of something for own use only, there´s hardly copyrights with styling the dolls, but the person doing it should think if it is worth it for sure; I know there are always people which feel bad for being "copied" or even get truly angry about it. It´s another question if it is righted to feel so, but if there is known chance to make someone sad I´d consider about doing things in nice way.

 

I've got a vampire doll, so of course he's a vampire. I decided I wanted him to be a really old vampire. For some reason, you don't see a lot of just-made vampire characters on DOA. You do see a lot of thousand year or more old immortals and my boy is about 1100 years old. He's bi and dresses a bit swish from time to time. No, you never see that here! And he's a good vampire in that he doesn't kill to feed-again, a common theme. He can even tolerate crosses-how many doll company vampire suits do you see blazoned with crosses? But even with all of that, he's still Florian, and to me, at least, unique.

Hopefully there is more to your doll's character than just the illness and those little touches are what will make him/her unique.

 

Heh, I know who your talking about xD

Anyway, its okay to have a similar idea, BUT MAKE IT YOUR OWN. Its okay for your doll to have the same sickness, but make it benefit you and your doll. Make it original, make it your own. I wouldn't have the pendant made, but make something else for her. Or study similar diseases. This is your story, yes you had inspiration from others, but you gotta remember its your doll. Make it for you.

 

I believe there's also a saying that goes along the lines of "good artists borrow, great artists steal" .

Being inspired by others is not a bad thing, and having dolls with traits in common with somebody else's is close to guaranteed unless you really go out of your way. I mean, my collection has such wonders of originality as a half-Asian pretty boy, a kitsune, an ancient celt, a decadent Englishman, etc. You could still easily tell my resin union apart from somebody else's, because the differences are in the details.

However, as pointed out earlier, you'll be moving through the same circles and some people do get quite sensitive about that sort of thing, so talking to the owner really does seem like the best thing to do.

 

For me there is a line which makes the difference from being inspired by, copying and stealing ideas and as many different reasons to do so as people in the world. Being inspired sometimes means, in this case, a BJD made you think of something you did not think about before and it might help you in your development of your own BJD. Nothing bad on that. In my opinion one of the most precious things of this hobby is sharing, but also in my opinion making your BJD your own is it too. Copying and stealing may sound bad depending on the real intention of the person who is making it. That is the point. At least that is what I think. For example, the most of my crew is somehow my personal tribute to someone's work I really admire, but made my way. I cannot imagine myself making the same thing or something similar about other person's 'personal' BJD. For me, in that aspect (Of other people's BJD), general things you find over here may give you some thoughts, but about pure copying/stealing (Every detail or most of them) my honest opinion is the possibilities are just too many and the fun of making your BJD your personal style just too much to miss the chance.