This page contains a summary of Tanuki-sama Studios’ (hereafter referred to as TSS or simply “the studio”) policy regarding fan-art & other fan works.
If you want to produce fan-works based on our properties, please make sure you read this policy in its entirety.
General Policy
We love fan works, having produced many of our own on our journey to founding TSS. We believe they’re an important part of any creative person’s growth and we value the existence of transformative works for society as a whole.
Similarly, we believe in “fair use” doctrine.
As a generalisation, we permit fans to make fan works of our characters & scenarios, but this must not be interpreted as a renouncement of our intellectual property.
We also ask that you let us know about any fan-art you create! We love to see it, and may even promote it on Twitter and via other channels.
If you are a fan creator and wish to produce fan works based on our IP, you are generally free to do this, provided your fan work is not produced for financial gain/sold as a revenue-earning product. This includes (but is not limited to) creating art for sale via printed medium, or in other commercial videogames.
Additionally, we do not usually endorse specific fan-works. If you see a work related to our studio’s properties which is not on one of our official channels/platforms, we do not endorse this (unless we specifically choose to do so at some point). Naturally we are not responsible for the works of fan creators, for these reasons.
TSS’s promotion of fan works (e.g. retweeting) should not be taken as a de facto sign of our approval of that creator or their personal political views.
Key terms
If your work has “credits” or similar, we ask that fans add, in some relevant place, a disclaimer, stating which characters are used, and that their work is not an official product of TSS.
This is not needed for most fan-art images, as your audience will doubtless assume the work isn’t official – though please ensure you state this clearly if asked.
If you do have credits, here is some boilerplate copy for this; you do not have to use these exact words but should include terms to the effect:
This is a fan-work, and although it depicts certain characters/situations inspired by the work of Tanuki-sama Studios, the studio has not given their endorsement or approval. These elements appear in accordance with TSS’s fan-works policy in the interests of “fair use”.
I am an artist who earns via Patreon/makes commercial art as prints/creates art for fan tips, etc. – what can I do?
In this situation, we may make exceptions to the above rules for specific artists. Please contact us at tanukisamastudios AT gmail DOT com, or DM us via Twitter.
Please do NOT send fan fiction directly to us
To avoid compromising our own work, we prefer not to read fan works created about our characters or settings. This is nothing personal; we would love to be able to read fan works – it’s just to avoid situations where fan works could “bleed” into our actual work.
Once a game/story is complete, we may look through older fan works at that time, but during development, we typically try to avoid doing this.
Concerning NSFW and “adult” fan works
We are not inherently opposed to NSFW fan-works, and don’t consider “adult” topics as a “no-go” for fan creators. We permit fans to create works of this nature, provided you do so respectfully.
Please remember the words above concerning making it clear the work if not official/not affiliated with TSS – this is even more important for NSFW works.
However, NSFW creators should be aware we are unlikely to promote any NSFW works via our channels. This is not to be taken as slight against your work; it’s just that our games are largely SFW, so it makes sense that our official social channels don’t feature erotica or ero-images.
Finally, all creators should carefully read the following section, but NSFW creators most of all:
No-go topics & content warnings
Our policies above are generous, however, there are certain topics that you should consider “no-go” for our characters or situations.
In minor cases, this will likely result in TSS ceasing all comms with you, and actively making clear that your work does not represent ours. In serious cases we may even denounce your work.
Egregious cases may result in a cease-and-desist request.
These include…
- Depicting our characters in situations involving grossly illegal acts of a type uncharacteristic of their depictions in the original works – this bold part is important as naturally, some characters in our works perform acts that are illegal
- Depicting our characters in situations involving war-crimes or acts of that nature
- Depicting our characters/scenarios mixed up with fascist imagery, or the iconography/ideology/behaviour of hate groups, past and present
- Intentionally depicting our characters bullying or abusing a real-world group, be that social, racial, sexual orientation or any similar group
- Claiming that any fan-made work, NSFW or SFW, is endorsed/a product of TSS when that is not the case
As a general guide; TSS endorses anti-racism, anti-fascism, anti-bullying, sex-positivity, body-positivity & recognising a multitude of sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions. We would prefer not to see our characters in scenarios that decry these principles.
Timestamp
This guide was first created on 12/3/2022, and is subject to change. These changes will be itemised below:
No changes at this time.
Tanuki-sama Studios 