An artist who goes by @tofu_rabbit on X says that the look of Nerf’s Ace of Spades handgun from Bungie’s Destiny games came from a commissioned artwork they drew almost a decade ago.
Nerf and Bungie unveiled its newest foam dart gun collaboration on Tuesday featuring a limited edition version of Cayde-6’s iconic “Ace of Spades” blaster from Destiny 2 that is available for purchase on Bungie’s online store. The following morning, @tofu_rabbit posted images comparing Nerf’s newest foam dart launcher to a piece of art they made in 2015 and posted on their DeviantArt page based on the same gun from the game.
Addition: Artists image (from link in article):
Hoping someone more in the know can explain this to me. Could commissioning an art piece feasibly mean you’ve paid for that art to be yours? Are there types of contracts available when commissioning art pieces where, conceivably, the person commissioning the piece gets the rights to use it for other things?
I’m not across the legal and ethical aspects of commissioning art pieces, and neither the article or the DA post gives any additional detail. Just wondering if the “Josh” who the artist named in their DeviantArt post be someone who was involved in the Nerf gun somehow…
The devil is in the details. Different contracts state different usages.
Often, I’m hired to make things for folk, and they own it entirely. I see these things out in the world, I sometimes see other artists hired to butcher it to fit a new purpose. But that’s OK, I account for that, and often I hand over the source files from the things I make… Layered documents etc.
However, there’s a really disturbing trend of large companies appropriating fan art and claiming that because they own the IP any derivatives belong to them too. This is far ickier.
The main thing though is credit. You’d think that giving a nod to the original artist would be nice. It costs nothing and can have a massive impact on their business.
Yeah the question really is what the contract between the artist and “Josh” states. Without knowing that, its impossible to judge…
Yep, the lawyers will sort it out.