Copyright / Copyleft

As an artist, I believe that copyright laws, which protect the property of the artist, are very important and I believe that they should be respected.  I think that artists who create work that they are proud of and post on the Internet as their own work, should get full credit for the art and it's not right that they may run the risk of someone taking something they did and creating a mediocre version of an original.  This isn't to say that all reproductions and reworkings of original art is mediocre; artists such as Andy Warhol, and Shepard Fairey have run into legal troubles for utilizing imagery that was not originally their own. Perhaps it's not fair to say, only good artists may reproduce work, but I guess this is the only way I can imagine agreeing with breaking copyright laws - if the work is as good as or better than the original.   

This being said, I am a fan of communities where the artists AGREE to share their work for reproduction, and to be altered in any way.  Actor, Joseph Gordon-Levitt hit the nail on the head with his website, hitrecord.org.  Hit Record allows artists, illustrators, writers, animators, basically creators from all walks of life, to take art, music, video, etc and work together to create.  This is the right way to approach sharing original works; and what's also great about this network of creators, is that if a creation of any sorts leads to monetary compensation, all the artists are paid for their contribution. 

In short, I believe that copyright laws should be followed, and that art may only be reproduced with the permission of the original artist. Copyleft is cool for programs and software, and I can get behind that; but sometimes I'm more inclined to get behind software that costs money, that came from a trusted source.