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Varian's AngelDreams: Angels & Angelic Appreciation - AngelKisses
Angel WebGraphics & ClipArt
preview May 1997

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[Everyone Needs An Angel]
Everyone Needs An Angel
©1997 Varian
FTP: NEEDS_LG.GIF
This image is "Linkware;"
see the Rules below.



Angel WebGraphics
& Clipart

THE FRONT GATES

MAY 97:
A bolt of an idea struck me early this year, and as I began laying the foundations for that idea to manifest, I announced the coming of AngelKisses -- angel-related images suitable for decorating your Web page. At that time, I anticipated having the new page up within a few weeks. Well...it isn't quite here as yet. While I'd planned to offer a handful of items (like the "Everyone Needs an Angel" image), I found the ideas quickly proliferating! I'm also in the middle of a couple additional "brilliant" plans to be implemented that involve changes on my entire website, and putting everything together is taking a bit longer than I'd expected. However, it is all on the way, so please keep checking back!

In the meanwhile, you may appreciate reading some of the background which inspired the basis for what AngelKisses is meant to soon become.

~Varian

wings iconThe Web is a publishing medium,
yet not everyone who has a homepage is here to "publish" as such, so it is often very tempting to simply ignore such items as copyright or trademark concerns. After all, those things are only meant for actual businesses, right? Some persons erroneously think so.

wings iconA good friend of mine described
the "non-published" Web pages as being something like a scrapbook set out on your coffee table, so that when friends drop by, they can sift through the collection of your thoughts and ideas, favorite music,
little articles or illustrations you've snipped from magazines, decorated with assorted stickers and doodles and whatnot. From a publishing field's view, that treatment of those stickers and snippets is considered "personal use" and is perfectly legal. However, if you took that same scrapbook down to the local printer and had 10 copies made, that's called vanity publishing, and would almost assuredly place you in violation of a copyright or two. Making ten copies probably won't get you noticed legally, but the chance of being penalized for a copyright infringement increases exponentially with the extent of your distribution.

wings iconThe Internet is subject to the same
legalities as paper publishing, yet the awkward hurdle in this is that not everyone who "publishes" on the Web is actually intending to be publishing. Many are merely sharing their snippets and stickers and doodles and whatnot with a relatively small circle of friends and kindred spirits. They're not running in "the big game," not trying to compete with Simon & Schuster, Time-Life or Hallmark. And yet, when you put your "scrapbook" on the WorldWide Web, you've increased your range of distribution substantially enough to be legally noticed.
This is something every Web publisher (i.e.: anyone with a home page) should understand.

wings iconI enjoy the Web very much,
and I've never had a problem with anyone who wants to use an image from one of my pages to illustrate a link back to my page from their own. I consider that not only "fair use," but the winglift is also appreciated here. However, I feel both confused and insulted whenever someone swipes a piece of my work and slaps it onto their own page as if it was theirs -- no return link, no credit line. You don't want your visitors taking a piece of your scrapbook home with them to pretend its part of their scrapbook, and I don't appreciate those who pretend my work is their own. I've received a number of honest inqueries from persons hoping to use portions of my page graphics, but I have only approved one of those and it's one you won't see on the Web. So when you see my wings bar, my harp icon, my wings icon, etc. on other sites, be aware that those persons displaying the graphics have simply stolen the images from AngelDreams. Why would anyone want to do that?

wings icon"Thievery" is such a harsh term
(no matter how accurate) and particularly ironic when we're speaking of persons who also apparently enjoy angels and assumedly have some standard of ethics. I am frequently roaming the Web in search of new angel sites to include in AngelDreams, and I've seen a great many examples of stolen graphics and even text in some instances. I would like to believe that these persons actually are honorable at heart and that, as my friend suggested, they think they are just sharing a "pretty scrapbook" without understanding they are in fact publishing. Even so, what they're doing is illegal and also just plain not nice.
:-(

wings iconLet me share a secret with you --
there is never a need to steal anything from the Web, particularly if it's a portion of a web page. If you see something too wonderful to dismiss, ask the owner if you can use it. In many cases, the response will be in the positive, and it's so very simple to make the request. If the response is, "Sure, take it, I can't remember where I got it from," then pass, because it's probably already been stolen, and if you put it on your page, you're as liable as the original thief. If the response is negative or no response at all, then accept that and just keep looking around -- because somewhere out there is another item very similar to what you were drooling over that is available for the asking! Just keep looking!

wings iconI know how hard it seems
to locate good angel artwork that can be used on the Web without setting you back a few bucks. I have tried to put up the best angel clipart I 've found on my AngelClips page for downloading. I realize however, that b/w or grayscale images don't respond to everyone's wishes, particularly not for those who feel they have no artistic talent with which to color or otherwise modify the images. I think most of the angel graphic thefts on the Web have taken place not out of malice but from ignorance as well as due to the minimal selection of free or shareware materials readily accessible related to angels. This isn't to say the lack of materials gave those persons the "right" to steal, but it may have contributed to their self-justification of the theft, and that saddens me, so I wanted to do something about it.

wings iconOne of my guidelines in life
has been, "if you can't find what you want, create it." What I wanted at this point was a broad selection of angel-themed Web-style graphics that I could offer for downloading that wouldn't obligate a user for anything more than a hyperlink. So I began creating what I wanted by doing what anyone can do -- start with a piece of clipart and modify it with color, etc., making it suitable for use on the Web. I also worked from my own original designs and further expanded the concept to additional types of items. Before I knew it, I had accumulated nearly 40 megabytes of angel graphics, far too much to put on one page! Therefore, AngelClips is soon going to be replaced by AngelKisses 3...and accompanied by AngelKisses 1, 2 and 4 as well. Each page will be stuffed with angel graphics -- illustrations, icons, banners, backgrounds -- an angel webmaster's dream!

wings iconAnd that is the basic tale of how
AngelKisses first began to be. In case I've confused anyone, let me clarify that this set of pages isn't being constructed for those who disregard legalities. There are persons who will still steal the work of others, even with the abundance of free offerings, but they don't inspire me. AngelKisses is being made for the many people who have contributed to its emergence by visiting AngelDreams and providing wonderful feedback. It's for those who didn't realize their simple web page is a publication with a potential distribution in the millions and subject to legalities. It's for those who did know and have wanted to add graphics to their angel page but don't have the ability to easily create their own. And it's for all of us who enjoy angelic images and just can't seem to get enough. My hope is that these are the persons who will most enjoy and benefit from these pages. Perhaps there are also other artists who will be inspired as I have been, to create a stack of angel images in their own styles for free use or as small-payment shareware (such as a simple hyperlink).

wings iconAnd that would be wonderful! :)

~Varian
May 1997

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THESE ARE THE RULES
for the items AngelKisses will soon offer.

wings iconThe rules are simple ones.


- if you see something in AngelKisses 1, 2 or 4 that you like:

1. Only the graphics accompanied by an FTP link are being offered for your use. Those links are easy to spot. All other artwork is reserved for use by Varian's AngelDreams.
2. The featured items in AngelKisses 1, 2 and 4 are Copyright ©1997 Varian. You may display these images on your Web pages or your own desktop. But don't print or modify them. While they may be redistributed as individual files, they may not be included in any collection of "clip art" and may not be sold.
3. Don't link to the image files. Download from here, then upload to your own server.
4. Your "payment" for use is a hyperlink. If you use one or more of these graphics on a web page, include a link on your page back to Varian's AngelDreams (http://members.aol.com/dreamweavn/angeldreams/).
5. "Register" by dropping me an e-mail with the URL of your page, and I'll come by and take a peek to see what you've put together. (I love visiting angel pages!)

- if you see something in AngelKisses 3 that you like:
1. Only the graphics accompanied by an FTP link are being offered for your use. Those links are easy to spot. All other artwork is reserved for use by Varian's AngelDreams.
2. Featured items in AngelKisses 3 are freely distributed or public domain and may be modified and used freely in any manner you desire.
3. Don't link to the image files. Download from here, then upload to your own server.




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[AngelSong] [AngelAire] [AngelHalo]
[AngelKisses] [AngelWings] [AngelVision]
]AngelDreams]

[AngelSong] . [AngelAire] . [AngelHalo]
[AngelKisses] . [AngelWings] . [AngelVision]
[Varian's AngelDreams]

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Varian's AngelDreams is a portion of Varian's Dreamcatcher
and is Copyright ©1995-97 by Varian,
including all text, illustration and page graphics, unless credited otherwise.
All rights are reserved;
none of this material is to be used or distributed
on the Web, in newsgroups, or in any other form
without prior consultation with and permission from the author.
Exceptions to this statement,
granting additional limited rights for particular selected elements,
are noted and detailed in context with those particular elements.


Feathering the WorldWide Web since August 1995.

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Varian's Dreamcatcher