What is the story of an image?

Hi [sorry for my English],

I'd like to know from where come all these anime and manga pics that I see in these boards. And also doujins, manga etc...

They come from Japan. OK. But who put them in 4chan or others? Japanese or rest of the world?
If it's by Japanese, isn't it illegal for them to do so? Because most pics are copyrighted, aren't they? Japanese are not afraid of paying fine?
Or maybe all pics come from oeakaki and are free like in freedom?

My supposition is: artist -> a japanese pick a pic and put it in /b/ -> a /b/tard put it in /a/,/c/ or /h/ -> then it goes in a more ordered board like danbooru or moeboard.

I wonder this, because all of my pics come from an imageboard, I don't know from where to find them otherwise.

I buy my doujins legally, I never scan and upload to the net. But I know for fact there are people who do and then demand payment in return for viewing those.

Manga is easy: either it's ordered in from Japan and scanned, or scans are already found on Share, Winny, or that unnamed successor.

The *chans are grand-scale copyright infringement. We all know it, but nobody cares.

Also, very little interesting image content passes through /b/, unless you're into photoshopped memes. Most the stuff I post I get from torrents, 2chan, or Japanese artists' sites.

>>3 or that unnamed successor

Perfect Dark.