HOME | DD

Description
Photos used are from HOTNstock of DA. A guide for how to reference photos correctly for digital art, since apparently this is not common knowledge. An alarming number of artists think it's ok to just grab any photo off the internet they feel like and use it for commercial art purposes. It's not. If enough of the art is recognizable as the original photo and you don't have permission to use said photo, you are actually in violation of copyright law. It's fine if you want to sight copy or even trace (though I suggest against it) random google photos for your own private use and reference as studies... but it's NOT ok to do so for art you post- ESPECIALLY art you sell. Imagine this- someone comes along, traces your painting, and then paints it a different colour and changes some background elements. Not cool right? We all would consider that theft. So why is it ok to take a photograph and copy the hell out of that, when the photographer spent hours out trying to get the perfect shot? It's not. Even using small sections like this you should ideally have the photographer's ok. Certainly the moment you step into tracing, especially tracing whole figures, you absolutely need an ok from the photographer. Hopefully this helps people understand what referencing is and how to do it. Excuse the somewhat less then stellar art. I whipped this up in an hour.

If you wish to share this and use it to teach others how to reference, great. However I ask you link back to the original image here, and do not modify it.

Description
Photos used are from HOTNstock of DA. A guide for how to reference photos correctly for digital art, since apparently this is not common knowledge. An alarming number of artists think it's ok to just grab any photo off the internet they feel like and use it for commercial art purposes. It's not. If enough of the art is recognizable as the original photo and you don't have permission to use said photo, you are actually in violation of copyright law. It's fine if you want to sight copy or even trace (though I suggest against it) random google photos for your own private use and reference as studies... but it's NOT ok to do so for art you post- ESPECIALLY art you sell. Imagine this- someone comes along, traces your painting, and then paints it a different colour and changes some background elements. Not cool right? We all would consider that theft. So why is it ok to take a photograph and copy the hell out of that, when the photographer spent hours out trying to get the perfect shot? It's not. Even using small sections like this you should ideally have the photographer's ok. Certainly the moment you step into tracing, especially tracing whole figures, you absolutely need an ok from the photographer. Hopefully this helps people understand what referencing is and how to do it. Excuse the somewhat less then stellar art. I whipped this up in an hour.

If you wish to share this and use it to teach others how to reference, great. However I ask you link back to the original image here, and do not modify it.