Magnolia Girl & Copyright Question

Happy Monday everyone!

I´ve finished my recent Illustrated Girl over the weekend.

Do you also like magnolia flower so much?



Dear blog friends, I want to ask you for your kind advice. It happens (quite often) that I´m inspired by photos of other people in a way that I use them as a help for my paintings. I obviously do not copy someone´s work... (I don´t want to copy for sure.) I just study the shapes, shadows or colors I like on that particular picture. Magnolia Girl is an example of my work I was doing that way. I was inspired by the photo that you could see in my last post - here it´s again:

Well, what do you think? Am I doing something unethical? Am I infringing the copyright?

Thank you for your thoughts. :)


Dievčatko s magnóliou & autorské práva


Pekný pondelok prajem. :)

Cez víkend som dokončila jedno z mojich Ilustrovaných dievčatiek.

Tiež máte tak radi magnólie?

Milí priatelia, chcem Vás poprosiť o Vašu radu. Dosť často sa mi stáva, že ma tak zaujme nejaká fotka, že ju použijem ako podklad pre moje maľovanie. Nesnažím sa kopírovať prácu niekoho iného, iba použijem cudziu fotku ako pomôcku pre maľovanie tvarov, tieňov alebo na výber farieb. Tu je príklad o čom hovorím: moja posledná maľovaná dievčinka a fotka, ktorá ma pri tom inšpirovala. Myslíte, že takto môžem narušovať autorské práva majiteľa fotky?

Ďakujem za Vaše názory. :)

12 komentárov:

Jackie povedal(a)...

Art comes from observation. We are inspired from what we see . I know that this is a very sensitive subject but I see lots of artists using photos and other things for inspiration . I do not think it's unethical especially when it inspires an idea:)
love the new painting.

Kim povedal(a)...

I agree with Jackie- it is a tricky and sensitive area- but all artists are inspired by something. I think the trick is to take the inspiration and to put your stamp and style onto the work the results from the inspiration-which I believe you do. Magnolia girl may be similar to the picture- but she is undeniably yours also.

Unknown povedal(a)...

Thank you Jackie and Kim.

Mimi and Tilly povedal(a)...

I agree. You have made this little girl completely your own. Even Shakespeare used other stories for inspiration for his plays. Every artist needs to be inspired by something. Using something for inspiration for your own work is completely different to outright copying.

She is totally beautiful, and I love the magnolis flower. Gorgeous.

Ayala Art povedal(a)...

In my opinion:If it is your picture, it is OK. If it is nature, or a tourist area, it is ok. If it is someone's picture they posted online, you have to give them credit, even if only by inspiration.
I would ask, even just to be nice and be on the safe side. And maybe the person will even become a customer, you never know!
I love Magnolias

Stora povedal(a)...

Je nádherná, zatiaľ najkrajšie dielo, čo som tu na Vašom blogu videla.
Tiež si myslím, že inšpirovať sa tým čo vidíme okolo je úplne v poriadku. Každý umelec potrebuje inšpiráciu. Myslím, že plagiátorom sa stáva človek skôr vtedy, keď sa snaží okopírovať štýl niekoho iného, tak aby jeho práca vyzerala ako dielo toho druhého. A táto bábika je jednoznačne vaše dieťa :-).
Magnólie milujem. V meste, kde som vyrástla, bola jedna jediná a keď rozkvitla, rozprávali sme si tako najvačšiu novinu a šli sme do mesta len kvôli nej a jej kvetom...

Unknown povedal(a)...

Thank you so much for your comments.
Ďakujem za názor, Stora.

RomanS. povedal(a)...

Zlatica, TVOJE dievčatko má krááásne oči. Úžasné - veľmi sa mi páči, ako si to nakreslila. Asi doteraz najlepšie ...

Unknown povedal(a)...

Roman, ďakujem - od teba si pochvalu veľmi cením... :)

Alexandra Lane Photography povedal(a)...

I quickly glanced at the previous comments...yes, it IS a tricky topic largely because everyone does get their ideas from somewhere - so, there is a fine line between inspiration and copying. The differentiating factor is how much of your own heart is in your work. In your case, Zlatka, you are using the basic idea: say a girl holding a magnolia flower standing sideways and looking into the camera. But the technique, the media, the rendition, the animation, the lines and the proportions make the picture look vastly different from the inspiration photo. All THAT is YOU! So, I wouldn't worry about that. You make beautiful work! Beautiful!

Alexandra Lane Photography povedal(a)...

I just thought of something that is going to both illustrate my point (not like you need illustrations to understand, Zlatka) and to prove the level of my nerdism.
You know the famous work of Smetana called Vltava, right? And you also know the silly Czech song: Kocka leze dirou pes oknem, nebude-li prset nezmoknem...right? Well, this song and Vltava are the exact same tune!!! Yet, noone ever accused Smetana of plagiarism. Why? 1. for most of the piece he changed one note. Yes, one. 2. He changed the pulse of the song, put it in a different context, used different instruments than would have been used for a folk song and he developed the idea to the max. 3. Towards the end of the piece he cited his source by composing the song into the piece. You are doing the exact same thing: you get an idea and put your own spirit into it, you change it around and develop it so that it becomes a whole different piece of work; I also almost always see you citing your source. In case you'd like to check out what I'm talking about, here is the last 4 minutes of Vltava, right at 2:30 the song starts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0lPLOeBzyA&NR=1
I know this is way nerdy but I thought it was a cute example coinciding with what I just wrote about earlier today, so I thought I'd share it and I hope you (and maybe others, too) get a kick out of it. :-) It is such a great example of what inspiration is!

Unknown povedal(a)...

Thank you, Sasha.
Your music comparison is excellent.
By the way, Vltava is amazing - listening to it made may day...