Rules for posting portraits?

[Eliteseraph]

Quick question here, although one that is actually fairly important for all the artists out there: 

What's the general rule for posting  portraits made from other people's artwork found on the web?   I'm assuming that anything posted on a deviantart or drawcrowd account is up for use, so long as the original artist is credited.  I also assume that doing something stupid, like attempting to charge money or direct to shady websites is out of the picture.  

I'm thinking common courtesy stuff here. 

I ask this because I have a crap-ton of super good artwork that I've collected over the years, many of which are absolutely suitable for Pillars portraits. Some of which I've already cropped for my own personal use.  I'd like to share these portraits via an imgur album, but since they're from many different artists, it would be a little awkward to list each artist individually.   Any ideas?   Point me in the right direction here so I don't step on any toes.  

[Marky]

I think common courtesy is to do your best with crediting the artist as much as possible. If you don't know who the artist is, just say that. If any artists complain, respect their wishes.

[falchen]

I'm guessing as long as you aren't getting paid for it you can do whatever, even if someone complains it would be hard and kind of pointless to take legal action against something like this.

[Luckmann]

Quick question here, although one that is actually fairly important for all the artists out there: 

 

What's the general rule for posting  portraits made from other people's artwork found on the web?   I'm assuming that anything posted on a deviantart or drawcrowd account is up for use, so long as the original artist is credited.  I also assume that doing something stupid, like attempting to charge money or direct to shady websites is out of the picture.  

 

I'm thinking common courtesy stuff here. 

 

I ask this because I have a crap-ton of super good artwork that I've collected over the years, many of which are absolutely suitable for Pillars portraits. Some of which I've already cropped for my own personal use.  I'd like to share these portraits via an imgur album, but since they're from many different artists, it would be a little awkward to list each artist individually.   Any ideas?   Point me in the right direction here so I don't step on any toes.

I'm guessing as long as you aren't getting paid for it you can do whatever, even if someone complains it would be hard and kind of pointless to take legal action against something like this.

Just to be clear here, in a legal sense, both of you are on extremely thin ice in regards to the highlighted sections. No, anything posted on a deviantart or drawcrowd account is not automatically up for use, not even if you credit the artist, and it has nothing to do with whether anyone is charging money or not - although doing so would most certainly make the whole thing way, way worse.

 

Unless the artist explicitly gives permission through some disclaimer, or by marking it as licensed under Creative Commons, under most conditions in most areas, you have no legal right to use any part of their art in any way whatsoever, save - depending on region - as part of criticism or review, and then the thing still needs to be reproduced or copied into a format that does not constitute infringement, such as resizing it so that quality suffers, only showing part of it, or so on and so forth.

 

That being said, the vast majority of artists, and certainly anyone that isn't a nutter, would be OK with you using their art for private use, or to show others, as long as they're being credited, as long as you're not profiting from their work in any way, and as long as you don't claim it as your own somehow.

 

I just wanted to clarify that legally, your assumptions and guesses couldn't be further from the truth. And don't assume that if someone complains, that it would be hard or pointless; some artists pursue legal action relentlessly, and although it would be hard to prove who did what (since most herein do not use their real names, nor on sites as the Nexus and so on), it can potentially be quite profitable. That being said, once they have complained, if you comply to remove their artwork from whatever context they're whining over, and you have not made any money of it, and the act cannot be considered to have misrepresented the artist or their artwork, it becomes hard as hell to formulate a case.

 

So, ask when possible, always credit the artist if at all possible, and if an artist complains to you, drop that thing like a hot potato covered in burning oil.

 

Especially the last thing. I'm not sure about the U.S., but I know many countries have a "good faith"-clause, where you as the artist have to ask someone to not use this or that artwork, before pursuing legal action, unless money or misrepresentation is involved.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Luckmann