Would you paint this without asking?
Many artists, particularly illustrators, will use just about anything as “reference” and “inspiration” for their paintings, including photographs. And most of the time, no-one will ever know just what photo or photos were used as a “reference” for a painting. If you think about it, whether they know it or not, artists use everything they see as reference. It’s called “experiencing life & re-creating it.” Just as writers (like myself) write what they know, so do artists with their paintbrush.
But then there’s that bold artist who paints EXACTLY (without re-creating) what he sees from a photographers’ copyright-protected photo. Is this illegal? Is it unethical? Is it just plain plagarism?
If you asked the photographer, he would most likely feel ripped off, as he may have put his life on the line to get that photo, or swam with sharks, or jumped out of an airplane, or put in years of blood sweat & tears into his craft, just to have someone copy his hard work onto canvas.
If an artist wishes to duplicate a photographer’s (c) image EXACTLY AS IT IS (without altering it in any way) they should first contact that photographer for permission and credit the photographer somewhere on their materials, website, anything connected with that painting. This is the right thing to do, it’s fair, and ethical. Anything else is, well, stealing.
There are many hotly debated blog posts on this very subject. Here’s a good debate to review on Art News Blog.On a slightly different topic: There’s a HEATED debate involving the famed photo of Obama that was re-created by artist Shepard Fairy. Apparently, the Associated Press (AP) claimed rights to the original photo that Fairy used for this artpiece. Then, in soap-opera fashion, the story took another turn when the actual PHOTOGRAPHER came out (Mannie Garcia) and claimed that HE owns the rights to the photograph. There’s a lot of money involved here, and many heated opinions. You can read some of the dribble here and also here. If you want to know what Shepard Fairy himself thinks of all this, click here.
What do you think? Should an artist get permission before copying a photo that was taken by someone else? Should art be freely shared and everyone love each other? Or is it plagarism? Give your comments below – let us know what you fine people think!
Maria “Spunk” Brophy xxoo
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I learn a whole lot of blogs not long ago and yours is one of the best. I enjoy reading your posts – clear and well written. Your page goes straight to my bookmarks. I bought some nice inspirational thoughts after reading it.
Lastly how is a painter going to paint a scene from inside the tube of a wave?
I am also an artist and would like to know, what about the surface you paint on? If you change a photo from flat to round in its shape how many percent points are taken off? Or what if I decide to paint the beach scene on a rock the picture changes shape and form dramatically? What if I go the the very spot the photographer took the photo and painted the same scene? I would look like the same thing but not off the photo.
I have done interpretations of others art as you know picasso and other great artists have done renditions of each others work…like sitting and viewing the same model from the same perspective. If I use a photograph and try to paint the image it never looks just like it…Am I a poor painter
I don’t think so. But I will say if you can get permission it is probably the best idea, especially if your going to try to recreate with photorealism…which very few people can or even try to do anyhow… so I think for the most part this is a non-issue. Of course you can’t photograph someones art work and sell the prints because that’s an excact reprodution of there work…the other way around…If a painter can produce an exact replication of a photograph with paint an canvas. Wow, what a great painter. You think Vangogh painted the scream from a photo? The photographer probably wouldn’t have thought it plagurism…