euripides
Copyright is an important issue if you ever want to display your deck in public, in a gallery or on the internet. Display can be regarded as 'advertising' your work, and even if you aren't actually selling it, can be viewed as breach of copyright.
This means, if you've used a photograph taken by someone else in the creation of your card, and display it on a public forum, you may be liable for breach of copyright.
The way to avoid this problem is to make sure that your source images are in the public domain.
Copyrighted material generally comes into the public domain 70 years after the death of the artist, but the estates of artists/photographers sometimes have this extended, so be careful and do your homework.
REPRODUCTIONS of artwork are copyrighted by the gallery or photographer who created the image. This has been disputed in an American court, but the case was dropped in order to prevent setting a precendent.
COPYRIGHT FREE material is available from various sources on the internet, such as FlickR.com and sxc.hu and various other royalty-free photography distributors. Sometimes the contributors to these resources apply restrictions, so again check the conditions on the specific image you wish to use.
YOU MAY NOT USE images you 'found' on the internet, in a magazine, newspaper, book or calendar. Just because it doesn't have a dirty great copyright sign plastered on it doesn't mean it is public domain. The internet is particularly problematic in this regard, with people 'borrowing' images and putting them on blogs - the images don't really belong to them. So your safest bet is to avoid them.
The 10% 'rule' is a myth. Even 'changing it a lot' or 'only using it as a reference' is a gray area. Here's a handy point of reference: if your picture and the source image were placed side by side, could I tell that you'd based your picture on the source image? If so, you're in danger of prosecution for breach of copyright, if your source image is copyrighted.
You might think that 'oh its just my little artwork, nobody will notice, nobody will care since I'm not making money'. This isn't the case. Some companies and individuals go to great lengths to protect their images, prosecuting individuals for small infringements. Sure, they are more concerned about people making big bucks out of counterfeit calendars and tshirts, but if they feel your use puts their work in a bad light (a Disney tarot, for instance) you need to make sure you give them no grounds to sue.
The particularly unfair aspect of all of this is that as an artist, if some big company rips off your work, it would cost you your life savings to pursue them in court. No justice.
Anyway, don't finish a fabulous tarot deck and discover that you can't share it with the world. Take your own reference photos, find 100%-certain public domain royalty free images, or go to the effort to write and request written permission from image owners.
To protect your own work, only publish low-res (72 DPI or less) small sized images, preferably adding a - © artistname year - watermark across it.
This means, if you've used a photograph taken by someone else in the creation of your card, and display it on a public forum, you may be liable for breach of copyright.
The way to avoid this problem is to make sure that your source images are in the public domain.
Copyrighted material generally comes into the public domain 70 years after the death of the artist, but the estates of artists/photographers sometimes have this extended, so be careful and do your homework.
REPRODUCTIONS of artwork are copyrighted by the gallery or photographer who created the image. This has been disputed in an American court, but the case was dropped in order to prevent setting a precendent.
COPYRIGHT FREE material is available from various sources on the internet, such as FlickR.com and sxc.hu and various other royalty-free photography distributors. Sometimes the contributors to these resources apply restrictions, so again check the conditions on the specific image you wish to use.
YOU MAY NOT USE images you 'found' on the internet, in a magazine, newspaper, book or calendar. Just because it doesn't have a dirty great copyright sign plastered on it doesn't mean it is public domain. The internet is particularly problematic in this regard, with people 'borrowing' images and putting them on blogs - the images don't really belong to them. So your safest bet is to avoid them.
The 10% 'rule' is a myth. Even 'changing it a lot' or 'only using it as a reference' is a gray area. Here's a handy point of reference: if your picture and the source image were placed side by side, could I tell that you'd based your picture on the source image? If so, you're in danger of prosecution for breach of copyright, if your source image is copyrighted.
You might think that 'oh its just my little artwork, nobody will notice, nobody will care since I'm not making money'. This isn't the case. Some companies and individuals go to great lengths to protect their images, prosecuting individuals for small infringements. Sure, they are more concerned about people making big bucks out of counterfeit calendars and tshirts, but if they feel your use puts their work in a bad light (a Disney tarot, for instance) you need to make sure you give them no grounds to sue.
The particularly unfair aspect of all of this is that as an artist, if some big company rips off your work, it would cost you your life savings to pursue them in court. No justice.
Anyway, don't finish a fabulous tarot deck and discover that you can't share it with the world. Take your own reference photos, find 100%-certain public domain royalty free images, or go to the effort to write and request written permission from image owners.
To protect your own work, only publish low-res (72 DPI or less) small sized images, preferably adding a - © artistname year - watermark across it.