Copyright- A Brief Introduction

Note: I wasn't able to progress much further with Nature's Bounty since yesterday so I don't really have much to update today. The next update will probably be on Monday. Until then, I'm happy to share some other information with you.

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I found a picture on the web a couple years ago and thought it would be the perfect reference to try my hand at doing a charcoal drawing. So I used the photograph as a reference. Since this was just me doing a practice drawing for my own benefit, I figured that it was okay. Uhhh, no. Not necessarily true.

"Tea Rex" by John Watson, see article: http://photodoto.com/still-life-photography/

The drawing turned out really well. So well, in fact, that I wanted to post it with my collection of other drawings. However, I did not want to be a thief (not knowing at that time, technically, there was a high likelihood that I already was a thief). Although my brain had not been educated about the facts regarding when you can and when you better not, my heart was in the right place. Of course when it comes to ignorance of the law, I doubt the courts would care much about the positioning of my heart.

I went back on the web to search for the original photograph so that I could contact the artist and ask if I could use it. Yes, that is the backwards way of doing it and I don't recommend it. I did find the photo and discovered it was posted under a Creative Commons license allowing use for derivative works. Yay!!! I escaped theifdom!

But then . . . what do you do if someone likes your derivative work so well, they want to buy it? You contact the original artist, obtain written permission to sell your piece and abide by any conditions that he or she requests in return. If you sell your painting, drawing or whatever derivative work you created without that permission, you've entered theifdom. Don't go there. Have the same respect for other artists as you would want for your own creations.

"Caffeine Rush" by Sarah Salisbury, a derivative work of "Tea Rex" by John Watson

I contacted the photographer and he gave me permission to sell my piece. Then we all lived happily ever after. Please reference the US Copyright Office for more in depth information about copyright and the types of creative commons licenses: http://www.copyright.gov/