If you’ve been experimenting with the poster art style of the 1940s and 50s, have your uncle pose with a shovel, take a snapshot, set up your grid and see if you can turn it into a “Work Hard Comrade” or “Uncle Sam Wants You!” poster.
I agree with most here who say that it’s usually acceptable for students to copy. Hell—I have an art tutorial site and I see “copies” of some of my artwork (based on the step-by-step instructions I give on my site) on other people’s sites! I’d never dream of telling them that they couldn’t copy my work. At least not in that context.
I’d be worried about selling prints based on someone else’s work, though. Ooh. I would not do that. But I wouldn’t worry so much about giving away copies to friends. However, it’s true—if the copyright holder were to find out and be mighty offended, there could be trouble. But what are the odds that they’d find out?
Speaking for myself, I know I wouldn’t mind if someone copied something of mine (as I know they have) and kept it on display in their home. As long as they didn’t pretend that it was an “original” done by them, anyway. I suspect that most other artists wouldn’t mind having their work copied in such a way by students. But you never know . . .
Again, an excellent (and amusing) idea. Part of my problem is that I’m attracted to and want to become proficient in a wide variety of styles and images. If you or anyone else would be interested enough to delve into what I have in mind, I would recommend a Google search into the following artists (I started to provide links but I think I read somewhere that isn’t allowed):
Stephen Moore (North Carolina doctor. Paints mostly European land and cityscapes)
Tsar (Russian immigrant. More sophisticated versions of pics similar to Stephen Moore.
Sabzi (Iranian immigrant) Beautiful paintings
Avtandi (Same as Sabzi)
Art of Cool (Stylized jazz musicians)
These are just some of the types of paintings I’m thinking of moving into, and I think they will illustrate why I feel the need to make copies in order to learn these styles. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I think I would have a difficult time trying to learn to paint in these styles right out of the box without first trying to duplicate their work.
Btw, one of the reasons I started out copying other artists’ work was that I read that in France, art students are instructed to visit museums and check out books of the Old Masters’ works and try to paint pictures as closely to theirs as they can.
Anyway, one of the reasons for this thread is that now that I’ll be moving into a more difficult type of work, I would hate to think that once I’ve painted these pictures I would have to just stick them in a closet or something.
I know other people have answered this but I’d like your opinion. The pictures in question are acrylic or oil paintings that I have painted on canvas. I frequently have people (family; friends) ask me to give or sell them one of these paintings once they’re done. Or occasionally to paint another of one I’d already completed and sold or gave away, and sell it to them. I guess part of the reason for this thread is that I’m unsure of my own stance regarding practical concerns vs. doing the right thing.
Sorry I didn’t back to this thread sooner! I don’t check General Questions all that often.
Hmmm… I have opinions on what might be the “right” thing to do, based on my gut instincts. My ideas are just one way to go, however, and may not be right for you. And needless to say, none of this is legal advice about copyright. Copyright is a different thing here, and if you want to play it safe legally, don’t copy unless you are pretty confident you are doing it in a “fair use” manner.
Speaking for myself, (as I brought up before) I don’t mind if art students copy my artwork. I would hope that they would give me credit for their copying, though. To not do so is bad manners to say the least.
I also, personally speaking here, don’t think it’s “wrong” for a student artist to give away these student practice works to family and friends. I am sure that people have given away artwork that they “copied” from me, and that’s fine. It’s all part of the art student process—something I remember going through myself.
But I’ll repeat: credit should be given to the original artist. An old art teacher I had told us to sign our name to the painting and also write, “Copy of Van Gogh” or whatever. I think it’s important to do that. I also think I’ve seen this practice done elsewhere and it definitely sounds like the right thing to do. Actually, it’s always the right thing to do, whether you give away the artwork or keep it in your closet.
Don’t do a copied work by request, especially if the person who is asking you to copy the thing could buy a print from the original artist. For example, a friend approaches you with a magazine picture of a painting. The artist is selling prints for $200. The friend asks you to paint it instead and offers you $40. Don’t do that. That would obviously be taking away a sale from the original artist.
I also think it depends on the manner in which someone requests art from you. If they are a family member or friend, are obviously proud of you and like the work you’ve been doing, they may offer you some money for one othe copied paintings that you’ve already done. They’ll do this because they like your efforts and want to encourage you. They aren’t doing it because they want that painting above all others but are not willing to buy a print from the original artist. If someone offers to buy a painting and it’s obvious to you that they want to buy one of your efforts, because they are proud of you, then maybe it it isn’t so bad (morally speaking) to take a small amount of money for the work, to compensate for time and materials.
But it’s different if they say to you, “Make me a copy of that painting.” I think you should always pick which works you are going to copy as your next study project. Taking requests of what painting to do next, so that you can give it away or sell it, is not a study activity.
A few other general thoughts: Try looking for paintings to copy from art “how to” books. When I started taking painting lessons (age 14) my art teacher had a bunch of those Walter Foster art books in her studio. Don’t laugh, some of the artists featured in there weren’t bad! If you find such a book (whether it be Walter Foster or whatever) which has been written specifically as an art instruction book, then odds are pretty good that the artist knows that the paintings in the book are going to be copied, multiple times, by students. I wouldn’t worry at all about copying paintings from such books and giving the paintings away. (Unless there is some statement in the book which specifically states that they don’t want you to do that. Which would seem unlikely—why write a “how to” art book and then forbid anyone from doing any paintings from the instructions?) However, I still wouldn’t do paintings “by request,” even if I was copying them from an art instruction book.
Well, these are a few of my thoughts. Hope this helps!