Do I belong at SVS?

Jenna Jenks

@danielerossi thanks for the art love and the warm welcome ️ checked out your Instagram, and I think it's marvelous that you are making a book for those that have a stutter!

Jenna Jenks

@Nyrryl-Cadiz thanks for the warm welcome! ️ I will be sticking around for a bit if only because you guys are quite a lovely bunch

Jenna Jenks

@Coreyartus
Thanks for the insights ️ You guys have been very welcoming and knowing that the group is an amalgam of creative folk is definitely encouraging to stick around and explore further. I actually do write as well although nothing to the tune of what I draw! ️

Jenna Jenks

@carlianne yes! Thanks! ️ I have been perusing the business classes

danielerossi

@Jenna-Jenks Thanks! It’s a labour of love

Lee White

@Jenna-Jenks One thing to keep in mind with the direction you are going. Since you are offering these items for sale on your website, you are violating trademarks and copyrights when you are using an existing image as your source. At a small scale, you probably won't get caught, but it's just something to be aware of. be careful and try to change up your source material (new pose, lighting, etc) and don't just use 1 source image. i know comic cons, etc. are filled with copyright violations that are for sale, but that doesn't make it any more legal. Those people just aren't getting caught. It's like driving through a stop sign when there is no cop around. You don't get a ticket, but it's still illegal. : )

RG Spaulding

@Jenna-Jenks Your art is beautiful. Many times I feel out of place in the illustration world because I like to draw realistic or semi-realistic also and I don't see many children's book illustrators that I can identify with except a few. I still haven't figured out what my style is and I have heard some critiques that my art is not stylized enough. But I still enjoy taking the classes here and the folks here are very talented and nice also and give positive criticism on how I can change my work to fit into the Children's book industry which is what I am interested in.

Did I read elsewhere that you just moved to SF? Or maybe I am mistaken! I live an hour and a half (with traffic) south of SF. Welcome to the group.

@Lee-White amazing vase painting! Now here I thought you are very abstract painterly! It is good to see the many sides of our instructors!

BichonBistro

@RG-Spaulding @Jenna-Jenks check out children's books illustrated by Barry Moser (I have "My Dog Rosie" and "Our New Puppy") for beautiful examples of realism. I am in awe of the way he simplifies shapes, uses negative space and creates stunning designs against minimalist backgrounds, using light, shadow and color.

RG Spaulding

@BichonBistro , Thank you. I will definitely check it out.

danielerossi

@Lee-White I didn’t realize it in that sense. I guess because I didn’t actually draw the characters the way they look but only implied. Like they do in newspaper comic strips when they parody other people’s work. Great analogy with the stop sign. I had been planning to take down that merchandise when they expire on Etsy in a few months as they weren’t selling anyway. I’ll do that now. Thanks for the tip!

Lee White

@danielerossi glad that tip helped, but I actually meant it for @Jenna-Jenks. You guys let me know if you have any questions about this stuff. I love chatting about it. : )

Heather Boyd

@Jenna-Jenks I think the classes are for anyone who finds value in them. The forum is full of artists and illustrators working through their own challenges and seek community with like mind peeps. Concerning the contests -they may not pick yours as a winner but you will learn a ton of applicable knowledge, from 3 different (and sometimes similar) perspectives. For the last few I have not participated in. By no means feel less if you don't join in and especially if you don't win. I hope you stay, I really like your groot/baby groot (I haven't watched the most recent one, waiting for it on cable). And if you want to explore other avenues don't feel guilty, we will support you.

danielerossi

@Lee-White I appreciate you teaching us When I first started using Etsy, I was surprised at all the copyright violations all over it. Having taken a step back, I see now how much I also made myself look very unoriginal! Not what I want in the first place. I guess I mixed up Instagram fan art in my head. Thanks for always teaching

Jenna Jenks

@Lee-White
I have wondered about copyright when doing portrait art of photo stills since it is owned by the company, but technically drawing an actor/actress isn't someone's property (even though the character/movie is. It's why I won't draw other people's art as a rule (outside of one nostalgic piece I did of the 90's Riddler I painted as a gift for a friend ) I have drawn a few CGI characters from movies, and I'm unclear on photo copyright laws for those compared to those who are using other people's created characters... There seems to be so many varying levels, it makes my head spin.)

I know it's frowned upon by many artists who don't consider someone who draws what they see a true artist. I have drawn fandom characters reimagined like this (mind these are about nine years old or more!)

But my passion in art has always been capturing what I see (at least the high of what I am getting from my art is exactness. (because I'm super anal retentive ) My goal is to one day make pictures so life-like that you can't tell it's a drawing/painting.) I'm a ways away from that at this time, but a creative goal to be sure! ️

My main income for art definitely comes from the con circuit (and from commissions for pets/family portraits) I've thought about leaning towards wildlife paintings to avoid copyright, but that's a totally different venue of art circuiting and customer base, and although enjoyable not as entertaining as drawing iconic people that give me inner joy to draw.

@Jenna-Jenks One thing to keep in mind with the direction you are going. Since you are offering these items for sale on your website, you are violating trademarks and copyrights when you are using an existing image as your source. At a small scale, you probably won't get caught, but it's just something to be aware of. be careful and try to change up your source material (new pose, lighting, etc) and don't just use 1 source image. i know comic cons, etc. are filled with copyright violations that are for sale, but that doesn't make it any more legal. Those people just aren't getting caught. It's like driving through a stop sign when there is no cop around. You don't get a ticket, but it's still illegal. : )

Jenna Jenks

@RG-Spaulding

Thank you! ️ Illustration isn't really what I'm looking to get into with my work, but I definitely agree with you that the lessons have a lot of value for any artist to grow from. All the folks running this site are very attentive and professional, and the atmosphere is very inviting! As for moving to SF, no sorry, that wasn't me! I'm still living in Alabama for now unfortunately! But I'm always open to new friends no matter the distance

Jenna Jenks

@Heather-Boyd

Absolutely! I ultimately decided to stay because of the lovely peer base. It's always a plus to grow your creative crew ️ I was going to attempt this month's contest, but I have too many commitments this month and came in a bit late in the month. I work full-time, am raising a 5 & 8 year old alongside running my own art business, so the contests might be a bit too much to fit in, but I'm still interested for certain especially with how many wonderful pieces I've seen coming from the folks here Thanks for the art love too! You'll enjoy the movie when you get a chance to see it! I cut cable about a half a year ago when I realized I was watching less and less TV over spending my time doing everything but watching it

Lee White

@Jenna-Jenks Very cool. glad to hear you are thinking about all these different issues. It is really tricky! I'll try to help clarify if you like.

When drawing a character from a movie, it's a copyright violation if:

You are drawing from reference from either a movie still or any promotional image the studio put out. In other words, if that image exists to use as reference it is a copyright violation. The only way around this would be to draw the character in a completely new pose with new lighting and/or environment.
It may still be a copyright/trademark violation if you make up a new pose for the character. This makes sense if you think about who owns the rights to something and how they control the use for it. It would make no sense for me to be able to use Harry Potter characters to make money off of since those characters are owned and invented by someone else. That is how they make money from their creation. It probably doesn't seem fair unless you put yourself in the shoes of the person who made something up first. I would not want a million people using a character I came up with for profit and used in ways I can't control.

Now, you CAN come up with similar type characters. For example, you can make up an action/adventure character who finds various artifacts in the jungle, it just can't be Indiana Jones. But it can be similar (which still makes you a little at risk from being derivative).

Hope that helps some. The best path forward (in my opinion) is coming up with your own characters and scenarios, and then shooting your own reference photos. Then draw and paint freely because you are in the clear. : )

Hope that helps some.

davidhohn

@Jenna-Jenks Great thread. I was pleased to see everyone's responses to the topic of different styles/levels of realism. Even more so when the issue of copyright came up and the discussion remained so level headed.

With that spirit in mind I wanted to clarify a point you mentioned "... but technically drawing an actor/actress isn't someone's property"

I may have misunderstood you , but I believe what you are referring to is legally known as Right of Publicity. And this is something that the actor/actress does control.

https://corporate.findlaw.com/litigation-disputes/right-of-publicity.html

The case that where I was first exposed to this concept was a t-shirt depicting The Three Stooges.

https://www.pfeifferlaw.com/entertainment-law-blog/the-case-of-the-copied-curly

I don't point this out to put you off the kind of work you might want to do, but rather so you can move forward with a clearer understanding of the legal landscape. (Plus I just really like talking about copyright since it's how illustrators generate their income)