Question to the Artists here on CAA

[ChristianKitsune]

Hey all! I hope you are all well..

I have a question to my fellow Artists.

Is it ethical to use magazine poses to draw something? By that I mean how often do you use magazine poses? (like pictures?)

I find myself using them a lot but making my own thing out of them... Does anyone else do this?

[Yeshua-Knight]

i'll tell ya, i don't know how different that really is from doing still life art, personally i find it really hard to draw something accurately unless it's something that i can use a reference to draw

hey, even Leonardo Da Vinci used models for his paintings

[mechana2015]

nope... I use references whever I really want to have a pose correct, and since models arn't always availiable I use pictures or a posing doll.

[ChristianKitsune]

OK GOOD! Sometimes I feel like I am cheating..but now I don't feel so bad!

^_^ although sometimes I avoid really fake looking poses...because..its..fake! LOL

[the_lizardqueen]

It would depend on what you are using the resulting piece of artwork for. If you were to enter the piece of artwork into a show or sell it, it might be a bit iffy in the area of plagerism. After all, a photographer did have to set up in a studio and produce the photo. Or, in the case of National Geographic (my favorite reference picture magazine) they had to trek off to the far ends of the earth to wade through a bog or scramble a mountain, possible risking life and/or limb.

But then again, from the sounds of it, you are altering the images. I'd say that if it's the same pose with a completely different figure, then your probably okay. And if the artwork is strictly for your own amusement and development then it's absolutely fine. It really does help to have a reference, whenever I can't find a pose in a magazine, I find that it actually kinda works to act it out infront of a mirror

[mechana2015]

I did assume this meant you were just using the pose... not the rest of the image when I answered.

[TurkishMonky]

i use a mirror and my self but it sometimes gets hard to draw at the same time...

[Kanerou]

Even Naoko Takeuchi (creator of Sailor Moon) does that. I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

[EireWolf]

Is it ethical to use magazine poses to draw something? By that I mean how often do you use magazine poses? (like pictures?)

I find myself using them a lot but making my own thing out of them... Does anyone else do this?

I had a similar discussion with an artist (sculpting) group I'm in. Someone had accused an artist of copying a pose. The rest of us found it laughable -- a pose by itself is NOT copyrightable. How many poses can a person take, anyway?

Short answer is, copying a pose is perfectly fine. Artists do it all the time. HOWEVER, the tricky part is -- What else are you copying? If you're copying the exact face, clothing, background, etc. as well, then you are probably infringing on the photographer's (or other artist's) copyright. You say you are "making your own thing out of them," so it sounds like you are probably fine.

I do use photo references all the time in my sculptures. I'd be slightly lost without them. I also use anatomy reference books, and I sometimes use other artists' work as a reference or inspiration (but not to copy).

[Aka-chan]

Pretty much what everyone else said. After all, you have to learn from somewhere.

[Uriah]

Any good artist uses reference material. My problem is I try to use it less than I should..

[Puguni]

I don't think so. Unless, like most people said, you copy it line for line and tell everyone it's your own. But if it really bothers you, there are those little art mannequins you can twist around to make them into poses. I make my sister do the poses for me. XD

[Maledicte]

I used to copy comic pages almost directly, only changing little things to make it my character. However I didn't pass these off as my own work, these were done with the intention of drawing better so that I wouldn't have to use other artwork to copy off of. I don't do that anymore.

[Uriah]

I make my sister do the poses for me. XD

That's evil. Do you make her like.. stand on her head for hours and stuff?