Last week I had a new client, I will be doing the Science Fiction Symposium and representing everyone as a superhero to include them in Sci-Fi. Since I had some time before my meeting I tried to search up things related to space to save some time when it came to inspiration. My internship usually asks the client for logos, we also use the city tech logo all the time since we are given a file of that. We usually do not alter the client’s logo, so if it comes in a color that doesn’t work for our poster we try our best to accommodate. We haven’t signed any confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements unless it was for the recovery corps. In the case of the ESP project I did, I have to keep the research confidential.
In the past when I used another creative’s work for school purposes I never really credited it, examples would be for photoshop exercises. If I used it for my essays or powerpoints I had to credit it in the works cited areas. My opinion on the copyright issue for the hope poster case is a bit on the fence. I think the artist should have credited the photographer who took a picture of Obama. Only because the figure is the same, the pose, the expression. The colors are different, but I would personally label it 50% different. When you do fan art illustrations of characters usually you would change their pose, have a different way of drawing their expression, and also shading. This is mainly the reason why I stay away from realistic portraits as well. I think it is difficult to edit photos in a way that looks entirely different. And if you stylize a figure too much, like Beyonce you could be at risk for lashing back. I watched this happen to a Netflix artist who drew her for TikTok. I feel like in this situation, whether they profited or not from the hope poster they are still using someone’s photograph. The golden rule I hear from fellow illustrators is that if it’s not 70% different you must credit.