a) When I transferred to City Tech, I do remember using images in my Communication Design course in assigned projects without pointing out where I got them from. I didn’t think it was important to lay out where I searched the images I used in photoshop or illustrator. But as time past, I realized that giving credit is not only respectful but a responsibility. There are so many photographers and artists in this world who’s work always gets stolen for merchandise purposes. It’s not fair to claim other’s accomplishments or creativity as yours alone; you should honor that fact that the person who creates the work gave you an idea that you can also use for your own benefit but it’s important to give credit where credit is due.
AIGA Business_Ethics 47556757-Guide-to-copyright-1-MB
https://www.agda.com.au/about/code-of-ethics/
b) Shepard Fairey deserved probation; based on the AIGA Ethical Guidelines, stealing someone’s work gives you the same consequence as committing a crime. If I saw my work being used a gaining more popularity after it has been altered, I would be very disappointed and take action to claim it as theft and plagiarism. But here’s the correct way of giving credit where credit is due: Artists on the app, Instagram, nowadays like to use a hashtag called “draw this in your style challenge” where a famous artist in the art community illustrates something they want artists to draw but in their own style. So basically the artists themselves are giving other artists the opportunity to use their illustration and alter it however they want; they must explain what they did to change the illustration into their art style while tagging the artist on the post. That is the right way to give credit. But of course, there are others who won’t tag the artist who illustrated and claim it as their own and expect to receive a big following or a lot of appreciation. That is when the artist themselves will take action and demand their artwork to be taken down. It’s even okay to use illustration as guidance to finding one’s art style also. A lot of artists use their inspirations or people who inspire them to draw as references as well. But in Shepard Fairey’s case, he did everything he could to make sure the “Hope” poster was unrecognizable. His poster benefited Barack Obama’s presidential journey all over the country. So while it was helpful it still was illegal.
As an illustrator, myself, I think that people should at least be generous and just point out where they’re work was inspired from and take it from there.
