Many of you may be aware that DA has released an article detailing their policy on tracing other artists' works and submitting them as your own work. I am disappointed in policy, and I am now faced with a decision to make: As a professional artist, do I want to continue to associate myself with an artist community that does not share my values...?

For those who have not read the article, you may read it here:
[link]

Below, I will detail how DA's policies do not line up with my views. All quotes have been taken from DA"s article "Break it down easy - tracing edition" unless otherwise noted.

DA's VIEW:
"At deviantART we believe that tracing has a place in our community. We consider it to be a valid learning tool and a technique which has been used long before we had any such applications such as Illustrator or Photoshop. Tracing is how Michelangelo’s assistants transferred his “cartoons” onto the ceiling of the Sistine Chappell."

"While all of this is true to a certain extent it is also true that the various forms of copying are a completely valid learning tool which is practiced primarily by beginning artists and, quite frankly, those artists who lack the experience and training to compose completely original scenes and themes from scratch."
The above paragraphi is taken from DA's article [link]

MY VIEW:
1) Michelangelo drew the sketches, and had helpers transfer HIS sketches onto the ceiling. Michelangelo then proceeded to paint and finish his work. The assistants NEVER took credit for the master's sketches, or signed their name to the Sistine Chapel. None of the assistants said "Well, I traced Michelangelo's sketches, so therefore the pencil marks on the ceiling are my original work." By contrast, when you post any deviation in your gallery here on DA, underneath it is a comment that says "copyright DATE YOUR NAME". And so you are claiming exclusive copyright to that creative work, even if you just traced it.
2) Yes, I agree that tracing can be a learning tool for some. I believe that when you trace or otherwise take another artist's work for your own learning process, that is fine. But keep it OUT of your portfolio. It isn't your work. It isn't your image. That image should not be affiliated with your name. It belongs to someone else.
3) Regarding DA's comment on inexperienced artists using tracings because they lack skills of their own - I could never create blueprints to build a bridge. I am not an engineer. I could TRACE blueprints done by a professional engineer who worked hard in college to become a professional engineer, and put that tracing in my portfolio, but that still would not make me capable of building a bridge or creating functional blueprints on my own. Those tracings would not be representative of my work or ability, and should therefore not be put in my portfolio as representative of my work. Just because you can't draw does not give you the right to trace other people's work and misrepresent it as an example of your own skill. (If you are an aspiring artist, I highly encourage years of practice in place of passing off tracings as your own work. It is more honest, and in the end, you will have greater pride in your work and accomplishments.)

DA's VIEW

"Fair use can apply when there is a reason to copy in order to make a new artistic statement. The analysis of whether a given use is a “fair use” is the most complex and nuanced in copyright law. Among the factors it considers is whether the use is commercial or non-commercial. Many uses of works on deviantART are entirely non-commercial. We do not permit the sale of FanArt within our Print Store because we want to avoid involvement in a commercial exploitation of a copyrighted character."

MY VIEW:
1) "Copy" is not the same as "Trace". "Copy" implies that you were looking at something, and using your own eye and hand, tried to create a replica. Your own skill as an artist will determine how alike you will be able to make your replica to the original. "Trace" means that you went over the exact lines of another person's art.
2) DA IS making a profit off of FanArt. Go to the Prints section of DA and type in "Naruto", "Sailor Moon", or any other obviously copyrighted material. You will find a large selection of prints that you can buy with these copyrighted characters. You will see that DA is not committed to enforcing the non-commercial nature of fair use of copyrighted material.

DA's VIEW:

"If you chose to trace a stock image, either from our extensive deviantART resource gallery or from a legitimate external stock source such as sxc.hu or i-stock.com, this can be submitted into the vector or vexel gallery (depending on the method which you use) and we encourage you to supply the appropriate references."

MY VIEW:

If you take/trace/use artwork that was created by someone else, giving credit should be REQUIRED, not just "encouraged."

MY VIEW IN A NUTSHELL:

Some artists find it helpful to use tracing as a learning tool. I have never met an art student or college professor that condoned this, but I know that there are some who do find the occasional tracing of an image to be helpful in learning. However, I am firmly against the following:
1) Putting a traced image into your portfolio as a representative sample of your artwork. Your images in your portfolio are accompanied by a comment which copyrights the image to you, hence, the images in your portfolio should be representative of YOUR skill and YOUR talent. Traced images created as part of a personal-learning initiative should NOT represent your work, and should not be copyrighted to you.
2) I am against artists posting tracings, copies or other appropriations of another artist's work without being required to give credit. If you were to write a research paper, you would be required to cite your sources in a bibliography. The same should apply to art.
3) I am against the idea that an artist could post a tracing/copy or other appropriation of another artist's work without written permission from that original artist.
4) I am against people using tracing as a shortcut to creating skillful art. I know that everyone starts somewhere. When I was a kid, I loved tracing pictures from Disney books. But let's face it. I don't own Disney's "Snow White". I have no right to trace "Snow White" and put it in my gallery and in my print store and pretend that this is my "Original interpretation of Snow White." Everyone who wants to be a serious artist needs to come to terms with their need to improve. Everyone should practice, and YES, this might mean that your original pieces do not look as good as your pretty tracings. However, practice WILL make you into an artist with original concepts and skills which YOU will take pride in, and YOU will want to protect. Original artists took a long time to get so good at art that you would want to trace or replicate their art. Those original artists take pride in their work. You should respect that.
5) I am against artists posting artwork that uses tracings or copies of copyrighted material in their prints gallery. You don't have the right to make money off of someone else's copyrighted material. Even if you are not caught, even if the original artist never finds out, it is still against the law. Just because you don't get caught does not mean it isn't wrong.

So now what.....?

I am trying to decide how I want to deal with these inconsistencies in values. Should I leave DA? Should I remove client work from my gallery? (After all, I have signed legal contracts with companies who have paid for my art, and I can't allow others to trace those images and claim them as their own art, or worse, post such art in their Prints gallery.) I haven't decided yet. However, since I make my living as an artist, it is important for me not to support artist communities or affiliate myself with such communities which do not align with my views as a professional artist.

Hi Everyone,

Just a short not to let you know that the final book in the Pirate School series has been released. If you wish to purchase, it is available through my online store here [link]
I have been very busy with freelance lately, which is great, and I am also getting ready to move into my new house this weekend. So, sorry that I have not had time to post any of my new pieces. I hope to be able to put some new pieces up in the next few weeks, once I have time to upload them. Until then, I'll be creating my artwork in my BRAND NEW STUDIO in my new house, which I am really looking forward to.

Well, this is a little late. I like to get my "year review" up by January 1, but hey....it's been one of those years - the kind that needs to be reflected on before it is written about. This was a year of many twists, turns and risktaking, and great great blessings.

January 2008 - I made the decision to make this the year that I would pursue my freelance career with unbridled passion, dedication and vigor. I was having trouble balancing a full time job (creative director for a multimedia marketing firm), freelance projects, marketing myself and marriage/social life. I decided it was time for me to search for an agent to help me take my illustration career to the next level and to take the marketing responsibilities off of my plate.

February 2008 - Big Risk #1: I signed with MB Artists, an agency in New York for illustrators in the children's publishing market. I also made the very hard and nerve-wrecking decision to leave my full time job so that I could devote more time to my illustration portfolio, and to refocus my career. I had always told my husband that it was a goal of mine to work as a full time illustrator, and to have a part time job in the Young Adult Department of my local library. Since my library is a popular place to work, it is very difficult to get a job there. However, just as I made the decision to leave my position as a creative director, the EXACT position I wanted at the library opened up. I took the job, which provided exactly the amount of money I needed to make each month for my share of the bills! It was a true God-send.

March 2008 - My first month in my new career. My husband and I were anticipating a relaxing summer of learning to settle into our new financial situation and our new "normal".....

April 2008 - I got hit with a wave of health problems that stretched our finances. Freelance was not coming in as heavy as I had hoped. For some reason, my husband and I began looking at houses - "In preparation for next year when we REALLY start looking". However, by the end of the month, we took Big Risk #2 and decided to put our condo up on the market and began looking for a new home.

May 2008 - Our condo went up on the market!

June 2008 - I got the news that Pirate School (my most steady freelance project) was ending. At this point, we had very little interest in our condo, I had NO new freelance projects, and began to worry that I had made a very bad decision. Spiritually, I was at a dramatic low, and was loosing faith in God's plan for my life (if He was actaully planning anything at all). I had a lot of confusion and anger, and was still suffering from my health issues. However, my husband and I chose this month to execute Big Risk #3. My father knew a guy who was selling his house, and suggested we take a drive by to look at it. I fell in love with the house at first sight (I actually had a dream earlier in the year in which I had seen this house, and recognized it as the house from my dream immediately). After touring the house only once, we decided to buy it immediately. (Side note: This was another huge God-send. We should NOT have been able to afford this house. However, miraculously, the owner gave it to us for a price we COULD afford. It was amazing).

July 2008 - My best friend since 2nd grade got married! Then, at the end of the month, we closed on the new house. In other words, we bought a new house before we sold the condo. We decided to rent the house back to the original owners for the rest of the year while they built their new home, and while we continued to try to sell ours, knowing that if we did not sell by the end of the year, we would now have to deal with a double mortgage.....

August 2008 - We dropped the price on the condo in attempt to get more interest. Still no freelance projects.

September 2008 - A good-paying freelance project comes in! This boosted my spirits. Then, Big Risk #4. My husband changed jobs in this rather volatile economic time. We crossed out fingers that we were making the right decision. Later that month, we accepted an offer on the condo! Since our new house was still being leased, we needed to look for a new place to live temporarily. Luckily, our realtor knew a couple who was going to be vacationing in Florida for the winter. They let us live in their house for very low rent! Such a blessing! Then, we took a business trip to NY to meet illustration clients and my agent. This went very well, and was a very great professional experience. Also, another blessing - my sister's cancer went into remission!

October 2008 - We move into our temporary housing and closed on the condo. More freelance work comes in!

November 2008 - My husband's company goes through a down-sizing. Luckily my husband's position was kept. We were SO lucky. More freelance work continued to come in.

December 2008 - Swamped, swamped, swamped with freelance work! It is great! My art has grown so much, and I am loving my new career! My husband loves his new job as well!

Today - we are preparing to move into our new house at the end of the week! We took so many risks this year, and any one of them could have turned out very very badly. However, we were so blessed, and all of them turned out well. Today, I feel renewed emotionally and spiritually, and look forward to starting the next chapter in our life! Happy 2009, everyone!

Hi everyone! I don't know about you, but I always forget about sending out my Christmas cards until the very last minute. I can never find time to just sit down and write them. So this year, I have resolved to finish my Christmas cards over Thanksgiving, so that they can be mailed on December first! But actually, I've been working on Christmas cards since October, because this year, I am sending out cards with my own illustrations on the front. I've been wanting to do that for years! I've been really inspired by porcupines lately, and so I came up with this image of brother and sister porcupines building their version of a snowman. (See the latest piece in my DA gallery. [link] )
If you like the image and would like to get a head start on your holiday mail as well, my holiday greeting cards are available through my store with DeviantArt. The cards are blank inside, so you can write whatever message you want, for whichever holiday you celebrate this season! The image is also available as a postcard. Good luck with your holiday shopping, everyone! (As for me....I am not brave enough to face the crowds at the stores.....I'm ordering my family's gifts online.)

I just got back from a whirlwind business trip to Manhattan! MB Artists had it's annual party (which was actually a series of several parties). I had never been to New York before, and was really glad that my husband and our friend Eric came along for moral support (and to help me navigate the subways....and to carry my bags).

On Wednesday night, we had cocktail party #1 at Moore Brothers wine shop. This was a meet and greet for the artists. I was amazed at how diverse the represented talent was! I met artists who had flow in from England, Mexico, and Argentina, as well as people from all over the United States!

The next day, I met with Mela to talk shop and go over my portfolio. We had talked a lot over email the phone, but it was great to meet her and the rest of the MB Artists crew in person. Also, her apartment is in an amazing location overlooking downtown Manhattan, so before our meeting, Jon (her assistant) took Rome, Eric and me up to the roof to enjoy the amazing view! Later, we ran through Central Park, had a few minutes in the Met (we'll have to come back to enjoy it properly), ate NY hot dogs for lunch, and then I went to my group appointment with HarperCollins. Over the course of the next 24 hours, the MB Artists group had appointments with several other large publishers as well! It was kind of surreal to present my portfolio to so many people from these houses, and obviously a wonderful opportunity. I was really proud and humbled (if that makes sense), to be able to show my work next to the other talented artists in the agency, many of whom are very well published and experienced. Thursday night we had cocktail party #2 at the Spice Market. Wow! All I can say is Wow! Lots of clients and publishers came for drinks, hors d'oeuvres and little desserts. You had to be there. It was an incredible event, but a little intimidating. Fellow artist Tammie Lyon was kind enough to let me hang out with her, meet her clients and eat pineapple wontons with her most of the evening.

Friday was packed with appointments (I was really glad I had postcard give-aways and business cards printed!). After all of the appointments were over (it was a great but intense day), Rome, Eric and I went to Bubba Gump Shrimp for dinner in Times Square, and then went to see The Lion King on Broadway. What an amazing show! I had not seen it before, and was very very impressed by the music and the costumes especially. It was a great way to end the trip!