This is a question I’ve been pondering a bit lately on Hive with people discussing plagiarism vs. original art, and now that I'm planning to start posting on the Alien Art Hive Community I want to get a good idea of what art is considered OK to post.
As well as trying to get my head around what is considered OK, this post is also a bit of an introduce myself to the Alien Art Community. Next month will be my forth anniversary of posting on Steemit and then on Hive, but I've never really been active on any communities, so this community stuff is all new to me. I'm into photography, drawing, painting, image editing, and photo art edits.
Here are 10 of my recent pictures, that I’ll give my own percent score on, starting with 100% original and working down to 50% or less. I'd call anything above 50% my own original art, but this is subjective and totally arbitrary. And that is the nature of art!
All these pictures have been through a similar process of digital editing, including being cropped to a 1x1 ratio, and finishing off with a black frame and my www.frot.co.nz URL. I’d be happy to post any of these pictures on my Hive posts, and already have with some of them, but I’m not a commercial artist, and I imagine some of them would cross an imaginary line in the sand for commercial use. But I have no idea where that line would be. I’d say anything above 50% is fully legit on Hive. Your comments and opinions are very welcome.
1. FREAK DOG TOMATO THING - 100%
For my first picture I’ll go totally safe – this is a painting I did with acrylics on canvas. It’s all from the deranged contents of my subconscious, so I’ll call this 100% original.
2. STRANGE SCENE IN THE STREET WITH DOG PISSING - 100%
Most of my art is based on drawings I randomly do using pen on paper and then add colours. This is the sort of bizarre stuff I seem to keep drawing - it's all mine but don't ask me to explain it's deeper meanings!
3. GROOVING OUT AT THE SUPERMARKET - 80%
This is not a photo from a nightclub (nightclubs used to look like this in my youth) – it’s actually taken in a supermarket. The guy in the photo just happened to be standing in line in front of me. The original photo looks fairly different, and although the subject might be totally oblivious to the fact that he was being photographed, I’d use this image anywhere and would give it an 80% score.
4.BIG BIRD IS LURKING IN THE BUSHES - 80%
This is a photo I took of an ornament in a garden. It is just a mass produced garden ornament that belongs to my sister in law so I’m not likely to be sued for copyright! I’d say this is pretty safe ground and score it 80%. Not my original sculpture but the photo is all mine, and I’d happily use this image anywhere.
5. GET THAT FUCKING CAMERA OUT OF MY FACE - 70%
Strangers in the street are one of my favourite photo subjects. I regard anything in the public domain as mine to record, but some people disagree. Would the people I photograph all like me using their photos online? Hell no! - in fact the ones that look pissed off are often my favourites. This lady did not look impressed that I was taking her photo. I like this photo but would be a bit careful about where I posted it. So 70% on this one I guess.
6. A COUPLE OF ABORIGINAL GUYS – 60%
This a drawing I did based on part of a photo of two Australian aboriginal guys. But it's not my photo and I no longer even have a copy of the original. My drawing is a bit different to the photo but probably fairly recognizable. I’d call this my own art but wouldn’t use it for an advertising campaign!. I’ll score this as 60% original because although I’ve changed it a lot, I’d be on shaky ground if anyone asked about the original photo.
7. SNAKE PSYCHEDELIC PARTY - 60%
This drawing was originally done by my friend @in2itiveart – I just coloured it in and did some edits – but she was happy for me to do that and liked how my version looked. I’d call it a collaboration, and would ask permission to use it commercially for any purpose. And if it made a bunch of money I'd give her half, But I'll call it 60% because I know she wouldn't mind me posting it on Hive.
8. AN INSECT AT THE WETA WORKSHOP - 50%
I take photos of all sorts of things, and with things like cars and motorbikes I don't hesitate to call it my own work. But 3D art is trickier. This is a photo of a sculpture I took at the display at the Weta Workshop here in Wellington - https://wetaworkshop.com . My edit does look a bit different to the original, but the original was very cool and I make no claim to there being much of my original art here. So it's my photo but not really my art. And this is based on a photo of a model from a very commercial source. Where is the line?
9. SKULLS GETTING MARRIED ON A WALL - 50%
Street art is another thing I like to take photos of – It’s not my art though, and I have no idea who originally painted it. So although it is my photo taken in the public domain, it is very recognizable and not my original work. I like to edit photos of street art but have no idea if that is considered OK. I guess if I included my original unedited photo of the street art and made it clear that the art is not my own, that would be OK?
10. WONDER WOMAN DOES QUAD - ?%
I like to do edits of random pictures from the internet, and from my own image collection. Pictures of Wonder Woman are all over the place, and I have no idea where this original photo came from to start with (but I do have a copy of it). Here I have edited it into four different coloured copies, but Andy Warhol used to do that sort of thing a lot. Is this above or below the 50% line? I have no idea… Again, would including the original image and making it clear that it's not mine make it OK to post it as art on Hive?
Where do you draw your lines?
After it leaves your head and is put onto a medium that can be seen and is experienced by any other person, the art is no longer your own.
Our problem with copyright is that we live in a world where you have to make money to live.
And so, we want to retain ownership for commercial reasons.
We also do not like other people using our images / media and saying it is their own.
This is sorta an ego thing and it is based on a world where lies are common-place and people want to look better in other people's eyes without putting in the hard work.
Both of these reason will be ... just plain gone in the next century, maybe even in the next 50 years.
The future, you will have your home (which is all paid for) and green house where you grow all your own food, a renewable source of energy and internets 3.0 ( i call it the interconnects.)
So, if you want to make art, you do so in your free time because you want to.
And one piece of art moves other people to make other art (sometimes derivative from your work)
This is the way art really works.
One inspiration causing another inspiration.
And one other piece is that it really is not your art.
The inspiration came from a higher source.
And that higher source can be tapped into by multiple people.
Many the times have i seen several people all invent the same things at the same time.
The Wright Brothers only beat a French guy by a couple of weeks for powered flight.
French guy - what do you mean French guy? - a New Zealander first invented the aeroplane before the Wright brothers!
Richard William Pearse (3 December 1877 – 29 July 1953) was a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering aviation experiments. Witnesses interviewed many years afterward claimed that Pearse flew and landed a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, nine months before the Wright brothers flew. Documentary evidence for these claims remains open to interpretation and dispute, and Pearse himself never made such claims. In a newspaper interview in 1909, he said he did not "attempt anything practical ... until 1904".
Biographer Gordon Ogilvie credits Pearse with "several far-sighted concepts: a monoplane configuration, wing flaps and rear elevator, tricycle undercarriage with steerable nosewheel, and a propeller with variable-pitch blades.
Pearse ended his flying experiments about 1911, but continued aviation work, attempting to develop a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and rotorcraft. Late in life he became bitter and paranoid and was admitted to a mental hospital in 1951, where he remained until his death.
See? Its in the aethers. Thousands of years man has looked at birds and thought of flying, and then blam! People around the world making aircraft.
i have even heard two people coming up with the same song.
Yes - I know you mean simultaneously but I still can't get my head around this example - so brilliant, but sued for plagiarizing the Rolling Stones - which they did - but it's brilliant anyway, and the one take video is a work of genius
Bittersweet Symphony was indeed a good song and the video was brilliant, almost an act of god.
And, if this guy was plagiarizing the Rolling Stones...
... if this is the level we have to go to, to be original, the bar is set way to high.
The Rolling Stones are ancient news. They should be pretty much public domain for artists.
Not to directly use their songs, but they are inspiration, from two generations ago.
That they are able to sue this far after they put their songs out into the world
only makes this world a poorer place.
I don't think anyone really got their heads around this one...
"Bitter Sweet Symphony" is a song by English alternative rock band the Verve. It is the lead track on their third studio album, Urban Hymns (1997). It is based on a sample it uses from the Andrew Loog Oldham orchestral cover of the Rolling Stones' song "The Last Time", and involved some legal controversy surrounding a plagiarism charge. As a result, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were added to the songwriting credits, and all royalties from the song went to former Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein. In April 2019, Jagger and Richards signed over all their publishing for the song to Richard Ashcroft. The song was released in June 1997 by Hut Recordings as the first single from the album, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart and remaining in the chart for three months.
Acclaimed in music publications, it was named Rolling Stone and NME Single of the Year for 1997, and is considered one of the defining songs of the Britpop era. The accompanying music video features lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft walking down a busy London pavement – in Hoxton Street, Hoxton – oblivious to what is going on around and refusing to change his stride or direction throughout. At the 1998 Brit Awards, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was nominated for Best British Single. The song was released in the US as a single in March 1998 by Virgin Records America, reaching No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the music video was nominated for Video of the Year, Best Group Video, and Best Alternative Video at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. In 1999, the song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
Good luck being accepted in your new Alien Art Hive Community...They should make you president if they had any sense...
Many thanks for the compliment - there are some amazing artists posting on there and because a lot of what I do seems a bit random I wanted to check in and make sure I wasn't too fast and loose!
Interestingly, my daughter is doing creative arts at the moment for her SACE (highschool certificate) and the subject of street art came up. Apparently, because it is public domain, you can find way to make money forum other people's street art, which I find a bit of a moral grey area. I'm guessing you can't claim it as your own, though.
There seems to be a real range of opinions as to what is acceptable on Hive, though. I think each art community has their own particular guidelines. Personally, as long as you're honest about whether your work is adding onto something else, I think you can be credited for your own creativity on it. I'm sure others would disagree, though.
I often take photos of people in the street and then edit them and post them online. I know a lot of artists think that is barely any more artistic than taking selfies, but I like doing it and think it's cool being able to use modern technology to make instant art. But if stuff like that is considered too lowbrow I can easily not do those sorts of posts. Just testing the waters here!
Yet photography is also an art form. 🤔
@trucklife-family often edits her photos for posts in a similar way to this. Although she doesn't do them as stand alone posts, they are certainly eye catching.
I'm planning to do a post of pictures of people using cell phones soon!
They look like they're all walking on a giant mattress! 😁
It's a street in town - Chews Lane - with cobblestones - I often take photos there - people look more interesting there for some reason
It's great that you've been observing these conversations about art on Hive, since it's monetized and also decentralized we have some interesting considerations! Let me first say I think your art is really cool and you are definitely welcome to post here! My biggest requirement is honesty, while I prefer original art I think that really limits creativity and some people can do amazing transformational things while pulling from other sources. If you are honest about your process and where you get your inspirations, references images and don't try to pass off an artwork as it is you will be good!
Thanks for your feedback Julia - I saw a few posts like this: https://peakd.com/hive-156509/@onchainart/onchainart-rules-update
"No Filters or AI Artwork - Again, there is nothing wrong with this sort of work, but I don't think it's a good fit for OCA and there is a Community where I think it's a better fit at this point. Alien Art Hive is a great Community Admin'ed by the amazing @juliakponsford and I think that sort of work is a great fit for that Community"
and was a bit intimidated - it's fair to say I'm "not serious" - that is some pretty amazing art but very not me, so I'm glad they pointed me in the right direction!!
Yeah that's the fun of communities, anyone can create one and enforce whatever rules they like. It's good because it creates a curated experience! Your style in this one reminds me a bit of @RichardFYates of you don't k ow him you should check out his art!
Followed him just now - thanks
👋 Hi @frot, I was flipping through the blockchain and stumbled on your work! You've been upvoted by Sketchbook / a community for design and creativity. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon.
✅ Join the Sketchbook Community
Many thanks - that looks cool too - I'll check you guys out as well