Photomanip News and Feature - 09 Sept

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Our photomanipulation community rocks.



Hello, dA!

I am excited to share with you some of the exciting things going on in the photomanipulation community. There are many, many ways to get involved-- and I hope you will! :XD: The thing about belonging to a community is that it's kind-of like a team, and we sink or swim together. :D

Let's get started!


In this issue . . .



  • Important advisory regarding Premades
  • Please welcome . . .
  • Creative Challenges
  • Photomanipulation Month
  • Gallery Updates
  • Halloween
  • Contests
  • In other news . . .
  • Feature


IMPORTANT: Regarding Premades



There has been a lot of talk recently-- a LOT of talk-- about premades and what is and is not permissible to use for stock. I've had a lot of people ask me to write articles about it, but really I have been writing them for a couple of months now (see my previous journals and news articles). :XD: Moreover, I think that there have been some really wonderful articles that have come out recently; here are the two most prominent:

PREMADES #Photomanipulated SubmissionRules CHANGE!First, let me clarify: I'm not just talking about premade backgrounds, but also about cut-out stock and brushes or anything else where people use images (their own or other people's) to create the resource. And while this is mainly geared toward members of Photomanipulated, I do hope that this journal will also be able to shed some light on things for others.
Personally, I've never been a fan of premade backgrounds, but I'm also not the type of person who thinks everyone else should do as I say just because I have a bad feeling about something. So far, that held true for premades: I steered clear of them because I feared copyright issues, but I didn't have much more than a bad feeling and some research on my part to confirm this. Now, an official dA blog has strengthened my believe that as an artist, using premades will do you more harm than good.
Copyright is something that often falls by the wayside with premades. And if it turns out the image
Premade Backgrounds and Group Submission ChangesToday we’re going to address the “Circle of Stock.” Cue Disney’s “The Lion King” theme song and call me Mufasa. Just like in the circle of life, what we do affects another group, and returns to affect us again. We have a responsibility to the artists that use our stock to provide legitimate and safe stock resources. As an administrator for a few art groups as well as stock groups, I have seen what happens to the artists who use invalid stock resources. They have had their art declined, or had to replace stock elements through no fault of their own.  This especially includes those who includes celebrity or otherwise copyrighted material, even if it was uploaded to the Resources and Stocks section of :devart:. It isn’t fair to the artists who use the “stock” and hurts the credibility of not only the stock provider who uploads it, but the stock community itself.
Premade backgrounds have always seemed to be flo


I don't see the point of my reiterating what has already been said, because what people have said is correct. Here is the bottom line:

  • YOU are responsible for making sure you have PERMISSION to use the items you are using as stock. That means that, if you cannot prove that you have permission to use them, then you shouldn't use them. How do you know if you have permission to use them? If they are on dA, you should check the stock provider's rules and follow them 100%. If you are using stock from off of dA, look for the user license (or terms & conditions) and check out what it has to say. You are looking for permission to change or make "derivative" works out of that image. You must have explicit permission to manipulate those images before you use them in your work. If there is no license, be very wary. If you do not have permission to use a given resource, your work can be reported, scrapped, or deleted. Why? Because it's a copyright violation, and dA takes those very seriously.
  • Regarding premades, you need to make sure that the person from whom you are getting the premade actually has permission to distribute that premade as stock. In other words, where did they get the stock that went into making that premade? A lot of premades were created using stock from sxc.hu or "pay" sites like shutterstock.com or dreamstime.com. THIS IS ILLEGAL. Why? Because those sites do not allow "redistribution" of that image as stock. If you use a premade that is not legal to make a creation, expect that creation to be scrapped or removed altogether. Why? It's a copyright violation. It doesn't matter how long you worked on that piece, how many faves it received, or even how popular you are. Check the stock for your premades.
  • If the premade does not list the stock from which it was created, I would advise you not to use it. Why? Because I've found that most of the time they are not telling you where they got it because it is from an illegal source, and if that is proven, their stock -- and your manipulation-- will be removed. Of course, sometimes stockers use their own images to create premades, and that's fine. But that needs to be stated. I have turned down some really fantastic DD suggestions over the past week simply because the people used premades that did not credit their stock resources.


So, there you have it, in general. I hope that clarifies why I am requiring direct links on DD suggestions, and why so many groups have started requiring them for submissions. :heart: It is a matter of copyright policy, and we want to be in compliance. I don't know how to do that reliably without direct links. (And yes, for pay-for stock, at the very least you need to say WHERE you got it, e.g. "Stock from dreamstime.com." Just because you purchased it doesn't make it "yours" to do whatever you want with; the original artist does retain some rights. Even if the photographer/stock provider does not require attribution, dA does.)


Please Welcome . . .



We have designated this segment of our newsletter for introducing a new member of our photomanipulation community. Well, this week we will feature someone who, while still technically new, is actually pretty well-known! Please help me welcome Vicky, XilaPhoenixArt!


Q: What was it that drew you to dA?

I was roaming around on dA long time already to admire all the great pieces of art that I can find here. Suddenly after a long experience in Paint Shop Pro, I changed to Photoshop and I discovered its great possibilities and even more: Photomanipulation. I started to collect and bookmark all kinds of tutorials I've found here on dA and began creating. After a while I finally found the nerve to make an account and show my first arts.


Q: What difficulties or challenges have you faced as a new member?

Courage. As I thought that everybody else was more skilled and advanced than me, it was hard to dare show my own works. A big challenge also is to produce unique pieces, cause it feels like everything has been done already multiple times.

Q: What are some of the good things? What has made it easier to function or be a new member here?

The support and friendship I find here is really heartwarming! I'm so touched by that. There is also a huge variety of tutorials and articles wich I learn so much from. Also checking other artist's creations gives me inspiration and helps me to become more skilled. What I love a lot here in this great photomanipulation community is the feeling I'm a part of a wonderful family!

Q: What can we, as artists who have been here longer, do better to support you?

It would sure help if you all would give us more feedback on what we do wrong or what we can improve. I almost always get compliments like: "great job", "it's beautiful" and I do love that, cause it gives a warm feeling to be appreciated. But I really also like to know what more I can do, I'm eager to learn more you see. And secondly: keep making those fabulous creations, for me it's a push to keep trying to become better :)

:thumb325030097::thumb319831695::thumb308093902:


Thank you, Vicky! :heart:


Creative Challenges



CatherineCruz and I are super excited to announce the start of our Creative Challenges! The point of these challenges is to get people to (1) learn a new skill and (2) think more creatively. You'll have to use an awesome stock piece AND a tutorial or guide to create something of your choice! :D We will try to have these challenges at least once per month, but we may do them more frequently. Check out the first challenge here:

Creative Challenge #1What is this?
Helloooo photomanipulators!
After a bit of ado, we are happy to introduce some new challenges that we hope will inspire some more creativity in our community as well as encourage ALL of us (ourselves included) to learn some new skills and expand our repertoire! :XD: For these challenges, we will require the use of one piece of stock that, while lovely and very useful, might typically be considered "overused," and one new skill or technique.
We know there are a lot of challenges out there already, but here are the goals for ours:
:pointr: To address concerns of "copying" and "lack of creativity" by challenging people to think more creatively about their art,
:pointr: To help members of our community learn more and expand their skills by challenging them to learn new techniques, and
:pointr: To maintain the focus of our community on art, growth, and support. :XD:
Let's get started!
How does it work?
H


These challenges aren't about winning or competing or getting prizes-- they are about enjoying ourselves and doing something positive to better ourselves and the community. :heart:


Photomanipulation Month



Here is what we are proposing so far for Photomanipulation Month (October 1-28): :plotting:

  • Theme: Illumination (enlightenment, rising to a new level of skill or thinking; also literal light)
  • Contest: "The Anti-Me" (create something that is completely different from what you would normally do, with the theme 'Enlightenment')
  • Challenge: Tutorial Challenge
  • SURPRISE Kick-off Festivities!
  • Many in-depth interviews
  • Unity Quilt (everyone gets a small piece of "canvas" and we put it together into something larger)
  • "Redline" activity (you submit work you want to improve, and we mark it up LITERALLY with red or other colors to show you how to correct any problems)
  • A Community Forum to discuss issues impacting our community
  • So much more!

There are so many ways for you to get involved! You can do anything from helping plan and prepare the activities to helping promote, inform the groups what's going on, etc. We need you! Won't you help? :D


Gallery Update



What changes do you think need to be made to our gallery (Digital Art > Photomanipulation)? Do you want to be part of my team to help discuss the descriptions of each category (Fantasy, Dark, Surreal, etc.)? I am looking for a few VERY RELIABLE people to help me with this important dA project. Send me a note if you're interested! :D This is an opportunity to get involved with making the gallery more user-friendly and helping us identify ways it can be improved.


Halloween



The rumors are true. :XD: There just might be something in the works for Halloween. Something big. :D But, we need more hands on the project. We also need some groups to get involved. Intrigued? Note me!


Current Contests



Here are the contests and activities that I know about that are going on in our community right now. If you know of something that I missed, please let me know so I can add it for the next newsletter. :D



Other News






Feature



Selected by michelle--renee



Selected by Aeirmid





See you next week! :heart:

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