Deviation Actions
FAQ below the rules; please look there before asking questions!</u>
First I'd like to say that most of you using my stock do a great job of crediting and notifying, and many of you do ask my permission before posting on external sites or using my stock commercially. I'm very greatful for that, and enormous thanks to all of you responsible stock users
Unfortunately, however, not everyone pays attention or even cares about stock rules. Often all that's lacking is education; after teaching people about how stock and stock rules work they usually correct the problem, and frequently learn from their mistakes and don't violate stock rules again. This is one purpose to these expanded rules: to more clearly set out my full rules in writing so that artists don't need to ask questions to clarify. The second type of copyright offender is people who steal and abuse stock without caring. Notes and messages are useless, and the only weapon I have against them is a clear and thorough "terms of use" that I can point to when copyright disputes arise.
These rules may be very strict and far too lengthy, but the main and most important rule is simple: talk to me. I often bend them if a responsible and polite artist asks, or if there are special circumstances and some part of my rules get in the way. I don't want to restrict your art or what you can do with it, I just want to do my best to insure people use my stock responsibly and don't abuse or misuse it.
Can I use your stock?
1. CREATE
Download my stock and start creating art! You don't need to ask my permission first as long as you follow the rules below.
2. EDUCATE
If you're a student you can use my stock for any kind of project or work you're doing for school without restriction, barring commercial use (selling something made with my work). Making a poster for prom? Go ahead! Doing a photomanipulation in photoshop as an assignment? Go ahead! The more people use freely-licensed stock for school projects, instead of stuff "stolen" from Google, the better. Tell your classmates they can find free stock on dA too!
3. REFERENCE & PRINT
You may use my stock as an artistic reference for all forms of traditional art, and as a reference in digital painting or drawing, without restriction. Using the stock image directly, such as in photomanipulation or "tracing" (whether digital or traditional), does NOT count. You may sell prints or copies of any form of traditional art or digital painting made entirely by hand and strictly referencing my stock without restriction, on or off deviantART. Commercial use, such as book covers or t-shirts, of art which strictly referenced my stock is permitted. If I find that my stock was traced and then passed off as being free-hand, I reserve the right to have you remove/retract all commercial uses & offerings that traced my stock.
4. BE NICE
You may NOT use my stock in art depicting the following:
Hate towards racial group, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or any other similar factor, including "hate propaganda"; Racism or discrimination based on racial group, nationality, or any other factor of race or colour; Sanctioned abuse toward any human or animal;*see FAQ below for details Outright pornography. Follow dA rules regarding what is considered porn - nudes and suggestive nudes are permitted, but what dA considers "pornographic imagery" is not.
I reserve the right to have you take down artwork using my stock that promotes hate, racism, or is pornographic in nature, and the right to have such works removed.
5. PRINT
You can submit any artwork made from my stock as dA-only prints, with the requirement that more work goes into your art than just a filter, photoshop action, colour change, black & white conversion, or addition of texture; every use of my resources submitted as a print MUST consist of substantial manipulation. You don't need to ask first, but you must let me know immediately after the piece is submitted as a print. If the image made from my stock that is being offered as a print violates the "must be substantially manipulated" rule, I reserve the right to have it removed as a print.
6. COMMERCIAL USE? ASK!
You may NOT use my stock for commercial purposes, outside the afore-mentioned deviantART-only prints, without first obtaining explicit written permission from me.
If you want to use my stock for a commercial purpose (book cover, magazine, non-dA prints, etc.) send me a note or an email to ayelie.images(at)gmail.com with details about the project, what stock you want to use, and the scope of the project. I don't usually ask for financial compensation unless you're making a reasonable profit; if you are, I will always inform you of the amount I may request before you complete the project.
7. Finally, DON'T STEAL.
You may NOT claim my stock as your own, re-upload my stock, or post art using my stock as "photography" or to the photography gallery (even if it is just a texture over your photo), and you MAY NOT create resources using my stock in any way.
You may NOT use my stock in copyright violations, including but not limited to works made with, from, or using any unfree, restricted-copyright image or resource, such as the following: an image found on google or another search engine; an image found on any website which does not have copyright information stating it is freely licensed; a photograph of a celebrity or other well-known public figure not taken by you and not licensed under a Creative Commons license (search here for freely-licensed images you can use); an image found on a fan site, blog, or other untrustworthy website; an image from or of a television show or a movie - whether a screenshot, a press image, an image taken from a poster/DVD cover/book/etc. of the show/movie, or an image taken from a website (official or not) for the show/movie; and any image from a published book, magazine, or other printed material in book, booklet, or magazine form.
I reserve the right to have you remove images using my stock that violate the terms above, or take action to have them removed. Using my stock in works containing the above content is theft, and I will report it as such.
What do I do when posting my artwork?
1. CREDIT
On-dA: add :devAyelie-stock: or :iconAyelie-stock: and the http:// address to the stock image in your deviation description. This will provide a link to my page as well as a link to the stock image, so others can find it as well. For subscribers, you can also credit using my name or icon and a thumb of the stock you used.
Off-dA: you must include a link to me, my gallery, or the stock image used, somewhere on the same page as your work; if not possible, you must put the URL on the image itself.
See bottom of entry for an example of proper credits
2. NOTIFY
On-dA: You must send me a note or leave a comment on the stock image you used, and provide a link to your final work.
Off-dA: If you're posting an image in which you used my stock somewhere online other than deviantART, send me a note letting me know where it's going to be posted. If you don't have a deviantART account, you can e-mail me at ayelie.images(at)gmail.com.
3. TELL
You must let me know if you're posting your artwork somewhere off-dA so I can bookmark it. If you post art using my stock on a porn site, racist/hate site or a site supporting/promoting racism and hate, I reserve the right to have you take it down, or take legal action to have it removed.
FAQ
1. Can I post my picture on ponybox/other RPG?
Yes you can, as long as you properly credit following the guidelines in my rules above.
2. What do you mean by "You can use this in prints, as long as more work goes into it than just a recolour or retouch"?
If you take one of my stock images, of a flower for example, and turn it black and white and fiddle with contrast, you can NOT submit that as a print; it's just a slightly changed version of my original photo. If, however, you take that flower stock image, put it on a background with mountains and grass, put a fairy sitting on the flower, and add some texture or sparkle, you CAN submit that as a print; it's a new piece of art made by you, and is unique and separate from my original stock image.
3. What do you mean by "No sanctioned abuse toward any human or animal"?
I do not permit my stock to be used in any way that sanctions abuse toward humans or animals - whether domestic violence, child abuse, killing/slaughtering/physically abusing animals, etc.. This does not include awareness pieces about such subjects! If you're making a poster to raise awareness about domestic violence, by all means use my stock. It is works that support or condone such violence that I do not permit - even if it is comedic. I don't find abuse funny and my stock may not be used in such pieces.
4. Why do you allow deviantART-only prints, but not prints outside dA?
Prints on dA are very easy to track down and check, to make sure they're not violating Stock Use Rule #5 above. People sometimes do take a nice stock photo, make it black and white, and try to sell it as a print - great for them that they can make things black and white, but there's very little talent required to do that. In my opinion, making a profit off a couple of clicks to change colours when the original photo is not theirs just isn't fair, to me or any other stocker who puts time and effort into creating these images for other artists to use. Restricting allowed prints to dA means I can check for this much more easily.
As Stock Use Rule #6 states, if you want to sell something using my stock as a print or any other medium outside of dA, just ask. If you're following the rest of my rules, most of the time I AM going to say yes, or work out a reasonable scenario that benefits both of us.
5. Can I share your stock with people on websites outside of deviantART?
You may share my stock in the form of links back to the files here on deviantART, yes! You can post a small preview image on external sites like blogs or in news articles, but you must link to the deviantART description page to get the full-size download. Please do not upload my files to external websites, and do not link directly to the download link. When people click on a hotlink they get the file immediately, and bypass the dA page that contains my rules of usage and other important information.
6. Can I use your stock to make resources?
No you may not. This means you cannot use any of my resources to create new resources, whether premades, lit templates, textures, brushes, or any other resource that is offered for use, whether free or paid.
I did allow this at one time, with the caveat that I wanted to be informed when a resource made with/from my stock was used; however, when I checked some months later I found that resources made with my stock had been used several times and I was never informed. If you really want to use my stock in a new resource and are willing to spend the cash, you can buy the rights from me; send me a note and we'll talk it over.
7. Why do you have so many rules?
I don't have a ton of rules to make your life harder, to cause problems, or to stop people from using my stock in their art. I have a ton of rules to protect myself and my stock.
For the most part, people are great and follow my rules pretty well; however, there still are a lot of people who either don't care about the stockers' rules, or simply aren't educated about them. I try to educate people and give them gentle reminders if they neglected to credit or notify, since often they simply forgot, and with a kind note everything is sorted out.
But there are also people out there who take stock and do whatever they want with it; people steal stock and post it elsewhere as their own, people who take stock and sell it as photography prints, and people who take stock and use it for commissioned web designs, and people who use stock in photographs which they later sell - all without crediting or informing the stock artist, and usually without giving a hoot about the rules.
Here is where my extended and very thorough "terms of use" come in. While my rules can't physically stop people from stealing or misusing my stock, once someone has posted whatever piece violates my rules I can point to these and say "it was clearly laid out in the rules, and by ignoring them you're violating my copyright".
Please see the following FAQs for help or more information:
- FAQ #81: How can I create links to other deviants, deviations, or websites?
- FAQ #217: What are "Stock and Resources" and can I use them in my submissions?
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Example credits:</u>
Resources used:
Texture is The Desolation of van Gogh by Ayelie-stock Flower by Ayelie-stock ayelie-stock.deviantart.com/ar…
