honor over dollars

[Gil]

I don't get this thread. At all.

Just like many here, I can't understand how you can not draw something if you have 10 years of practice. I mean, what's the difference between drawing a horse and a boat? The answer is: nothing. They can both be deconstructed in simple shapes, there's references, books on how to animate them, etc. If you know how to deconstruct something, then you can deconstruct anything. If you can't deconstruct objects, then you probably don't have the skills you should have after 10 years.

The 10 years thing is silly too. I have been doing pixel art since I had a computer, 17 years ago. I have been seriously deconstructing, constructing and looking at art with the right mindset for maybe 5 years. 2 were spent drawing contours from live model nudes, 2 were spent deconstructing all sorts of things into barebone representations and I have now spent about 1 year on the construction part, learning how to represent the things I can now see. I have also learned more in the previous 2 years (of sketching!), than in the other 15 years combined.

[WM]

if u were asked to animate a galloping horse, would you rotoscope that lithograph or would u borrow leg positions from the shinobi sprite?

i better stop derailing this thread that is all.

Last time I had to animate a horse I used the Muybridge image you posted, sketched a bunch of the frames and them cleaned it up. I didn't take any pieces of it other than the information I got from looking at it.

Which is exactly how is should be done  


So far I haven't seen an argument for the ripping/editing of others sprites other than "well, if you can get away with it, there's no problem".


@TheOne: I wish you would quit dismissing our opinions because we're "hobbyists"; we have knowledge on the subject (and art in general), and whether or not we made a career out of pixeling is irrelevent.

[Elk]

I also don't know if a US Navy Sailor who's been living in Japan for 3 1/2 years has 10 years experience in pixelart

[Dusty]

http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/47246.htm

The concept art for that avatar was made for the person I did the pixel version for. Both were made for the same person, and she really liked the concept art, but the person had never finished it and she was hoping to have a more finalized version. Seeing as my only digital art skill is pixel art, it was the only way I could help her out.

Also, you should stop making assumptions as to whether or not we are professional or 'hobbyists'. I doubt you can sit and tell us which one of us is making money with our pixel art or not.

[Atnas]

If I can draw horses or not irrelevant because I just said that as an example.

Apologies, though your original post presented an example job, your inability to draw horses was stated in a real manner. I tacked on that "reassess artistic abilities" part because of... that avatar.   .o.

But yeah, regardless, the frank answer for this hypothetical artist: learn to draw horses. There really isn't another option, if hypothetical artist wants to be Dr. Frankenstein, he'll just be spiting himself, besides being a gigantic fagott.

[big brother]

I'm probably just echoing earlier sentiments, but from the viewpoint of artistic integrity, modifying, tracing, or ripping violates every shred of creativity in my body. From the viewpoint of a freelancer, you can be financially liable. A standard contract includes a clause that affirms you have the intellectual rights to the art that you are either licensing or transferring to their ownership. The same contract will usually have an indemnity clause, protecting the client from damages you might incur. Although many clients won't recognize ripped art, the contract's validity extends beyond their memory. If down the road, someone were to catch your indiscretion and notify the copyright holder, the client will pass the lawsuit onto you. It's an unlikely event, but it would end your career. 

That being said, I've encountered less scrupulous employers. When I worked at Gameloft, ripping art and indexing photos was standard procedure. I remember one title that featured effects ripped directly from a Capcom game (they didn't bother to even edit it or modify it slightly).  It's hard to stay creative and maintain your integrity in a climate like that.

[tetsuya_shino]

I'm probably just echoing earlier sentiments, but from the viewpoint of artistic integrity, modifying, tracing, or ripping violates every shred of creativity in my body. From the viewpoint of a freelancer, you can be financially liable. A standard contract includes a clause that affirms you have the intellectual rights to the art that you are either licensing or transferring to their ownership. The same contract will usually have an indemnity clause, protecting the client from damages you might incur. Although many clients won't recognize ripped art, the contract's validity extends beyond their memory. If down the road, someone were to catch your indiscretion and notify the copyright holder, the client will pass the lawsuit onto you. It's an unlikely event, but it would end your career. 

That being said, I've encountered less scrupulous employers. When I worked at Gameloft, ripping art and indexing photos was standard procedure. I remember one title that featured effects ripped directly from a Capcom game (they didn't bother to even edit it or modify it slightly).  It's hard to stay creative and maintain your integrity in a climate like that.

Thank you! The whole point of this thread was if you could get away with it, would you? It was never a question of if I should do it or not. I had said as much since the oringal post, if anyone bothered to notice. big brother's post proves what I firgured what was going on already; that people are already using stolen art in games.

It bothers me that all I tried to do was present a hypothetical question for everyone to ponder and nearly all the replies are misguided and/or baseless personal attacks.

"reassess artistic abilities" because of my avator? I shouldn't even have to explain this to you, but I will anyways. My avator does not infer an ability OR inability to draw horses. Try applying your own foolish logic to your own avator. That's the limit of your skill? That's the only thing you can draw? Idiot.

There is no doubt there is some artistic talent on this board. Although it could do with a good dose of common sense. This was never a debate. I just wanted to hear everyone opinions on a hot topic. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Indigo]

I wouldn't take too much offense, tetsuya.  The way the post read and the naturally provocative moral question that accompanied it made it hard for artists not to be passionate with their responses - even to the point of assuming that you were considering it.

[big brother]

For the record, my avatar is still awesome after all these years.

[ptoing]

For the record, my avatar is still awesome after all these years.

As is Doom \o/

Anyway, tetsuya, I gave you a strike in account of calling Atnas an idiot. That was uncalled for.
Also your original post did not sound overly hypothetical so you should not wonder when people get it the wrong way.
That said, your avatar does not look like you do pixel art since 10 years, or at least not with focus.