How much copying is copyright??

[zcferree]

Hello everyone, this is my first post.

I'm a very very new artist, well, I would barely call myself an artist at this point. I've loved to draw my entire life but finally I'm trying to make it a hobby. I purchased a Wacom tablet and I'm drawing almost every day. However, most of the things I'm drawing (for now) are just copies of other cartoons or other drawings from books and such. When I find a small cartoon I enjoy online, I like to copy it but add a few things so it's not an exact replica. Please look at the pictures below and let me know if this is copyright? I plan on starting a blog about my adventure of drawing. I think it will be neat to look back at 5 years from now. I just don't want to post some of my drawings if they are considered copyright.

Thanks in advance for your time!

8177581776

[D Akey]

And that's why there are lawyers. The question on one hand does you credit, while on the other it makes me question how limited you are seeing yourself. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate studying and trying to learn from other people. But I think you really need to stretch a whole lot more than this or you will likely find yourself frustrated and totally lose the potential for the real fun.

Copyright? Depends on what you're planning on using it for. If you're trying to learn how to do it, then it's probably fine. If you're trying to work on technique, work on technique.

Here's a thought: I'm not sure why you would want to become a cartoonist if you can't think of a variation on a theme that's more different than this. This basic idea is someone with a rocket indoors in a tall building standing at the elevator door. Can you not think of a different way to stage this or a different scene for the same gag? Like what else could he use to get high up besides an elevator? Where are some high places? How might you get there? Example, could you see this guy asking a window washer with his rig on ropes to take him up to the roof? Or have a sky scraper under construction with one of the construction workers with a bottle rocket firing it off from a really high girder?

Think in terms of really varying it. You'll grow personally a lot more that way and maybe even get to where you come up with completely original ideas.

Good luck and have fun with it. :):):):):)

[hildee]

If as you say you're starting a blog, the owner of this cartoon may/will object to your rendition if they find it, because it's virtually the same as theirs. In that case, abuse of copyright. Fun though if you're just practising at home and not putting it online anywhere. Of course that's allowed since it's in the privacy of your home and you're not doing anything commercially with it as well. D Akey is correct - depends on use.

Copyright is a whole nother can of worms. I was on redbubble a few years back selling my art, and the thread on copyright on their forum was hundreds of pages long. So many ifs and buts and maybes by members, nothing resolved. Round and round we go type of thing.

So, best response from me? Just do your own art.