Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas Edison
Try this. It's got some good info on the subject.http://www.graphicartistsguild.org/resources/ask-mark/caricatures/
Quote from: Dottonedan on June 06, 2011, 11:44:46 AMTry this. It's got some good info on the subject.http://www.graphicartistsguild.org/resources/ask-mark/caricatures/Actually, I do not agree with that opinion. The original poster (on the graphicsartguild.com) is told that under no circumstances is he allowed to use somebody's likeness, which is not true!The fair use of copyrighted works for purposes such as criticism or comment isnot an infringement of copyright. See 17 U.S.C. § 107. The idea of fair usereflects copyright law’s careful consideration of First Amendment principles, asfair use permits later authors “to use a previous author’s copyright to introducenew ideas or concepts to the public.”
Dear Mark,As a budding artist, I'd like to know something about behind-the-scenes protocol. I have only one question:Do you have to request permission or otherwise contract with persons or corporations, (such as Star Trek), before rendering caricatures of them and selling them? The reason I ask is because I would like to sell caricatures on t-shirts of famous and fictional people and am ignorant of copyright law regarding caricatures. I cannot seem to find an answer.Thank you so much,T-shirt Trekkie
It appears that is the guild had its way completely, many of us would not have been able to cut our teeth on artists like Jack Davis, Will Elder, and Harvey Kurtzman in Humbug and Mad, and the other great satire comix and Mags of our youth.Then, we have political cartoonists as well. Surely their caricatures of famous people are legitimate fair use.
You just can't create a cartoon that looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger and sell it on tee shirts for mass production and call that fair use.
Quote from: Dottonedan on June 06, 2011, 02:47:29 PMYou just can't create a cartoon that looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger and sell it on tee shirts for mass production and call that fair use.If it is just him and nothing else, that is correct. But if there is a donkey kicking him out of the Governor's office with a tag line "I'll be Back" crossed out, that would be OK. So, yes, under some circumstances it can be done legally.