Copyright issues when tracing photos for manga background?

gabsimoes 2017-04-15 20:41:12 UTC #1

Hello.
After researching a bit, I found that many manga artists use real photos and Trace over them for backgrounds. This makes their at much more beautiful. Of course, most of them have a team that works for them, including one or more person just to draw the backgrounds and take pictures.

Well, we, as amateur artists, don't have this honor. We are not paid for our art, and can't work full time on our comics sure to work, studies, etc. So I wonder if we could use the taken photos as backgrounds, those at Google images, or even royalty free ones (those tend to suck, unfortunately).

Does anyone know of any artist that good into trouble for doing this? Is it possible that someone will even find out? Since there are literally millions of pictures scattered all over the internet. And why would it be illegal? Because you can Trace over a real persons picture and it would be fine, but why tracing over a city picture illegal?
I thought about using SketchUp, but would I have to build the 3d models myself? Of a whole city?
And finally, my manga is medieval fantasy, so it would be even harder to find pictures for such material (like castles, villages, cities, etc)
What are your opinions on this?
Thanks in advance.

keii4ii 2017-04-15 21:21:51 UTC #2

It wouldn't, though. Portrait photos can be copyrighted just like any other photos.

One photographer I used to follow had his landscape photo copied into a painting without permission. The photographer got that sorted out in his favor.

The real question is: would the photographer care if they found out? If you don't know the answer for the specific photos you want to use, assume they would mind, and don't use them.

Don't rely on "what are the chances the photographer would even find out"... As creators, we owe it to ourselves to respect a creator's rights!

I would stick to stock photos if I were you. There are LOTS of those, including castle photos.

I don't use SketchUp so take it with a grain of salt. I think the SU community has lots of premade assets you can use, so you might not have to make your own from scratch?

shazzbaa 2017-04-15 22:05:32 UTC #3

Yeah, a photograph is a piece of art that the photographer owns the rights to.

So tracing a photo that you don't have permission to use is just tracing over another artist's work and sticking it in your comic.

As an artist, I wouldn't want someone to trace over my art for their comic! That wouldn't be okay! So I don't think it would be right to trace over someone else's.

juyunseen 2017-04-16 01:22:57 UTC #4

There is nothing inherently wrong with using photos for your backgrounds. Like you said, many professionals do it. But if you're going to do this, take the photos yourself. First off because yes, those photos are the IP of whoever took the, and secondly because only you know what's needed for each panel's background, meaning only you can take the proper photos.

The rule of thumb for making a good comic is to not half ass anything. So either draw yourself original backgrounds, or spend a day location scouting and taking pictures.

Making a comic requires a massive amount of effort. There are very few shortcuts you can take that will reflect well on your work in the long run.

kyupol 2017-04-16 12:49:21 UTC #5

... just use real estate or rental listings. Very good source of backgrounds lol

gabsimoes 2017-04-16 23:06:30 UTC #6

Guys, I wasn't referring to professional photos, from professional or hobby photographs.
I meant those amateur photos you find scattered all over the internet, taken by average Joes like you and me. Guess it'd still be a problem, wouldn't it?

And Stock Photos? I'll try looking for those!

@juyunseen the problem is taking pictures of castles, medieval towns, etc. I don't think there is a way. I can, instead, take pictures of my city and then "convert" them into medieval style buildings. That is the only way I can think of.

@kyupol Thats a nice idea or Google Street View

AmysGames 2017-04-16 23:46:36 UTC #7

Definitely look into stock photos, or even take your own photos if you can. As other people mentioned, a lot of photos have copyrights attached to them and shouldn't be copied without permission.

nolongerusetheforum 2017-04-17 03:15:07 UTC #8

I will just telling you what I saw really happen : a blogger, who have making a post on his own blog, which he didn't use for making any money, just a simple blog about his daily life, suddenly someone sue him for using their photo on his blog post and he have to go to court and pay a huge sum of money.

He then go back and remove every single photo that he have use on his blog, a hundred of photos because that's how long he have blogging and never have any problems before. Then he makes a post about it and warn people about using random picture from internet which is how I found his blog.

So yeah, copyright is a scary things. If you unsure of it, never use it. Better use your own photos.

Also, I think it's a good practice to go outside and take a picture of building/scenery that you will use for your own webcomic, like how many mangaka do that. But well, they usually got payed by their agency for the journey so yeah, sometimes and advice is hard to do because of reason lol.

Anyway, good luck on finding a good bg.

Edit : here is the link to the blog post that I found : http://www.contentfac.com/copyright-infringement-penalties-are-scary/

Devika 2017-04-17 16:08:10 UTC #9

Everyone automatically has copyright on their own photos, no matter how crappy they might be, just like with drawings. You say "average Joes like you and me", as if there's a clear difference between us and hobby photographers. There isn't though, (I'm sure some of us are hobby photographers too,) and unless the photographer says "go ahead and use it however you want" you have to assume that all the rights are with the dude who pressed the shutter button. An exception is portraits, where the portrayed person needs to consent and has rights as well. So your best bet is to either take your own photos, or use multiple references and don't make exact copies. If your drawing looks nothing like the photo you're fine.

Zikul 2017-04-18 09:32:09 UTC #10

Like others have said, doesn't matter if they are hobbyists or professionals, the person who takes the photo is automatically granted the rights for it - google is not a free reference supply site.

If you just need something photographical to help you get things like depth and perspective and shapes, and if you have the skill (or want to develop the skill) to build that into a landscape: Invest in playdough clay and cardboard, build props, take photos (quality of the photos doesn't matter, you're going to paint and draw over them). The upside with this for comics, is that you'll have a static setup of your environment, you can take photos from many different angles for the different panels, and you can make much more fantastic landscapes than reality can provide you with. And, I believe, it's also a lot more fun and creatively stimulating!

gabsimoes 2017-05-06 22:22:59 UTC #11

That is a good idea
Thanks for the tip

UncleVlad 2017-05-08 18:45:33 UTC #12

TBQH you don't learn much from just tracing something- so i wouldn't make a habit of it regardless.
While you can take your own photos or pay for access to stock photos, you can also take the time to learn to draw buildings.
I did a storefront for my thumbnail image without copying anything directly. While i did look at a TON of storefronts in the style i liked, I also took the time to create something unique.
Here's the drawing i'm talking about:
https://m.tapas.io/episode/594471
Sure, it took time to lay out and then color, but it looks a lot nicer than a traced image.