Impress upon him that doing drawing from celebrity photographs is
against the law.
Work like that in a portfolio will get him no where. Celebrities own
the rights to their image (see note) - plus the photographer owns the
rights to the photograph. Universities will not give his portfolio a
second look. He will NOT get in with a portfolio like that.
Do some research on what kind of portfolios get the student into art
school. I know they are looking for observational drawings , and self
portraits - but they are NOT looking for work drawn from copyrighted
photographs.
Note: Tiger Woods has trademarked his image. Tiger Woods did file suit
against an artist who was selling prints of a painting he did with
Tiger Woods playing golf. The artist did take the photograph himself
in this case. Tiger lost that case - but won another one where an
organization wanted to put his image on a coin. Details about this can
be found online. The photographer who owned the copyright of the
photograph of Jackie Kennedy sued the Andy Warhol Foundation and won
(this was long after Andy's death.
It is only a matter of time before all of these people selling
drawings of celebrities on line will be sent cease and desist orders.
Have him read up on the rights of celebrities - it is all part of
copyright and trademark law. Legally, I can not even put a picture of
Martin Luther King, Jr on Incredible Art Department without the
permission of his estate. My head was spinning when I read everything
about the law.
There have been numerous cases of suits against organizations
displaying celebrity portraits (Andy Warhol's for instance) - without
the permission of the organization that holds the rights to the
celebrities image. Details can be found on line. (Yoko Ono filed on
using Warhol's Lennon - A Museum was not permitted to display Marilyn
Monroe)
If this student wants to do portraits - have him do himself (that is
what colleges want to see) - He could also do friends and family
members.
Nicole Brisco has had students receive 5 on AP concentrations dealing
with self. I no longer have the concentration on IAD as the artist
wanted it taken down.
If this student insists on continuing to do celebrity portraits from
photographs - have him write to the photographer for permission and
also the celebrity. I can guarantee he will not hear back from either
one. A no response does not mean permission is granted.
Sure, this kid can draw these people to his heart's content for his
own personal use.... but it isn't good art education to allow him to
do in as class/portfolio assignments.
Sign me the Copyright Queen and now Trademark Queen of the Getty list,
Judy Decker
On 1/15/06, Dulcius wrote:
Unfortunately, he quickly loses interest in anything that's
> not naturalistic drawings of celebrities from photos.
