Sourcing Your Resources
You may think that the creation and sharing of stock and resources is a no brainer. Clearly however its not, and there are a growing number of deviants who for some reason or another seem to not be able to grasp the basic principles.
As the last article we will be launching for Stock & Resources Project Educate week, we are going to attempt to lay it out for you in clear and easy to understand terms.
What YOU own
The gallery details for stock and resources read:
Gallery Info: Resources & Stock Images
Resources submitted by deviants for others to use in their own works and/or learn from.
Gallery Info: Stock Images
Stock Photography which the provider has granted a licence for incorporation into other Deviant artists work.
By submitting work into the stock and resources galleries, be they a photograph of your cat, a pack of brushes you have created, a texture you have developed, or a tutorial you've spent weeks researching and putting together there is a single common theme between all of them, and that is YOU.
The onus is on YOU - the resource provider - to ensure that the work you submit to DA is YOURS. I.E. YOU are the copyright holder, OR have permission from the copyright holder to redistribute their work as stock and resources.
What this really means...
Right clicking and saving on a "cool" image in Google then uploading it to "share" with your mates on DA in the stock and resources gallery IS NOT OK. Right clicking and saving a photograph of you fave celebrity, cutting them out the background and then submitting the "cut out" to share in the stock and resources gallery IS NOT OK. Using celebrity photos as PREVIEWS for your Photoshop actions IS NOT OK! Downloading a movie and taking screen shots to share in the stock and resources gallery IS NOT OK. Taking screen shots of your favourite video game and uploading them as resources IS NOT OK. Taking a screen shot of an Anime, cutting the character out and submitting it as a "RENDER" for your fan girls to also use IS NOT OK - For the record, they are NOT RENDERS - STOP CALLING THEM THAT!! "Borrowing" stock images from other stock providers on DA to edit and turn into a "pre-made background" without them giving explicit permission IS NOT OK. Saving and resubmitting "free" brushes, or textures from other graphics websites IS NOT OK! Using stock from other 3rd party sites such as SXC.hu for your premade stock IS NOT OK, and violates sxc's terms of use which clearly state redistribution is not permitted! The consequences...
When you submit work as stock and resources to DA you are telling other users that its OK for them to the resource in their own work. Artists have to take stock and resources at face value unless it is clearly recognisable the work isn't yours - like celebrity photography or anime/manga rip offs.
When you submit copyrighted work to redistribute, you are making other artists commit a copyright infringement when they innocently use it! This means that when the copyright owner finds out and requests a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) removal, or another deviant reports the work for policy violations - the artist who spent all that time incorporating the resource into their own work has had that time wasted BY YOU, and could potentially face a copyright infringement notice as well, BECAUSE OF YOU.
HOWEVER - The onus is also on YOU the ARTIST to make sure that the resources you are using are legit! You can't just blame the resource provider, because you have the tools at your disposal to check the authenticity of the resource BEFORE you use it. Use TinEye, or Google image search (click on the camera symbol on the right of the search box) if you are in doubt, or ASK the resource provider. If they can't tell you where the resource came from, or that its theirs, or they made it themselves - then DON'T use it - no matter how awesome it might be!
The Terms of Service of DeviantART are extremely clear on the matter and state -
You agree not to use the Service:
to upload, post, or otherwise transmit any material that infringes any copyright, trade mark, patent or other intellectual property right or any moral right or artist's right of any third party including, but not limited to, deviantART or to facilitate the unlawful distribution of copyrighted content or illegal content;
Points to remember
Love something THAT MUCH that you just have to use it, or share it? Find the copyright holder and ASK THEM. Do not assume its OK.
Despite rumours to the contrary the Internet is NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN! Work, blogs, photographs, journals, artwork, videos, songs etc. etc. etc. are not there for you to take and re-upload. UNLESS there is a clear public domain notice on it - and even then redistributing them is dubious at best.
Works placed on the internet do not have to carry a copyright symbol for them to be copyrighted!
If you are confused about copyright please take the time to educate yourself! www.whatiscopyright.org is a great place to start!
kuschelirmel recently wrote a journal on the subject which you should also take the time to read - Of copyrights and Pre-mades
DeviantART has a very clear copyright information page here - about.deviantart.com/policy/co…
Final thoughts
Take RESPONSIBILITY for your resources. Take RESPONSIBILITY for the resources you choose to use. Don't EVER use celebrity photography for action previews or cut outs Don't EVER submit cut out and copyright protected Anime or Manga characters Don't EVER use photography for your "pre-mades" unless there is clear permission to do so Don't EVER take images from search engines like Google and resubmit them as resources 
