Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Copyright Ethics

I am getting pretty good at stamp carving because my fine motor skills and aesthetic judgement are very developed but I went letterboxing today and one of the stamps was just cunningly executed and I want to get to that level. It was the Valencia Post stamp in Aptos. The print lines were consistent, the depth of the removed portion was very consistent and the cuts were shallow. Also the logbook had loads of entries so I know the stamp was used plenty but it wasn't worn out. So I looked online for more advanced stamp carving techniques and found a page with good content and ethics I disagree with.
I know I am a little on the permissive side when it comes to copyrighted works. But I feel like noncommercial use of transferring digital images to handiwork- embroidery, stampcarving, drawing, and so on- is incredibly innocuous and a legitimate use of the images. I use copying constantly in my sketchbook and I don't see how else I could develop. I usually don't make fan art but now that I have I don't feel that the Doctor Who franchise is diminished by it in the slightest.

2 comments:

flyingvan said...

As long as you aren't financially profiting from the copy, I think you can sleep with a clear conscience. You might even argue you are supporting the Dr. Who brand and enhancing their own marketability. If the Dr. Who people copied your work and used it, woudl it bother you at all?

Caitlan said...

Thanks Uncle Steve. I think fan art does support them. I guess I would be aghast in a good way if they used my work :)