omg, the audacity!

No what im saying is most of the source material is actually copyrighted and is "stolen" as such. I for one edit most stuff and if neccessary when using the original artwork name the original author or put a link the that site on it. As a technicallity alot of "Source Body Shots" are in fact meant for what they are used for. The sites people would buy them off of claim they are for game related things and in my real life profession we often do the same things. Im just saying some people "steal" these images and dont actually pay for them and then try to profit off them.

I shouldnt of tied skins in with that as i myself have used them on a professional level before. But stuff is going to be copied. Its tant amount to selling off a print of a famous picture or something. Its hardly considered illegal in most cases.

I understand what you are saying, the problem is that when people think that way, in their mind they are only ripping off what you stole to begin with. It becomes a way to justify theft. There are people who create original art, take their own photos, pay for their sources or use those freely available (for otherwise original skins). When people think it's all just second-hand stuff to begin with, they don't differentiate from those that are original when they start stealing.

It has gotten to the point that I am not going to upload anything I'm attached to or that is of real worth to me. Anything we make in SL is open to theft and nothing is done about it.

*shrug*

Speaking for myself, even the simple images
I make take at least an hour. And that is at minimum. Compositing and rendering and getting everything just right not to mention
if the scene includes stuff i modeled myself
outside of SL, one of my new scenes usually takes 8 or 9 hours.
That does not include research or custom character creation.
Considering that Kinko's charges 60.00$ usd
and hour just to composite some photos for a simple print job, and proffessional graphics shops much more. The work that goes into the creation of such images is a gift even at the price this gallery charges.

This is Carina Cordeaux, Executive Business Manager of the Towers Gallery...

The new policy that is being enforced at the Gallery is being updated constantly, as Second Life changes constantly (i.e. population, standards etc...). The Towers Gallery staff, management, and myself are confident that, with this policy, we can make original SL art truly, original and unique whilst protecting the artist from plagerism as much as possible.

You can visit the art gallery at the Kuula <let me get coordinates...SL is down for update> and feel free to pick up your copy of the rules and regulations concerning pricing, and copyright.

I will be creating a slimmer version of it later on.

IM me with any questions/concerns on this topic!

~Carina

So... question... for those persons born prior to 1923, are images of their bodies now in the public domain?

Just imagine being 21 and hot in 1922 - you would be 105 right now, but everyone could see your pre-starlet, real life naked "Betty Boop" photoshoot that you did to impress a Hollywood director without concern...


... and Phee, yes, I have no doubt that you are QUITE the original piece of work

OMG! Does ignorance play so deep and has skill level been so cheapened in SL that ANYBODY can say paying $L5000 for original (anything) is dumb? Or better yet, that it can be created in a moment?

My paintings use purchased source photographs, as well as texture scans that I have created myself, as well as photographs that I take myself, as well as paintings I have created myself, as well as (in some cases) 3D models that I have created myself. The individual paintings take hours to color shift, composite and paint.

And when I say paint, I mean digital real-media paintings that originate with pen and tablet from my brain to virtual canvas, using three separate software programs and over twenty years of traditional painting and digital techniques.

I have created RL book covers, dust jackets, album covers and I have had my illustration work published in magazines and textbooks and the on web (by people other than myself.)

My work that is hanging in the Towers Gallery and other places take many hours to create. They are original in concept and creation. There is nothing else like them anywhere -- not even in RL. They are created specifically for SL and for the residents in SL who know the value of art and artistic creation.

It is a godsend that there ARE people in SL with taste, discretion, and a sense of value who see differently. They are the discerning few who are not only willing to pay $L5000 for original works of art, (or scripting, or textures or clothing, or building) but in some cases much more.

What the Towers Gallery is trying to do is raise the artistic bar and provide SL with variety, quality, and more originality -- despite the action of one.

It is the few residents who don't see the value in original work -- created and sold at a loss -- that worry me. Those bereft of vision who think that the universe is spontaneously created around them "in a moment" that is to say, without effort, who disregard passion and grace and replace them with ignorance and entitlement

</rant>

I like the idea of art in SL, mostly because it's original. I once purchased a painting from a Belle Feu show, and when I bought it, ownership transferred to me, and I took it. I was pretty pleased to know that I had truly "bought" the art, and like a physical painting in a store, I alone had it.

However, some art galleries (I don't know which ones or how many in particular because I hardly ever buy art these days anymore) seem to dish out copies of the artwork instead of the actual painting itself. So, it begs the question, should the price of a painting be the same as it's "reproduction"?

Now, in RL, some paintings (silkscreens for instance) have a printing number on them, so you expect more than one copy. Maybe there's a way to do that in SL too...

Anyway, just my thoughts on the whole SL art idea I would definately pay more for art that was mine to take, versus a copy of the same art.

Mmm yes. I sell original artworks in SL. The originals are lifesize drawings, in charcoal, and took about 30 hours each, and drawn from life. I'd hate for someone to assume it's been pinched. There is in fact, a lot of original art in SL. The Open Air Art Gallery is home to some of it.