This page focuses on how to avoid plagiarism as an artist. Below are videos that will walk you through plagiarism and the fine line between fair use and copyright infringement. There is also an overview of creative commons.
Plagiarism of images is really no different than plagiarism of words, music, or any original work. Copying an image from a book or the internet without citing the original source (or gaining permission of the creator when necessary) constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism is academic fraud with serious repercussions.
The line between an original piece of artwork and plagiarism can be very thin, especially when taking fair use into account. So take care to determine any copyright restrictions associated with an image you wish to use. The articles and video below will demonstrate the line between fair use and plagiarism.
Creative Commons is a non profit organization providing infrastructure, a set of free copyright licenses and tools, that creates a balance inside the traditional “all rights reserved” setting that copyright law creates. Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright to enable authors to modify terms to share their work while still retaining copyright.
Creative Commons has developed a search portal that allows you to find CC-licensed works through sources like Google and Flickr. There is also a best practice for marking attributionsfor any reused CC content.
(This information is excerpted, with modifications, from the Creative Commons website.)
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