Hi all,
I'm currently wrestling with the illustrations for my game. I want to get it published by a game company (not self publish) and was wondering what illustrations I can use - should I just stick to clipart, or can I be a little more adventurous and use illustrations I find around the net?
The problem I'm having is that I can design good looking cards in Photoshop but I can't draw for love nor money. Sticking naff clipart with good looking cards just doesn't look right. Any suggestions?
My thinking is to use whatever you want. Most if not all publishers will EXPECT to rework all of the graphics/artwork for a game. And they also understand that as designers we may fudge a little with regards to using clip art / images that may not be legal to reproduce commercially. I say use whatever you want. As long as you're not trying to sell other peoples works and you don't make them available to the public, there's no real practical issue.
-Darke
Think of it as collage!
:)
-- Matthew
I agree with what has been said already. As long as you explain to the publisher that the illustrations are not your property to sell with the game.
For games in which I use non royalty free art, I include a copyright line on the component bearing the image. Something like "Copyright 2005 Your Name, Illustration Copyright Artist Name".
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I generally go with standard clip art for my stuff, but if I find something I like on the internet, I will include it, but make a note in my prototype that illustrations are for "demonstration purposes only" blah blah blah -- just to let the prospective publisher know that I know that I'm not claiming that art as original or my own, etc.