Well... this is kind of like the lounge..., Exept you talk about graphic design. Options

[*Uronacid*]

Before posting realize that I am only referring to the Graphics Showcase section, thank you.

I don't waste my time the graphic showcase section anymore because I rarely see anything original graphics. It seems as just about every piece of "artwork" is a/an:

• Blend
• Icon
• Signature
• Vector-overlay
• Photo-manipulation
• Collage
• (note: I am leaving out colorization, because copyrighted images are generally needed to do this)

made using copyright images. I'm not saying that it doesn't take great skill or effort to create these pieces, but I am saying that it limits your creativity. I hate seeing people create a collage of copywrited images and call it their own work, yet I see it all the time. I upsets me. If I ever saw someone take my work, create a blend, and seriously call it their own, I would be furious.

Alright, to be fair, I know that even I occasionally create things based upon the copyrighted work of others, but the majority of my artwork is original. I rarely see completely original artwork found in the showcase forum. It seems as if 99.9% of the creations seen on Createblog are made using copyrighted images. I have a better chance at getting someone pregnant while wearing a condom than seeing a completely original piece of artwork on this site.

Many of you may think I'm complaining, but I'm not. I'm only stating the truth. This is createblog.com. A place that was supposedly grounded on creativity, and the only thing I see is copyrighted images being claimed by impostors as artwork. Do you think that this is creative? This wouldn't be such a problem if it wasn't such a frequent thing. Look at the first page:

http://www.createblog.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=168267
http://www.createblog.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=168121
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/6287/danfu4.jpg
http://www.createblog.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=167545
http://www.createblog.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=167584

*sigh*

What are your thoughts?

[MiraLiz]

I have to agree with you on some points. I've noticed that the Graphics Showcase is basically enduring a long, drawn-out death because of the lack of original/fresh material. However, as other posters have pointed out - you have to start somewhere. There are a few steps between opening Photoshop for the first time and producing unique, professional quality digital artwork. I do agree with you, though, that artwork using copyrighted images should not be posted here. It's against the law, and it's wrong. I'll admit that I did it myself years ago, but haven't for a very long time. If people want to practice using copyrighted images, then those images need to stay in their 'My Pictures' folders.

However, I believe that photo manipulations, blends, collages, vectors, etc that are made with stock images and are respectful to the wishes of the stock providers are considered original art. Skilled photo manipulators like sheispretty, johndelano, cutteroz, and many more...are they not considered true artists because they include stock photography in their works? I think not. There are hundreds of stock photographers on deviantArt alone, encouraging people to use their photos. Hours and hours of work are put into changing even the simplest of photos into something expressive and magical. This, in my opinion, is just as "original" and worthwhile as any other form of art.

Thank you for hearing me out. =)