Artwork Copyright Laws

Your Painting and Copyright Law
In my studio, I sometimes provide reference photos of paintings by other artists. But the images I provide are intended for educational purposes only. And copies painted of them are not meant to be sold or presented as your original works.

Can you paint a picture of another person’s painting?
Yes, but you cannot sell the painting. Or promote it in public/online as if it were your original idea.

Can you post your copied painting publicly online?
Yes, but:
1. You cannot offer it for sale.
2. You cannot sign it as if it were your original painting.
3. You must attribute the painting to the original artist and provide a link to the artist, if you know who it is. For example, you would specify in your post: “This is a study of a painting by Joe Smith at  www.JoeSmith. com” If you want to be extra courteous, contact Joe Smith first and ask him if you can paint a copy of his painting.

If you are unaware of who the artist is, you could do a Google image search. And if you still cannot find who the artist is, then state in your post: "Image found on line, artist unknown."
 
Can you share images of your copied painting with friends?
Yes, but technically, you cannot sell it to them.
 
Can you give your copied painting away?
Yes. However, best practices would suggest that you credit the original artist, if you know who it is, on the back of the painting along with all the other important details of the piece, like the title, dimensions, and medium.
 
Can you paint a painting that is a dramatically altered version of another painter's painting?
Yes, if it is altered sufficiently. The criteria is that if you paint an alteration of say Joe Smith's painting, it shouldn’t look like any specific painting by Joe Smith. This is a gray area in copyright law, so I can’t say exactly how altered it must be from the original.
 
Can you paint in another artist's style?
Yes, an artist cannot own a style. Artists can only own specific physical or digital works. In other words, you could paint in Van Gogh’s style all you want and sign it as your own, but you could not paint a copy of any specific Van Gogh paintings and claim it as your own.

Are there copyright-free images to use as reference photos?
Yes, do a search for copyright-free photos and lots of options will come up.
 
Can you use AI-generated images as reference photos, which are cobbled together images of other artists artwork?
This is a new topic, and precise rulings have not been made yet about copyright ethics and AI-generated images.