Selling Your Digital Graphic Work

If you sell computer-generated crafts like cards or flyers and entered the digital graphic field through the back door as I did, you need to be aware of the rights of other artists when you create your work.

By “the back door”, I mean that I started doing digital graphic work without having any formal graphic design training. No one had ever instructed me about the fine line between using the digital tools in a graphics package and using the artwork in its gallery.

I started with American Greetings Create-A-Card, graduated to PrintShop, Print Master and Print Artist; then finally made the leap to Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop costs much more because it is so much more powerful but also, I suspect, because it is designed for commercial use.

For example, I can use styles, fonts, shapes and brushes from Photoshop to create work to sell, but I could not use styles, fonts, shapes or brushes purchased from Scrap Girls unless I paid more for the commercially licensed version.

In no case, can I use artwork created by a software company’s artists for its gallery or finished products from Scrap Girls like papers and embellishments in work I will sell. Each is a work of art in itself and was not created by me.

There are some exceptions to copyright of artwork. You can read more about copyright protection for artists here. Remember, this is a two-way street. If you fall in love with graphic design as I have, you may one day be creating original graphic design products and want them protected.

Always read the Terms and Conditions or Terms of Use that come with your digital design products or software. I find a good rule of thumb is the tried and true “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Please come back tomorrow for Artsy Bloggers Day. We have a stellar lineup for you!

Tags: digital graphics, Scrap Girls, copyright, Photoshop, PrintShop, Print Artist, Print Master