RE: WATCH OUT FOR FAKES - 4 WAYS TO TELL
I have wondered about this myself. When do you go from being a fake to a real artist, where is the limit? I am an illustrator myself and have been very careful about using reference photos, and if I use much reference I take the photo myself. Not too long ago I discovered this illustration from a quite much featured Illustrator in Norway. I just had to google "girl picking nose tennis racket" out of curiosity. Look at the first image that came up... So, is this fake? I mean, he has illustrated on top of it. I definitely think it's cheating, but he earns a living of his illustrations, and I don't... (yet). Maybe he's just very clever. Maybe I just have to much integrity and will spend too much time on my work in stead of looking for short-cuts and then never succeed?
I'd say it's not "fake", not illegal, but unless he paid for the use of that image, dangerously close to it, and he probably knows it too that's why he mirrored the image... :)
He changed the feet a bit, he changed the dress, he added a bunch of stuff (although who knows all those other props could be googled photos as well). He went through some hard work tracing the image, and adding the mesh inside the racket, and applying paint, although some of the paint could simply be the photos blurred and smudged... yeah it's hard to say exactly, without a video of the process, but this one's probably not super bad. :)
Yes, I can totally see the changes he has done, but I still think it's too close to the original. I know it's not illegal, but I do think it's a bit like cheating. Taking a stock photo and tracing it is not real art in my opinion ;) And I do agree with you, there are worse... :)