Free online vectors???

[Booper 2]

This is more of a general question, a buddy of mine is a professional graphic artist and does EVERYTHING from scratch (except fonts) & we were having a conversation today about free vector art. He is a purist, and thinks that using ANYTHING other than your own work whether its free to use or not is plageurism. While I would love to be a professional designer and do all my own stuff like he does, I just dont have the skills. What is YOUR opinion on using free vector art that is offered up on websites with the freeware license agreements attached, and manipulating it or altering it to fit your need? Im not talking about stealing peoples work and slightly modifying it to be a prick or copyright infringement, but using legitimate freeware that is readily available??

[Team Satan 1]

If its offered for free, why make life harder?

Work smart, not hard. 

[tinaski 11]

its called open source

inkscape is open source alot of people here use it (he probably doesn't use)

i use all and more of the following to design and cut vinyl

linux --open source

tux plot -- open source

inkscape --open source

open office -- open source -- its no different that windows office almost everything is the same

sk1 -- open source

scribus -- open source

and many more that is what it is there for -

i have helped out with some open source also its intent is to help others - i am willing to take my time and build or help build and not charge for that -- but it also depends on what agreements it falls under - there is many for open source projects from software to design - the most common is use it, keep it, give it to people but, dont sell it

no my opinion its there for a reason - use it - but give back when and how you can

i know a guy that is completely against open source also on the software side and he is all "windows" and im not we love linux and will never go back to windows at this time

[Booper 2]

Good points, kind of along the lines that I was thinking, and yer right Tinaski he is a Mac Nazi and wont go near ANYTHING that isn't Steve Jobs approved lol!

[Guest Marek]

I'm with Xtreme on this . There is no reason to make your job harder than it is . As a general rule for me the order is -1 find one -2 - modify one 3- make one from scratch .That may be because I'm not a great artist or just because I'm lazy . It also stems from the fact that I have a fulltime job as well as this sideline ,wife , dog, 2 1/2 year old toddler and somewhere in the mix I need me time . There just isn't enough time in the day . 

[Booper 2]

Oh man do I feel your pain, regular full time job, wife works full time, 1 yr old girl, just bought a house that needs work, AND this, F#&$ it i'll sleep when im dead. lol!

[Guest Marek]

Here is an example of being resourceful and how I do most of my stuff . This is for a friend of mine Rich .

I Started with these . So none of my work was from "Scratch" .

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o202/MarekN/other/how-to-draw-a-pilot-skull-step-9.jpg[/img]

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o202/MarekN/other/skull1.jpg[/img]

[Guest Marek]

And ended up with this

[ramy 3]

As long as everyone is on this subject about free vector art, how does someone go about checking to see if a graphic is copyrighted or legitimately should not be used?

My assumption is just because you found a free site to download it from, doesn't necessarily mean its not protected somehow.

I just read a few threads about this where people were getting sued over this.

It really seems to be a complexed issue.

[Booper 2]

I think the people getting sued are the ones knowingly cutting brand name stuff like monster logos or fox logos etc. If you download a vector pack of flames or something like that, alot of times it comes with a readme file that has the licence info in it like Free to use for personal use or free to distribute etc.

Nice work Marek! 

[Guest Marek]

Thanks Booper I think you hit the nail on the head there .. It's mainly the corporations that will sue and not John Q. Public that drew the skull or whatever ..After that it just becomes a morality issue..So how strong are your morals ?

[Team Satan 1]

Also, if it is copyrighted, it will have the symbol. And if not, and its available for download then.....