Jessica Crabtree

What’s “royalty-free”?

Artists searching for reference material on the internet run across many collections listed as “free photos” or “royalty-free” – but this can be something of a catch-22. These terms are NOT equivalent to public domain (i.e., unrestricted use). Generally, royalty-free just means that you don’t have to pay a leasing fee for using the photo, and that intellectual copyright still applies. This is to differentiate them from websites that actually sell stock photos under varying usage licenses. Most free-photo sites will have disclaimers saying that their photos are “100% free” to download, but are restricted to personal or educational uses only. Granted, this is fair, but it’s easy to be misled by thinking that “free” is an all-encompassing term. Check the source to find out just what is meant by “free.”

If you intend to draw heavily on any kind of visual reference material for commercial art (that is, art you intend to sell) make sure to do the research to confirm that it is public domain, or get the owner’s permission.

Next: Rights-Managed and Creative Commons