At 2/26/08 06:04 PM, poxpower wrote:
I sort of wish I had required to see the reference pictures for all entries but meh.
It's getting really hard to tell what's created and what's basically a tracing of a photograph :p
You could just make a post saying that contestants are required to give reference pictures (if applicable). I'm sure everyone who used them has their pictures saved. It's not a drastic change or anything, so I think most people wouldn't mind. In most art contests I join, rules usually state that you have to give credit to all reference and traced pictures in their submission description (as the idea is not your own).
Although from my experience, tracing is almost considered to be "stealing" or "cheating", because it's not so much an artist's skill and creativity/originality as his copying skills (especially if the image traced is not his/her own picture). There's a very noticeable difference between coloring over an existing picture and drawing from scratch.
Just a few cents.