Plagiarism vs Inspiration 101

The difference between plagiarism and inspiration 101

Obviously there is a great deal of grey area to this subject, and a very thin line exists. As people in the 3D industry are often saying, plagiarism is the worst thing you can do to your career. The number of good 3D works that are out there are few enough that if you plagiarise something, it will be noticed. The problem arises however, when you see something and love the idea so much you'd like to take inspiration from it. Here you must walk a fine line to avoid plagiarism and make sure your work is still original. So how do we define each side of this grey line, without stepping over it? Here's an insight into what you can do to avoid being accused of plagiarism.


~Style, Execution, and Concept~

Style is the way a concept is expressed, and can be something an artist shares across all their work, or might be particular to one piece of work. This is usually characteristic to either a person, group of people, or a period, ie: Renaissance style. Execution is the way the artwork is presented, this includes the lighting, the exact way a character is created, the medium it was created in, all of the details that make the piece unique. Finally, concept encompasses the specific idea, ie: a walking bathtub, a stone mouth that bites off your hand if you're a liar, etc.

In order to avoid accusations of plagiarism, it is a good idea to vary as many of these three as possible. Let's take something from The Nightmare before Christmas as an example. Within the film, there are three characters who are transported around by a walking bathtub: ~Link~. We can break this down into the aforementioned parts as follows:

The style of the image is encompassed by the whole film. It is a combination of grotesque, an ancient Roman style which combines the strange, ugly and disgusting, and macabre, which is characterised by being ghastly or grim. The execution is all in the details, the rim of the bathtub is based on old Victorian tubs, while the legs are humanoid in appearance. There is a handle up the back which cranks the tub into action, and it has water stains down its sides, and it is created as a stop motion asset as some sort of sculpture. The concept is a very simple one: a hand-cranked walking bathtub that transports people.

So how can this idea be used as inspiration to create an original work?
We take inspiration from one or two aspects of this bathtub, the more aspects we use, the more the resulting work slides towards plagiarism rather than inspiration. Let's assume the bathtub's animate quality is what we wish to draw inspiration from, this idea that a bathtub can be a living thing. We can then decide we want to push the Victorian theme a bit more, and make it a wholly Victorian bathtub. This is acceptable, as Victorian is a specific style that was widely used in the 1800s and 1900s, and is not specific to a particular person who's work would be copied. Furthermore, the tub from the inspiration we are drawing from is only Victorian in the style of its rolled-over rim, the legs and shower head which define this style are not evident in the version from The Nightmare Before Christmas. From there, we can look at this idea of an animate Victorian bathtub, and decide what kind of animal we want it to resemble. When looking at Victorian tubs, the claw-foot is a common feature of this type of tub, and the shower rises from the tub, like a kind of tail. If we compare this to creatures, we may decide that we would like our bathtub to represent some sort of cat. Perhaps we don't want the tub to walk, but instead fly, so we decide to make it a griffon, and finally we are using a different medium, computer generated 3D modelling. Our flying Victorian griffon bathtub can then be said to take inspiration from the Nightmare before Christmas tub, but not be directly copying or plagiarising it. Here's what our finished tub looks like for comparison: ~Link~


~Multiple Sources of Inspiration~

Having more than one source of inspiration is a great way to steer clear of being accused of plagiarism. Usually it begins with an existing, generic idea, which you build upon with reference and inspiration from existing designs.

Here we start with the idea to design a modern, comfortable looking chair. We can look for chairs we like in order to draw some inspiration. Here are three chairs we can use:
We draw inspiration from the simple lines of this design(~Link~), the round silhouette of this design (~Link~), and an idea of how someone should sit in the chair from this (~Link~), and then by changing the materials and combining the designs, then improving them to our individual taste, we get a unique design that is inspired from, but not copying others: ~Link~


~Public Domain, Creative Commons and use with permission~

When stuck for an idea, it is sometimes acceptable to simply copy someone else's concept, as long as permission is granted, or there is no copyright on it. Very old works are often in the 'Public Domain' (~link~). This means that works prior to 1709 (when copyright was first established) and other more recent works, including some art and literary works that are in the public domain may be used without any infringement issues. Always check that a work is in the public domain before you use it, as there are some exceptions. When using such works, it is a good idea to also mention which public domain work was used, in order to assure viewers that you admit to the original concept not being your own. Although legally this is not a requirement, it is considered bad form to claim designs used from other sources to be your own, even when they are in the public domain.

Alternatively, there are some works which either grant permission explicitly, or permission for use can be requested. A good example of this is , which collects works which may be used under specific circumstances. It is important to check any work you use in this way to assure the author has given permission for the derivative work you wish to create, and again, make sure you credit the author with the original concept.

Finally, there is the Creative Commons system, which allows sharing, remixing and reusing of content legally. Visit the Creative Commons website and familiarise yourself carefully with how creative commons licensing works in order to avoid unpleasant surprises, and as always, credit the author with the original concept!

By taking care what you copy and how you use inspiration, you can make sure that you always stay on the correct side of the inspiration/plagiarism line. While it is always possible for someone to present a work that is eerily similar to yours, if you can explain the process you took to reach your design, be it any of the above, it strengthens your case that the similarities are coincidence rather than plagiarism.