Do not do this!

[nate1]

I am seeing so much of this lately, and it makes me feel kind of icky.

If you go to Pinterest.com, you can search “Episode Interactive Backgrounds” and thousands of results will come up. Amazing, that doctor’s lab background that you needed? There! A side street that overlooks Seattle by a fish market. Impressive. Almost too good to be true…

Unfortunately, it is. Many people, on Pinterest, do not own the images they share. Let me give you an example:
You make a beautiful drawing for your friend for two hundred dollars. You worked very hard on this drawing and you are happy that you friend will use it. One day, you see that someone else is using your drawing. But they didn’t pay for it. It isn’t their’s to use.

Consequences include…
Copyright infringement. Look it up. There are multiple negative results from copyright infringement, from Google contacting you to other issues.

Let’s look more into this.

Many of the backgrounds on Pinterest come from:

1. An art site. These digital art sites offer a place for artists to share their art that they made for other people. It isn’t a forum that says: HERE TAKE MY ART AND USE IT!
2. An online game. Yes, online games like Choices or other interactive games also have backgrounds. You can’t use them outside their app.
3. Anime. Anime backgrounds look very similar to Episode backgrounds, but they are still copyrighted. They might appear in a movie or a show, and that means someone out there has been paid to make them. Not for you.

How do I know that it is copyright free?
Great question! Save the image (right click) or take a screenshot of it. Go to images.google.com and upload it there. If there is a result for it that is not where it was originally found, it’s probably not for you.

Let’s go through an example:

We searched Episode Interactive backgrounds. Let’s click on what that snags our fancy.

We picked this image. A reception background! Perfect.

It looks like we are at an art website. NOTE: The majority of art from Deviantart.com is not okay to use.

There’s our answer. The artist says that these were made for a client.

VERDICT - NOT FREE TO USE.

I know this feels pretty despondent, but please feel free to drop any artists/editors whose art is free for Episode use! I, for example, make backgrounds on my Instagram, @taliewrites.

Here are sites that have free, good backgrounds:

1. Pixabay
2. Unplash
3. Pexels

Do not use from this site:

1. Pinterest
2. Google (unless you have established filters)
3. Stock photos

[lanafrazer_episode]

Thank you!!! People are still doing it!! But thank you for this, bookmarking.

[lynne.harper]

Period! Thank you for posting this as I’ve seen some authors do this.

I do this, but if you are going to make sure you trace it back to the original site and see if you are able to use it (by either asking the creator, reading comments, seeing what credit is needed, etc.)

[LeonardoDaBetty]

It is very helpful. Thank you that you took your time to do it

[line123462]

amazing and well written

also I made a topic about this too.

Explain: why you can not use pinterest or google

a thing I see way to often is people getting art from Pinterest, not understanding that Pinterest is not royalty free or copyright free. so now I am gonna explain it very simple what this means is Pinterest and google royalty free/copyright free NO. What does royalty/ copyright mean it means someone owns it. example Mickey Mouse is own by Disney, so you can not put Mickey into your story. most art you find online are copyrighted. copyright not only go for art, but brands, and characters and…

[aze_nieve]

bump

[Jade135]

Bump! This is so helpful and I get it when you say it’s kind of annoying. Thanks for the information

[ColeCatalyst]

Say it louder for the people in the back

I have told so many people not to use Pinterest and google for their images because you have no way of knowing who or how the original artists intend their work to be used.

[Tamara.Episde]

Yess this needs to be acknowledged! I’ve noticed it too! Thanks for making this thread

[goldenwaterlily]

Yes and THANK YOU! It needed to be said. So many people use copyrighted images. In stories I often see as credit “backgrounds found on pinterest” Also, I’m not sure if episode has some age restrictions for writers, but it feels like every 12 year old now has a story. Teenagers are not responsible and mature enough to understand all this copyright stuff, licenses, what you may and may not use and they end up using literally anything they can find on the internet.

[line123462]

they do, its 13

[goldenwaterlily]

Well, that’s not much different

[Audacious_Writer]

Bump!

[Authormiaquestionacc]

Bump!