Painted Lady Gallery of Erotic Fine Art Nude & Fantasy by Jack Henslee

An Open Letter From Jack Henslee

Dear Friends,

Over the last several years an unfortunate trend has taken place in regards to artists’ rights and the web. Respect for artwork has taken a backseat to individuals who want to supplement their own creativity by co-opting and altering the work of others.

I am not talking about a person that wants to save images to their hard drive to enjoy at a later time, or to use as their computer background instead of buying a print for their wall. This is not about illegal downloads or money. I have shared my work on the web for ten years now and I am as flattered as ever by those who have a genuine regard for my work. Not everyone can afford one of my originals, or even a print and so long as they do not attempt to exploit my images for resale or improper representation I have made my peace with those who save images off my site for their personal use.

What I am talking about here is the alteration, manipulation, and general defacement of my images by individuals who participate in PSP Yahoo and MSN graphics groups and other types of such forums or communities.

At first I was upset and offended when I discovered whole communities of individuals taking liberties with my artwork. It was a shock to view my own images defaced. Most bewildering of all was that the individuals who treated my work so disrespectfully were often the ones writing to me to share their handiwork with me, whether in hope of gaining my blessing or my admiration I have no idea.

I have seen my pretty ladies cropped, airbrushed over, tubed, graffitied upon, recolored, pasted onto various backgrounds, and I’ve no doubt there are countless other humiliations that have yet to be heaped upon them. And, while I probably cannot put a stop to every person attempting to engage my artwork this way, it is my hope that my simple request for it to stop may be heard by those who care about what an artist has to say about his artwork.

I have come to understand that most of those engaging in these alterations of my work are not intending to be disrespectful. And, make no mistake, it is a sincere compliment to hear from others that my work serves as a source of inspiration. However, personal creativity should not be defined by merely tagging on and copycatting the vision of others.

I have a very specific vision for my art – one that strives to bring reality and my pencil to as close a marriage as possible. Perhaps this can be attributed to my background in commercial illustration before branching out to pursue my own artistry. But, this style and mindset has created within me a sharp distinction between serious art and recreational art. My creations take me months, or sometimes years to develop from sketch to finished piece. It is painful for me to watch my hard work undone and erased with a few clicks in a digital art program.

I simply do not want others to be manipulating my work to fit their own wishes; no artist does. My vision of my work is exactly how I have presented my pretty ladies and I’m just not interested in seeing how others would prefer to see them expressed. These are very personal images for me and there is an emotional attachment as well as a sense of pride and accomplishment embedded within each image. Seeing others take liberties with my images is, on a very basic level, like watching someone take a scalpel to my children.

There is an agonizing level of disrespect for my images that takes place when people begin their cropping and embellishing. Colors that I took days or weeks to contemplate are changed with a mouse click. Shadows and highlights placed with deliberate planning are over-emphasized or reduced to comical proportions. "Special effects" glittering or unflattering fonts or cartoon graphics are splashed around or over the images. Especially with PSP tubing, backgrounds or detail elements that took research and planning are haphazardly deleted. Some people think they're being respectful or demonstrating admiration or interpreting their own feeling of creativity when they do such things to my images, but I believe the best way to demonstrate respect of my images is to leave them as they are and the best way to demonstrate your own creativity is not by mistreating the art of others.

Imagine something you are most proud of -- a creation all your own. Now imagine the world taking it however they like and changing it in a million different ways to accommodate each individual's whim. Perhaps some of them will be creative and maybe you'll even like a few. But the vast majority will be from people who have no sense of respect or style, and they will be disfigurements of your originality. And if you grant permission for some and not others, then you are in the horrible position of trying to dictate which people are creating art and which are just performing vandalism. That's no way for an artist to spend his time.

Those of you who alter my images for any reason in any forum wither personal, public, or private, are doing so against my wishes, and without my permission. Further, those who display such images on websites (whether public or private groups), in email signatures, or as message board avatars, or any of the other ways images are co-opted these days are also in violation of international copyright law. I will continue in my small way to notify those individuals when they come to my attention and to try and explain my point of view. In the meantime it is my hope that this message will encourage ethical groups and digital hobbyists to refrain from using my images for their projects.

Please do not ask for permission or write to show me how your way is “different” from all the others. No exceptions will be made, and I will not be impressed to change my mind.

I thank you all for your kind attention.

Warmest regards,

Jack Henslee

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