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[lasttea999]

(Sorry if this is a silly question, but)

So I see a lot of awesome pixel art on sites like TIGSource, pixeljoint and deviantART as well as the personal websites of various artists, and it seems like it might be nice to be able to study the pixel art up close (when I'm not so busy...). But it'll probably be inconvenient to have to study them within the browser because zooming in might not work as one would want it to, because one might have difficulty keeping track of various links to the pages with pixel art, and because one day one might find that the website with the pixel art you want to study has shut down.

So I was wondering if it's generally okay to download the images as long as they're only for personal use? Does it depend on the site the image is from? It sounds like a hassle to have to root through the privacy policies, terms of service and FAQs of each website, and even then it might be unclear what exactly one is allowed to with the images. Thoughts?

EDIT: For example, it sounds like you can't download images from pixeljoint:

Limitations on Use
Unless otherwise specified, the content on the PixelJoint.com web site is for your personal and non-commercial use and we grant you a limited license to access the PixelJoint.com web site for that purpose. You may not download (other than through page caching necessary for personal use), modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, duplicate, publish, license, create derivative works from, or offer for sale any information contained on, or obtained from, the PixelJoint.com web site without our express written consent. Any unauthorized use of the PixelJoint.com web site or its contents will terminate the limited license granted by us.

[Ant]

It sounds like pixeljoint is just covering their legal arse there as a "please don't hit the Print Screen" key is completely unenforceable.

I don't see why anybody would ever have a problem with you downloading their work for the purposes of you just trying to get better with your own pixeling. Obviously if you started ripping off their style then that will create problems, but if it's just for educational purposes then you have nothing to worry about.

[Schoq]

Who could stop you? Nobody's going to knock on your door for saving an image to your hard drive. As long as you're not redistributing it and claiming you made it or something there's no harm done.

[caffeine]

Personal use only. Period.

[Kevin]

I do this all the time haha. I don't see how anyone could have a problem with you downloading anything that's been posted for public consumption as long as it's for purely personal use. Anyway, unless the site/forum/gallery has a zoom function, I find it's hard to really study pixel art without downloading it and taking a closer look.

[DavidCaruso]

Do not ever download pixel art. The pixel police are watching you. They will snatch you off the streets, put a bag over your head, and torture you with waterboarding techniques until you give up the location of the downloaded files, and then they will bilinearly resample all of your downloads to quarter size so that you can never experience the zoomed pixels again. Your only viable option is to buy a magnifying glass, a box of colored pencils, and graph paper. Even then, this may be dangerous; the cameras are everywhere, watching, waiting, recording the movements of your loved ones and preparing for their mysterious disappearance followed by a ransom phone call. If you truly want to be safe in replicating pixel art then you should only buy graph paper and colored pencils on the black market, and refrain from keeping any traditional types of magnifying tools in your house. Keep all of your pixel replications in a high-tech safe, and put that safe inside an area of your house which cannot be detected by outside laser scanners (inside a wall, for example.) Finally, it must be noted that the pixel police are everywhere, and their disguises are numerous. One of them is probably masquerading as your "father," "girlfriend," or "dog." If you choose to go down this path then you must trust nobody, and tell not even one soul (even a dead one, for the pixel police hold séances) of your highly illegal activities. The alternative is a fate worse than death.

[andy wolff]

suggested reading: One Day in the Life of a Pixel Outlaw, by Allensandr Solzhenitsyn

I often copy pixels into mspaint so I can scale them up to 800% and look at them more closely. If the artists have a problem with this they can go suck on a pencil tool

Actually I don't do this as much anymore since I've looked at so many pixels that I rarely really need to scale them up to see what I want to

[Geeze]

Everyone cheer the pixel-police is here!


Gotta get away before it catches me for illegal use of that picture
 
Time for a ninja exit

[lasttea999]

Thanks for the feedback, guys, ha ha. I guess I'll be able to study pixels up close, then. Especially since some of the artists whose work I wanted to study are suggesting that it's okay in this thread...  

@DavidCaruso: I think you and I have dangerously similar senses of humor, sir.