Visual Reference Ethics Checklist

Use with Visual References Without Style Theft.

Build the reference list

• Era / movement descriptors written
• Medium / process descriptors written
• Composition / palette notes written
• Rights or permission to reuse every supplied reference checked, including client, employment, collaboration, commission, and licence terms
• No living-artist name used as a style dial for commercial output
• No “make it indistinguishable from [person]” language

People and privacy

• Consent for any identifiable photo upload
• Publication context covered by that consent
• Intimate / sexualized uses blocked unless explicit documented consent exists

Risk register before ship

• Peer could not mistake this for a living artist’s signature work we tried to rent
• No false claim that training data “cleared” a specific work
• AI assist disclosed if audience would otherwise be misled
• License / commission considered when we actually need a specific person’s look

Prompt rewrite practice

Living-artist prompt I almost used:

Technique/era rewrite:

What this is not

• Not a how-to for cloning a living artist’s style
• Not legal advice on fair use
• Not a claim that disclosure cures unethical imitation
• Not guidance for generating non-consensual intimate imagery