# Visual Reference Ethics Checklist

Use with [Visual References Without Style Theft](/articles/visual-references-without-style-theft).

## Build the reference list

- [ ] Era / movement descriptors written
- [ ] Medium / process descriptors written
- [ ] Composition / palette notes written
- [ ] 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:

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Technique/era rewrite:

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## 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