Might be a stupid question

[bobble21]

But when you or indeed a professional, designs a card or anything, and they need say a horse for example how can you do that? I mean you can't draw your own horse so you need to find an image but how can you then say that it's your own design and in the case of the professional designer then sell your designs. I don't really understand how you can sell something that isn't entirely your own work or can you as long as it's copyright free?
Thanks.

[Shirley Anne]

Copyright is very complicated and you have to be very careful. If an image is in the Public Domain it means that it not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark etc and anyone can use a public domain work without obtaining permission. Royalty free is different it usually means you have to pay a fee to use the image but it does not mean it is copyright free. If you see an image you want to use just check the small print carefully, many sites allow you to purchase commercial licences to use the images or even offer free images with commercial licences but even then there may be restrictions so it is always best to check - better safe than sorry.

[bobble21]

Thanks for explaining that, I think I’ll stick to just doing my own.

[Dawn lou]

Thank you Shirley, I get confused with it all too.