Question Needing answered!!!-Nala-

So, I need a question answered:

Ok, so I made a horsie sniffing a butterfly tag ;3

My charrie Paparatzi and my charrie Slytherin (Slytherin has a horn addon!)

I use a reference image to create these lines. I took a picture inside of a game ( staying unamed bc I don't wanna get in trouble) here is the image I referenced: 

this is the image

the question I want answered:

Is this stealing art? I couldn't find any answers on the help me section or code of conduct. If it is, I will take this down straight away.

please help me out! 

Until this is officially answered I will assume this is not acceptable.

I mean, if its used as a reference then its not stealing? A lot of lineart is used from references so i doubt it. Correct me if im wrong

 I would absolutely order one if you're able to!

thanks for the support saphri! i'd like a little bit more input before I continue this though. I am trying my hardest to not get into any "legal" debates about thinks like this. I like to heir on the side of caution. Also, I will be reposting this on the tag and sig page if the sale is approved. 

it would probably be better to ask the mods directly. in the future if you need to use references, there's plenty of F2U (with proper credit) reference photos on deviantart.

Thanks forgotten! I will message Maple, since I think  that she is the most active mod ? 

you could also send a ticket, it would probably be faster that way c:

I am going to revive this question  because I forgot about it until now and then I sent a ticket in to the mods :)

Not sure if this got answered by a mod yet or not, but I do believe that you are not able to use the reference image as it is copyrighted to the game (this applies to all game screenshots). Anything that uses game assets is considered copyrighted for almost, if not all, games. Not sure what the SS copyrights are bc I don't play the game but I imagine it is similar to all other games. I think that the "fair use" law allows you to take inspiration but not copy or trace. I'm not to familiar with the in-depth copyright laws and what not but because of how closely it looks to the reference image, I wouldn't personally "sell" the art pieces. I would find a copyright free image of a horse in a similar pose and use that and just add the butterfly then you should be in the clear.

If all else fails or you want to know 100% I would recommend contacting SS to see of their screenshots or game play is copyright free. 

Thank you Beacon! I finished the design and then realized that it was probably not ok, but I wanted to check. And no, I didn't get answered by any mods but I will just assume it's a no. Thank you!