practice

i saw some stills from the film a kid for two farthings (1954) on spitalfields life and made a few sketches for practice. i’ll probably make more and i think i’d like to use them in one of my paintings - which brings me to one of my creative dilemmas: is it ok to let yourself be inspired by things you see on the internet??

there’s also a legal aspect to this question, of course, however, i’m not talking about copying other people’s work but about merging it with your own work in a creative way. a bit like cross-pollination. after all, we don’t exist in a vacuum… that said, i do think it is important to give credit (if possible) and not every piece you make should be based on something someone else has created. what do you think?