Too derivative; do you can the project or not?

[Winter_Wolf]

This isn't a legality issue, assume it meets the sufficiently different criterion (because it does) if you gotta go there. Now then:

I don't follow Batman comics at all, nor the animated series, but I do (vaguely) know who Harley Quinn is. I detest what I saw of the character the one time I was channel flipping and saw her fawning on Joker and that gawdawful voice. But I like the general look. The sketch I'm working on and thinking of canning looks like a gothy light haired woman with panda face mascara. Sufficiently generic that it could literally be any blond goth chick but then again HQ basically looks like goth fanservice in my eyes. I'm not going to attribute my piece as a version Harley Quinn but I can't unsee the similarities now that I've noticed them.

If it were you, can it or keep it? I realize that's not really a fair question without seeing something but not currently in a position to scan it and I mostly sketch in nonphoto blue so the pics look bad enough that you probably won't see enough to see why I'm unhappy without what I've got.

[Lethologica]

Are you doing something with this project where you're worried about copyright infringement, or is this more of an aesthetic originality concern?

[Winter_Wolf]

Aesthetic originality concern. I know I'm in the clear on the other front. I suppose it's just such a common look now that I can see it in so many places. I also see Traci Lords a la her role in Crybaby and Abby from NCIS when I look at my sketch now that I think about it. Probably the DA crowd mostly has no clue that either of those things exist or the characters in them, though. I'm old, or at least I feel like it now.

[Lethologica]

In that case, I would not can the project for lack of originality. The examples you've chosen for comparison characterize a pretty broad archetype, and you've mentioned that the work is, thus far, generic. It would be difficult not to find similar art in existing pop culture. Depending on the specific nature of the project, originality may not be a useful goal here. Even if it is, and you find the current design unacceptably generic or derivative, this project could be a useful base for further work developing the character in ways that make her more distinctively herself.

[Winter_Wolf]

Yeah I started to feel a lot better about things when I took a step back and realized there were several "yeah I see it now" characters informing this one. Wanting originality is more a conceit on my part, but it's not strictly essential especially considering that it's mostly something that started out as a warm up sketch but managed to take one some life of its own. There's enough that I think I can swing my own take on things. Essentially it's a self motivator to get off my ass and start drawing like I did before the kids. I'll maybe eventually put it up on DA since I made myself open up an account. (Heaven forbid a 12 year old see a nipple or two, but damn some of those images seem like they'd be more at home in adult magazines. And of course I can't actually find the few pieces of art that I wanted to see in the first place. :smallsigh:) But backing up a bit, when you know something isn't violating someone's IP, but you think it's just really derivative, do you rework the whole thing or just roll with it? I'm not real big into "homage" anymore, got my fill of that back at uni. Also those particular artists may be long since retired and no longer relevant/people won't get it anyway but I'd still feel weird about it.

[Artman77]

I made a character I thought was super original; I realized later it was a mish-mash of spawn and various other people. The backstory was good enough though that I still liked him enough to not scrap the whole project. I'd like to say it's super original, and in once sense it is. On the other hand, inspiration has to come from somewhere. You can really only put so many shapes and colors on peoples eyes before they start to look the same. If the character has taken on enough of a life of her own, keep her. Images draw people in, but it's the story that keeps them...

...and I'mma leave this here:
http://www.amazon.com/Steal-Like-Artist-Things-Creative/dp/0761169253?tag=duckduckgo-ffsb-20