Licensing.

All skeletal diagrams are under the copyright of Dan Folkes (myself). If you're eager to license any of these images, please get in touch with me via my email, dan.folkes5@gmail.com. I’ll get back to you ASAP!

Personal usage of my skeletal diagrams.

The skeletal diagrams and other illustrations featured on this website are protected by copyright law. This protection extends to the specific expression of the ideas conveyed and not the ideas themselves. Basically speaking, I'd appreciate it if you don't directly copy or reproduce my specific diagrams of an animal I've depicted without my permission. If you're creating a skeletal diagram of an extinct animal that I've also depicted, your representations must be independently created, so we can both maintain our unique artistic choices and presentation.

What do “unique artistic choices” entail? Things like posing of an animal can’t be copyrighted - my skeletals use a neutral posture, which helps communicate hip height. So feel free to make your skeletals in a similar pose to my own!

Any artistic choices, such as directly tracing skeletal areas of the body from my skeletals, are subject to my copyright: examples include tracing large areas of a skeletal diagram, such as the vertebral column, cranial elements, or other large articulated areas of the body - especially in cases where much of an area has been reconstructed due to missing material, thus involving my personal interpretation.

Skeletal diagrams take a lot of effort, and most importantly knowledge of the anatomy of various groups to make. Although the creation of skeletal diagrams involves depicting known fossilised material, each of my diagrams involves my own interpretation of the anatomy of a certain taxon, including (but not limited to) filling in gaps, articulating fossil material, or correcting deformities due to fossilisation. I spend a lot of time going over what I believe is the correct choice for a reconstruction.

I invest a significant amount of time putting together these reconstructions, and tracing areas from my illustrations without consulting me is not okay, neither is using the illustration and changing a few areas here and there (eg. the entirety of the vertebral column has been traced, but it has been reposed slightly and the skull is different) or using the excuse that “it’s the same fossil anyways”.

Furthermore, directly tracing from my skeletal diagrams can lead to errors, especially with a lack of understanding of anatomy. Every one of my illustrations involves personal interpretation. If you directly trace from these illustrations, it can lead to errors carried into your work. For example, if one of my interpretations doesn’t match the current understanding of a certain extinct animal (such as their relationships with other species, which influences how I reconstruct missing areas), it can become problematic for your own diagram. This highlights the importance of working with the material yourself, rather than tracing from my own or others' diagrams.

So, what is OK?

I highly encourage people to use my skeletal diagrams for paleoart purposes - this includes the creation of life reconstructions of animals using my skeletal diagrams, or for 3D modelling, such as the creation of a 3D skeleton or a a 3D life reconstruction. I absolutely love seeing you folks use my reconstructions to create wonderful works of art! As ever, if you are going to create these pieces of media, please make sure to credit my skeletal as its base (and make sure to tag me so I can see your wonderful works!)