Non-compliant image refusal.

[DeepDesertPhoto]

I just had an illustration rejected and the reason was "Non-Compliant Image". It did not state what the exact problem was. It listed three possible causes:

- Non compliant use of another artist’s name.

- Undeclared Generative AI Content.

- Content not compliant with overall guidelines

The reasons listed above are totally false.

For one thing, the image does not have anything in it that would suggest another artists created it.

Secondly, I don't even have an A.I. program, and have never used A.I. for my work.

I use two programs to create my work and edit photos. One is called Affinity Photo, and the other is Affinity Designer. They are not A.I. related.

Thirdly, I have older illustrations in my portfolio that were accepted without question.

I have included the image in question to show what I mean. I created it by manipulating one of my landscape photos, that I own, to create the rock portal. The background was created by digital painting. The girl in the image is also digitally painted, and 100% fiction from my imagination. Is there a way I can appeal this rejection since I did not use A.I.?
I have been with Adobe since they swallowed up Fotolia, which was a long time ago. I can understand an image being rejected for technical problems, or not being suitable for Adobe's market. But I take great offense at being accused of using A.I. when I did this myself using the tools in my photo editing program.

[moderator detatched this from an unrelated threat]

[George_F]

This refusal reason is a bit confusing from the the header included and just includes a few example reasons there.  A Non-Compliance rejection just means one of the general guidelines isn't being followed.  Not declaring an image to be AI generated is just one of the reasons.

Did you include a property release that lists yourself as the artist of the illustration?  If not, I believe you'd need one in this case.

When I searched the term Eckara with a search engine, a few results that popped up could have led a reasonable person to wonder if the term was copyrighted or trademarked.  I would try changing the title to something a bit more generic if it's included.  I would also check the keywords for anything that could be a trademark or a keyword.

No worries, this shouldn't be too hard to figure out and you can likely resubmit the asset once the necessary changes are made.  Cheers!

[Nancy OShea]

If you post the full-sized image here, we can tell you why we think it was rejected. 

Non Compliant Image.  You probably didn't read your Contributor User Guide from start to finish.  There's a lot of important information in it.  Start with these links:

• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/reasons-for-content-rejection.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/quality-and-technical-issues.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/user-guide.html/stock/contributor/help/photography-illustr...
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/how-to/tips-stock-image-acceptance.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/vector-requirements.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/generative-ai-content.html
  ===========
  Model/Property Releases:
  https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/model-release.html
  https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/property-release.html

Before submitting, compare your work with current Stock inventory. 

• Is yours as good or better than what Stock has? 
• As a customer, would you buy it?

[DeepDesertPhoto]

Nancy, I did post the image. It is attached as a separate file.

I only began this thread because the rejection reason was vague to me. It was not specific as to what their reason was.

I have been with Adobe since 2006, and I have had rejections before, but they usually state the exact reason. Some rejections I have had stated "Quality Issues", or not suitable for Adobe's market. I can understand those.

But I have never gotten a rejection like this one where they stated only "possible reasons" for the rejection.

One of the possible reasons listed was "Undeclared generative AI content". I know that is totally false because I did not use any AI to create this.

But to answer your hypothetical questions;

• Is yours as good or better than what Stock has?  My answer is yes. I have over 1300 images on Adobe, dating back to when Adobe gobbled up Fotolia, so I have been here a long time. I have regular sales, almost every day. Since this particular image is in the fantasy category, I did a search for those types of images before uploading it. I found over 3 million images in the fantasy illustration category. Many of them were not much different than the one I submitted, so I thought there would not be an issue with it, unless they found a quality issue I overlooked. But the rejection did not state that there was a quality issue, or even that it was not suitable for their market. That vagueness is why I began this thread.
• As a customer, would you buy it? Since I create images, and don't buy them, that is hard for me to answer. I have never bought any images. However, that is why I do a search before uploading to see if Adobe is selling images similar to the ones I have. That is when I decide whether or not to upload my photos or illustrations here. And the one I uploaded is similar to ones currently on Adobe.

However, this may be a moot point now because the image has been accepted by another agency.

If there is no way to appeal the rejection, or get a straight answer as to why it was rejected, then I will not submit my illustrations here anymore.

[Nancy OShea]

I will not submit my illustrations here anymore.

By @DeepDesertPhoto

============

That's your choice.

This isn't personal.  Stock is a business.  And a rare opportunity to reach millions of global customers that you wouldn't reach any other way.   If you can do it, great.  If you can't, that's OK too.

Adobe Reviewers receive thousands of assets per week.  They don't have time to explain every rejection.  That's not their job.  You won't get a reply from Adobe other than the generic one you already received.  Sorry.

Best of luck.

[DeepDesertPhoto]

I never took the rejection personally. I just felt that offering three possible reasons for the rejection was too vague and told me nothing as to what the actual problem was. And the guidelines did not help. I found the guidelines a little too generalistic for this type of image.
I only say that because I usually get 75% of my submissions approved, and the ones that do get rejected usually have a reason listed, such as quality issues, or not suitable for Adobe's market. And those reasons I fully understand, and accept. The rejection reason for this particular image was just too vague for me, and I think it has something to do with the emergence of AI generated images. I think they felt it was AI produced and decided to reject it out of pure caution due to the legal problems AI is creating in the market.

But fortunately, the image has found a home on two other sites.
I will simply have to remember to not submit this type of image here in the future, and continue to send Adobe only my photography work.
I have never had these issues with my photography.

[Jill_C]

The reasons for a noncompliant asset rejection are explained here. No need to take offense at this particular rejection. It doesn't mean that you have done all 3. As you have eliminate the first 2 of the 3 possible reasons, review the 3rd.

https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/reasons-for-content-rejection.html

[DeepDesertPhoto]

I have never had to submit a property release for past illustrations I made.
The name "EcKara" is a name I came up for my character in a story I wrote called "Trail of Time", which was published back in 2012. I have since taken the book off the market. I originally wrote the story back in 1995.
If the name is popping up in a search then that is out of my control. To my knowledge, copyright laws don't protect names, only the content of a story. So if my character name is being used elsewhere I might not be able to do anything about that.
Here is a link to the old book listing on Amazon. As you can see the book is no longer available, but the character name appears in the description.

I also designed the original cover art of the book.

I suppose I could change the file name and the description, but then nobody would know what the image depicts in terms of the character, which is what I wanted to do.

[Abambo]

That's all irrelevant. Submit a property release stating that the character is a fake character, not modelled after an existing person.

[DeepDesertPhoto]

Like I mentioned in my posting, I have been with Adobe for a long time. I do get periodic rejections for things such as not suitable for the Adobe market, or there might be a technical issue that I overlooked, and those types of rejections don't bother me.

But since their rejection reason was vague, and implied I used A.I. when I didn't, that is what I didn't like. When I submit images for review there is a dialogue box that pops up asking me to certify that the content submitted was not A.I. generated. If Adobe thinks it is AI generated then they could suspend my account, which I cannot afford because this is my income.
Unless I can get this rejection clarified as to what is specifically wrong with it, then I will be reluctant to resubmit it, or submit similar images in the future.
And I did read the guidelines, and from what I read they don't apply to my images, which is why I need a specific clarification.

[Jill_C]

You definitely should not resubmit it unless you can address the issue for which it was rejected, which is unclear. Unfortunately, there is no way to dispute the Moderators findings or to receive any clarity from them as to the specific reason for rejection. We, your fellow Contributors, are just guessing based on experience with many other rejected assets submitted to this forum.

[George_F]

@Jill_C If he's using an illustration of a character from a book he published, he'd need a property release from himself as the author to use the illustration commercially.  Is that right?

@DeepDesertPhoto The way I understand copyright and trademark, it's using a likeness of something that is protected.  The name "Mario" can certainly be used without any issue, but if you put up a picture of two plumbers with the names Mario & Luigi that is definitely getting into Nintendo territory.  

I agree with @Jill_C , definitely wait until you're confident you've addressed the issue before resubmitting.

[DeepDesertPhoto]

Citing your Super Mario example, you would be correct if I created this based on a character someone else owned. That would be referred to as "fan art", and is not allowed anyway due to copyright laws. But since this is a character I created for a story that I wrote, then that would not apply.
I do know that I would have to provide a property release if I was photographing my own home, or some other landmark that was privately owned, but I have never heard of having to provide a property release for artwork created by me.

In any case, since I cannot find any links or tabs for submitting an appeal, it would probably be a waste of time to resubmit it without knowing for certain what the problem is.
Right now both you and Jill are just offering guesses as to what the issue is.

As I mentioned in my reply to Jill, I have already submitted it to other agencies I deal with. I belong to 11 different agencies, and I know of two that will definitely take it, but they don't pay as much as Adobe.

[DeepDesertPhoto]

Unfortunately I could not find any links or tabs for submitting an appeal, and I don't want to simply rename it and resubmit to just have it rejected again.

I have already submitted it to other agencies.

So if Adobe doesn't want it, I will send it to the others I have portfolios at.
I just wish Adobe was more clear about what they didn't like about it.

[George_F]

You are correct, there isn't a way to appeal a rejection.  The process is to resubmit once the corrections are made, if the issues are correctable.

If Adobe wasn't interested in the illustration, they would have rejected it for Lack of Aesthetic Appeal.  Think of this as a clerical error sort of deal.

Here is more about property releases, I think this applies to you: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/property-release.html

[DeepDesertPhoto]

I noticed that they updated this requirement in September of 2023, according to the page you posted a link to. That probably explains why they never requested a release for other illustrations that were accepted in the past.
Here is one of 12 illustrations that were accepted without a property release to illustrate what I am talking about. Pardon the pun.

This illustration was accepted in May of 2023, which is before the new requirements on the page you posted a link to.

https://stock.adobe.com/stock-photo/id/605075695

[Abambo]

I noticed that they updated this requirement in September of 2023, according to the page you posted a link to. That probably explains why they never requested a release for other illustrations that were accepted in the past.
Here is one of 12 illustrations that were accepted without a property release to illustrate what I am talking about. Pardon the pun.

This illustration was accepted in May of 2023, which is before the new requirements on the page you posted a link to.

By @DeepDesertPhoto

No. Illustrations got always accepted without a property release, with some exceptions. The other illustrations don't depict a person. That is the difference.

[Abambo]

Unfortunately I could not find any links or tabs for submitting an appeal, and I don't want to simply rename it and resubmit to just have it rejected again.

By @DeepDesertPhoto

There is no appeal.

[Abambo]

Unfortunately I could not find any links or tabs for submitting an appeal, and I don't want to simply rename it and resubmit to just have it rejected again.

I just wish Adobe was more clear about what they didn't like about it.

By @DeepDesertPhoto

That won't happen. If they wrote the slightest critique, they would need years to moderate a few assets. The file name is irrelevant. That won't be displayed anywhere, except on your dashboard.

[Abambo]

Unless I can get this rejection clarified as to what is specifically wrong with it, then I will be reluctant to resubmit it, or submit similar images in the future.
And I did read the guidelines, and from what I read they don't apply to my images, which is why I need a specific clarification.

By @DeepDesertPhoto

You won't get one. You need to submit a property release because you have a person in the picture that could have been modelled after a real human. You need to assert that the person is a fake person. Furthermore, you may also have to submit a property release to say that it is your asset, but I doubt that.

Just to say, this is not a new requirement. I gave that advice years before the venue of generative AI, when people submitted drawings of fake people.

[DeepDesertPhoto]

I actually stated in the description that the character is fiction and does not exist in real life. Either the reviewer didn't read the description, or disregarded what it said and judged the image only by what it looked like.

In any case, I have submitted it to other agencies.

As I mentioned in a prior reply, I know of at least one, maybe two other sites I deal with who will accept it without a release as long as I state in the description that the person depicted is a work of fiction, and it is my creation and not produced by an AI.

[Abambo]

I actually stated in the description that the character is fiction and does not exist in real life. Either the reviewer didn't read the description, or disregarded what it said and judged the image only by what it looked like.

By @DeepDesertPhoto

The description is not a property release. You will need a property release. Period. You can create the property release electronically, by signing electronically as the owner and the artist.

In any case, I have submitted it to other agencies.

As I mentioned in a prior reply, I know of at least one, maybe two other sites I deal with who will accept it without a release as long as I state in the description that the person depicted is a work of fiction, and it is my creation and not produced by an AI.

By @DeepDesertPhoto

Other sites, other rules. It is irrelevant to Adobe stock if you have submitted the asset to other sites, and they have accepted it.

[DeepDesertPhoto]

It just got accepted by Dreamstime.

If Adobe doesn't want it, it will be their loss.

I just think some of their requirements are a little too strict, so I probably will not submit those types of images to Adobe in the future.

[Abambo]

Your choice! Adobe needs to have a property release for this kind of assets. If you do not want to submit that (which is really easy, as you are the property holder and the artist!) you cannot submit this type of assets and they wont sell here.

[Abambo]

The third reason is for you.