Map of Gabon

Today, for instance, I found that an illustration I drew in 1992 and scanned a few years ago was used in a blog post about the death of Gabon’s president, Omar Bongo, earlier this month. The illustration is a map of Gabon that I drew in my sketchbook while I was interning with the Peace Corps there. (Incidentally, the post consists almost entirely of a quote from another source.)

I love finding things scattered around the Internet this way, especially when the person using the image has taken the time to honor my requests (by-nc). I can’t say enough in favor of Creative Commons. My postcards rely on cc-licensed photos; it’s where I get inspiration to be creative, or find just the right image to bring to life the art in my mind. I’m sure all six of my blog readers already use CC, but just in case you don’t, please consider licensing your visual, written, or other creative work with one of the Creative Commons licenses. Who knows where your stuff might turn up?

(Photo credit gratefully given to stoobydoo for Illuminate Yaletown 2009. Thanks for using Creative Commons!)

And the instructions:

What would your own album look like if you were in a band?
The image is what mine would look like.

Follow the directions below and find out yours…

Here are the rules:

1. The name of your band is the first random Wikipedia article you get here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

2. Your album name is the last 4 or 5 words from the last random quote you find here:
http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

3. Your cover art is the third photo you find on flickr’s interesting last 7 days here:
http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
** Rachel’s rule addition (yes, you know I had to make up a rule): Reload until the 3rd image is under a Creative Commons license allowing you to use it! Then use that one.

4. Assemble in your favorite image editor.

5. Post in note – add photo and tag your friends!

Have fun!