tiki drink menu art theft

what are the thoughts/etiquette on lifting illustrations from defunct tiki drink menus? i thought i remember hearing that even some of the "greats" borrowed illustrations & descriptions verbatim when doing their menus?

as we embark on putting our own menu together, was just wondering if there were copyrights to be concerned with for closed establishments, or if it was just really bad form to do so? i mean, i'm all for giving my graphic designer more work, but if i'm paying them to basically "redraw" an illustration i really like, what's the difference?

thanks!

Hey there, I'm a graphic designer myself and my opinion is that if you can make it original then do it. It sounds like you have a great opportunity to do so (sorry that I'm unfamiliar if you're opening a restaurant or bar, etc) and it would be a shame to lift art from dead destinations. Now if you want, you could always do something like Hale Pele did: create a "souvenir" menu, or something that is retro and an homage to those particular venues that you're asking about. For reference here's the menu:

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0252/7451/products/hp_souvenirmenu_072013_1024x1024.jpg

You'll notice they're pretty similar to the old Don the Beachcomber menus and yet they're entirely original drawings as done by a local tatoo artist. Maybe this is the best way to approach what you want? You can essentially get the look you're wanting, only the designer/artist is creating original art at the same time (which should save your ass for any potential legal issues as well.) I'm sure everybody here would love to see the end result when they're finally complete.

Great question....as I was worried about that when I made my menu. I still need to test out the drinks, but made up my own names, used the art I have from my lounge logo, and then used free clipart from MS Power Point. My logo has a Moai in it so it has the Tiki factor included. I do not plan on selling my menus, so figure I am safe. If anyone else has thoughts on this...bring them on. I sure do not want to have any issues or cause any artist to be offended.

For any document, if you do use an artist's work (with their permission) and give them credit, is it still offensive to an artist?

I want a Vamp menu
:)

Jon