Artistic License: the freedom to create an artwork, musical work, or piece of writing based on the artist’s interpretation and mainly for effect (Dictionary.com)
As a realistic watercolor painter I choose to be pretty selective in how I use artistic license in my works, but no matter what your style or medium, there are many choices for an artist to make. It may mean choosing to leave out a tree, making different color choices, and sometimes it’s about how much detail to put in or leave out of an artwork.
You get the point.
And then there are times that I am forced into using artistic license. Those old, fuzzy photos from the disposable camera used on honeymoon 16 years ago can make it impossible to make out certain details. Often I try to research what really is/was there, or what the details really looked like.
Sometimes I luck out.
Sometimes I don’t.
After any number of years, the items in the picture may no longer exist – at least that I can find. Often they’ve changed.
That’s ok – you can still make it work!
Leave it out, change the colors, add something in, it’s up to you.
Artistic license grants you the freedom to do what you want.
Embrace it!
Here are some other examples of how I’ve used artistic license.