Read this before you use other artists’ work as a starting point: http://waxy.org/2011/06/kind_of_screwed/
…and review the guidelines from the College Board: “Any work that makes use of (appropriates) photographs, published images and/or other artists’ work must show substantial and significant development beyond duplication. This is demonstrated through manipulation of the formal qualities, design, and/or concept of the source. The student’s individual ‘voice’ should be clearly evident. It is unethical, constitutes plagiarism, and often violates copyright law simply to copy an image (even in another medium) that was made by someone else and represent it as one’s own.”
Creative Camerawork 