: Should graphic artists be scared at all about anyone stealing their artworks? Are you guys scared at all about anyone stealing your art? What should designers do about it if it happens? I want

@Shelley591

Don't worry about it, only one of two things will happen.


A ""nobody"" will steal it and post it somewhere.............. n that's it.... it'll just be somewhere... and people will see it.... maybe even think "wow that's cool"... then move on with their life... and that's it...
Some company will steal it and turn it into a huge billion dollar thing that everyone goes crazy for and spends tons n tons of money to have.


If the first thing happens..... so what.... if the second thing happens GREAT!!!! NOW YOU HAVE A HUGE BILLION DOLLAR MARKET REVOLVING AROUND YOUR WORK THAT YOU CAN ENGAGE AND COLLECT FROM!!!... Sure they'll have that ONE thing you did... but you can come out right behind them like "I got red ones, green ones, blue ones, purple, orange, polka dots, stripes etc. etc."... which that company DOESN'T have. Aside from that you have TONS of other work they HAVEN'T stolen that this same market will LOVE if they love the one they stole. Hiding yourself from the world is NEVER a good solution. You just have to think in an opportunistic way about it all.

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@XinRu324

Somebody copying your artwork for commercial purposes is about the best thing that could happen to you. Federal Copyright law allows you to sue them for as much as 0,000 if they do it.

As far as penniless kids copying your artwork, I would not sweat it.

In all honesty, the publicity you get from people copying your work is worth much more than any "lost income". And, like I said above, if in the off chance you really do lose income (like some national magazine using your image without your permission), just the threat of a lawsuit will cause them to send you a VERY large check.

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@Vandalay110

When one focuses on the negative on loss sight at the whole picture. Look at it this way:

Your not getting any money for the pictures if they are hidden. Your not getting exposure if they are hidden. If somebody steals them you get free exposure, you aren't getting any money. On the other hand you were not doing so in the first place. So the net result is your winning. You can sue if somebody really misuses your trust (you'd need to do this anyway even if you don't share at all, it can still get stolen other ways).

Once you get a claim on fame you can charge for future commissions. In essence you are not yet a known artist, record label so you can not capitalize on the investment you did not do yet. So you must look at things differently.

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@Turnbaugh909

There is no foolproof way to stop it, but one way to limit the unauthorized usage of your artwork is to restrict the resolution that it's displayed in. This seems to me like it would be the best deterrent. If the image is good enough to be seen on the screen, but otherwise useless in any sort of production environment, then it makes people much less likely to just up and steal your art.

Using your wallpaper example, what good is an image with the resolution of 480x300 when 1920x1200 wallpapers are what people really want? Limiting the hosted image to a lower resolution allows people to view it, but keeps them from using it without obtaining the full resolution version.

Of course, if you plan on selling your work, then you'll need to deliver full resolution pieces somehow, but using a paywall and alternate delivery system would also prevent a lot of theft.

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@Pierce403

I know you say watermark is not helpful but, did you think in put a signature in the artwork? Is the most popular method for artists in DA. I don't know if it's effective or not.

It's fast and easy solution.

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@Holmes874

Are you guys scared at all about anyone stealing your art?


No. Not scared. It's of no immediate risk to me if someone downloads an image I created.


What would you guys do about it if it happens?


If there is clear intent to profit off my work, I may then decide to fight it through legal channels. What those channels are depends heavily on your location on this planet and the location of the infringer.

As mentioned, there really aren't technical ways to handle it. Copyright infringement is a legal construct--not a technical one. Watermarks are about as best you can do but, honestly, I've never seen a watermark make an image look better. :)

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@Karen819

There isn't much you can do to stop someone from stealing your artwork. The only way is to not posting your artwork online. A watermark will not be 100% effective but it will help. I also wouldn't upload 100% quality large artwork.

Another more tedious way (only work on personal site) is to split an image into multiple images and place them next to eachother. This could be more work than it is worth.

Also if you have your own website. You can tell Google to not catalog your images. This will make the image not searchable in Google. This code would go into your robots.txt file.

website:
User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Disallow: /


One thing I wouldn't do is stop people from right-clicking on a personal website. I think this is an ineffective way at preventing theft and will cause more of a usability issue for most users than for people taking your work.

I wouldn't let the possibility of someone taking your art stop you from exposing your artwork online. You can always reverse image search your artwork as well.

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