One of FAR too many...
This was the response I received after this person contacted me to use my art in their indy game and I told them that client work was not available, but some of my personal work is and I would be more that happy to discuss licensing fees and to set up a contract. This is put one of SO many of these that I have received lately. While most are on Deviant Art, some are not. The interactions I have on DA are not always so blatant, but the subtext is EXTREMELY clear:
"Hi I like your art, I want to use it. (Actually I have already stolen it, but I am being nice!)"
"Okay, you can't use client work, but you can pay me to use my work."
"Uh, sorry, I have no money. (So I am TOTALLY gonna steal some more of your art)"
"Sorry to hear that, well when you have a budget, I am more that happy to talk, just don't steal my work."
"Sure thing! Will do! I love your work! Would never steal it! (I am TOTALLY gonna steal every last bit of art you have on Deviant Art!)"
Over and over and over again. Finally have had enough. Not too mention I have not been able to find ANY proof that I am getting any kind of return from my Deviant Art account or that it is helping me achieve my goals in anyway. All it seems to be is a time sink and a stress creator. So, after more than 8 years I am packing it in, closing up shop, and getting the hell out of Deviant Art Town. It is not worth my time and it is definitely not worth this stress. Also, if you are wondering about this person or any legal actions I can take... I have to have proof that they have actually stolen work and are using it without my permission, which I don't have, and thier account on DA is blank save for their alias, FuriFull, and that they claim to be n Russia. Not a lot to go on and no recourse to be found. Oh well. Also, I will NEVER watermark my work. If I have to mar the image to keep it safe when showing people I will stop making art. This is why we can not have nice things.
That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here on Monday! Until then...
For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com
The worst part of these type of stories is realizing there are less confident people that have these art thieves sending them messages and telling them their work isn't worth money.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is way to much work to set up, you can also use other methods to search for your own images, using reverse image search like methods. (Not saying you can use reverse image search for this, which you could. But saying these systems use some sort of 'this image looks like' system. Just like facebook is planning with the naked pictures thing ( https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/07/facebook-revenge-porn-nude-photos )) Not that it is worth it. Any time spend going after people like this is time you are not getting back. Why we can't have nice things indeed.
ReplyDeleteAnd to stop the witch hunt before it starts, anybody reading this by reverse image searching images right now and going after people you will probably hurt normal people more than any of the real big copyright infringers. If you really want to stop stuff like this, start by making a stand against pinterest. A site saying 'we support copyright and so should you' while making the process of claiming copyright or getting your images removed as hard as possible. (Or so it seems, I never used the site, and dislike it, for this and other reasons)
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