or Facebook! so many fandom pages share links to art thieves and scammers and fans who aren't artists and don't understand that it's a problem buy them AND get scammed!
I knew a girl in high school who became oddly obsessed with me and would copy all my artwork and anytime I confronted her or called her out on it, she would start to dramatically cry and was in denial. Because she would cry so dramatically (really loudly, with screaming) people would think I was bullying her so at some point people started to spread rumors that I was the art thief. She got exposed during senior year when she copied a character design I made which included the character wearing a bomber jacket with my own initials on the back. At that point I wasn't even mad anymore. It so funny cause I couldn't believe she would just blindly copy my art without realizing she even copied my name onto her copy. When I pointed it out, people finally believed me and I was relieved of worrying about her from then on.
I think scammers are worse, because they actually steal real money from you. Art thieves are *usually* just nine year olds who repost your art. Annoying, sure, but you don't actually lose any money (unless they sell it of course, which is a different story) Edit: This is from a customer's point of view. From an artist's point of view, i think the opposite. Another Edit: HOLY COW SO MANY LIKES
i got scammed at SCHOOL. i gave a girl in my class some art i drew, (no signature) and the next day the girl gets praised for my art. i got 0 credit and people started spreading lies that i copied her. but finally people started believing that it was my art, and that i made it. last time i give my art away.
Lola Playz Best thing to do is post it on an art site (from Deviantart to Instagram) to time stamp the art to expose the liar. Even if they still claim the art is theirs, most people will see a sense of style when they check out your works and realize it's not theirs :)
I have a story. A good friend of mine use to make Bikini's and she was pretty big in the cosplay community. Sadly she is disabled and about two years ago. She had to stop making bikinis suddenly..... Her disability got worse, which caused her body to break down and make it harder and harder to finish the bathing suits. She was also going through a lot of crap trying to pay off bills.. so when people started demanding refunds and calling her a scammer made it even harder... I think I am the only person, out of the last people who had the chance to buy a bathing suit. Who hasn't demanded or even asked for money back.. And yeah its been two years. But the wait has been worth it. as far as I know.. there is now something in the mail for me. Yeah the bikinis were 70-100 dollars (depending on where you live. Im Canadian so anything in the states cost more) But Honestly... She was disabled and NO one understood that or cared.. It was really sad.. It wouldn't be so bad if people weren't So mean to her....
What about if you have a small following? I've had serval artworks stolen and because I don't have a big following when I report it, nothing gets done.
Yeah, only one time was something taken down and that was on Facebook. Someone had stolen a painting of mine and had it in their top 5 photos on their profile, but it still had my signature so FB luckily took it down.
I used to reference/trace off of this one artist. Not going to mention her name. Anyways, she (obviously) found out and I got called out in a journal. As a wee 11 year old, I was panicked and sHOOK. So I played the victim and I was defensive. I ended up taking my art down after a lot of hateful comments. I had stolen a character of theirs and traced their art. I poked the beehive with the stick and I got a swarm. You know an easy way to prevent getting found out? Don't do anything in the first place. It wont help you at all. Take it from me and everyone else's stories and don't do it. Myself and the artist have forgiven each other, but simply went our own ways.
+Teacup Sometimes I think that a simple private message works best. Younger folks may not know "the unwritten rules" of copying or tracing someone's art. I'm probably the least dramatic person when it comes to people reposting, copying, or tracing my art though. Lol
I still like art a lot. Hell, I have improved so much since then. Even though it all happened, I kept my account and kept drawing what I loved. ( sw33ttea.deviantart.com/ )
Scammers are worst in my opinion since they do it knowingly, some "art thieves" do it without knowing. When I was in elementary school, my parents sent to me an art camp during the summer. At the end of the week(end of camp), we had a mini exposition to show our parents and friends what we did that week. Some artwork, including a few of mine, had disappeared by the end of the day. Later on that week, my parents and I were talking around town and went into an artist alley type of street. We actually found my art pieces being sold for 30$+ at one of the stands that was there. We, of course, couldn't do anything about it since there were no proof that they were made by me.
I think that thieves and scammers are equally bad. Scam artists take your money, yeah, but you can always make more money, and usually you don't make that same mistake twice. Art thieves that sell your work can usually get away with it a few times. I find them more obnoxious, since they put zero effort into "their" product. I've had my own art stolen and referenced (without credit), and sometimes you can't stop them. But, hey, at least not everyone takes your money or your art.
It's a perspective thing I guess, art thieves are worse for the artist community, in the way that they drain income from actual artists. Whereas scam artists are worse for the buyer community (but also partially the artist community), because the buyer's who support scam artists don't get their desired product and also begin to distrust the artist community so the artist community loses their buyers.
I think scam artists. My husband still asks me about Sakuems art book... 2 years later. It sucks to have your feelings hurt and feel stupid all in one action. Both are rude, and disrespectful.
theemmeranne I bought a few t-shirts from her and received them without problems. But I asked for her artbook as a Christmas present(from my hubby) it was a go fund me project. We're out a hundred bucks and I still don't have the book. November makes 2 years. I was symphonic at first, she was going through a difficult time but now feel taken advantage of. She should have done the right thing and refunded our money.
I haven't really thought about it before, but I have been sort of scammed and my art has been stolen. 1. I showed a girl how to draw, and when I was done, she asked for my original piece. A few days later, I saw that person tracing my artwork as their own, and just adding new colors to the base of my piece.Their friend had thought that they were the one who had taught ME how to draw. 2. I made a a drawing for a friend, because she asked if I could draw something for her parents anniversary. I didn't make her pay for it. I spent a good week on that drawing, and when I finally gave it to her, she didn't even thank me. Then I saw a picture on her Instagram account, in which she had taken a pen and drawn over what I had drawn, and captioned it "Working on a new edit". This person makes edits of pictures that people take. So, about a week later, I see my drawing slapped front and center on a new edit that she had made, without any credit to me - the artist- . She did not say that she made it, but, in the comments people were saying, "oh you're such a good artist!", and she did not correct them. I don't like confrontation, so I didn't say anything, but now I wish that I did. 4. Another friend cam to visit a few months later, and I gave her 20 dollars to borrow, and she promised she would give it back, but i still haven't received it. Another "friend" of mine has done the same thing to me, but with a larger amount of money.
I see where you're coming from, it is a little confusing, and the way I used borrowing doesn't really match the exact definition of the word. I looked up the definition of borrow, and it is "to take and use (something that belongs to someone else) with the intention of returning it." In the case of the 20 dollars, she had said that when she gets money of her own, she would repay me, meaning that she would give me another 20 dollars in place of the one she had already spent. It's like if you were walking and asked your friend to let you borrow 10 dollars to get a hat because you didn't have any cash on you. You get the shirt, and then later you walk past an ATM, draw out 10 dollars, and give it to your friend. While that doesn't really stick to the textbook definition of borrowing, in context it makes more sense. I hope this helped clear up some of the confusion! :)
Art thieves are so bad.. but I've got scam experience =(( My vector illustration that I drew only for sale was bought by one of such scammers.. And he or her post it for free dowload on a website where such scammers can download such illustrations... And I still can't do nothing with that. ☹ P.S. Cool painting
In a way they can d whatever they want with it because they bought it. It sounds bad but there is nothing you can do about it. If It was an image you uploaded but wasnt made for free use or a gift to anyone then yes something vould be done. But they technically can do that. Its like if you buy a dress tailored for you, you can wear it wherever, whenever and however you like as its now your property, I know it sounds bad, but thete is nothing you can do snout that if you sold it to someone.
Nope, buying from an artist does NOT give you the right to do anything with it outside personal use. Using that logic, if I bought a Super Mario game that would give me the right to use Mario in any way I see fit commercially or not. Which is not the case. You own the copyright until you sign it away in writing (Or until x amount of years have expired depending on where you live). When you create art, the other person cannot legally reproduce, display, and/or make adaptations / derivative works in any commercial way. If you are working for a company, you have a licensing agreement that tells what the client what can do with your intellectual property (not just copyright but trademark and design patents). The only area where this is gray is “work for hire” for things like art contests which they will put out what you are legally signing up for. When you sell your work, be sure to make it obvious what the terms are. Is it for personal use only? Commercial? Are there royalties involved? Most sites are quick to take down stolen art except if it's based in China as they don't really enforce copyright laws. As for the dress, it is correct a dress does not go under copyright law (because it is a functioning item) but design elements such as original prints, patterns and unique color arrangements are. There is also Trade dress which is trademark law and design patents that protect the artist who made them.
its an art thief is that person bought the art from you. the scam artist art the ones who sell you art, take your money but you never get the art you paid for XD
One time in 7th grade a girl gave me $5 for me to make her a chibi. a day later I gave it to her and she was happy. a month later she comes up to me with a poorly traced chibi of mine and asked what I thought of her drawing.. then proceeded to ask me to draw glasses on it....?
But hey, you got bucks. Besides, everyone starts out by copying someone or a franchise. I started by tracing but over time i was able to develop my own art style. I suggest you should help them through their journey. And besides, they didn't profit from tracing it, did they? (sorry my english is bad)
I see people on Instagram talking about their art getting stolen, and they don't even have big accounts. It scares me because someone could be stealing my art and I wouldn't even know about it.
A Chinese girl saw my drawing and she absolutely loved it but I didn't understand and we could only talk through emojis so she STOLE my art and uploaded it like it was hers and it was the real one but MINE was and she even made it her profile pic!! I managed to get it back through emojis and she deleted it and took it off as her profile pic
MY FRIEND SCAMMED ME!!! So a couple of months ago, my friend needed a drawing of a Golgi complex for her biology class and I said yes, and said it would cost a dollar. She said ok, and that she would have the dollar for me that the day. So I went home and spent AT LEAST an hour working on it,TRADITIONALLY, and came back the next day with the drawing like I said I would,making the drawing look as similar to the picture she wanted me to draw as possible. So I handed her the drawing and asked her for the dollar she was SUPPOSEDLY going to pay me, and she said that she didn't have it, and once AGAIN said that she was going to bring it the following day. So, the next day, I brought it back up, and she still didn't have it, and she said she would give it to me the following week, since it was a Friday. So, the next week,I brought it up again, AND she said "what dollar?" OML talk about me getting mad. All I asked for was a dollar. A DOLLAR. And she couldn't even give me that, but yet she is supposed to be my friend, and to this day, I still haven't seen that dollar. :/ And what made me so mad about this ,is that I was tired that time when she asked me to draw it for her, but instead of just plain out saying no, I wanted to be a good friend and help her with her assignment just in exchange for A DOLLAR. WHICH she said that she would have, but never put in my hand. Heck, I was even willing to take change that when summed up together, it would be a dollar, but NOPE. And then she STILL has the nerve whenever we walk past each other in the hallways ,to say hi. SMILING I say hi back, but in my head I'm like, mmmmm, you haven't forgot about that dollar. I know it's just a dollar, but It's the principle of the situation.
Actually, I think the follower can get their money back. I read a comment somewhere which said that the follow could contact a certain federal bureau, and take their claims to the officials instead
+Fromage Hmmm, that reminds me of the time I had to report a person to the FBI to get a refund on eBay. LOL I'm not sure if it works exactly the same though. Like, does it matter if you're an individual or a business?
I had someone steal my entire brand image (Business card design, Logo typeface/colors, and even my business description!) I am not "popular" by any means, but that's essentially WHY they stole from me, they didn't think I'd notice. I saw her stuff on tumblr, I went to her blog, and noticed a post where WORD FOR WORD copied my business card except replaced her name for mine. I was LIVID cause all she did was vector my business card. I told her to destroy all the rest of the cards and even had to go through means of telling a couple other artists in her area that she was using the cards at conventions to promo herself and to keep an eye on her cause she promised she would destroy the cards. And now over a year later, she used them at a show thinking I wouldn't notice again. I've since learned how to send a C&D since my design, logo, and branding is all actual copyrighted material now. Thieves come in all types, sadly.
This is why when someone Commissions me, I usually keep the money in my bank, or in my paypal/deviantart, and if I take too long, and they decide they want to refund, i'll just send it right back.
XxLol Gamer PlayerxX it depends. if u use references u should be ok. I think its a bad idea to trace, or take the actual image. But using reference to help you draw is ok.
XxLol Gamer PlayerxX it is good to use references! Unless you are doing a study (which I wouldn't upload to any platform without credit to the photographer), references can be used to generate an image. It is very hard to Improve without reference
Referencing is fine when you do it in private or when you give credit. If you're just using the source as a guide and selling it, I think its okay too. But selling a tracing or copied drawing is considered art theft ( in my opinion, at least )
Referencing is very important for developing observational skills. But, when referencing, use a royalty free reference photo/ask permission from the photographer before hand. Or only reference paintings that are in the public domain. Or use whatever reference photo (or artwork) you like, as long as you don't upload, display or sell artwork made using that reference. If you don't do these things, you're in violation of international copyright law and are at legal risk. I am a pet portrait and wildlife artist and ALWAYS work from reference. A very tiny percentage of artists can draw something realistically or convincingly without studying/using a reference.
I agree with you on how scam artists are worse. Stolen art is much easier to find especially when the artist has a big following. Scam artists sometimes say that they won't pay you back and can block you too. Thanks for making this video. Your art is beautiful~
I honestly would say " Art Thief" I created a design to a huge corporation... and turns out they used my design and sold it across Canada. So, I do have proof but... It's a huge corporation sadly... and who are they going to believe? Me or the corporation... I now put logos on my pictures, and engrave my work.
wait how's is a thief art if u drew it for them? did u had any contract with such huge corporation that says that they cant use what u designes for them... if not, than sadly you have no chance of winning this case. if you have solid proof than copyright law will protect you, it deosnt matter that they are huge
Noodles Sama actually it's better than that! They asked people to create a product for them which the winner would get split profile in which ever artist was the winner. That being said... I did check out with my lawyer and I do have the case. Since they did use my idea and had a website contact explaining about the contest. I never got 1 cent from them.
Corporations steal artist's work all the time. It's depressing as hell. And I am not talking about 'inspiration' because if they alter the design enough nothing can really be done, but if it is close enough they are in big trouble!!! (but it cost money and so many people let it go)
I definitely agree scam artists are the worst, and you've raised some points I didn't think of. The immediate thing I thought of is that scam artists make artists as a whole look bad. The indie art community struggles enough, we can't afford a bad reputation because of scammers.
I got my art style stolen by a classmate. I had an anime art style, inspired by Kagerou Days/ Mekakucity Actors, Danganronpa and my childhood Yumeiro Patisserie, but I eventually developed it into my own art style. There's this one kid in class who also draws a lot, her art style was a lot more different than mine. Since both of us were artists we talked and shared our art, but then one day she asked if I could draw a picture of her favourite character from a TV series and so I did, she brought it back home. I was extremely happy to know that someone liked my art and requested a drawing from me. The next day, I saw people looking through her sketchbook saying how pretty the art was and I looked at it. The art style was almost the same as mine. Her art style went from American cartoon style to full-blown anime style. I asked her why the style changed all of a sudden and she was like "Oh I just used your art as a little reference, I didn't copy it." But the eyes, the hair, the body, the legs, they were all so similar. It might just be me being paranoid, but I believed she stole my art style and got even more praise for it.
Despair Desbear That's horrible.Don't help her with requests,Try to teach people with your drawings in RUclips.This will helps you gains interest and money too. You have to do it,Make a move in life,Someone will supports you! Including me!Good luck!
An art style Belongs to no one individual, and no mater how hard someone tries their art will always be different from other peoples art. and also if you draw anime it is likely it is inspired by a pre existing style. and if you use a style and someone mimic's it you should feel honored that someone likes the style you use enough to use it themselves.
Someone I know is a furry artist, (someone who dresses as animals and draws them too), she is not that good at drawing but that's not the point. She looks up furry drawings, copy's them and adds her own colors. I'm not sure if I should tell her she is stealing art or just keep it quiet :/
That's art theft. You should tell her politely that she should make her own art. Also, try to encourage her and help her. When I was younger, I really disliked my art. I never literally stole art, but I did use bases, and was too afraid to post my own art because I didn't like it. If you do art yourself, or even if you don't, maybe try drawing with her or giving tips. When she does make her own art, give some constructive criticism to help her improve, and also tell her things that she did well about the drawing. If she doesn't want to draw her own stuff, or lies that she will, then maybe ask her to at least credit the artist of the base if she posts it. Coloring is fun, but posting that type of stuff is disrespectful to the original creator if you don't give credit. If she continues, then you should be a little more strict about it and how stealing art can get you fined or jailed in the future. If it gets too bad, report her to the original artist and let them deal with it. It's okay if someone doesn't know any better, but if they don't listen to warnings then they need to get in trouble.
Emily Nishti it's technically not stealing but it's bases. Maybe if it won't stop, you can tell her tracing IS okay, as long as you don't copy colors :) I used to trace as a kid and it really helps develop style
Politely say its thief and suggest for to look up videos on how to draw. I used to suck at drawing and would trace images ( I never put them online though) and then I started watching youtube and learnt how to draw myself. It felt so much much better to be able to draw myself and not have to copy anymore :)
That piece is so cute :3 I've been lucky no to have been scammed by an artist yet. I was given art both times I paid for it and was happy with my results.
What stuck out to me was when you were talking about, the artist you supported isn't what you thought they were, and you can't really do much b/c you aren't as "big" as the artist. and they can just block you. I had a similar situation happen to me (though it had nothing to do with scamming or theft) it just stuck out to me and reminded me that not all artists are great
I haven't had my artwork stolen but I had photos of my hedgehog stolen and the person tried to get fame from Instagram by using my photos because she was different she was a unique color
I think that art scammers are worst. For art thefts, you can use facts like when it was uploaded or watermarks. Like say you made a drawing that took you 3 days to make and it was uploaded May 15. 2 days later, someone stole it, by taking out your signature. You can use the dates both pictures were uploaded. So if they say you stole from them, you use the day/time they were uploaded as proof that they stole from you. But Art scammers are much harder to call out.
when I was in elementary school a girl (let's call her Ashly) told me to draw a girl for her, I did, she liked it then she showed it to her friend and she won a "competition" her friends made, I noticed it and I was MAD, she asked me to draw a couple, I did after I drew it, I add my signature all over the paper.. a few years later, I'm her classmates again, our art teacher had use make a poster making project for Valentine's ! and best works will be in the art exhibit for art month, and it was a group project and our teacher picked. I did mostly the work and they colored abit, anyways.. Ashly, "made water color art" and her sister...made it..rumors started and her crew got offended some of her groupmates played with it while some were just confused, she didn't get in the exhibit though. thanks for reading :) also bad English much
Hi Lemia ! I been watching you for a long time, I am an artist and you inspired me to make art tutorials too! I hope the art community can benefit and learn from my videos like how you inspired others! Love Destiny ❤️❤️
I feel like scam artists are much worse. Art thieves can be sort of hard to deal with if you have a smaller following, but can be resolved easier than if you're scammed by a popular artist. Like you mentioned, people will most likely listen to the artist rather than a random person. Plus being scammed by an illustrator that you truly admire is extremely disappointing. Anyway, these videos are very entertaining to watch :) Definitely make more of these!
This isn't really art-specific-related... but before I became a full-time artist, I made and sold cloth diapers (I'm a mom...). Well, the cloth diaper world is a lot like the art world and we often buy and sell to each other. I bought a couple diapers from a maker on EBay many years ago. Never got my products. Tried to contact her, she never answered. I didn't know a lot about how to deal with that back then, so just chucked it up as a loss. That sucked. But there were lots of women (or, people pretending to be women) who would scam people in that community. They seem to think that young moms are more likely to support other young moms (which is true for the most part), and will therefore fall for fake sob-stories and send money. Unfortunately, it happened a lot. There was also "pattern-thieves"... those who copied other makers' sewing patterns or unique ideas and then started selling their own creations with the stolen ideas.
I feel like I'm scamming the people I owe art to cause there have been so many delays and it's been like three months but this year was crazy and shit went down and I m not sure if im going to be able to finish the art with all that's going on should I let the customers go?
+heather F If you can't do what you got paid to do you should return the money because you simply didn't earn it. On the other hand if you complete what you owe you can keep the money. The choice is yours and yours alone. 8D
I was around 7 and was drawing squirrels ALOT! But when I drew one and left it at the babysitters house... MY FREAKING COUSIN SHOWS HER MOM THE PICTURE AND SHE YHUNKS ITS HERS! So... the next day when I'm there she like, "don't break those crayons, my daughters a artist.." AND IM THINKING SON OF A
The hard part is on one hand you're getting your art that you made with your sweat and blood taken but on the other hand your getting your money that you worked hard enough and devoted your life to taken. This is going to be hard to deside
3 people stole my artwork and put their name in the description so I decided to put my name in them not my real name and when they say it's their I comment saying "think again" and my name shows.
First off I LOVE that painting you did!! It was so nice and the colors just popped! The girl was absolutely adorable! In regards to the topic, I'm probably going to side with you and agree that scam artists are worse. It sucks when you really love someone's work and get the chance to get a piece from them only to have your excitement and of course money just disappears. It really sucks when as you said if the person has a pretty large following and basically get you blocked from your page and to top it off there will be a lot of people who stop including you in the community you enjoyed being a part of. BTW love the tip to cancel the payment before buyer protection runs out. any reputable artist will have not problem taking the payment again, especially if they are swamped,
When I was younger and nicer some girl I knew only from internet asked if I can draw her OC. I did it and then she posted my drawing on her account without crediting me, heck, talking like it's her own. Back then I was too timid to actually say anything but now I know I should.
I love how you did the jacket! Personally I think a scam artist is worse b.c it is typically harder to get a refund than it is to take down a stolen piece.
I fell victim to a scam artist on Amazon. I was so excited to support this person’s work and get a cool bag, but apparently that was not the plan. $20 and 3 weeks of shipping later, I went to my porch to find nothing. It took me a while before I ordered anything off line again. I’m so sad that someone is heartless enough to betray the people that support them and their work. It’s just sad. If someone took the time to take an interest in my art, i would be sure to treat them with respect. Thank you to those who create amazing art and actually carry through! And to those who have been cheated, please keep supporting other artists because there are a lot of us out there who really do care!
i have had my art stolen on many occasions due to the kind of art that i do (you can glance at my channel to see what i mean), its either reposted on another site, edited(cropped, recolored, etc), but i haven't come across anyone trying to sell them, not yet at least. and like you said, when you have a following, and the followers see your art elsewhere and they know its not you, they do let you know, because my followers have informed me about them. btw, LOVE the art! 💜
Having your art stolen as someone with less of a following is that much harder to deal with, because you don't have that large following to help take down the person who's stealing your work. It's also harder, in my opinion, for art thieves to target artists with large followings, because the art can easily be recognized and they'd just get shut down immediately. I'm glad I've never had my stuff stolen (from what I know thus far), but I worry considering I don't have that big of a following myself. (Also, BEAUTIFUL painting!!)
I agree with many of the points you made in this video, but what if, hypothetically, a big artist stole from a minor artist with little supporters, and when the minor artist tried telling people, the big artist blocked them, or made a video about how they were called an art thief by a minor artist who was jealous of their work. Wouldn't that be equally terrible as scamming your followers for money?
Just starting the video and I instantly thought Scam Artists are worse, but my opinion may change by the end...nah, it's still the same lol. I really like how Piper's eyes turned out in this painting, Lemi~. My philosophy with thieves is ultimately if they steal my art, I know I'm the one who made it. They know I made it. At the end of the day they have to live with themselves, and I can make more art. The whole to-do with filing complaints/reports and getting the stolen artwork taken down is a headache especially if they're making money off of it, yes, but scam artists do something a lot more hurtful to you and the art community as a whole. (caution: incoming text walls) My biggest issue with scam artists is they plant this little seed of paranoia in people they've scammed and people surrounding that person who learn about the awful incident. Artists trying to make a living who do commissions are perceived by those individuals (in kind terms) as flaky and unprofessional. This, in turn, leads a bunch of people to either be too scared to commission us because, understandably, they don't want to risk it, or they go above and beyond to micromanage and lean over an artist's shoulder. Just today at a livestream some artists were lamenting over how people were rushing them after barely even giving them a week to work on their commission. It's already bad enough that artists aren't taken seriously because people think we just walk around with our heads in the clouds and fart out pieces because there's no way artists have to work hard and hone their craft for years, scam artists make it worse for *everybody*. If you want a commission but are worried about being scammed by an artist, from observation and listening to stories, this is what I've learned: If you are going to commission an artist, first and foremost, do the best you can to research their commissioning history. Think of it like shopping for a car. You wouldn't just purchase one because you think it looks pretty. You need to know you are getting a quality product from a respectable, reliable source who knows what they're doing and can offer what you want. On DeviantArt, is the artist apologizing for being late in many of the commissions they upload? That is a time-management red flag. Pay attention to how they handle commissions. If they are consistent over a long period of time, that's a good sign. If they aren't, you might want to wait and see. Word of mouth is still very powerful and a serious, hardworking artist will do his/her best to make sure not only are their customers satisfied and respected, but also that they maintain their own reputation. Make sure they have a terms of services document that protects *both* of you and that every section of it is understandable. A professional artist will be more than happy to explain any part of the contract that might need clarification if you ask. Even after an artist clears those hurdles, get every verbal exchange, receipt, *everything* in writing and make sure you have a safe copy of the agreement (ie take screenshots and save them to your computer from the very beginning). If you aren't comfortable paying all of the money upfront, ask if you can do a 50% deposit. It can't hurt to ask. If the artist becomes offended and/or disagrees, then it's up to you whether or not you want to continue with that risk. If they take the 50% and decide to bail, you lose 50% less money than you would if you had paid upfront. It ultimately is a risk indeed, but it reduces the consequences if things fall through. On the flip side, 50% also protects an honest, hardworking artist and reassures them *you* aren't some flaky customer who just wanted to sneak some free art out of them. That way if you bail, they get 50% more money than they would have if they had made the artwork only to find out they had been tricked into slavery. That sounds extreme but it's true. I could get more into that but I think I'll stop here. Phew, sorry this is so long. These topic videos make me a very passionate berry XD.
I've never ran into either of these situations, but I personally agree with you on the fact that a scam artist is worse. Sinve - like you said - they're betraying these people that loved them so much just to make some quick and easy money. Whereas when a person steals the art from someone then it's easier to notify the public about it. But another thing that could happen is that someone with a relatively large following steals art from people with smaller followings, because it won't be as easy to notice that it's stolen art and like you said, who're their followers going to believe, their favorite artist or some random small artist. So it could honestly go either way. If that happens then people will most likely start to accuse that person of art thievery and unless the small artist has a way to prove it's theirs they can't say otherwise without getting bashed by the art thief's large amount followers
I had experiences with scammers and a friend of mine too. Her Artwork was stolen, printed on Shirts and sold on Ebay for +30$. In my case, I had a special order for a freind of mine, there was an Artist, who could draw really amazing pictures of animals, Both with pencils or with paints. And becaus my Friends Birthday was around I asked that person if he(not sure if it was a guy) could paint a picture of my friends Bunny that died a half year before. He said he would, I send him a photo of that bunny via email and he said that he would send it to me the next two or three Weeks. So I paid for that work and waited and waited and waited. my Friends Birthday came and I told her an Excuse, because the painting wasn't there yet. Later that week I got an Email from that Artist, that he was done and he sended the painting in the mail, it should be there in a few days. And it came. The picture was AWFUL! The colours looked terrible, it was more like somebody puked on the paper, one side was kinda ripped a bit and it doesn't looked like the cute Bunny at all-,- I was so pissed but couldn't do anything, because...I couldn't get my money back and that guy refused to give it back, because he "Did the Piece I wanted" I do that NEVER Again!! I Lost nearly 80$ and had to come up with a new Idea for a late Birthday present-,- It was all in all a FAIL
I honestly haven't had experience with either XD however a good friend of mine experienced art theft, she told me it was like someone stealing a piece of her. And it was really sad, she couldn't do much because she was newer on the sight, and the people were cropping out her name and reporting it as their own. So I said that she could put her signature in a place where they couldn't cut it out, and post about it. She did and it worked :3 she doesn't have that issue anymore. So I think from that even though art theft can be a lot more annoying scamming can be more damaging I think, especially if you are doing art for art. And I love your art :D
Some other credit companies can reverse charges if you never get the product, with various time frames. Also look at the consumer law in your country as they may be able to help too.
I remember hearing about a scammer AND art thief in one. Basically they'd upload other people's work to their instagram or something and then take commissions, grab the money, lead people on until customer protection ran out and then just block them.
I think an art thief is worse because it can be that you are a creator and don't have a large community as you described. And the person that steels from you might have a bigger community than the creator him/herself. And the thief can claim that the creator is the actual thief or the thiefs community can spot the creator and blame him for stealing. Also the people might buy from the thief because he/she sells the art way cheaper because they don't have get their creation time paid. That can end a whole career. Because the artist might not get enough money out of it anymore and/or because he/she can't sell/present anything anymore without being called a thief(so the people won't buy his/her stuff and/or even threaten the artist).
Unfortunately not all Art Thieves go for more famous people's works for that very reason. I once had my art "stolen" on an Amino and I only had one good friend to back me up. Thanks to the patience of the mod team it finally worked out.
I've had art stolen before, but I sign everything, so even though they stole it off of IG and posted it somewhere else, my mark was still on it. Still extremely annoying, but honestly it's so hard to prevent because the internet doesn't really protect against saving images.
Hi Lemia , I want to thank you for doing this topic. I think scam artists are horrible more so than art thiefs, but I also think they are horrible as well. I was differently scammed many years ago, buy an art purchaser, when I had spent a lot of time on the piece. They were very happy with the art pics I showed them and then cancelled their payment. They swore they didn't cancel it and begged for me to send it to them and they would work it out. Well they never did, so I was lucky enough not to believe them and I did not send the artwork, which I finally said stop asking for me to send it, without the form of payment to be fixed. I was out a lot of time, but they never tricked me into sending this. From now on, I do not take a commission without a large portion of the down payment upfront and I make sure to have a contract in place for disputes for such as this. The Internet is great for good people and after a long term of illness, I'm restarting my channel, but before the market crashed I had a clothing company as well and had some of my designs stolen and had to dispute that as well. A loyal customer pointed it out to me, so I'm a little shy to put my fine art out there, but I'm going to do it because of the good people and not worry so much about the bad. I'm older so we didn't have this as our main source of showing our art, but I'm happy we have it. I have made some of the most wonderful friends on here and IG. Thanks for your informative chats. Hugs and happiness Briana C.
I’ve had an experience: I played this game where you could post pictures and I friended this girl and I noticed how she had very similar art work to this artist I know. I realized she took the picture and changed the colors so I text her like “ did you steal this artist’s work?” Then she said “no” so then I said “well If you did you should do that it’s theirs not yours” and then stopped talking to her
i think that art thieves are worst, but in my opinion, popular artists solve easily they're problem when someone steal they're works, because they have a lot of followers to support them and help them to report the thief to them, but the saddest thing is when a talented artists just starts posting his art on internet, and he is not that well known and doesn't have a lot of supportive followers got his art stolen by someone more popular than him and more supported, he will never know what happens to him and his works ( tbh it's my biggest fear now) and i what i hate the most is when i see some drawings on deviantart that are obviously copy or trace of some japanese artists drawings from pixiv ( sadly those artists are so talented and they're works are amazing but they are not well known)
I actually have had my art stolen once. During this last school year, I submitted art into the art and literary magazine, and it made it in, however another Hannah who worked on the committee for crediting art and writing took the credit for it herself and I was unaware of it until it was too late and the magazine was already in my hands.
Years ago, a follower of mine told me my art had been stolen and when I looked at the account, the person stole a lot of other artists' art pieces too. I realized the only proof I had that my art was mine was the time I posted it vs theirs. From then on, I sign all of my art pieces that I post.
I've had someone get mad at me claiming I was a scam artist on the LINE Play app before (right after it was gridlocked) purely because I didn't have their custom picture done within a minute (literally right after she sent the gift she started spamming up my posts with angry comments), but what's kind of funny is that they didn't use real money. At all. I don't even think you could buy the apps' normal currency with real money, and you certainly can't refund the gifts (that is how people "paid" me, and the gifts wouldn't get accepted until after I finished the picture, which the sender gets notified of) It was annoying, and I deleted the app soon afterwards, since apparently I lived in the same grid-area with all the assholes who use the app! Ugh
I LOVE your way of using acrylic, I used to think it was impossible to blend even a little with it xD kinda made me wanna give it another chance. And on that subject, I agree with some of your points, but I think art thieves are a bigger problem mostly because it happens more often (at least from what I've encountered) and most buyers aren't artists and don't even know that they're doing something wrong. They don't think one bit of the artist, just that they're getting cool fan merchandise.
Art thief. It's horrible to know that an artist works so hard to create a peice just for someone else to runoff and take the credit. Or even just simply "recolor" an art work.
I kinda felt guilty by watching this video.. because I usually take A LOT of time when I make commissions.. It's absolutely not like I don't want to make them, but since I get depressed very quick, I tend to put pieces of art in the corner of my mind, trying to think about something else.. you made me want to put a lot more efford on it, because I'm super glad to all my followers, even if they aren't much of a crew.. Thank you ;^; I don't ever ever ever want to be considered a Scam artist...
I can't really decide since both are bad for multiple reasons. I mean if an art thief steals from an unpopular artist and sells their art on things those artists don't have the following to warn/help them and likely won't want to post anymore art after being afraid it'd happen again. Also an art thief can claim the art is theirs and gain a following that way and even take commissions so they end up as both a scammer and a thief. If they are clever enough they could turn their following against the real artist as well. What sucks is that a scammer also hurts other artists that take commissions. After being scammed a commissioner is much less likely to trust another artist to commission. Plus there's risk for the artist since many times they'll ask for progress shots of the art they are owed and if they do what you mentioned and keep repaying then the artist can also get screwed. If they decide they just don't want it anymore then the artist is out both time, art and the money. Even though the artist can have taken multiple commissions and needs the time to do them. Also a scammer can do the opposite and try to chargeback after receiving the art. I saw how an artist was charged much more than they were payed because of a chargback on paypal though I don't remember what happened. I think your best bet is looking up more about the artist beforehand, asking for progress shots or a sketch and doing a down payment. You only pay half then even if they don't finish the art you didn't lose as much and the artist will also not be out in case the person tries to avoid paying anything.
I think they both suck about equally. I've seen artists I admired come out as thieves and I've had artists I admire get their art stolen and printed on shirts and stuff. I know I'm an artist that takes forever to get stuff done, but I tell people I'm slow as hell and if they still want art from me, they can wait and don't mind. I've had an art trade with someone that's taken like 2-3 years because she's so busy and I'm just slow and I guess I'm just extremely patient xD
+Jocelyn Jimenez I find that if you simply credit the picture/artist that you copied, it's almost always totally fine. If you pretend that it's 100% yours then usually people get upset. :3
Well... tracing is a bad thing. I recommend that you do try hand-eye coordination and try to draw yourself. However, as long as you give credit to the original artist, you are totally fine. However, because you did trace it, the original artist has the right to tell you if they want it deleted or not. If you did hand-eye coordination for the drawing, that's a different thing. Still credit the artist, but I do not believe it deserves being taken down because you did put effort into it. Still, those are my opinions. Just know that art style theft is not a thing.
I've been on both sides of this my self. Once having a thief use my work in a contest (winning themselves some cash) and me ordering some art from an artist only to get excuses and nothing in return. And I agree with you. Thieves, while horrible, can be taken down quickly and really painlessly (if done right). But scammers, they suck. In a big way. Not only do they hurt their clients, but other artists as well. Once you get burned, chances are you'll think twice about buying work from another artist! So here's my bit o wisdom, never. Never... buy a commission without a contract. It protects the client AND the artist. Paypal should/can work with you if you have a two party contract.
i had someone commission me for about $50 to get me to come out of my rut of no commissions, he gave tonnes of details about how he didn't have a due by date and how he refused to pay until i gave him lines because he never pays before lines, i told him it'd be done in 2 months. after a couple days and 8 hours of solid work on the lineart i tell him i'm having some trouble so he doesn't get susp about me being silent, and he tells me he paid the money to someone else who he claimed was going to be faster before they had even started, despite them claiming to take 3 months minimum and what they said about never paying before lines. They lied to me, my friend and the artist they commissioned after about what happened, giving all of us a different story before running off from every online outlet he had. Art thievery can come from both the buyer and the seller side, which is what quite a lot of people don't seem to realise when complaining about the processes for commissions some artists go through. Safe to say i'd closed commissions for good after this. Out of the two though, i'd definitely say scam artist is worse as it hurts a lot more people and hurts them harder.
Yeah, buyers can be super flaky. I always take full payment before I start anything. :( I've had several people not follow through with paying for a commission during my day. You know, they want all the details of everything and then they don't go forward. It's a huge waste of time. I'm sorry you went through that.:(
Art Thieves can be pretty terrible when they stole something from artists that aren't well-known. One of my drawing got 8 000 on Tumblr, and I was freaking happy about that. However, someone posted it on instagram, saying it was their art. The thing was that they had 500 Followers, and I only have 290 followers on insta. Fortunately, they removed my drawing, but damn it was complicated (and frustrating knowing they gain followers with it while I can't even reach 300 XD)
Could you do a video on how to report art thieves from local anime conventions if you see someone stealing your artwork? I can't seem to find any videos on that matter. I've seen videos of people staling ArtGerms artwork tweaking it just a hair & selling it for more than his original art. That's why I'm scared of going to Conventions to sell my artwork is seeing a art thief across the alley way.
Art thieves are worse because unless something stolen is copyrighted, you can't take legal action. Now with certain scammers it simply isn't worth it to spend thousands to try and get a couple hundred dollars back, but I remember hearing about an artist who needed money to 'visit someone across seas in the military' and was offering super cheap commissions for like $5. A larger artist decided to tell people to go and support this artist or whatever, and the artist was flooded with commissions. The commissions began coming out slowly, and then stopped. The person tried to set up another account, people found out and started hounding her asking for money, and then well, she came out and said that she wasn't trying to raise money to visit a friend overseas, and she had gone on a vacation. The police were even contacted, and she had to give thousands of dollars back to her customers. It was such a mess tbh.
I have had my art stolen. And few of my followers followed that person that stole my art and... attacked them. At first they were a generally nice person... until they stole my art. Then the small group of like 5-10 followers attack them and then they flipped out on me. Saying "You sent these people to ruin my life! You stole MY art!!!!" Then I didn't respond. And what I did was post a speed art of it, the finished product, tagged them, and then told the story to everyone via the description. They never said a word to me again.
my art got stolen as soon as i discovered "uploading on the internet".. my sisters classmate downloaded and printed my work, brought it to school and claimed it as her own, my sister recognized my style and the pose, so she wanted my art folder to prove that its mine.. a few years later my sister did something similiar to me.. she grabbed one of my pieces, recreated my sketch and recoloured the thing for a school art competition.. when my family and i went to the winner announcement i saw the piece on the wall.. i was shocked and the worst thing was, that she even got 2nd place with the stolen rip-off :/ after that i wasnt sure if she was lying about her classmate and claimed the folder as her own back then..
I was scammed out of $35 (which for my budget is A LOT of money to lose). There was communication at first, but then she disappeared. I found her on tumblr months later and tried to get her to message me, but she never said anything. It bothered me so much because she was the first person I had ever commissioned, and she completely let me down. I've only commissioned one other person because I now have a bad taste for artists after the first time.
Constructive criticism: in this particular picture I have trouble distinguishing the top of the hair and it looks quite weird to me. Only the top by the head area though.
Does it still count as an art thief if: they see a drawing someone else has drawn. They decide to redraw it. They post it online BUT they give credit to the original artist AND say it was a redraw?
I feel both are equally bad. There have been times where thieves will take not as well known artist's art as well and then claim the original as the thief. I saw a video of someone who did a trace at anime expo and tried claiming it as his own and traced $45 custom commissions as well. I think Art thieves are the stepping stones to scam artists.
To me, both are worse. Art thieves steal efforts. Scam artists also steal efforts (aka money, you might have a job and put efforts into it or etc.). Art thieves may steal what artists deserve (aka money, fame, followers, supports, etc...). Scam artists steal away the feeling of trusting in the one that they really like or admire from their supporters. There are lots of things that people from both categories can steal from others.
Someone stole my art IN REAL LIFE. My class mate wanted to know how i draw so i taught her 1 or 2 thing than gave the finished piece to her as a memento. 2 days later she gave to the art teacher (without crediting me) and she got an a+!
Someone removed the signature on my art, traced and recolored it, then claimed I stole it from them. I never would have found them if they didn't comment on my post saying "YOU STOLE THIS FROM ME!" I won the fight because I had a lot more proof. I posted my art first, had sketch+wip proof and the art was in my style not theirs.
My issue is I'm always busy. I've taken on quite a lot of requests in a week or 2 and people won't contact me back when I try to explain my issues. It's so annoying as I'm probably getting my reputation ruined. I know several people will support me not being able to do art, and not being able to find myself making art. Yet it's super annoying.
Art Thieves? Did you mean *Instagram* ?
Kookaburra the Koobaburra haha
or Facebook! so many fandom pages share links to art thieves and scammers and fans who aren't artists and don't understand that it's a problem buy them AND get scammed!
Kookaburra the Koobaburra deviant art
Kookaburra the Koobaburra haha maybe
Yeah, Im looking at you patch...
I hate it when someone steals art and somehow they get more views than the original artist!
instagram
I knew a girl in high school who became oddly obsessed with me and would copy all my artwork and anytime I confronted her or called her out on it, she would start to dramatically cry and was in denial. Because she would cry so dramatically (really loudly, with screaming) people would think I was bullying her so at some point people started to spread rumors that I was the art thief. She got exposed during senior year when she copied a character design I made which included the character wearing a bomber jacket with my own initials on the back. At that point I wasn't even mad anymore. It so funny cause I couldn't believe she would just blindly copy my art without realizing she even copied my name onto her copy. When I pointed it out, people finally believed me and I was relieved of worrying about her from then on.
Wow
Karma at it's best
Dude if I were you i'd kick her ass. I'm very protective over my character designs and artwork, even though it's shitty quality. It's MINE.
I think scammers are worse, because they actually steal real money from you. Art thieves are *usually* just nine year olds who repost your art. Annoying, sure, but you don't actually lose any money (unless they sell it of course, which is a different story)
Edit: This is from a customer's point of view. From an artist's point of view, i think the opposite.
Another Edit: HOLY COW SO MANY LIKES
Kitzicat you can lose a job just becouse someone reposted your Art . And the only Way to to get the job is to proof that it was yours
true, i guess both sides are pretty bad
Flauschiarts That's why people sign their art, or even put a watermark on it 🤷🏻♀️
PurpleSimz Yes but that won't help because the art thief can just use the background color to erase it
Losky but they will know it's fake because, the original is signed so yeah
i got scammed at SCHOOL. i gave a girl in my class some art i drew, (no signature) and the next day the girl gets praised for my art. i got 0 credit and people started spreading lies that i copied her. but finally people started believing that it was my art, and that i made it. last time i give my art away.
Lola Playz Best thing to do is post it on an art site (from Deviantart to Instagram) to time stamp the art to expose the liar. Even if they still claim the art is theirs, most people will see a sense of style when they check out your works and realize it's not theirs :)
Next time..... try to plastic cover the signature or put it on your drawing. Or your name to make it sure
Well then what happened to the idiot.
Arah No she went to a different school (I took back my drawing(
it wasnt a scam you just got robbed XDD
scam artists are the ones who steal money from you and never give you the art you paid for
I have a story. A good friend of mine use to make Bikini's and she was pretty big in the cosplay community. Sadly she is disabled and about two years ago. She had to stop making bikinis suddenly..... Her disability got worse, which caused her body to break down and make it harder and harder to finish the bathing suits. She was also going through a lot of crap trying to pay off bills.. so when people started demanding refunds and calling her a scammer made it even harder... I think I am the only person, out of the last people who had the chance to buy a bathing suit. Who hasn't demanded or even asked for money back.. And yeah its been two years. But the wait has been worth it. as far as I know.. there is now something in the mail for me. Yeah the bikinis were 70-100 dollars (depending on where you live. Im Canadian so anything in the states cost more) But Honestly... She was disabled and NO one understood that or cared.. It was really sad.. It wouldn't be so bad if people weren't So mean to her....
oh man I feel so bad for her those people are so horrible
What about if you have a small following? I've had serval artworks stolen and because I don't have a big following when I report it, nothing gets done.
+Sarah Maria Art The Best thing you can do is watermark your work. :( Lots of websites are unreliable when it comes to taking stuff down.
Yeah, only one time was something taken down and that was on Facebook. Someone had stolen a painting of mine and had it in their top 5 photos on their profile, but it still had my signature so FB luckily took it down.
The thing is, people can photoshop these days, so it’s easy to fool people. The internet get’s scarier each day.
I used to reference/trace off of this one artist. Not going to mention her name. Anyways, she (obviously) found out and I got called out in a journal. As a wee 11 year old, I was panicked and sHOOK. So I played the victim and I was defensive. I ended up taking my art down after a lot of hateful comments. I had stolen a character of theirs and traced their art. I poked the beehive with the stick and I got a swarm. You know an easy way to prevent getting found out? Don't do anything in the first place. It wont help you at all. Take it from me and everyone else's stories and don't do it. Myself and the artist have forgiven each other, but simply went our own ways.
+Teacup Sometimes I think that a simple private message works best. Younger folks may not know "the unwritten rules" of copying or tracing someone's art. I'm probably the least dramatic person when it comes to people reposting, copying, or tracing my art though. Lol
LemiaCrescent hahah. Yeah. You seem calmer than lots of other people I've seen.
Teacup I'm happy you stopped :) I've had to help myself and many others lately due to it who keep coming back, hopefully you still like art though!
I still like art a lot. Hell, I have improved so much since then. Even though it all happened, I kept my account and kept drawing what I loved. ( sw33ttea.deviantart.com/ )
Teacup your link leads to an error 404 :/
Scammers are worst in my opinion since they do it knowingly, some "art thieves" do it without knowing.
When I was in elementary school, my parents sent to me an art camp during the summer. At the end of the week(end of camp), we had a mini exposition to show our parents and friends what we did that week. Some artwork, including a few of mine, had disappeared by the end of the day. Later on that week, my parents and I were talking around town and went into an artist alley type of street. We actually found my art pieces being sold for 30$+ at one of the stands that was there. We, of course, couldn't do anything about it since there were no proof that they were made by me.
I think that thieves and scammers are equally bad. Scam artists take your money, yeah, but you can always make more money, and usually you don't make that same mistake twice. Art thieves that sell your work can usually get away with it a few times. I find them more obnoxious, since they put zero effort into "their" product. I've had my own art stolen and referenced (without credit), and sometimes you can't stop them. But, hey, at least not everyone takes your money or your art.
did you even watch the video?
Boner Fuel She or he said " i think"
Boner Fuel They're giving their opinion.
It's a perspective thing I guess, art thieves are worse for the artist community, in the way that they drain income from actual artists. Whereas scam artists are worse for the buyer community (but also partially the artist community), because the buyer's who support scam artists don't get their desired product and also begin to distrust the artist community so the artist community loses their buyers.
i think they're equally bad. tbh, i wouldnt try and judge one as worse, simply because i wouldnt want anyone to be more forgiving of the other option.
I think scam artists. My husband still asks me about Sakuems art book... 2 years later. It sucks to have your feelings hurt and feel stupid all in one action. Both are rude, and disrespectful.
Andrea Smith sakuems of all artists? Wow
theemmeranne I bought a few t-shirts from her and received them without problems. But I asked for her artbook as a Christmas present(from my hubby) it was a go fund me project. We're out a hundred bucks and I still don't have the book. November makes 2 years. I was symphonic at first, she was going through a difficult time but now feel taken advantage of. She should have done the right thing and refunded our money.
You even talk to her about this lol?
I haven't really thought about it before, but I have been sort of scammed and my art has been stolen.
1. I showed a girl how to draw, and when I was done, she asked for my original piece. A few days later, I saw that person tracing my artwork as their own, and just adding new colors to the base of my piece.Their friend had thought that they were the one who had taught ME how to draw.
2. I made a a drawing for a friend, because she asked if I could draw something for her parents anniversary. I didn't make her pay for it. I spent a good week on that drawing, and when I finally gave it to her, she didn't even thank me. Then I saw a picture on her Instagram account, in which she had taken a pen and drawn over what I had drawn, and captioned it "Working on a new edit". This person makes edits of pictures that people take. So, about a week later, I see my drawing slapped front and center on a new edit that she had made, without any credit to me - the artist- . She did not say that she made it, but, in the comments people were saying, "oh you're such a good artist!", and she did not correct them. I don't like confrontation, so I didn't say anything, but now I wish that I did.
4. Another friend cam to visit a few months later, and I gave her 20 dollars to borrow, and she promised she would give it back, but i still haven't received it. Another "friend" of mine has done the same thing to me, but with a larger amount of money.
I see where you're coming from, it is a little confusing, and the way I used borrowing doesn't really match the exact definition of the word. I looked up the definition of borrow, and it is "to take and use (something that belongs to someone else) with the intention of returning it."
In the case of the 20 dollars, she had said that when she gets money of her own, she would repay me, meaning that she would give me another 20 dollars in place of the one she had already spent.
It's like if you were walking and asked your friend to let you borrow 10 dollars to get a hat because you didn't have any cash on you. You get the shirt, and then later you walk past an ATM, draw out 10 dollars, and give it to your friend. While that doesn't really stick to the textbook definition of borrowing, in context it makes more sense.
I hope this helped clear up some of the confusion! :)
Lina l
Art thieves are so bad.. but I've got scam experience =(( My vector illustration that I drew only for sale was bought by one of such scammers.. And he or her post it for free dowload on a website where such scammers can download such illustrations... And I still can't do nothing with that.
☹
P.S. Cool painting
Can you do a DMCA takedown?
In a way they can d whatever they want with it because they bought it.
It sounds bad but there is nothing you can do about it.
If It was an image you uploaded but wasnt made for free use or a gift to anyone then yes something vould be done. But they technically can do that.
Its like if you buy a dress tailored for you, you can wear it wherever, whenever and however you like as its now your property, I know it sounds bad, but thete is nothing you can do snout that if you sold it to someone.
Nope, buying from an artist does NOT give you the right to do anything with it outside personal use. Using that logic, if I bought a Super Mario game that would give me the right to use Mario in any way I see fit commercially or not. Which is not the case.
You own the copyright until you sign it away in writing (Or until x amount of years have expired depending on where you live). When you create art, the other person cannot legally reproduce, display, and/or make adaptations / derivative works in any commercial way. If you are working for a company, you have a licensing agreement that tells what the client what can do with your intellectual property (not just copyright but trademark and design patents). The only area where this is gray is “work for hire” for things like art contests which they will put out what you are legally signing up for.
When you sell your work, be sure to make it obvious what the terms are. Is it for personal use only? Commercial? Are there royalties involved? Most sites are quick to take down stolen art except if it's based in China as they don't really enforce copyright laws.
As for the dress, it is correct a dress does not go under copyright law (because it is a functioning item) but design elements such as original prints, patterns and unique color arrangements are. There is also Trade dress which is trademark law and design patents that protect the artist who made them.
I’m sorry that happened to you :(
its an art thief is that person bought the art from you.
the scam artist art the ones who sell you art, take your money but you never get the art you paid for XD
One time in 7th grade a girl gave me $5 for me to make her a chibi. a day later I gave it to her and she was happy. a month later she comes up to me with a poorly traced chibi of mine and asked what I thought of her drawing.. then proceeded to ask me to draw glasses on it....?
Potato Ninja wow dude, you should have taken it and ripped ot
I don't think that would have been the best idea...
But hey, you got bucks. Besides, everyone starts out by copying someone or a franchise. I started by tracing but over time i was able to develop my own art style. I suggest you should help them through their journey. And besides, they didn't profit from tracing it, did they?
(sorry my english is bad)
Sometimes tracing is how people learn to draw. If she loves your artwork enough she might develop a style like yours.
Peter Burger good point but maybe she was tracing the art and claiming it as her own,but yeah that is another good point.
I see people on Instagram talking about their art getting stolen, and they don't even have big accounts. It scares me because someone could be stealing my art and I wouldn't even know about it.
A Chinese girl saw my drawing and she absolutely loved it but I didn't understand and we could only talk through emojis so she STOLE my art and uploaded it like it was hers and it was the real one but MINE was and she even made it her profile pic!! I managed to get it back through emojis and she deleted it and took it off as her profile pic
ZeroDaWolfGirl Xx XD emojis
ZeroDaWolfGirl Xx :D tho i am glad everything okay
ZeroDaWolfGirl Xx what emojis did you use lmao? The angry ones?
ZeroDaWolfGirl Xx That must've been a difficult conversation
ZeroDaWolfGirl Xx maybe she was trying to ask you if she can upload and make it her profile pic
MY FRIEND SCAMMED ME!!!
So a couple of months ago, my friend needed a drawing of a Golgi complex for her biology class and I said yes, and said it would cost a dollar.
She said ok, and that she would have the dollar for me that the day.
So I went home and spent AT LEAST an hour working on it,TRADITIONALLY, and came back
the next day with the drawing like I said I would,making the drawing look as similar to the picture she wanted me to draw as possible.
So I handed her the drawing and asked her for the dollar she was SUPPOSEDLY going to pay me,
and she said that she didn't have it, and once AGAIN said that she was going to bring it the following day.
So, the next day, I brought it back up, and she still didn't have it, and she said she would give it to me the following week, since it was a Friday.
So, the next week,I brought it up again, AND she said "what dollar?"
OML talk about me getting mad.
All I asked for was a dollar. A DOLLAR. And she couldn't even give me that, but yet she is supposed to be my friend, and to this day, I still haven't seen that dollar. :/
And what made me so mad about this ,is that I was tired that time when she asked me to draw it for her, but instead of just plain out saying no, I wanted to be a good friend and help her with her assignment just in exchange for A DOLLAR. WHICH she said that she would have, but never put in my hand.
Heck, I was even willing to take change that when summed up together, it would be a dollar, but NOPE.
And then she STILL has the nerve whenever we walk past each other in the hallways ,to say hi. SMILING
I say hi back, but in my head I'm like, mmmmm, you haven't forgot about that dollar.
I know it's just a dollar, but It's the principle of the situation.
Actually, I think the follower can get their money back. I read a comment somewhere which said that the follow could contact a certain federal bureau, and take their claims to the officials instead
+Fromage Hmmm, that reminds me of the time I had to report a person to the FBI to get a refund on eBay. LOL
I'm not sure if it works exactly the same though. Like, does it matter if you're an individual or a business?
I had someone steal my entire brand image (Business card design, Logo typeface/colors, and even my business description!) I am not "popular" by any means, but that's essentially WHY they stole from me, they didn't think I'd notice. I saw her stuff on tumblr, I went to her blog, and noticed a post where WORD FOR WORD copied my business card except replaced her name for mine. I was LIVID cause all she did was vector my business card. I told her to destroy all the rest of the cards and even had to go through means of telling a couple other artists in her area that she was using the cards at conventions to promo herself and to keep an eye on her cause she promised she would destroy the cards. And now over a year later, she used them at a show thinking I wouldn't notice again. I've since learned how to send a C&D since my design, logo, and branding is all actual copyrighted material now. Thieves come in all types, sadly.
This is why when someone Commissions me, I usually keep the money in my bank, or in my paypal/deviantart, and if I take too long, and they decide they want to refund, i'll just send it right back.
Does it count if you reference alot?and i do feel like scam artist is worst
XxLol Gamer PlayerxX it depends. if u use references u should be ok. I think its a bad idea to trace, or take the actual image. But using reference to help you draw is ok.
XxLol Gamer PlayerxX it is good to use references! Unless you are doing a study (which I wouldn't upload to any platform without credit to the photographer), references can be used to generate an image. It is very hard to
Improve without reference
Referencing is fine when you do it in private or when you give credit. If you're just using the source as a guide and selling it, I think its okay too. But selling a tracing or copied drawing is considered art theft ( in my opinion, at least )
Referencing is very important for developing observational skills.
But, when referencing, use a royalty free reference photo/ask permission from the photographer before hand. Or only reference paintings that are in the public domain. Or use whatever reference photo (or artwork) you like, as long as you don't upload, display or sell artwork made using that reference. If you don't do these things, you're in violation of international copyright law and are at legal risk.
I am a pet portrait and wildlife artist and ALWAYS work from reference. A very tiny percentage of artists can draw something realistically or convincingly without studying/using a reference.
XxLol Gamer PlayerxX - nah there isn't anything wrong with references. Painters go on top of mountains to paint the scenery around them and stuff
Art Thief VS Scam Artist - Which is worse?
Answer: THERE IS NO ARGUMENT! They are both terrible!
Someone once traced my art and then entered it into a profile picture contest. Thankfully they didn't win, heh
a scam artist who steals other scammers tactics would be a scam art thief, therefore, the worst
I agree with you on how scam artists are worse. Stolen art is much easier to find especially when the artist has a big following. Scam artists sometimes say that they won't pay you back and can block you too. Thanks for making this video. Your art is beautiful~
I honestly would say " Art Thief" I created a design to a huge corporation... and turns out they used my design and sold it across Canada. So, I do have proof but... It's a huge corporation sadly... and who are they going to believe? Me or the corporation...
I now put logos on my pictures, and engrave my work.
wait how's is a thief art if u drew it for them? did u had any contract with such huge corporation that says that they cant use what u designes for them...
if not, than sadly you have no chance of winning this case.
if you have solid proof than copyright law will protect you, it deosnt matter that they are huge
Noodles Sama actually it's better than that! They asked people to create a product for them which the winner would get split profile in which ever artist was the winner. That being said... I did check out with my lawyer and I do have the case. Since they did use my idea and had a website contact explaining about the contest. I never got 1 cent from them.
Corporations steal artist's work all the time. It's depressing as hell. And I am not talking about 'inspiration' because if they alter the design enough nothing can really be done, but if it is close enough they are in big trouble!!! (but it cost money and so many people let it go)
^ Very true! It's sad :/ On top of that being scammed too!
I definitely agree scam artists are the worst, and you've raised some points I didn't think of. The immediate thing I thought of is that scam artists make artists as a whole look bad. The indie art community struggles enough, we can't afford a bad reputation because of scammers.
I got my art style stolen by a classmate. I had an anime art style, inspired by Kagerou Days/ Mekakucity Actors, Danganronpa and my childhood Yumeiro Patisserie, but I eventually developed it into my own art style. There's this one kid in class who also draws a lot, her art style was a lot more different than mine. Since both of us were artists we talked and shared our art, but then one day she asked if I could draw a picture of her favourite character from a TV series and so I did, she brought it back home. I was extremely happy to know that someone liked my art and requested a drawing from me. The next day, I saw people looking through her sketchbook saying how pretty the art was and I looked at it. The art style was almost the same as mine. Her art style went from American cartoon style to full-blown anime style. I asked her why the style changed all of a sudden and she was like "Oh I just used your art as a little reference, I didn't copy it." But the eyes, the hair, the body, the legs, they were all so similar. It might just be me being paranoid, but I believed she stole my art style and got even more praise for it.
Despair Desbear That's horrible.
*YOU CAN'T STEAL ART STYLES BECAUSE EVERYONE DRAWS DIFFERENTLY HUDFDUEDGHU*
Despair Desbear That's horrible.Don't help her with requests,Try to teach people with your drawings in RUclips.This will helps you gains interest and money too.
You have to do it,Make a move in life,Someone will supports you! Including me!Good luck!
Despair Desbear you can't steal an art style tho
An art style Belongs to no one individual, and no mater how hard someone tries their art will always be different from other peoples art. and also if you draw anime it is likely it is inspired by a pre existing style.
and if you use a style and someone mimic's it you should feel honored that someone likes the style you use enough to use it themselves.
Someone I know is a furry artist, (someone who dresses as animals and draws them too), she is not that good at drawing but that's not the point. She looks up furry drawings, copy's them and adds her own colors. I'm not sure if I should tell her she is stealing art or just keep it quiet :/
Emily Nishti tell her, but gently
battlegeese dan and phil :P (also thanks)
That's art theft. You should tell her politely that she should make her own art. Also, try to encourage her and help her. When I was younger, I really disliked my art. I never literally stole art, but I did use bases, and was too afraid to post my own art because I didn't like it. If you do art yourself, or even if you don't, maybe try drawing with her or giving tips. When she does make her own art, give some constructive criticism to help her improve, and also tell her things that she did well about the drawing. If she doesn't want to draw her own stuff, or lies that she will, then maybe ask her to at least credit the artist of the base if she posts it. Coloring is fun, but posting that type of stuff is disrespectful to the original creator if you don't give credit. If she continues, then you should be a little more strict about it and how stealing art can get you fined or jailed in the future. If it gets too bad, report her to the original artist and let them deal with it. It's okay if someone doesn't know any better, but if they don't listen to warnings then they need to get in trouble.
Emily Nishti it's technically not stealing but it's bases. Maybe if it won't stop, you can tell her tracing IS okay, as long as you don't copy colors :) I used to trace as a kid and it really helps develop style
Politely say its thief and suggest for to look up videos on how to draw. I used to suck at drawing and would trace images ( I never put them online though) and then I started watching youtube and learnt how to draw myself. It felt so much much better to be able to draw myself and not have to copy anymore :)
That piece is so cute :3 I've been lucky no to have been scammed by an artist yet. I was given art both times I paid for it and was happy with my results.
stole someone's art and adds them on their products? my little pony and aikatsu bootleg in my country has that stuff
Aisyah Setiadi I would sue
What stuck out to me was when you were talking about, the artist you supported isn't what you thought they were, and you can't really do much b/c you aren't as "big" as the artist. and they can just block you. I had a similar situation happen to me (though it had nothing to do with scamming or theft) it just stuck out to me and reminded me that not all artists are great
I haven't had my artwork stolen but I had photos of my hedgehog stolen and the person tried to get fame from Instagram by using my photos because she was different she was a unique color
but it can also happen that a "famous" artist steals the artist that may not have as many viewers or followers.
I think that art scammers are worst. For art thefts, you can use facts like when it was uploaded or watermarks. Like say you made a drawing that took you 3 days to make and it was uploaded May 15. 2 days later, someone stole it, by taking out your signature. You can use the dates both pictures were uploaded. So if they say you stole from them, you use the day/time they were uploaded as proof that they stole from you. But Art scammers are much harder to call out.
when I was in elementary school a girl (let's call her Ashly) told me to draw a girl for her, I did, she liked it then she showed it to her friend and she won a "competition" her friends made, I noticed it and I was MAD, she asked me to draw a couple, I did after I drew it, I add my signature all over the paper.. a few years later, I'm her classmates again, our art teacher had use make a poster making project for Valentine's ! and best works will be in the art exhibit for art month, and it was a group project and our teacher picked.
I did mostly the work and they colored abit, anyways.. Ashly, "made water color art" and her sister...made it..rumors started and her crew got offended some of her groupmates played with it while some were just confused, she didn't get in the exhibit though.
thanks for reading :)
also bad English much
Hi Lemia ! I been watching you for a long time, I am an artist and you inspired me to make art tutorials too! I hope the art community can benefit and learn from my videos like how you inspired others! Love Destiny ❤️❤️
I feel like scam artists are much worse. Art thieves can be sort of hard to deal with if you have a smaller following, but can be resolved easier than if you're scammed by a popular artist. Like you mentioned, people will most likely listen to the artist rather than a random person. Plus being scammed by an illustrator that you truly admire is extremely disappointing. Anyway, these videos are very entertaining to watch :) Definitely make more of these!
This isn't really art-specific-related... but before I became a full-time artist, I made and sold cloth diapers (I'm a mom...). Well, the cloth diaper world is a lot like the art world and we often buy and sell to each other. I bought a couple diapers from a maker on EBay many years ago. Never got my products. Tried to contact her, she never answered. I didn't know a lot about how to deal with that back then, so just chucked it up as a loss. That sucked.
But there were lots of women (or, people pretending to be women) who would scam people in that community. They seem to think that young moms are more likely to support other young moms (which is true for the most part), and will therefore fall for fake sob-stories and send money. Unfortunately, it happened a lot.
There was also "pattern-thieves"... those who copied other makers' sewing patterns or unique ideas and then started selling their own creations with the stolen ideas.
I feel like I'm scamming the people I owe art to cause there have been so many delays and it's been like three months but this year was crazy and shit went down and I m not sure if im going to be able to finish the art with all that's going on should I let the customers go?
+heather F If you can't do what you got paid to do you should return the money because you simply didn't earn it.
On the other hand if you complete what you owe you can keep the money.
The choice is yours and yours alone. 8D
I think scam artist are just leveled up art thieves....
I think it depends on the situation on whether a art thief is worse or a scam artist
I was around 7 and was drawing squirrels ALOT! But when I drew one and left it at the babysitters house... MY FREAKING COUSIN SHOWS HER MOM THE PICTURE AND SHE YHUNKS ITS HERS! So... the next day when I'm there she like, "don't break those crayons, my daughters a artist.." AND IM THINKING SON OF A
The hard part is on one hand you're getting your art that you made with your sweat and blood taken but on the other hand your getting your money that you worked hard enough and devoted your life to taken. This is going to be hard to deside
3 people stole my artwork and put their name in the description so I decided to put my name in them not my real name and when they say it's their I comment saying "think again" and my name shows.
First off I LOVE that painting you did!! It was so nice and the colors just popped! The girl was absolutely adorable! In regards to the topic, I'm probably going to side with you and agree that scam artists are worse. It sucks when you really love someone's work and get the chance to get a piece from them only to have your excitement and of course money just disappears. It really sucks when as you said if the person has a pretty large following and basically get you blocked from your page and to top it off there will be a lot of people who stop including you in the community you enjoyed being a part of. BTW love the tip to cancel the payment before buyer protection runs out. any reputable artist will have not problem taking the payment again, especially if they are swamped,
As an artist i find art thiefs more annoying. But scam artists seem a bit more as a problem for the public.
When I was younger and nicer some girl I knew only from internet asked if I can draw her OC. I did it and then she posted my drawing on her account without crediting me, heck, talking like it's her own. Back then I was too timid to actually say anything but now I know I should.
I love how you did the jacket!
Personally I think a scam artist is worse b.c it is typically harder to get a refund than it is to take down a stolen piece.
I fell victim to a scam artist on Amazon. I was so excited to support this person’s work and get a cool bag, but apparently that was not the plan. $20 and 3 weeks of shipping later, I went to my porch to find nothing. It took me a while before I ordered anything off line again. I’m so sad that someone is heartless enough to betray the people that support them and their work. It’s just sad. If someone took the time to take an interest in my art, i would be sure to treat them with respect. Thank you to those who create amazing art and actually carry through! And to those who have been cheated, please keep supporting other artists because there are a lot of us out there who really do care!
After seeing Persona 5, this immediately made me think of Madarame lol!
i have had my art stolen on many occasions due to the kind of art that i do (you can glance at my channel to see what i mean), its either reposted on another site, edited(cropped, recolored, etc), but i haven't come across anyone trying to sell them, not yet at least. and like you said, when you have a following, and the followers see your art elsewhere and they know its not you, they do let you know, because my followers have informed me about them.
btw, LOVE the art! 💜
Having your art stolen as someone with less of a following is that much harder to deal with, because you don't have that large following to help take down the person who's stealing your work. It's also harder, in my opinion, for art thieves to target artists with large followings, because the art can easily be recognized and they'd just get shut down immediately. I'm glad I've never had my stuff stolen (from what I know thus far), but I worry considering I don't have that big of a following myself. (Also, BEAUTIFUL painting!!)
I agree with many of the points you made in this video, but what if, hypothetically, a big artist stole from a minor artist with little supporters, and when the minor artist tried telling people, the big artist blocked them, or made a video about how they were called an art thief by a minor artist who was jealous of their work.
Wouldn't that be equally terrible as scamming your followers for money?
Just starting the video and I instantly thought Scam Artists are worse, but my opinion may change by the end...nah, it's still the same lol. I really like how Piper's eyes turned out in this painting, Lemi~.
My philosophy with thieves is ultimately if they steal my art, I know I'm the one who made it. They know I made it. At the end of the day they have to live with themselves, and I can make more art. The whole to-do with filing complaints/reports and getting the stolen artwork taken down is a headache especially if they're making money off of it, yes, but scam artists do something a lot more hurtful to you and the art community as a whole. (caution: incoming text walls)
My biggest issue with scam artists is they plant this little seed of paranoia in people they've scammed and people surrounding that person who learn about the awful incident. Artists trying to make a living who do commissions are perceived by those individuals (in kind terms) as flaky and unprofessional. This, in turn, leads a bunch of people to either be too scared to commission us because, understandably, they don't want to risk it, or they go above and beyond to micromanage and lean over an artist's shoulder. Just today at a livestream some artists were lamenting over how people were rushing them after barely even giving them a week to work on their commission. It's already bad enough that artists aren't taken seriously because people think we just walk around with our heads in the clouds and fart out pieces because there's no way artists have to work hard and hone their craft for years, scam artists make it worse for *everybody*. If you want a commission but are worried about being scammed by an artist, from observation and listening to stories, this is what I've learned:
If you are going to commission an artist, first and foremost, do the best you can to research their commissioning history. Think of it like shopping for a car. You wouldn't just purchase one because you think it looks pretty. You need to know you are getting a quality product from a respectable, reliable source who knows what they're doing and can offer what you want. On DeviantArt, is the artist apologizing for being late in many of the commissions they upload? That is a time-management red flag. Pay attention to how they handle commissions. If they are consistent over a long period of time, that's a good sign. If they aren't, you might want to wait and see. Word of mouth is still very powerful and a serious, hardworking artist will do his/her best to make sure not only are their customers satisfied and respected, but also that they maintain their own reputation. Make sure they have a terms of services document that protects *both* of you and that every section of it is understandable. A professional artist will be more than happy to explain any part of the contract that might need clarification if you ask. Even after an artist clears those hurdles, get every verbal exchange, receipt, *everything* in writing and make sure you have a safe copy of the agreement (ie take screenshots and save them to your computer from the very beginning). If you aren't comfortable paying all of the money upfront, ask if you can do a 50% deposit. It can't hurt to ask. If the artist becomes offended and/or disagrees, then it's up to you whether or not you want to continue with that risk. If they take the 50% and decide to bail, you lose 50% less money than you would if you had paid upfront. It ultimately is a risk indeed, but it reduces the consequences if things fall through.
On the flip side, 50% also protects an honest, hardworking artist and reassures them *you* aren't some flaky customer who just wanted to sneak some free art out of them. That way if you bail, they get 50% more money than they would have if they had made the artwork only to find out they had been tricked into slavery. That sounds extreme but it's true. I could get more into that but I think I'll stop here.
Phew, sorry this is so long. These topic videos make me a very passionate berry XD.
I've never ran into either of these situations, but I personally agree with you on the fact that a scam artist is worse. Sinve - like you said - they're betraying these people that loved them so much just to make some quick and easy money. Whereas when a person steals the art from someone then it's easier to notify the public about it. But another thing that could happen is that someone with a relatively large following steals art from people with smaller followings, because it won't be as easy to notice that it's stolen art and like you said, who're their followers going to believe, their favorite artist or some random small artist. So it could honestly go either way. If that happens then people will most likely start to accuse that person of art thievery and unless the small artist has a way to prove it's theirs they can't say otherwise without getting bashed by the art thief's large amount followers
I had experiences with scammers and a friend of mine too. Her Artwork was stolen, printed on Shirts and sold on Ebay for +30$.
In my case, I had a special order for a freind of mine, there was an Artist, who could draw really amazing pictures of animals, Both with pencils or with paints. And becaus my Friends Birthday was around I asked that person if he(not sure if it was a guy) could paint a picture of my friends Bunny that died a half year before. He said he would, I send him a photo of that bunny via email and he said that he would send it to me the next two or three Weeks.
So I paid for that work and waited and waited and waited. my Friends Birthday came and I told her an Excuse, because the painting wasn't there yet.
Later that week I got an Email from that Artist, that he was done and he sended the painting in the mail, it should be there in a few days. And it came.
The picture was AWFUL! The colours looked terrible, it was more like somebody puked on the paper, one side was kinda ripped a bit and it doesn't looked like the cute Bunny at all-,-
I was so pissed but couldn't do anything, because...I couldn't get my money back and that guy refused to give it back, because he "Did the Piece I wanted"
I do that NEVER Again!! I Lost nearly 80$ and had to come up with a new Idea for a late Birthday present-,-
It was all in all a FAIL
I honestly haven't had experience with either XD however a good friend of mine experienced art theft, she told me it was like someone stealing a piece of her. And it was really sad, she couldn't do much because she was newer on the sight, and the people were cropping out her name and reporting it as their own. So I said that she could put her signature in a place where they couldn't cut it out, and post about it. She did and it worked :3 she doesn't have that issue anymore. So I think from that even though art theft can be a lot more annoying scamming can be more damaging I think, especially if you are doing art for art. And I love your art :D
I cant stop looking at your beautiful art... And idk who is worst.
Some other credit companies can reverse charges if you never get the product, with various time frames. Also look at the consumer law in your country as they may be able to help too.
"Which is worse? Art thieves or scam artists?"
Me: Yes
I was honestly so caught up in watching you paint this wonderful piece that I missed some of your points, lol.
I remember hearing about a scammer AND art thief in one. Basically they'd upload other people's work to their instagram or something and then take commissions, grab the money, lead people on until customer protection ran out and then just block them.
I think an art thief is worse because it can be that you are a creator and don't have a large community as you described. And the person that steels from you might have a bigger community than the creator him/herself. And the thief can claim that the creator is the actual thief or the thiefs community can spot the creator and blame him for stealing. Also the people might buy from the thief because he/she sells the art way cheaper because they don't have get their creation time paid.
That can end a whole career. Because the artist might not get enough money out of it anymore and/or because he/she can't sell/present anything anymore without being called a thief(so the people won't buy his/her stuff and/or even threaten the artist).
Unfortunately not all Art Thieves go for more famous people's works for that very reason. I once had my art "stolen" on an Amino and I only had one good friend to back me up. Thanks to the patience of the mod team it finally worked out.
I've had art stolen before, but I sign everything, so even though they stole it off of IG and posted it somewhere else, my mark was still on it. Still extremely annoying, but honestly it's so hard to prevent because the internet doesn't really protect against saving images.
Hi Lemia ,
I want to thank you for doing this topic. I think scam artists are horrible more so than art thiefs, but I also think they are horrible as well.
I was differently scammed many years ago, buy an art purchaser, when I had spent a lot of time on the piece. They were very happy with the art pics I showed them and then cancelled their payment. They swore they didn't cancel it and begged for me to send it to them and they would work it out.
Well they never did, so I was lucky enough not to believe them and I did not send the artwork, which I finally said stop asking for me to send it, without the form of payment to be fixed. I was out a lot of time, but they never tricked me into sending this. From now on, I do not take a commission without a large portion of the down payment upfront and I make sure to have a contract in place for disputes for such as this.
The Internet is great for good people and after a long term of illness, I'm restarting my channel, but before the market crashed I had a clothing company as well and had some of my designs stolen and had to dispute that as well. A loyal customer pointed it out to me, so I'm a little shy to put my fine art out there, but I'm going to do it because of the good people and not worry so much about the bad. I'm older so we didn't have this as our main source of showing our art, but I'm happy we have it. I have made some of the most wonderful friends on here and IG.
Thanks for your informative chats.
Hugs and happiness
Briana C.
I’ve had an experience: I played this game where you could post pictures and I friended this girl and I noticed how she had very similar art work to this artist I know. I realized she took the picture and changed the colors so I text her like “ did you steal this artist’s work?” Then she said “no” so then I said “well If you did you should do that it’s theirs not yours” and then stopped talking to her
i think that art thieves are worst, but in my opinion, popular artists solve easily they're problem when someone steal they're works, because they have a lot of followers to support them and help them to report the thief to them, but the saddest thing is when a talented artists just starts posting his art on internet, and he is not that well known and doesn't have a lot of supportive followers got his art stolen by someone more popular than him and more supported, he will never know what happens to him and his works ( tbh it's my biggest fear now) and i what i hate the most is when i see some drawings on deviantart that are obviously copy or trace of some japanese artists drawings from pixiv ( sadly those artists are so talented and they're works are amazing but they are not well known)
I think art thieves are worst because being the artist it must feel heartbreaking to have your art stolen.
I actually have had my art stolen once. During this last school year, I submitted art into the art and literary magazine, and it made it in, however another Hannah who worked on the committee for crediting art and writing took the credit for it herself and I was unaware of it until it was too late and the magazine was already in my hands.
Years ago, a follower of mine told me my art had been stolen and when I looked at the account, the person stole a lot of other artists' art pieces too. I realized the only proof I had that my art was mine was the time I posted it vs theirs. From then on, I sign all of my art pieces that I post.
I've had someone get mad at me claiming I was a scam artist on the LINE Play app before (right after it was gridlocked) purely because I didn't have their custom picture done within a minute (literally right after she sent the gift she started spamming up my posts with angry comments), but what's kind of funny is that they didn't use real money. At all. I don't even think you could buy the apps' normal currency with real money, and you certainly can't refund the gifts (that is how people "paid" me, and the gifts wouldn't get accepted until after I finished the picture, which the sender gets notified of)
It was annoying, and I deleted the app soon afterwards, since apparently I lived in the same grid-area with all the assholes who use the app! Ugh
your painting is absolutely gorgeous and I like your advice
I LOVE your way of using acrylic, I used to think it was impossible to blend even a little with it xD kinda made me wanna give it another chance.
And on that subject, I agree with some of your points, but I think art thieves are a bigger problem mostly because it happens more often (at least from what I've encountered) and most buyers aren't artists and don't even know that they're doing something wrong. They don't think one bit of the artist, just that they're getting cool fan merchandise.
Art thief. It's horrible to know that an artist works so hard to create a peice just for someone else to runoff and take the credit. Or even just simply "recolor" an art work.
I kinda felt guilty by watching this video.. because I usually take A LOT of time when I make commissions.. It's absolutely not like I don't want to make them, but since I get depressed very quick, I tend to put pieces of art in the corner of my mind, trying to think about something else.. you made me want to put a lot more efford on it, because I'm super glad to all my followers, even if they aren't much of a crew.. Thank you ;^;
I don't ever ever ever want to be considered a Scam artist...
I can't really decide since both are bad for multiple reasons. I mean if an art thief steals from an unpopular artist and sells their art on things those artists don't have the following to warn/help them and likely won't want to post anymore art after being afraid it'd happen again. Also an art thief can claim the art is theirs and gain a following that way and even take commissions so they end up as both a scammer and a thief. If they are clever enough they could turn their following against the real artist as well.
What sucks is that a scammer also hurts other artists that take commissions. After being scammed a commissioner is much less likely to trust another artist to commission. Plus there's risk for the artist since many times they'll ask for progress shots of the art they are owed and if they do what you mentioned and keep repaying then the artist can also get screwed. If they decide they just don't want it anymore then the artist is out both time, art and the money. Even though the artist can have taken multiple commissions and needs the time to do them. Also a scammer can do the opposite and try to chargeback after receiving the art. I saw how an artist was charged much more than they were payed because of a chargback on paypal though I don't remember what happened.
I think your best bet is looking up more about the artist beforehand, asking for progress shots or a sketch and doing a down payment. You only pay half then even if they don't finish the art you didn't lose as much and the artist will also not be out in case the person tries to avoid paying anything.
I think they both suck about equally. I've seen artists I admired come out as thieves and I've had artists I admire get their art stolen and printed on shirts and stuff.
I know I'm an artist that takes forever to get stuff done, but I tell people I'm slow as hell and if they still want art from me, they can wait and don't mind. I've had an art trade with someone that's taken like 2-3 years because she's so busy and I'm just slow and I guess I'm just extremely patient xD
am i a theif if i sometimes copy other drawings? i dont sell them or anything i do like to change the colors tho
Jocelyn Jimenez if u also dont take credit for the art work and say u copied it then its ok in my opinion
Kate Reza ok cuz im not saying "ohh i drew this it was my idea" or anything like that
Jocelyn Jimenez thank u for not taking credit :3
+Jocelyn Jimenez I find that if you simply credit the picture/artist that you copied, it's almost always totally fine. If you pretend that it's 100% yours then usually people get upset. :3
Well... tracing is a bad thing. I recommend that you do try hand-eye coordination and try to draw yourself. However, as long as you give credit to the original artist, you are totally fine. However, because you did trace it, the original artist has the right to tell you if they want it deleted or not. If you did hand-eye coordination for the drawing, that's a different thing. Still credit the artist, but I do not believe it deserves being taken down because you did put effort into it. Still, those are my opinions. Just know that art style theft is not a thing.
I've been on both sides of this my self. Once having a thief use my work in a contest (winning themselves some cash) and me ordering some art from an artist only to get excuses and nothing in return. And I agree with you. Thieves, while horrible, can be taken down quickly and really painlessly (if done right). But scammers, they suck. In a big way. Not only do they hurt their clients, but other artists as well. Once you get burned, chances are you'll think twice about buying work from another artist!
So here's my bit o wisdom, never. Never... buy a commission without a contract. It protects the client AND the artist. Paypal should/can work with you if you have a two party contract.
i had someone commission me for about $50 to get me to come out of my rut of no commissions, he gave tonnes of details about how he didn't have a due by date and how he refused to pay until i gave him lines because he never pays before lines, i told him it'd be done in 2 months. after a couple days and 8 hours of solid work on the lineart i tell him i'm having some trouble so he doesn't get susp about me being silent, and he tells me he paid the money to someone else who he claimed was going to be faster before they had even started, despite them claiming to take 3 months minimum and what they said about never paying before lines. They lied to me, my friend and the artist they commissioned after about what happened, giving all of us a different story before running off from every online outlet he had. Art thievery can come from both the buyer and the seller side, which is what quite a lot of people don't seem to realise when complaining about the processes for commissions some artists go through. Safe to say i'd closed commissions for good after this. Out of the two though, i'd definitely say scam artist is worse as it hurts a lot more people and hurts them harder.
Yeah, buyers can be super flaky. I always take full payment before I start anything. :( I've had several people not follow through with paying for a commission during my day. You know, they want all the details of everything and then they don't go forward. It's a huge waste of time. I'm sorry you went through that.:(
Art Thieves can be pretty terrible when they stole something from artists that aren't well-known.
One of my drawing got 8 000 on Tumblr, and I was freaking happy about that. However, someone posted it on instagram, saying it was their art. The thing was that they had 500 Followers, and I only have 290 followers on insta. Fortunately, they removed my drawing, but damn it was complicated (and frustrating knowing they gain followers with it while I can't even reach 300 XD)
Could you do a video on how to report art thieves from local anime conventions if you see someone stealing your artwork?
I can't seem to find any videos on that matter. I've seen videos of people staling ArtGerms artwork tweaking it just a hair & selling it for more than his original art. That's why I'm scared of going to Conventions to sell my artwork is seeing a art thief across the alley way.
Art thieves are worse because unless something stolen is copyrighted, you can't take legal action. Now with certain scammers it simply isn't worth it to spend thousands to try and get a couple hundred dollars back, but I remember hearing about an artist who needed money to 'visit someone across seas in the military' and was offering super cheap commissions for like $5. A larger artist decided to tell people to go and support this artist or whatever, and the artist was flooded with commissions. The commissions began coming out slowly, and then stopped. The person tried to set up another account, people found out and started hounding her asking for money, and then well, she came out and said that she wasn't trying to raise money to visit a friend overseas, and she had gone on a vacation. The police were even contacted, and she had to give thousands of dollars back to her customers. It was such a mess tbh.
I have had my art stolen. And few of my followers followed that person that stole my art and... attacked them. At first they were a generally nice person... until they stole my art. Then the small group of like 5-10 followers attack them and then they flipped out on me. Saying "You sent these people to ruin my life! You stole MY art!!!!" Then I didn't respond. And what I did was post a speed art of it, the finished product, tagged them, and then told the story to everyone via the description. They never said a word to me again.
my art got stolen as soon as i discovered "uploading on the internet".. my sisters classmate downloaded and printed my work, brought it to school and claimed it as her own, my sister recognized my style and the pose, so she wanted my art folder to prove that its mine.. a few years later my sister did something similiar to me.. she grabbed one of my pieces, recreated my sketch and recoloured the thing for a school art competition.. when my family and i went to the winner announcement i saw the piece on the wall.. i was shocked and the worst thing was, that she even got 2nd place with the stolen rip-off :/ after that i wasnt sure if she was lying about her classmate and claimed the folder as her own back then..
I was scammed out of $35 (which for my budget is A LOT of money to lose). There was communication at first, but then she disappeared. I found her on tumblr months later and tried to get her to message me, but she never said anything. It bothered me so much because she was the first person I had ever commissioned, and she completely let me down. I've only commissioned one other person because I now have a bad taste for artists after the first time.
more acrylic paintings! this was so awesome, i loved seeing you bring this to life. :)
Art theives *ARE. THE. WORST.* They're the worst of the worst. I bet the theives who steal or trace art are 9 year olds.
I think you can trace art for practice, but if you claim the art as your own or sell it you're crossing the line.
Your so talented amazing painting! Also you make some amazing points with the subject
Constructive criticism: in this particular picture I have trouble distinguishing the top of the hair and it looks quite weird to me. Only the top by the head area though.
Does it still count as an art thief if: they see a drawing someone else has drawn. They decide to redraw it. They post it online BUT they give credit to the original artist AND say it was a redraw?
CatherineTheCatLover if they gave proper credit to the original owner and mentioned they redrew it then yes it should be fine
I feel both are equally bad. There have been times where thieves will take not as well known artist's art as well and then claim the original as the thief. I saw a video of someone who did a trace at anime expo and tried claiming it as his own and traced $45 custom commissions as well. I think Art thieves are the stepping stones to scam artists.
To me, both are worse.
Art thieves steal efforts. Scam artists also steal efforts (aka money, you might have a job and put efforts into it or etc.).
Art thieves may steal what artists deserve (aka money, fame, followers, supports, etc...). Scam artists steal away the feeling of trusting in the one that they really like or admire from their supporters.
There are lots of things that people from both categories can steal from others.
Someone stole my art IN REAL LIFE. My class mate wanted to know how i draw so i taught her 1 or 2 thing than gave the finished piece to her as a memento. 2 days later she gave to the art teacher (without crediting me) and she got an a+!
I still think both scams and art theft is equally as worse as anything including money
I'm in love with your illustration
Someone removed the signature on my art, traced and recolored it, then claimed I stole it from them. I never would have found them if they didn't comment on my post saying "YOU STOLE THIS FROM ME!"
I won the fight because I had a lot more proof. I posted my art first, had sketch+wip proof and the art was in my style not theirs.
My issue is I'm always busy. I've taken on quite a lot of requests in a week or 2 and people won't contact me back when I try to explain my issues. It's so annoying as I'm probably getting my reputation ruined. I know several people will support me not being able to do art, and not being able to find myself making art. Yet it's super annoying.