May be I should just ask Bogusred but...

I don't know if anyone else feels the same way or not, but  with the amount of  theft and plagarism going on lately, I'm kind of paranoid.  I'm not accusing anyone here of  wanting to steal anyone's work, but I'm almost afraid to post anything up, and have even considered taking my one piece of artwork down.  Is there anything we can do to stop people from taking our art?  I know some sites have (something) that blocks the menu from coming up when you right click on a picture, and it keeps you from just highlighting and copying the whole page too.  Could we try something like that, or would it be a bandwith issue?  Any comments are greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

On Oct 29, 2005 4:14 pm, babi_drache said:

Hey!

Hmm...I think blocking the right-click option would be very annoying but I do understand what you mean.  Although for me I'd prefer it if this didn't happen as sometimes I loose all my works on my computer (it breaks down) and wish to upload it elsewhere and the only places I have it stored is on my art gallery sites.  It you disabled it then I couldn't save my own work anymore.O_o;  Worst still if it's commisioned work I've put up in a safe place, then my computer dies, and then I can't get access to it.>_<;

As for you work being stolen, firstly stop being paranoid.  Then chances are you're work hasn't been stolen and second if they have well they have.  There isn't much you can actually do about it unless you know who's done it...and most of the time you'd never know so...?  It's not easy keeping an eye on your works so if something means that much to you simply don't post it...or at least post it in a private journal for only friends to see?  But if anything ever happens BR and other's can help resolve the problem so you need not worry.

Cya!

Angie^-^v

On Oct 29, 2005 4:14 pm, babi_drache said:


Blocking the right click is annoying and doesn't stop mac users or users with a recent version of Internet explorer (which is most people). Recent versions of internet explorer show a little save icon when you move your mouse over an image so that you can save it without even doing a right click. No major website disables right click because it is extremely annoying. The reason for this is often times people will right click on a link to open the destination in a new window (or in Firefox, a new tab). For small personal websites it's ok to do disabling. But for a site as huge as this, it wouldn't be worth it.

If you are worried about people stealling your art, the best way to ensure no one will steal your art or at least to prove it's your own is to watermark it. Put your email address or personal website address or alias or some other unique identifyer on your artwork. For example, all of my artwork says "bogusred.net" on it which points to my personal website. That's probably the best thing you can do to protect your art.

On Oct 29, 2005 5:36 pm, themusicdied said:


That's an excellent idea. If you put a decorative border around your artwork and then your signature/username/email in the corner and someone crops it off, people will know it was cropped because the border is no longer symmetrical. Good idea themusicdied!

whenever i did a signature by hand, i'd always put it in a place that couldn't be cropped off. Such is the case with this artwork:

Notice how i put my signature within the artwork (it's within the ending curl of the dragon's tail)

That's another great way to show that it's your work. Most plagiarists will post a bunch of art by a variety of artists. If all of the signatures in the art are different, then it's obvious the artwork is plagiarized.

The most sure fire way of protecting your artwork though is to just not post it on the internet, but then no one would be able to enjoy it

I personally love the right click- I don't steel artwork, but I like to take a copy of images for referance in many things- my computer is run for digetal art (although my CPU is now starting to look REALLY slow in comparison to the rest of my computer!!) If you are seriously worried, waterwarks are the key- make sure it covers the WHOLE image, and that it is not dominating, otherwise it destroys the point of the picture all together. I find speciallising my art to 'not popular' or 'not quite so popular' stuff hides me from most of it, cause people have no leg to stand on- only I draw Dragon Twins art Final.

In failing that, making the picture you post seriously low quality in comparrision to what it is is also a deterant for copiers, but you still can see the image. I scan all my images at A4 600dpi, and shrink them to 10% of its origanal size- I get an ubber sharp version for myself, and people see a nice, but unrefined version- I guess its still ripable, but people who will rip wont be detered by anything. Seriously.

On Oct 29, 2005 11:22 pm, arkillian said:


Arkillian makes several good points here. Having a high quality resolution version of your images is a must and post the lower resolution quality version on websites. that way you have proof that you are the original owner.

Another thing you can do is to make a big presence on all the art sites you can. Post on all the major art websites and make lots of friends all over the place. This is good because more people will be familiar with your art and will notice when someone else steals it and will let you know. Of course, the more places you most and the more exposure you get, the more likely someone is to steal your artwork.

On Oct 29, 2005 11:22 pm, arkillian said:


Could you explain to me about the watermark thing? How does it protect your picture? Thanks.
---
"No more darker than the night, no more mystery in sight. One day he was simply gone and who knows if he'll return."

That's what I do. I'm always looking for other art sites. As of right now I post on www.paperdemon.com (here) , www.theotaku.com , www.sheezyart.com , www.fanartcentral.com , www.deviantart.com . So far I havn't had my art stolen. It's a good thing too because all my art is under copy right. If someone stole my art, there would be hell to pay.

i appreciate all the feedback.  i would like to do the watermark thing, but like atlantis, i have no clue how to do them or what they do.  i have photoshop cs, so if anyone can help out with that, it would be greatly appreciated as well.  thanx

A watermark is like a semi-transparent layer that you put ontop of your art. Usually you put some sort of text or logo. This drawing has a watermark that says bogusred.net:


To do it in Photoshop just select the text tool, type your text and adjust it to the size you want. Then select another tool so that the text layer can render. Then select the new text layer and change the opacity of the layer to something like 30%. The opacity adjustment is right above where you see your layers.

oh that's all?  i was confused when i was looking in the photoshop menus and i found a water mark feature.  i couldn't figure out how to use it.  whoops.  ok, i try that text thingy.  but can't people just edit it out?  like paint over it or something?

If you are worried about someone painting it out, put it over a more detailed area that would be difficult to remove from. But most of the time, the people who steal art don't really know how to edit stuff out, at least from what I've observed.
Yeah photoshop does have a watermark thing but i don't know how to use that either, lol. I never really did anything with it.

Thanks for explaining about the watermark, BogusRed, I am going to try it.
---
"No more darker than the night, no more mystery in sight. One day he was simply gone and who knows if he'll return."