Art thieves on dA. As usual.

[AccountingDrone]

dA Art theft Vigilante here. Sometimes, provided enough boredom or reason to, I just go through and find ones that are stolen and report them. I actually received a pair of posters from a cool artist, for reporting and notifying the original artist. Very, very cool.

It doesn't help half the art thieves don't realize that:

A) dA isn't some picture sharing site, like, say, Facebook or Photobucket. There is one person who was honestly mistaken, and she removed everything on request. She honestly seemed confused, so I'd let her pass.

B) The ones who are honest thiefs, oxymoronic as that is, are usually dumb enough to not realize that having art of wildly different styles and methods is suspicious. Unless you are a master, and I doubt anyone whose image I find several identical copies of using TinEye ARE.

I don't put any art online, other than a few pictures of my medieval and renaissance clothing. And I am able to switch from my preferred style to pretty much anything except pointillism and cubism because of my asshat art teacher who only thought realism was the only real valid way to paint [I prefer surrealism] so I learned pretty much all the styles. [I do a pretty good Monet forgery, I used to copy the one my parents had that I detested as practice. I also do a decent Van Gogh and a reasonable Marc Chagall.]

[Argabarga]

I learned pretty much all the styles. I do a pretty good Monet forgery, I used to copy the one my parents had that I detested as practice. I also do a decent Van Gogh and a reasonable Marc Chagall.]

Do you find exposure to SC's makes you inadvertently do Hieronymus Bosch?

[AccountingDrone]

Do you find exposure to SC's makes you inadvertently do Hieronymus Bosch?

Or maybe Breughel ...

[PepperElf]

technically mine's never been stolen but only cos... i don't have any up. i just have the account so i can search without age-restrictions.



but i agree... i think some users think it's a site for file sharing, where you post pictures you like and not ones you actually made.

and there are other sites for that.

[Crossbow]

i think some users think it's a site for file sharing, where you post pictures you like and not ones you actually made.

That's what the "Favorites" section is for. Which is the only populated section in my DA account. Like you, I only use my account for searching, at least for now....

[firecat88]

That's what the "Favorites" section is for. Which is the only populated section in my DA account. Like you, I only use my account for searching, at least for now....

Mine was that way at first too. XD I only got the account so I could favorite stuff. Well, my favorites folder is still like 5 or 6 times bigger than my actual gallery, but there is stuff there now (mostly my poems and some of the stuff I've made on Bryce). As far as I know, no one's tried stealing my stuff yet....but that's mainly because it's not exactly worth stealing anyway.

[Crossbow]

A number of years ago (prior to DA even existing) when I was doing 3D meshes, the forums I was on had a rash of thefts. the forum mods were really good about going after thieves, but it was a bit more interesting when the mesh was what was stolen as opposed to the picture. (ExArtShopSlave could probably contribute his own stories on that.) Basically the mods demanded copies of the mesh used in the pics and one from the claimant, and a group of the modelers would compare them. It's highly unlikely that two modelers would put every part of the mesh in exactly the same place.

It got bad enough that while I was doing pieces that might get submitted, I would model a simple crossbow shape right into the mesh, but leave it with the same properties as the rest of the surface. It was invisible in a final render, but any glance at the mesh would be obvious. Others modeled their names or logos visibly into the meshes. It seemed to work, if not as a deterrent, at least as a method of "physical watermarking."

[Argabarga]

I do feel a twinge of pity sometimes when it's clear the person stealing and passing it off as their own is trying hard to just be part of the community, it can be pretty frustrating to be a person with great ideas for art, but not the talent to make them happen. (Theft for personal profit though? The plague is too good for em')

But, then again, stealing is well, STEALING. How is that going to make you any friends once you are inevitably found out? I've never known art communities to run off people who can't draw themselves, just be up front about it, most of us will gladly take you idea and run with it if you're polite about it... lying is never a good idea.

[firecat88]

Theft update: Most of the stolen pictures are still there (a grand total of 1 picture has been removed). Despite repeated instances of people telling her that she'd save herself a lot of problems if she'd just delete them, despite people telling her how *to* delete them, and despite a close friend of two of the people who had their art stolen adding the thief to her watchlist purely to keep an eye out for anymore stolen work.

[SmivMoc]

Time to send a DMCA takedown notice. There are several form letters floating around.

[Krysalis]

Mine was that way at first too. XD I only got the account so I could favorite stuff. Well, my favorites folder is still like 5 or 6 times bigger than my actual gallery, but there is stuff there now (mostly my poems and some of the stuff I've made on Bryce). As far as I know, no one's tried stealing my stuff yet....but that's mainly because it's not exactly worth stealing anyway.

O/T: Bryce?

http://asuyuka-kimeno.deviantart.com...anka-174853256

http://asuyuka-kimeno.deviantart.com...10024051&qo=37

Never knew the guy

Not that mine's much good, either.

I, for years, just used mine for scraps. Only recently did I start posting art for art, and not bad poetry.

[Crossbow]

O/T: Bryce?

http://asuyuka-kimeno.deviantart.com...anka-174853256

http://asuyuka-kimeno.deviantart.com...10024051&qo=37

Never knew the guy

Pretty cool. Ever play with Terragen or Terragen 2? Might want to check it out.

[Amanita]

I especially like the floating forest, that is pretty cool!

[Crossbow]

Ugh. Now it's my turn, although not with my art. Spotted a short flash animation from one of the DA artists that I follow being used by another site as a "Down for maintenance" placeholder. I know it's not authorized, since it was a gift for another artist. I notified the animator this morning, but the thief site will probably be back up before he even reads the note...

[Amanita]

While I've been known to download things I really like for my own personal enjoyment, I never repost photos or artwork belonging to anybody else, let alone claim them as my own. It would be no skin off of my teeth if somebody downloaded a photo of mine and used it as their desktop wallpaper, or saved it to a folder of cool pics for their own enjoyment- if somebody likes my stuff that much, cool. However, that's a far cry from taking it and posting it elsewhere, claiming it as your own.
I don't consider it theft if somebody saves a copy of a pic of mine for personal use (personal use being things like saving a copy for offline viewing, using it as their desktop wallpaper, or similar) I would consider it theft if they reposted anywhere it without asking me, or modified it somehow and claimed it was their work, or tried to use it in anything commercial.

I came across a gorgeous photo on DA last night, such a lovely pic of downtown Dallas, in particular one skyscraper there I've always liked. The artist unfortunately must have been burned one too many times by people stealing their stuff and claiming ignorance when called out- "Oh I thought it was a stock photo", because their only comment was a screed of "You may nots" that came across as so angry that I hesitate to even favorite it. I'd love a copy for my collection, with the understanding that it would be for personal enjoyment only, NOT to be posted anywhere else or misused in any way. But I won't even ask, I don't want to be thought of as a thief, or some sort of snowflake.