The M.D.C. Handbook

the soapbox: defining art theft

Welcome ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to a new segment I like to call; THE SOAPBOX. In essence, I'll be using this segment to rant about all the things I'm too scared to post on Tumblr. Obviously, they will always be either art or design related, to keep with the theme of Multimedia Designs.

Today's topic is: defining art theft.

I have a friend. For reasons unknown, she's very conscious of art theft. I ain't gonna bounce on her beliefs, but I for one have my own beliefs.

RE-POSTING
Re-posting is going to happen, especially if you're popular enough. My friend HATES re-posting with a burning passion. For those who don't know, re-posting is the act of either posting a person's artwork on a different website without their permission, or making a new Tumblr post for it on your blog without their permission. (Reblogging is different from this, and perfectly fine.) The reason some artists get heated over this shit is because of this idea of other people getting notes and getting popular over work that isn't theirs.

I just, I can't stress how much I absolutely hate this idea. The people who preach about the "evils" of reposting are, in my opinion, incredibly hypocritical and idealistic. Listen, we're not talking about assholes who try to take credit for other people's work, no, usually re-posters give CREDIT to the artist and LINK to the artist's blog/website. There's a whole WEBSITE dedicated to re-posting and it's worth BILLIONS to dollars (*cough* Pinterest). (I hate Pinterest btw.) Like, re-posting is going to happen. Artists think they can "educate" everyone, when in reality there are billions of people using the internet and thousands of newcomers joining everyday. PEOPLE WILL NOT UNDERSTAND YOUR SENSITIVITY TO RE-POSTING. EVEN IF YOU SAY "DO NOT POST THIS ANYWHERE ELSE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION" UNDER THE DAMN WORK, MAYBE THEY DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH OR MAYBE THEY'RE JUST TOO LAZY TO READ. My best way to deal with re-posters is to not give a fucking damn, because 99% of the time their re-post is no where near as popular as my original post, and they were kind enough to give me credit so I don't give a shit.

Oh, and hypocrites. Fucking hypocrites. They literally say, "Other people shouldn't use an artist/maker's HARD WORK in order to make themselves more popular!!! :(((" UMM, SAY WHAT? Broh, you only draw fan art. YOU'RE LITERALLY USING ANOTHER ARTIST/MAKER'S HARD WORK IN ORDER TO MAKE YOURSELF MORE POPULAR. You're using the characters they've created, the settings they tirelessly built, the story lines they've spent months writing, and the designs they've spent years perfecting. Selling fan art is actually illegal, because you're profiting off characters that aren't yours, but hey--NO ONE GIVES A SHIT. And you know, when it's not for profit, creators actually LIKE fanart because it's free promotion for their work. I think people should view re-posting in the same way; free promotion.

Look, I'm not condoning re-posting. You actually shouldn't. Reblog instead. Ask for permission if you want to post on a different site. I'm just kind of pissed about how these young artists view it. Young artists, beginners and amateurs, are really super-protective of their work. Then they grow up and realize they really have nothing to fear. That's what I want all of my readers to do RIGHT NOW. If you're an aspiring artist, don't get caught up in all the fear. I know you don't like reposting, but it's going to happen whether you like it or not. Not every piece you produce is as serious as you want it to be--especially fan art. Everything is just practice right now. You're not selling yet, but when you do, you should be protective of that work.

MY DEFINITION
Before I give you my definition, I want you to realize that I don't except everyone to adapt this definition. I want everyone to define art theft themselves, using their own ideas of right and wrong and their own sensibilities. If you think re-posting is art theft, that's fine. Your belief is valid! The point I was trying to make above is that you shouldn't worry too much if it happens. It's okay if you don't want it to happen.

Art theft is one or more of the following: (a) someone posting your work on another website/blog without any credit, thus the viewers assume that the person posting it is the creator; (b) someone posting your work and blatantly taking credit for it; (c) someone posting your work with your watermark and/or signature edited out; (d) someone making another piece of artwork that very closely resembles art you have created because they used yours as a template; (e) someone using part or whole or your artwork in a piece of their artwork. In any case, art theft becomes even more heinous when the thief uses the piece of stolen artwork for profit, for instance, printing your art on a T-shirt and selling it online (this has happened to some). When not used for profit, art theft is usually harmless unless it persists. Monitor your best/most popular pieces to make sure no one is taking credit for them without your permission. I suggest a Google search at least once every 3 to 6 months.

What I want you to takeaway from my little rant: Art theft is bad, yes. I want you to be able to better recognize it and to NOT react so harshly to it. My friend has actually stopped posting art on Tumblr because of her fears. Don't do that. Don't dwell on that one kid from Austria who re-posted your piece five months ago and got two notes for it. Whenever your art is stolen, assess the situation. Come to an educated decision. If you have to bitch someone out, bitch 'em out. If you have to sue their ass, sue their ass. If you have to let it go, let it go. Odds are, you aren't going to give a shit about that one drawing of Green Lantern you made when you were sixteen five years from now.

I know not everyone is going to agree with me. Feel free to post your own definition of art theft and/or hate mail in the comments below.