#also they're low resolution so I can't upload them as prints

[gotchibam]

Just wanted to announce that I've finally set up my print shop at INPRNT! ✨

Only a few pieces are up for now but hopefully I'll be able to expand it more in the future!

[piracytheorist]

gods I hate people stealing art, I hate the fact that I got the two pieces of art that were stolen on redbubble... so not sure what to do with this then (other than write the artists handle on the sticker sheet and apologise and see if i can report it more than once)

I can't speak for the artist, but you don't need to feel like you have to throw away the sticker. What's done is done and feeling bad about it won't do anyone any good, much less yourself. What I can advise, is that next time you can make a quick check of the shops you buy merch from. Those two shops are obvious art thieves cause they have art pieces of different styles and they're not crediting the original artists. There are some legit shops that use multiple people's art with their explicit permission to do so, but 99.99% of the time, they credit the original artist. If they have arts of multiple styles and no credit, it's most possibly art theft.

You can also look out for low resolution pics. Artists usually upload their full resolution art on such shops, so that it can be used as a big art print or big enough to cover an entire t-shirt. Art thieves only have low resolution pics (since they just download whatever resolution the artist uploaded on tumblr/twitter/instagram/etc.) so they either don't have art prints at all, or they're too small, or stuff like t-shirts only have a very small version of the picture in the preview. Though it's not 100% foolproof - some artists may use small art in general, or not sell their art as prints. It's just a hint, not the entire proof.

Another clue for art theft, though it's not a concrete rule, is the super generic titles for the works. In the links I gave, one is titled "Ethan Winters re8" and... that's a very generic title for an art piece. If that was just a tag, sure, it's fine, but artists tend to give their art pieces more descriptive titles, ones that apply to the specific piece and make it stand out. In the second link, the "product" is titled "Ethan Winters art Sticker", and it appears as so even if you're trying to buy it on a t-shirt.

And that just doesn't make sense. Is it printed art, a sticker, or a t-shirt?

Again, while in most cases generic titles point to art theft, there may be artists who actually choose such titles (for various reasons, including but not limited to not actually speaking English). So by itself it doesn't necessarily mean it's art theft, you have to find other clues (again, such as multiple art styles, lack of credit for the original artist, and very low resolution images and products. The more of them a shop has, the more possible it's art theft).

Now if you do find an art piece from an art thief shop, and still want to buy it, your best bet is asking around the fandom if someone knows the original artist. I myself like to organize the fanart I reblog here, so when I saw the art pieces on that shop I was very quickly able to locate the original artist's post I'd reblogged, and notify them about the art theft. In every popular fandom there will be people like me, whom you can ask in such a case. If you track the artist down, you can then ask them if they have a shop themselves (and probably inform them about the theft).