#posting bc i hit 100 followers and im not done w my wips yet

[babbity-draws]

Hi, I absolutely love your artwork!! Especially the Francis Abernathy one!

I had a quick question, and possibly a stupid one, When you want to sell a piece specifically and put it online, how do you ensure someone doesn't just download and print it?? Or sending them a final click of their commision and they just download that?

Hi!! Thanku for liking my artwork!!! 🥺💖💖 I won't lie, I may not be the best person to be asked this question bc i dont sell my work online or do commissions (i usually just sell physical prints at conventions!), but I'll try my best to answer w/ what i know!!

Unfortunately there's no way to guarantee that someone online won't just download and use ur art at their own will, there are some ppl who are just mean and cant be reasoned with 😖😖

What you can do is watermark everything u post online! either ur signature, name, url/internet handle, whatver u choose, just place it somewhere hard to crop, like near the main subject matter or even at like a 50% opacity over a detailed section of ur art so its hard for reposters/art thieves to edit out! There's an artist I love that has their url just watermark overlayed from end to end of their piece so its just Huge! I'd also recommend never posting high-res versions of ur pieces online. there's a save option in most programs thats "save for web" where u have the option of choosing the resolution of your final piece. This will just make it harder for ppl to resell ur stuff bc if they try to enlarge it, it'll be quite blurry!

As for commissions, i'd recommend asking for full payment upfront (or 50% payment first and the 50% payment just before u send the final product) and making it clear to ur commissioner ur terms and conditions (i.e. personal use only, that u as the artist still maintain all copyrights, not to be used for profit, etc.). you can also watermark all the WIPs u send ur commissioner until ur ready to send them the final finished product once payment has been settled! Make sure u get everything in writing too, whether its in emails or creating a "Commission Form" for the commissioner to fill out and sign with what they want + making sure they're aware and agree to ur terms and conditions!

if worse comes to worse, most social media platforms allow you to report someone for copyright infringement! Its a rough process but ive deffs heard of times when it's worked! I'd also say familiarise urself w/ the copyright laws of where you live, i'm not sure abt outside of australia (where i live) but here it's that as soon as someone creates a piece of art, they immediately own the copyrights to it, u dont even have to register it anywhere (u can even have this in ur watermark! e.i. [ur name]  © 2021 [or yr of creation])!

the only reason why i havent done any of these things is bc im incredibly lazy ahaha im a really really small time/obscure artist with a tiny, yet wonderful, following so i haven't really had to worry abt reposters/art thieves (if ive been reposted, i have no idea but i 100% do NOT give permission!!). But that being said, even if youre a small time artist and haven't had to deal w/ these things, its still a good idea to put these things into practice! dont be like me lol

sorry, i know this got very long winded, but i hope it all makes sense and helps u some! please feel free to hit me up w/ more questions, and i'll try to answer them the best i can!!! best of luck to u 🤞💖💖