💜 💀Someone reposted my work on Pinterest, and I am NOT happy. 💀💜
So it has been brought to my attention by a dear fellow artist that someone uploaded my Lucifer piece on their Pinterest.
I wrote it on EVERY bio of EVERY social media I have : DO. NOT. REPOST. MY. ARTWORK. Anywhere. PERIOD.
The person who uploaded the artwork told me they got that image from a different source than my social media (not an excuse, btw, and again, my watermark says ‘do not repost”) but funny enough, they do not remember where. (°◡°♡) And it was in good quality meaning someone either took it for Tumblr, or Twitter in the first place.
I already explained it in great length why it is extremely damaging to repost someone else’s artwork when I reblogged this very important post from @otonymous.
But I guess it wasn’t enough. So here are a few lines and doodles, in attempt to explain why it is damaging for content creators to get our work stolen (and I very much insist on this word) and then reposted without our consent and knowledge, especially when some of us are relying on it as a direct or indirect source of income.
Shady argument #1 : “it’s free to use”
This argument is often used and actually comes from a conversation I had with a (former) follower of mine on Instagram that reposted (and unfortunately, still repost) artwork found on Google and Pinterest (this is another case, and it wasn’t my own work, but sadly enough, it proves my point).
I won’t enter too much into details regarding copyright infringement laws (since every part of the globe has a different way to protect content creators: in the US you have the DMCA, in France and most european countries we have basically le “droit d’auteur” or “author’s rights”) but basically finding a content on the internet DOES NOT give you permission to reuse / repost this content elsewhere. NEVER HAD. Usually if you find artwork on Google Image or Pinterest that’s because other people stole them from social media / websites and put them on another platform.
Shady argument #2 : “the watermark”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA no. It doesn’t work like that. (plus what type of monster would remover a watermark, uh ?)
This amazing tweet from GraphicFighter explains in very simple and educational words why reposting never benefits the artist (they even gives statistics), and why it is overall very bad for illustrators, watermark or not.
Not only because watermarks can be hard to read (especially if an alphabet / symbol system you don’t know), but also because almost no one bothers to click on our social media links when they exists – that’s basic web user behaviour.
So do you really thing they’ll have a look at the watermark and bother looking for the artist ? Nah.
Shady argument #3 : “hey artist, it’s your fault”
This one also comes from a conversation I had with someone who kept reposting artworks, and I quote their words :
the fact that the photos are freely available on Google means that they are open for use. If this is not the case, then the artists themselves have to limit it in some way, so this is the problem with them.
Needless to say, I nearly choked when I read this last sentence. It is 2020, aren’t we past always blaming the victims ?
In this day and age, Internet is the most efficient way for us to gain visibility and have a chance to get hired for jobs, so of course we post on the net. That doesn’t justify ANYONE reposting our content.
As of today, I have seen ONCE (and only ONCE) an artist put a Pinterest pin creator on their website (a tool that helps you create a pin from whatever content from their website). That is their PERSONAL CHOICE, and one that enables them to have control and redirect directly to their website once someone see their work on Pinterest. I can with confidence say that this is an exception that proves the rules and that shouldn’t justify reposting other’s artists content without at least their consent.
So again, we artists, in the vast majority, DO NOT choose to have our content put OUTSIDE of our social media. We cannot track it to see if it wasn’t linked to something shady, we cannot make sure people see our websites, we basically DO NOT HAVE CONTROL OF OUR CONTENT ANYMORE. If you found it on the net, it is probably because some other people TOOK IT, and put them “in the open” on the internet without a care in the world so no, it is NOT and will never be an artist’s fault.
YOU REALLY WANT TO REPOST ?
Don’t just assume every content creator is ok with reposts because a few content creators allow it with credit (and they do as they please, I am not here to judge them for that).
If you really, really wish to ASK if you can repost someone’s artwork and want to contact the artist but don’t know how, you can google their name (if the watermark hasn’t been cropped), make the effort to look for them on social media, or even use Reverse image Search on Google Image.
If we, content creators, spend hours and hours on a piece that you enjoy, the very least you can do is spend a few minutes to look for our name.
And if you don’t manage to find the source of a specific content despite your efforts ? Do. NOT. Repost it. Anyway. Is it frustrating for you ? Yes, it might. But not as frustrating and devastating as it will be for the person from who you steal their work and often, their livelihoods from.
Reblog, retweet (without comments), reshare in your Instagram stories : show your favorite creators your love THE RIGHT WAY - a way for them to keep creating content and getting rewarded / paid for it.
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