#phanartpp

In light of the recent tracing incident on my friend @pinofs, and in reflection of my own incident back in December, I am going to write a LONG POST about tracing/reposting/how-to-properly-art etc. The blog @phanartpp has a lot of really good information on how to spot reposts and why it's bad. A lot of what I am going to write echoes what has been written there.

1. For reposters: How to spot a repost, find the source, and how to give proper credit. 

Reposting art is SHALLOW flattery to the original artist; any compliment towards them is buried by the fact that their art has been stolen and re-posted *most likely* without proper credit. Reposts are often lower quality than the original - as in, they look a bit pixelated or fuzzy in comparison. Also the reposter often has cropped out the original watermark/signature, maybe cropping out other details or parts of the image in the process, so it might look weirdly small or lacking in some areas (more on watermarks down below).

A reposted image will also usually NOT HAVE the tag “#my art” on it, whereas this tag USUALLY is included on the original post. Other tags on the repost might include things like “#this art is pretty” or “#not my art” or equivalent. 

Use Google to find the original source of an image. There is a tutorial here.

You can give proper credit to the original artist by simply reblogging the original image DIRECTLY from THEIR blog. A repost is ONLY okay if you have explicit permission from the original artist; put as many links back to that artist's website/social media platform as possible. 

These are also good posts about reposting here and here. 

2. Why tracing is BAD. 

Tracing images does not let you improve at developing your OWN style. When you trace you're just cheaply copying and recreating all the hard work the artist went into designing and creating that original content. Tracing might help you develop the fine motor skills required to produce high quality art, but it will not help you truly understand all the elements of drawing; tracing static images will NOT help you learn how to manipulate anatomy, proportions and perspective. The end product will simply be a lesser quality recreation of someone's idea; that original idea is the TIP of the iceberg of that original artist's creativity, effort and talent.

There have been several other really good posts about tracing such as these ones here and here. 

3. Steps a beginner artist can take. 

3a. Grid-overlay referencing: This is the closest method of drawing to tracing I can encourage, and it's how I myself learned to draw. Find your reference image, superimpose a grid on top (cells can be whatever size you want; smaller cells will take longer, larger cells will allow more freedom but be more difficult). Find your canvas and draw a grid on top, either keeping the scale of the cell size the same or making them smaller/larger. In each cell transfer the image over. When all cells reflect the reference image, erase the grid and go over your image, consolidating the lines and polishing it. 

3b. Referencing by copying the image and general layout of the piece: By copying I do NOT mean tracing. In this sense copying means dragging your reference image near to your canvas and looking back and forth between your drawing and the reference. This way you learn BY YOURSELF how to problem solve and manipulate your OWN lines, proportions and perspectives. ALL ARTISTS OF ALL LEVELS USE REFERENCE but not all copy. 

3c. Being INSPIRED by the idea/colours/layout or even a part of the image and designing your own piece altogether: This is something ALL artists do ALL the time, throughout their ENTIRE career. The internet is a massive source of constant inspiration for ideas, colour palettes, layouts, character designs, etc. The almost infinite source of art is being updated daily. Follow artists you love. Create a folder in your browser and/or on your computer full of your favourite images to later reference. 

For this Attack on Titan phanart, I was INSPIRED by the reference image of Levi and Eren, so I COPIED the poses (but flipped them around) and COPIED the gear. 

3d. ******PRACTICE. ALL. THE. TIME.****** Look for tutorials on the internet - there are more and more being posted every day. Buy artbooks. Take classes. Make artist buddies who will inspire you and collaborate with you. Accept positive criticism. Give yourself fun projects. Draw what you love, draw outside your comfort zone. Watch cartoons. Play with different styles. Try drawing one new thing every day or every week. Do art challenges. Accept that it will take TIME to be “good”, and accept that there will always be artists of a higher level than you. Be inspired by them instead of frustrated. The internet is a VAST resource for literally anything. GO CRAZY!!!

4. For artists: How to remove the reposted art. Finding reposts of your own art is very frustrating. Some people might say you should be flattered, but any compliment towards you and your art is overshadowed by the feeling defeat; seeing something you worked so hard to make and felt happy to share is now floating around without a direct link back to you, giving ANOTHER person credit. 

There are a few options here: 

4a. Report the post to Tumblr staff. It is called a "misattribution" I believe. All you have to give them is a link to your original post, and a link to the repost. Tumblr staff usually responds promptly and will remove the post. This however will not stop some reposters (the user @teawithbooks (I think they’ve deactivated) continues to repost many artists' phanart even after being reported). 4b. Contact the reposter directly. Send them an ask or a private message via Tumblr and/or any other social media platform they use, like Twitter or Instagram (IG is particularly bad for reposting because images on that app cannot be shared, only posted). Be nice and patient with them - in my experience most people did not know what they were doing was wrong. AVOID reblogging the reposted art on your own blog, because some people might continue to propagate that repost, EVEN IF you ask them not to (I once did this with my “Welcome to the Pham Tabitha piece, and it was a mistake, because that repost just got even more notes). 

4c. Add to each post a simple request against reposting/tracing. Something like “Do not trace or repost, thank you! :)” could go a long way! It might prompt users who didn’t know reposting was a thing to think a sec and learn more about art theft dynamics. 

5. Tips on protecting your art from being reposted:  5a. Place translucent watermarks/signatures on your images on areas with lots of colour and/or varying patterns/designs. If the watermark is on an area of flat, homogenous colour/pattern, it is easy for the reposter to colour over it. Unfortunately sometimes a watermark must be placed in the middle of the picture to avoid it being cropped out. I know I hesitate to place my watermarks anywhere other than a corner or something. Deviantart’s automatic watermark option is a nice example of an effective watermark; it covers a lot of the piece, and the URL would be difficult to erase without affecting the rest of the piece (shown below).

5b. Try to have a recognizable style. Kind of hard to do sometimes, because "style" is very ambiguous and can sometimes change a lot (I know for me it does), but when an artist's work is recognizable, it is easier for people to spot a repost and report it back to the original artist. 

5c. Spread awareness of reposting/art theft. Share posts like these!! Sometimes reposters/tracers genuinely do not know what they are doing is wrong. Share your thoughts and feelings and maybe it'll shed some light on the situation for people who otherwise do not understand.