Art success & art fail
Been so caught up in relationship drama that I forgot to mention I got a Daily Deviation last month! It's this thing on Deviantart where they feature a few pieces each day that stood out to them in some way. (if you ever get a thousand favs on an image overnight, you've probably got a daily deviation..). It's my second one, and seeing as I never thought I'd get just the one, I was pretty blown away.
It's my cheshire cat, here: http://tallydragon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2u5qga
However, not long after, I learned that the image of one of my early (and admittedly flawed) works made its way out into the internet without any accompanying information and...well, the internet did what the internet does. It first appeared on a site called 9gag ( http://9gag.com/gag/3807251 ), and most of the comments were pretty insulting, but most of the people also couldn't figure out that it was art. =/ I tried to inform them of the source of the image but was ignored. Fortunately I'm old enough to shrug it off. It was both amusing and offensive. The kinda fun part though is how many people commented with "Looks kind of like Discord!" (This is a My Little Pony reference. You know how I feel about My Little Pony! ). And not long after,it made its way onto Bronies memebase ( http://bronies.memebase.com/2012/04/13/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-brony-the-little-god-of-chaos/#postcomment
) with a hilarious caption. Being a big brony myself I'm totally okay with this one. ^__^
Buuuuut, another viewer just informed me that they found the image of my dragon uploaded into someone else's Deviantart gallery. Now THAT, I am not okay with. The person who uploaded it stated that it wasn't their art but did not link to me, and of course they didn't because I doubt they have any idea I made it. (They shouldn't have done it anyway--it's clearly art, and they clearly didn't make it, so WHY would you put it in your gallery?). This is the problem with how easily people take pictures and pass them around--they become completely disassociated from the source. I no longer have any control over my image, and the vast majority of people who see it will never know it is my property. I guess I should be watermarking, but those are easily removed anyway.
It is sort of flattering that enough people recognize my artwork that they know it on sight and were kind enough to report back to me--I don't visit any of these pages, I was told by people who view my gallery. But who knows how many other places my image is that I don't know about? People are using *my* art to boost their own popularity/views...not cool.
It's my cheshire cat, here: http://tallydragon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2u5qga
However, not long after, I learned that the image of one of my early (and admittedly flawed) works made its way out into the internet without any accompanying information and...well, the internet did what the internet does. It first appeared on a site called 9gag ( http://9gag.com/gag/3807251 ), and most of the comments were pretty insulting, but most of the people also couldn't figure out that it was art. =/ I tried to inform them of the source of the image but was ignored. Fortunately I'm old enough to shrug it off. It was both amusing and offensive. The kinda fun part though is how many people commented with "Looks kind of like Discord!" (This is a My Little Pony reference. You know how I feel about My Little Pony! ). And not long after,it made its way onto Bronies memebase ( http://bronies.memebase.com/2012/04/13/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-brony-the-little-god-of-chaos/#postcomment
) with a hilarious caption. Being a big brony myself I'm totally okay with this one. ^__^
Buuuuut, another viewer just informed me that they found the image of my dragon uploaded into someone else's Deviantart gallery. Now THAT, I am not okay with. The person who uploaded it stated that it wasn't their art but did not link to me, and of course they didn't because I doubt they have any idea I made it. (They shouldn't have done it anyway--it's clearly art, and they clearly didn't make it, so WHY would you put it in your gallery?). This is the problem with how easily people take pictures and pass them around--they become completely disassociated from the source. I no longer have any control over my image, and the vast majority of people who see it will never know it is my property. I guess I should be watermarking, but those are easily removed anyway.
It is sort of flattering that enough people recognize my artwork that they know it on sight and were kind enough to report back to me--I don't visit any of these pages, I was told by people who view my gallery. But who knows how many other places my image is that I don't know about? People are using *my* art to boost their own popularity/views...not cool.