The imprtance of sourcing your artists and photographers

Hey, I see J&H don't really have any rules to protect artist property, and that's fine. I didn't really expect a minecraft forum to have those kind of protections. Anyways, I'm making this thread to quickly talk to you peeps about the importance of sourcing art and photographs you use.

First off, let's say the obvious: If the image has the artist's watermark/signature, there's no need. The image sources itself.

Now with that out of the way, if there's no visible watermark/source, you need to provide it! It's really important and saves alot of artists headache. I've been in the commissioning world for about 4-6 months now, so just tune in and listen to what artists go through on nearly every day. Art is usually stolen/used without permission on a daily basis. Artists are forced to hunt down any stolen art because there's no one else to do it. There are also people who badger these artists for free commissions(depending on the artist and commission, prices range from $5 to $150, but the average is ~$25). If you want everyday examples, look up @forexposure_txt on twitter, encounters are submitted daily. And drawing is no cake walk either. I just spent 90 minutes last night making a bust. 90 minutes per drawing.

Let's also not forget any legal troubles either! Using art or photography and claiming it's yours can lead to some really big lawsuits by the owner. This can be anywhere: here, twitter, FB, ect. Anywhere. If you use someone else's art or photography without their permission or sourcing them, the owner of that stuff you stole has every right to shut you down.

Please source your artwork and photography, for your own sake and the artist's peace of mind. Thank.

 

This is so important!!! I'm not an artist, but I follow many artists and they are just sick of people reposting their art without credit or even worse, people stealing their art to put on tshirts and cups, without them getting any profit. Everytime I get a new avatar on this forum, I credit the artist. If you don't know who is the artist, you can easily do an image search on google and you'll find the artist. Artists need more respect!!