Warning to people who steal other peoples’ artwork or photographs without their authorization

I’m telling you: it’s really bad using other people’s artwork or photographs, you know. That’s mean. And you could get in trouble. Really.

It’s because they have to put watermarks on their artwork or photographs so people won’t use their stuff without asking them first. Using anything that doesn’t belong to you without the original artist/photographer’s or copyright holder’s explicit authorization isn’t a good idea. If you see the original artist’s or photographer’s works that is stolen outside of this “Deviant Art” thing, report it to the original artist or photographer by shooting them a “D.A.” note or an email with the non-“D.A.”-related link, including the original “D.A.” link, then enter your reason here — remember to have the specific reason(s) so the original artist or photographer will let you know (make sure that they understand what you say before you hit the “Send” button), and he/she will mark the image as “stolen” or “traced over”.

Any videos on this Tumblr will be replaced with the links to the actual videos due to copyright. You can read Tumblr’s content policy here. If you see anything that violates Tumblr’s content policy, shoot an email to support -at- tumblr -dot- com (replace -at- with @ and -dot- with .). Also note, there are similar site policies, guidelines, and TOS’es on other social networking sites about using other peoples’ works that doesn’t belong to you.

In the end, you always have my permission to share, remix, or reuse as you like as long as you give me credit, but you can’t use them for commercial purposes (I use Creative Commons, and you should, too). Also note that you cannot post them on art sites (such as this “DA” thing or other social networking site). Blogs & personal homepages (such as Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger, Xanga, Live Journal) are acceptable as long as credit is given. There are other people who use Creative Commons, too, but read their license by clicking the text link or the CC’s icon. However, none of my photos and artwork have watermarks on them.

Update: Lois Van Baarle (known by her handle “loish”) is a victim of art theft. You can read her “D.A.” journal here.

You can find her work here, and the stolen artwork here. If you see any of her artwork stolen, report it to her.

Update 2: Taken care of (actually by her, not me).

Update 3: What… again? Do something about it, but not “loish“‘s (here)!