Gwenn Seemel On How Artists Can Avoid Getting Ripped Off On The Net

In her blog, noted portrait artist Gwenn Seemel writes about six easy steps she undertakes to ensure that her art is not stolen on the web. What she elaborates on her approach is not how to stop copycats dead in their tracks, but a more practical take on how artists can create art in today’s online space so that they rightfully get paid without any frustrations associated with reproduction of their work. Three

Be original.

Aim to make art so original that no one will question who made it.

Pursue credit in innovative ways.

No one has ever claimed a reproduction of my work as their own, but when I’ve known about images of my work being used without any mention of my name I’ve approached the situation as a teaching opportunity or used it as an illustrative point.

Be clear about what you want from the world and from the Internet.

I make sure everyone knows where I stand with regards to copyright.  At the bottom of every page of my site, there’s a smiley face instead of a ©.  Click on the face and it takes you to a page that fully explains my beliefs.

She adds that its better to accept the fact that we chose to build and live in an open source world, and this applies to the art industry as well.

Watch her talk about the issue of art being ripped off online.

Imitate this. from Gwenn Seemel on Vimeo

Gwenn Seemel: “How I make sure my art doesn’t get ripped off on the Internet”