Advice about art theft
Hey everyone, I’m shocked and feel sad having to write this post. Last night I discovered someone stole my art. They traced the lines and recolored it. I actually saw this after he commented on my most recent post, using the stolen art as profile picture. I messaged him, trying to get info out of him. Here are the facts:
- He claims the art to be made by him
- He doesn’t do commissions
- He claims this to be his “first actual good piece”, he doesn’t have any other art.
- He commented on the original art work, 9 days before this, so he knew about the existence of the original art work.
After this, I confronted him, told him he’s actually speaking to the artist he stole from. He then claimed his friend made the art, but I don’t trust him. He clearly said earlier he made the art himself. I got him to change his profile picture, and thought this all has ended that way.
Today I woke up and saw he changed his picture back to the stolen version of my artwork.
I’m upset and I don’t like the fact someone uses my art like this. So I want to get advice on these subjects:
- Can I do anything against this?
- Should I write a beware? If yes, where and what do I place in it?
- Can I do anything to prevent this from happening ever again? Is my tag too small on my art? (You can look at my profile)
This post is ment for advice, if anyone wants the screens or something, y’all can DM me. :,)
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Hey everyone,
Here’s an update!
He just messaged me that his sister uses the same account and changed the pfp back, since she doesn’t know about this whole situation.
I don’t really care if that’s true, I’m just very happy since he changed his profile picture back! This all is over!! :D. He also said sorry and it felt genuine, with that he added a promise that he won’t do it again. I couldn’t have wished for a better ending.
I want to thank everyone for all the advice y’all have given. This post got a lot more attention than I expected, so even if I didn’t respond.. I promise I did read your comment!! <3
What I’ll take with me from this situation:
• Whenever something happens like this, I’d start the same way as I did now. Ask where they got the drawing from, do they do commissions? Then confront them, ask nicely if they can delete the copy. • If that doesn’t work, depending on if this is the first time and if they do it for financial reasons, I’ll decide to make it public, or just let it go. • I think I’ll make some free bases/icons, but I’m not sure yet on how I’ll do this. I’ll do some research for it! ^ • I’m so glad to be in this fandom, y’all are so supportive and sweet. Thank you all so much<3