02-18-2014, 09:36 AM
Its difficult to help people get over that fear, because it's an understandable one when you're new to the internet.
The copyright thing is actually true. At least in the US, a creation is legally copyrighted to it's creator the second it gets made. It sounds weird, but it's true.
Here's a more humbling (self-depreciating) way to think about it. If artists as good as Dave Rapoza and Noah Bradley don't seem to worry about that kind of thing happening, what reason do WE have to worry? Goodness knows that a thief would rather steal THEIR stuff, wouldn't they? So clearly there's not as much to worry about on our part.
And maybe it helps to really think about the scenario you're dreading in your head.
What kind of person would want to steal your art and claim it as their own? What would they do with it? It's VERY unlikely it'll be anything worth worrying about.
The worst you'll get is some pathetic internet loser hoping to get some kind of miniscule recognition from a group of their peers, only to be figured out, and usually very quickly. The second anyone pretends to have a skill, they'll have to prove it one way or another.
If you're worried about some company swiping your work and somehow making big profit off of it, no successful company can ever get away with it, the companies that would do it are tiny and insignificant, and also go back to the Rapoza example. Do you really think your art is worth stealing right now?
I know it sounds rude, but it was the question I asked myself when I first started posting my stuff on the internet over a decade ago. The longer I used the internet, the more amazing artists I've discovered through the internet who would logically have a better reason to fear art thieves than I would, the more I realized how silly that initial fear was.
There's nothing to worry about. The internet seems big and scary, but the things that you SHOULD fear about the internet don't involve art thieves.
The copyright thing is actually true. At least in the US, a creation is legally copyrighted to it's creator the second it gets made. It sounds weird, but it's true.
Here's a more humbling (self-depreciating) way to think about it. If artists as good as Dave Rapoza and Noah Bradley don't seem to worry about that kind of thing happening, what reason do WE have to worry? Goodness knows that a thief would rather steal THEIR stuff, wouldn't they? So clearly there's not as much to worry about on our part.
And maybe it helps to really think about the scenario you're dreading in your head.
What kind of person would want to steal your art and claim it as their own? What would they do with it? It's VERY unlikely it'll be anything worth worrying about.
The worst you'll get is some pathetic internet loser hoping to get some kind of miniscule recognition from a group of their peers, only to be figured out, and usually very quickly. The second anyone pretends to have a skill, they'll have to prove it one way or another.
If you're worried about some company swiping your work and somehow making big profit off of it, no successful company can ever get away with it, the companies that would do it are tiny and insignificant, and also go back to the Rapoza example. Do you really think your art is worth stealing right now?
I know it sounds rude, but it was the question I asked myself when I first started posting my stuff on the internet over a decade ago. The longer I used the internet, the more amazing artists I've discovered through the internet who would logically have a better reason to fear art thieves than I would, the more I realized how silly that initial fear was.
There's nothing to worry about. The internet seems big and scary, but the things that you SHOULD fear about the internet don't involve art thieves.