Baby's first stolen artwork

Coreyartus

@NessIllustration Is there a way you can report them to Etsy? I don't know what the mechanism is for that, but surely there are policies...

NessIllustration

@Coreyartus Etsy recommends to message directly the seller and try to work it out (like that'll work) but if you dig a little deeper they have a copyright infringement form you can file. I just sent it, don't know how long it can be before something is done though (if anything).

@NessIllustration er, congrats? I think you should get some solution to the problem with etsy, but I think you might have a problem once in awhile with things like this when some of the stuff is so easily spread around on pinterest. It seems to be a source of images that people think are free to use, and it seems to be set up so that eventually no one can tell where the image came from. I did a search for toadstool illustrations and the one you posted here came up pretty quickly https://www.pinterest.com/pin/493918284124385113/ . It linked back to what might be your own account? not sure, but you may want to monitor that, especially when you originally posted a larger file with different intentions (like just sharing work rather than with the intention of selling the image).

NessIllustration

@carolinebautista Oh my god, I had no clue this image was on Pinterest The account is mine but it's an old one I haven't logged into in years. Wow, this is crazy. For years I've been trying so hard to get my work seen by people, and I didn't even know it was circulating like this.

burvantill

You might also try a cease and disist letter. It couldn’t hurt. I just did a search for cease and disait letters on google and some free ones pop up. One site actually walks you through the content. I think it was called legaltemplates.net. Good luck. I hate thieves. I wish there was a way to get major revenge. Keep us updated.

NessIllustration

@burvantill Thanks so much Lisa, I'll try that!

NessIllustration

UPDATE: I just received an email from Etsy saying that they processed my copyright claim and removed the infringing listing. However the seller's shop is still up with all of her other listings, including ones with trademarked characters like Marvel, Spongebob Squarepants, etc. 　 It's a bit disappointing that Etsy only took down the reported listing and didn't look any further into the seller, because all her listings incude stolen artwork and I really hoped she would be shut down so she can't keep profiting off other artists...

Jeremy Ross

Hi @NessIllustration, sorry to hear your Art was stollen and being sold without your permission. I wonder how much art is stollen and being sold in those platforms.

For anyone interested, you can do a reverse image search on Google to see if your art is being sold without your permission. https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en

NessIllustration

@Jeremy-Ross I really never thought my work would be stolen since it didn't happen to me for so long. Now I'm kind of scared to do a reverse image search haha.. DO I really want to know?

NessIllustration

@Jeremy-Ross I just did the image search and.... yeah, I really didn't want to know. My painting is uploaded to a bunch of free png banks websites

https://www.pngwing.com/en/free-png-bfdnu

https://favpng.com/png_view/red-mushroom-amanita-muscaria-mushroom-fungus-euclidean-vector-png/J7NMuEjn

https://www.pngwave.com/png-clip-art-ahtop

I feel sick to my stomach.

j.sienkowski

@NessIllustration I'm glad you were able to get your artwork removed from Etsy. If you really wanted to go after this Etsy seller you could reverse image search (like @Jeremy-Ross suggested) the other artwork and contact the original artists. If they all contact Etsy perhaps Etsy would shut down the account. Although, Etsy gets a percentage of the sales so they might not care.

With all the art thievery I see posted online I'm really pleased to see the good guys get a victory. Congrats!

NessIllustration

@j-sienkowski Thanks dear.. I just did a reverse image search that revealed this painting is plastered all over free png sites. It's everywhere I'm contacting each one right now to take down the painting from their sites, but who knows how many hundreds of people have downloaded it by now. It's very disheartening.

j.sienkowski

@NessIllustration That really stinks! I'm usually the one out for blood and vengeance when stuff like this happens, but I think in this case you might want to cut your losses. I'm guessing those png sites are not all that reputable and probably won't do anything. Your time would probably be better spent creating new art instead of trying to hunt down everyone who stole your work. Again, this totally stinks and I'm sorry you're dealing with this. If it were me I would just try to move on and realize that in a perverse kind of way it is a compliment when your work is stolen.

NessIllustration

@j-sienkowski Thanks for the advice, that might be the best here. For that last part though... it's really, really not a compliment, not even a perverse one. I can see how you could interpret it that way because years ago I used to think the same. If someone were to steal my art, it would at least mean it was good right? But that was back when I didn't have that external validation and was desperately craving it. But now, after going through art college, working for years at a studio, and now freelancing full-time wit several published children's books and a successful Etsy shop, I feel fairly confident in my ability and well established as a competent artist, that I don't crave as much validation anymore and certainly not the kind that's actually just people trying to profit off my blood sweat and tears... I'm sorry if I sound harsh towards you, that's not my intention at all. You're far from the only person that has told me that since yesterday, it's a widespread belief and we just gotta stop saying art theft is in a perverse way a sort of compliment. I certainly don't feel complimented right now, I feel used and violated To use an extreme example, it would be the same logic as saying that getting your house robbed is a compliment because it looked rich enough to be worth robbing, or that being sexually assaulted is a kind of compliment because you were hot enough to be assaulted. Let's just.. not. Please

Jeremy Ross

So sorry @NessIllustration, didn’t mean to make you feel worse. Your situation makes me second guess posting my work online. I don’t do any social media other than SVS.

NessIllustration

@Jeremy-Ross No worries, I needed to know and now have been able to send a DMCA to all these sites I feel better having taken steps to fix this, rather than not knowing. And even though this really sucks, I've gotten far more good experiences out of posting my work online than bad ones. My whole career wouldn't exist if I was hesitant to post my work online. So please don't let any assholes stop you from moving towards your goals

NessIllustration

UPDATE #2: The response at the free PNG sites has been much better than anticipated. 4 out of 5 have already taken down my painting just a few hours after my email. Even the Chinese one, which I had to use Google translate to find their contact info! It's only up on FavPNG anymore, the other links I posted are now broken.

The Etsy seller also responded to my message with an apology (yay!) and some lies (booo!). She claims she takes my concerns so seriously that she took down her listing as soon as she saw my message (I had an email from Etsy legal this morning telling me THEY have taken down the listing). She claims she bought my painting's copyright along with all the other "icons" from lady, and that it would be very hard to tell who's really the artist between me and her, but that she'd like to offer me a small fee and to credit me in exchange for putting up the listing again. Yeah, no way. I replied that I know Etsy Legal is the one who took down the listing, that it's not really hard to tell who painted the thing between me and her since I still have the original, physical painting with me, and that I want that lady's contact info since I'll need to talk to her next. To be continued?

sigross

@NessIllustration what a bunch of rotters. It's like a never ending game of whack-a-mole. Don't just send a take down notice. Send them a bill too. As a settlement fee for licensing your images without permission. And screen grab the web pages (dated) if you find any more.

NessIllustration

@sigross Thanks for the advice, that's not a bad idea! I still have have my screenshots so, I definitely could send out some invoices when I have some free time...

sigross

@NessIllustration Even if they don't pay it may give them some food for thought. And sometimes they do pay!