Do you watermark your digital art or just sign it?

[9outofPen]

As I do more digital art, I'm running into new problems all the time. I feel like this issue is really holding me back right now, since I want to gain exposure without being taken advantage of as a young artist.

I researched that you can watermark artwork for slightly better protection against theives, though a truly determined one will still remove it. If you just sign it, it's more vulnerable but people are more likely to like it and reblog without an unattractive logo over the art. At the moment I'm leaning more towards a signature with my blog URL. This way even if it's shared people can find their way back to my original blog.

What do you do to your digital art? I'd be grateful to hear your opinion!

[Kayke]

Okay, so this is just my opinion and I feel like other people who have had different experiences will feel differently, but I don't do either.

I really don't like watermarks. I know when I see art with a watermark over it ALL I see is the watermark. It's really distracting to me and makes it so I can't focus on the art. I guess it depends on the size and placement, but since people want to use the watermark to keep their art from being stolen they usually make it big and prominent so it can't be cropped out. Also, as someone who likes putting together blogs and pinterest boards of illustrations, I don't share stuff that has watermarks on it because I believe it disrupts the flow of things of the viewer (and myself). Credit and links in the text look so much neater to me.

Signing stuff isn't as intrusive, so I don't mind it. I just personally don't do it. Everywhere I post stuff online is linked to a profile, so people can tell who made the art.

That being said, I've had very limited experience with art theft, but in the few cases where it has happened other people have seen it and told me so I could ask the people who were posting without permission to take it down.

[AnnaLandin]

I just sign my stuff, usually with my tumblr-URL for the sake of convenience, no watermark across the image. I put it in a corner of the image, to not distact from the artwork.

Yes, this means that stealing it is easier - but art theft online is rampant, and people would find a way to steal my stuff anyway if they really wanted to. I haven't been the target of much art-theft yet, though, which is very fortunate; it's a shitty situation to be in.

But like I said - if someone wants to steal it, they will, and no watermarking in the world will help. I just focus on posting my stuff and hoping it'll reach people who know I made it.

[TheKawaiiGarden]

Yeah same as @AnnaLandin I just put a TKG watermark in the corner of the page (Hope its not too distracting) and my name and such at the bottom. Sure it's easy to steal it but as she she said, if they wanna steal it then they will find a way.

[Mocha]

If you have photoshop or any other Adobe programs you can lock the file so only you can edit it, but unfortunately this doesn't really help if the person decides to screen shot it then edit it. Another thing you can do is post it at the lowest resolution possible before it starts to go pixelated, which I think is 72 dpi.

[aspiderjonny]

I'm in general agreement with everyone about watermarks. I find them distracting and don't put them in my pages. The problem is that, even when they try not to, they are designed to attract attention; so you know who made it. But they also works on readers who notice the mark before anything else.

I think signatures work better since they're usual not made on top of the image. And a signature can be just as eye popping and interesting as a watermark. I have signed every guest art piece I've done for other comics.

For my own, I made a bumper image for the end of my episodes. It has my website name (which is has my name) along with other info. I saw some people I read do this and I thought it was a cool nonintrusive idea.

[dojo]

Yeah I've never liked watermarks either. Whenever I sign my work or put my URL on it, I try to put it in a spot that can't be easily cropped out, but even if it were to get stolen, eh. MOST people if you threaten with legal action they'll take it down, though, so don't be afraid to get mean about it if your work does get stolen. You'll hear horror stories about things not being taken down, but that's when you make good on said legal action. I actually have a friend who makes more money off of lawsuits than he does the actual artwork he makes. (Sure, he'd rather be making that money off of people legally getting the rights to his work, but he's found a way to make it work. Plus his field is photography and he takes beautifully stunning nature photos, so he tends to have to deal with theft a lot more than your typical illustrator would, but if I ever start running into theft like that, he's going to be the first person I go to for help on how to deal with it)

[KoreanTacos]

I'm a trditionalist, so I manually sign all of my work, and I actually keep all of my originals (before their colored on the computer) in binders. I know it's probably safer to water mark, but I also have an optimistic view that no one would copy my work since they wouldn't have the same art style as me.

[60Six]

In complete honesty, I've been too lazy to even sign stuff lately ahah... But I do sometimes.
Honestly, I've yet to ever have my art stolen once in my life, even my more popular fandom pieces, so I've never found a reason to watermark my art. I guess maybe it'll suck if it ever does get stolen, but until then, I don't really feel the need.

[Michelle]

I'm also in the camp of no watermarks/signatures. I don't keep a very vigilant watch over whether my art is being stolen or re-used, but I'm honestly not worried about it? If someone wants to steal my art, I have the publishing and file dates to prove I was the original creator. Not to mention, anyone who steals my art will never BE me. They can steal my art all they want, but I seriously doubt they're going to garner any following when they can't make anything of their own and have to rely on me to put out stuff for them to steal. And I think most people can whiff out an art thief.

I know some folks have had their designs lifted and sold on t-shirts, and THAT really blows. Personally I don't worry about it, because I don't draw anything that would look good on a shirt :u I can't imagine someone wearing a trendy top with a big ol' comic page or character design sheet on it.

If it gives you peace of mind to watermark or sign your art, then by all means. But like others mentioned, watermarks tend to look ugly and less people will want to share your stuff. When it turns into "How much can I mangle my artwork so no one will be able to steal it", I have to wonder if it's worth the trouble.

[joannekwan]

No watermarks for me either.
I do sign my work and write the urls though, but that's mostly for cases where my work might be shared without a link to the source and people can just look at the url and find me that way.
I've actually had a follower ask me to do that on my fanarts on tumblr. So it works out all around.

[9outofPen]

Awesome, thanks for the advice! ^-^

I don't feel so bad now that I'm not the only one using just a signature haha

[Shanny8]

I dont do the watermark thing. Either I use a signature or I apply a 'logo signature' I created. I have all the originals, so if someone is gonna try to steal my work they are gonna have to prove it's theirs.

[almondjoy445]

I usually sign my work.

[LoboSong_Hitaka5Ever]

My friend and I use a watermark and we place it on a spot that's super hard to remove it without being obnoxious looking. We also fade it a bit. I think a signature is just as good though

[Mharz]

I am absolutely guilty of using watermarks. I'm the type of person who wants to play it safe and absolutely pararnoid. LOL. Also, it totally became a habit for me whenever I post artworks. I also only post low-resolution images (below 1000 pixels)

I try not to be super obvious that it obscures the image and distract the people looking at it.

here's one sample. ^_^'

[9outofPen]

Wow, thank you! This is a great example of watermarking that's not obtrusive to the art. Your style is beautiful, by the way ^-^

[SpavVy]

I sign my art or I just use the DeviantArt watermark, I don't care if people find it distracting or anything. I've had way too many incidents with thieves.

[Silerna]

I sign my work with the date of finishing and my handsig. But also watermark if they are uploaded outside Deviantart. I had the experience before already of people using my drawing and saying they made them..

[Mharz]

Ahh thank you! I tried the DA watermark before but I feel they obscure the image a little. So I just put them manually.