Watermarking your comic?

[sarrowsmith10]

I've now subscribing to 2 comics that have rather obvious watermarks all over their pages. Honestly its a bit distracting to read the comics. I like the story enough that I stay subscribed, but it does make me wonder.

I don't watermark or "sign" any of my pages with a logo, the writer/artists name nothing. Is thievery really a problem? Pages typically are uploaded at web quality usually and can't be printed or reproduced really at those DPI levels... right?

Thoughts?

[SpavVy]

I don't really see it as a problem unless it's right in the middle of the page. They could have a version in a different folder without the watermark and at a much higher resolution. I don't watermark my comic either, but I always keep copies of my much larger, high-resolution pages in a different folder because I do plan to print mine at some point.
I can only see myself watermarking my pages if I were to ever upload it in a place like DeviantArt.

[Rasen]

I think the same but maybe it's better if you put some small reference in your pages to link the webcomic. Maybe I should try it too.

[sarrowsmith10]

Well I certainly keep my print ready pages separate (I have 6 printed volumes out), but I don't think I'd ever put print ready pages on the internet. It's just not needed. But really the only threat to my comic would be folks trying to print it and sell it, and that's just not going to happen with crappy web quality images. So I feel watermarking doesn't really add any protection and just distracts from the pages..

[UrMom]

Yeah, I've seen people's comics get stolen and reposted under someone else's name before, but it doesn't seem to be as common as plain old illustration theft. Despite this I don't see much of a reason to watermark pages, it makes the page harder to read depending on how large and obvious the mark is, and if your comic is a long form story it's a little harder to steal anyway since that person would have to take the comic in its entirety to make sense.

When I was a kid I put a signature on my pages, but I made it where it blended in with the rest of the page, so the mark didn't distract people from reading but it was still distinguishable. People are going to steal your shit regardless, if they really wanted to, but if you're going to watermark I guess that's a good way to do it? Gives the readers a sort of 'Where's Waldo' thing.

[joannekwan]

The most I'll do is a signature, url, and copyright line at the bottom of the page. Large enough that it's legible, but small enough that it doesn't interfere with the art/text. I've had one of my one page fan-comics stolen before (reposted on a different website), but they didn't even bother to remove my signature. So long as that's still there I guess, lol.

But yeah, I've seen some heavily watermarked pages before and I'm less inclined to read them since the marks are so distracting.

I do know of one project though that did steal other people's art (even ones with watermarked pages) and attempted to kickstart it. They've been reported multiple times but still try every so often. The name slips my mind at the moment but they've been here on Tap before.

And then several months ago, someone uploaded an entire webcomic series here on Tap who didn't own it and was posting it without the creators' knowledge. The staff deleted that right quick after the actual creator notified them.

So all in all, web-theft will definitely happen watermarks or no. The best you can do is keep all your large and original files. :/

[SpavVy]

I think the more common risk is having someone upload your work on a different site rather than trying to print your comic.

[Quetherttigo]

personally I worry about theft on this site too

[shazzbaa]

It depends on what kind of work you're doing. I've not seen it happen much (at all?) for story comics, but funny/#relatable comics seem to get uploaded on other sites way more commonly without even an attempt at credit -- sometimes not maliciously, just folks thinking "wow this is so funny, I have to share it" and then just stick the image into twitter or reddit or imgur or wherever with no link because crediting the creator doesn't occur to them, and if there's nothing really obvious on your work to say whose it is, then it can get passed around a bunch with people saying "I dunno who did it, I got it off tumblr."

And then there are some people who, as best I can tell, resent....advertising for a creator?? I guess??? They like the idea of things belonging to the internet??? and will crop off signatures. I don't understand the mindset of someone so intent upon preventing an artist from being recognised for their work -- but that mindset exists.

It can also be a problem when work turns into a meme, like KC Green's This Is Fine dog, and people start to just assume it belongs to everyone and nobody cares where it came from.

That doesn't necessarily mean I like distracting watermarks as a solution, but yeah, from what I've seen from others, trying to keep work from getting reposted without credit when the work is jokes can be a constant battle.

[nobody]

I find watermarks distracting if they're in the middle of the image. I put my website (which is my full name) in the lower right corner of my comics, both as a kind of signature, but also so people know where they can find more. Maybe you should consider doing something like that just to make it easier for people to find more of your work if they want to? Like others have mentioned here, I don't think the biggest threat is people stealing your work to print it, but rather posting it elsewhere without credit, which is even more likely to happen if you haven't signed it in any way.

I just read a tutorial about how you can add some kind of extra protection to your work - it's for Photoshop users, not sure if other types of software has something similar. It won't prevent people from stealing your work, so it's not some kind of magic solution to anything. And for all I know there might be a way for people to get around this as well, just like how people crop off signatures, but it doesn't hurt to add that extra protection. This tumblr post explains it much better than I can, and it contains the link to the actual tutorial as well: http://sheodraws.tumblr.com/post/144044161379/attention-all-artists

[scythe]

Distracting and pointless. I'm a level nine photoshop wizard (I get paid premium galleons for my magic) and I've never met a watermark I couldn't make disappear.

[carloswebcomic]

I've never met a watermark I couldn't make disappear.

This ^^^^
Watermarks makes it difficult for readers, not thieves.

[Vanzish]

I just put my name at the bottom, next to the name of the comic and the page. Given i work with a mouse, i first sketch my pages on paper. If someone were to steal my art and claim it as their own, i'd take a pic of the sketched page ;v;

Watermarks in my opinion ruin the art. I could suggest signing it somewhere, where it's hidden. A small signature to prove it's your work, doesn't distract the reader and may not be seen by a thief and removed.

[69Michi]

I see watermarking as pointless for comic in general. Thief can steal your comic and easily delete the watermark. THe only way that you will give trouble to a thief through watermark is when you HEAVILY watermark your comic to the point it's distracting to even look at. (Still though, the magic of Photoshop is not to be taken lightly)
The only time I ever watermark my stuffs is when it comes to commission art or separated character design I put on for sell. (And on top of that I also reduced the file size down to under 800px just to lower the quality : ^ D )

[sarrowsmith10]

Distracting and pointless. I'm a level nine photoshop wizard (I get paid premium galleons for my magic) and I've never met a watermark I couldn't make disappear.

^^This x3! Yah. That's what I feel like..

[Rabbit]

Here's what MOST watermarks are for; you post a picture, comic, or gag-comic on the internet, onto Tapastic or a social media account. Someone thinks your art or humor or story is way cool, and they save the picture, and they send it to a friend. That friend sends it to another friend. Someone posts it on tumblr, saying they have no clue who drew it, but hey, isn't it cool anyway? Someone pins it on pinterest. by then, it's basically lost to the internet, with tons of people later image-searching it to find out who originally made it so they can see more content by that creator, but they can't, because all they can find when searching are the re-posts.
On Pinterest you can search ANYTHING, add 'comic', or 'drawing' after your search, and finds hundreds of thousands of drawings from Tumblrs now impossible to track down.
SOME of those drawings, however, will have a small, handwritten watermark on the side of it with that artist's online handle or their Tumblr name or whatever, and it's only THOSE drawings I can trace back to the original poster.
Can any watermark be taken off with photoshop, hell, with windows paint and a mouse? Yeah. But most watermarks aren't trying to protect themselves from that, because theft like that isn't very common and is impossible to stop when someone does have their mind set to it.
On that note, I DO disagree with certain types of watermarks. Those people who will type their name and ctrl-c it all over the picture without even lowering the opacity of the writing are just because ridiculous.
And also it should be noted that what I just was talking about with it getting re-posted on tons of sites only really happens with stand-alone drawings or gag-a-day comics. If someone re-posted a page of a story comic that barely makes sense out-of-context, no matter how pretty the art is everyone will immediately search the comic to make sense of what they've just seen.
If you ever choose to watermark your own work, I recommend a small, hand-written watermark somewhere on the drawing where it doesn't detract from the viewing pleasure. I find writing it along the side of a character instead of over-top said character usually looks the best. Maybe lower the opacity of the words a tad, too, and choose a color that matches the drawing (like, a black water-mark on a pale blue drawing looks bad. Go for dark blue instead). Thanks for reading my long answer XO

[heterodont]

Yea, I agree with @Rabbit about the watermark thing. It's different saying you know how to remove watermarks, but how many other people do/would? Anyone with a basic understanding of photoshop can remove watermarks with ease, but that's under the presumption that everyone who reposts comics has 1. access to photoshop/gimp and 2. willing to put in the extra effort of removing a watermark from a comic when most people who just repost comics repost them to show their friends/family how funny this Comic That They Found On The Internet is, not really to destroy an artist. Not to say that there aren't people who would go the extra effort, but they're few and far in between actual reposters. Often times, its because they have some vendetta against the artist, but as Rabbit stated, once someone has their mind set to it it's impossible to stop beyond just ignoring and hoping it goes away.

Not a fan of big huge obnoxious watermarks, something small and inconspicuous is better and flies under the radar most times. When it comes to watermarking gag a days or stand alones, I think itd better to put it inside the frames somewhere or hidden within the drawing itself because I've often seen sites that use watermarks (9gag and etc.) overlay or cover any info that the artist themselves might've put on the bottom of the comic.

[scythe]

A little website name or an artist's signature at the bottom isn't a watermark. A watermark is a semi-transparent logo or copyright message placed over an image for the purpose of deterring others using that image as their own. They're a security measure. The word is taken from actual paper watermarks, which look similar.

What you're talking about is different and I don't think anyone would ever have any issue with that kind of thing, although I know of several, high profile cases where people do repost other peoples comics, photos and jokes to their own social media feeds and delete the original poster's name or web address from the bottom (which is a dirty act imo).