Art Theft 101
Art theft is where somebody uses somebody else’s artwork without permission and/or without crediting them. However, some people don't realise what they're doing is wrong, while others do. Some people believe that it is perfectly fine to put any image they find into a graphic they're making or even claim someone else's artwork as their own(!), wheras the situation is quite the opposite. Hopefully after reading this page I'll have cleared up all the questions you have about art theft.

How do I know what to Use?

DeviantArt, PhotoBucket, Google Images, etc..

You've done a quick search on DeviantArt for a picture of your favourite Pokémon to include in a layout/avatar/whatever. Great, but first you've got to find out whether you're allowed to use this person's art or not. Firstly, you should check the artist's description of the graphic. Most people will state whether you can use their graphic or not. However, if the artist is unclear about what you can and can't do, or doesn't state it at all, you'll have to go and ask the artist directly. Remember that you should always be sure that you can use the graphic you're including in your layout/avatar/whatever because if someone recognises this particular piece of art, it could damage your reputation. However, if you're using a site like Google images to find your images, then the artist of a particular graphic may be hard to track down. In this case, I suggest leaving the graphic and searching for another one as it is far better to be safe than sorry.

Sugimori Art

Pokémon Sugimori art is out there and free to use, mainly because all Pokémon fans can recognise them. You can find Sugimori art from websites such as Pokémon Elite 2000 and Charizard Page.

Fansite Art

It is usually very easy to determine whether the art you find on fansites is allowed to be reproduced in layouts/avatars/whatevers as the webmaster 99% of the time will put under the images something along the lines of "Please credit (site name here) if you wish to use these images.". If not, all you have to do is head over to that fansite's contact page and contact the webmaster. Simple, easy, done.

Preventing Art Theft

I'm going tell the plain truth here. Art theft is not and never will be 100% preventable. No matter how far you go in trying to prevent users from reproducing your art in other graphics, the only way to stop them would be not to post the images on the internet at all, which would be rather silly. However, hopefully you can take certain measures to deter art thieves. I suggest placing your artwork's terms and conditions on the page when your user at first tries to view your images, and then force the user to agree to these terms and conditions to view your artwork. Silly little scripts which stop the user from right-clicking are pointless, as it will have no effect on those users with Javascript disabled, and even so all the user has to do is view your source code and they've got the URL to your artwork.

Dealing with Art Thieves

If you've found that someone has used your artwork without permission, first of all stop and think for a minute. You should feel somewhat proud, as somebody has used your artwork, and therefore thinks it's good! However, most likely, the person who has used your artwork without permission hasn't realised what they're doing, so you should try and contact them advising them that the artwork is yours and that you'd appreciate them taking it down or crediting you for it. However, if the said user is reluctant take it down or even is stupid enough to claim it as their own - give them one final warning. If they continue to use your artwork without permission or crediting you, contact their host. Oftenly, Freewebs users who are reported for stealing artwork have their accounts frozen, which I would find to be just desserts.

Hopefully I've cleared up all your doubts about art theft. However, if you've got any remaining queries or critisims, head over to the Contact Us page.