You have to do what you have to do, and I'm sure that
your fans if they are true, will agree that you must
protect your work.
--- "Take a wild, friggin guess"
<a_change_of_plans_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> I recently received an e-mail from Second Ed
> stating that some of
> the folks who are buying my artwork from him are
> less than happy with
> the kind of paper it is being printed on now. For
> those of you who
> do not know, the paper I'm using for my folios costs
> about 45 bucks a
> ream, a cost which I have not passed on to either Ed
> or to the
> consumer. The paper is a very pale grey/offwhite
> stock which
> incorporates a certain safety feature: any attempt
> to scan or copy
> the image will result in the text "COPY COPY COPY"
> appearing all over
> the picture.
> Now, why did I decide to use that paper? Because
> of pathetic
> little shitbags who think it's totally okay to post
> unauthorized high-
> resolution scans of an artist's work online. People
> who run their
> little art-pirating sites are quickly becoming a
> weed that needs to
> be plucked.
> Having been the victim of such activities more
> times than I can
> count, I can honestly say I understand why some
> artists just pack up
> their bags and call it quits. And I won't lie,
> there were more than
> a few times when I was standing at that doorway
> myself. But I like
> what I draw, and (excluding those few pathetic
> ass-ticks who pirate
> stuff) I like the fandom and all the folks in it. I
> would feel it
> would be akin to a betrayal if I were to do
> something like calling it
> quits. That's not really what I want to do. But I
> have to do
> something to stem the illegal duplication and
> redistribution of my
> artwork.
> There seems to be a little clique in the fandom of
> folks who think
> they are entitled to furry artwork (or anything,
> really) simply
> because they want it. The only thing these
> individuals are entitled
> to is a mouthful of broken teeth. Obviously, they
> fail to realize
> that it takes a lot of time, effort and money to
> make a single
> drawing, let alone something as large as a
> portfolio. Those markers
> I use? Those sons-of-bitches are 4 bucks EACH. One
> marker may last
> as much as 3 pictures. Those pencils? A
> buck-twenty-five each. So
> if I need to stock up on, let's say, 20 pencils and
> 20 markers,
> that's about 110 dollars just for supplies (not
> including paper, ink
> pens, erasers, etcetera). Add that to the regular
> monthly bills, and
> the $430 worth of medicine I must now buy every
> month, and you can
> see why I might get a little miffed about someone
> posting
> unauthorized copies all over the place. I'm not
> made of money, and I
> haven't won the lottery. In fact, I filed Chapter 7
> bankruptcy back
> in December because of massive debt due to medical
> bills and loans.
> So obviously, greenbacks are not falling out of my
> ass.
> Now, some of these customers have stated they
> won't buy any more
> folios if I continue to print on the special paper.
> It's possible
> they don't know WHY I'm using that paper. That's
> definitely a
> possibility. I do not want to upset anyone, or lose
> any customers.
> But I also do not want to have art pirates posting
> high-resolution
> scans of brand-new material online. It's been
> several months since
> the Skunkworks Animated folio came out, and I
> haven't seen any
> unauthorized scans. Ditto with Better Mousetrap.
> I feel that if I back down and change back to
> standard stock, it
> will appear as if the entire situation is motivated
> by money. And
> it's not. I draw what I draw because I like to draw
> it. Plain and
> simple. Do I expect to become rich off drawing
> furry art? No.
> Would I still draw it even if I were no longer
> selling it or posting
> it? Yes. Do I want my artwork all over the place?
> Not really. And
> don't give me the "Well, if it's posted online, it's
> fair game"
> bullshit. That remark is gonna lead to a need for
> massive dental
> reconstruction.
> I do not have the money or the lawyers or whatever
> that folks like
> Jeremy Bernal have to go after art pirates.
> Personally, I'd prefer
> to beat those guilty of such activities with a lead
> pipe, but there
> are laws against that sort of thing. So I do the
> next best thing:
> make it as hard as possible for someone to illegally
> distribute my
> artwork. Stop them before they start, so to speak.
> Now, the only way someone would notice the special
> watermarking is
> if they tried to scan the pictures into their
> computer. Otherwise,
> the text is extremely faint. You have to be pretty
> much on top of
> the picture in order to even detect it. So maybe
> some of those folks
> were trying to make digital copies of the artwork.
> They sounds very
> legit. I know some people who do that, so I don't
> doubt the
> possibility. It's always a good idea to have a
> "back up copy".
> Unfortunately, there's no way to produce a kind of
> paper that will
> allow "legitimate copying" while stemming the flow
> of "illegal
> redistribution".
> So, in short, I'd like to know what you folks
> think about this
> situation. I can guarantee if I come out with
> another folio on
> standard stock, it's gonna be less than a month
> before it shows up
> online in it's entirety. And at this point in my
> life, I've had it
> with some of these 90-pound weaklings behaving as if
> they're 7 years
> old, hiding behind a computer screen and making it
> their life mission
> to make other people's lives a little more hellish.
> I'm pretty much
> at the point where I think these particular folks
> need to be stopped,
> and I don't much care about the method used.
> They're ripping off a
> lot of good people, and that just doesn't sit well
> with me.
> Again, your input on this would be very much
> appreciated. The copy-
> protected paper is the least troublesome method I
> could think of to
> keep things moving along at a nice smooth pace. If
> you have any
> other ideas, please post them here or e-mail me
> directly.
> Thanks for your time and for listening to me
> vent...
>
> --JMH, not willing to let "the other side" win...
>
>
>
>
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Received on Thu Jan 19 2006 - 05:30:40 CST