Saturday, January 14, 2012

Little Things That Are Frustrating

I am a really generous person, especially when it comes to computer-y stuff.  I know that a lot of artists aren't really tech savvy.  All anyone ever has to do is ask.  There are people who will attest to that.  I will help you with coding, setting up a website, paypal buttons...you name it.  I will also help you make graphics.  In fact I will even offer to make them for you free of charge if I think you are having troubles.  I am happy to do it.  All I ask in return is you don't simply take stuff without asking permission.

But lets take a moment and look at where those graphics come from.  I get my graphics one of two ways.  Either I scan things in and make my own from the bottom up, the same way someone would design a bear or anything else or I draw them on rare occasion.  That means I spend time away from making bears to work on them.

The other way  I get them is to sort through thousands of images to find the thing I want, then purchase it from one of the several websites out there that offer copyright free/royalty free images intended for personal use.  (That means you don't make any money from that image, but the artist who created them gets paid for their work.)  I spend my time looking for them and then pay for them with my real, hard earned money.  While they usually aren't that expensive...$1.00-10.00 each on the average, it is still a business expense for me, and I went the legal route of purchasing them for my use.  If you would like to use the same image, then I reccomend you search for them and purchase them too.

I know that people think this is a small thing to just take images or graphics and use them for themselves.  But in fact it's kind of a big thing.  Tonight I discovered that someone had taken my mail contact graphic and used it for themselves.  Ironically they had a "content is copyrighted" notice on their blog. 

The result was I had to take 20 minutes away from the piece I am working on, and completely remake the graphic from the ground up to change the wording in order to make it theft proof, because I didn't save the base I made.  Again that might seem like a little thing for me to have to do, but it's frustrating and it puts me 20 minutes behind on my piece.  On top of that I felt compelled to spend time making this blog post.

Besides don't you want something unique all of your own that reflects your own style?  Again I would be happy to spend the time helping you, rather than being annoyed that I have to remake something that someone stole.  Please, just ask!

Edit:  To the person in question, thank you for changing it so fast.  I would still be willing to help you too, just ask.

6 comments:

Kays Kids said...

Kelly you are so kind in offering your help to people. I am learning by the seat of my pants, so if I get stuck I will come to you.
Thanks so much for offering.
Hugs
Kay

Kelly said...

Oh absolutely Kay, ask me any time!

ginger@bearbits said...

Not only are you generous, you are so creative. All these graphics are wonderful and I can see why someone would be tempted. It's because they are unique and uniquely you. It's lovely scenery here and you do a great job. I understand your point of view completely though. I've had a similar thing happen to me. The bottom line really is, as you say, just ask - - - please.

Good for you Kelly. I know these things take time.!

~ginger

Soggibottom said...

Oh, think someone has taken you for granted. Or as we say GRUNT !
Don't blame you, I get so annoyed when my photo's are borrowed "borrowed" ? hum !
IF only they would ask........ it wouldn't seem so bad.
Lots of love
:-) x x x

Katy Cameron said...

There is a genuine perception out there that if something is on the internet then it's free, I've found it rather hard to explain to people (artists included, ironically) that this is not the case!

Laura S Reading said...

I like to think that I ask before I "borrow" (aka steal) an image, especially if you can tell someone has put a personal touch on it.
I hope that I always credit a source where I can.
It is the same as copying music or video, or taking something off a store shelf and walking away with it.

I think that ethics and crediting sources should be basic education before teaching graphics people or computer geeks ( I mean that respectfully) how to obtain and use anything online.

These days I guess that means in preschool.
But us old folk need to be reminded of our manners too.

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Current copyright laws allow for all work to be automatically protected when it is created. All original artwork, photos, text, logo, descriptions, and derivative works from Blondheart are not to be copied, imitated or distributed in any way. All rights reserved solely by the artist, Kelly Dauterman.

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