RIPPED, I AM OUTRAGED!!!!!

May 29, 200724 min read

Deviation Actions

DWALKER1047

Published: May 29, 2007

3.4K Views

*WATERMARK HOW TO*

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

My good friend

cmptrwhz has made a tutorial on how to watermark your images.

In order to make a watermark on your renderings you will need either Adobe photoshop or Gimp.

For this example I will use Gimp because it is Free to download and use. Install these packages in the order given and then continue.

· Goto this gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stabl… download Gimp for FREE

· GTK+ 2 Runtime Environment --choose the proper one according to your system

· The GIMP for Windows (version 2.2.14, updated installer)

· GIMP Help 2 (version 0.11)

· GIMP Animation Package (version 2.2.0)

Now that Gimp is installed lets open the program and load up your rendered image. To successfully create a watermark you need to follow these instructions:

· goto the layers panel and press the new layer button on the bottom, choose transparent for layer type when prompted.

· Now that there is a new layer click and drag it to the top of the list of layers

· Press the alphabet button to enable text writing

· Goto the Brushes options panel and change the font size to about 40, color to white, and the style to your desired settings

· click on the far left side in the middle of your loaded rendering to start writing

· In the subwindow that opens you will type your text for the watermark

· Make any adjustments to the size of your text

· Now let's position the text more center by pressing the 4 way arrow button on the main button display, click the text on the open image window and move it to where you want it

· Now we can finally finish this by making your text into a watermark. On the layers panel there is a slider bar that changes the opacity/transparency of the layer that is highlighted. Since we should already have the text layer highlighted lets slide this bar down to about 4% but this will need to be adjusted according to how dark or how light your rendered image is you will have to make the call on how transparent you need it to be.

· When you save the file choose the desktop or your saving folder, name your modified image and add the extension .JPG and when you press the save button you will be prompted for some more information. The quality bar should be set to 100 and under the advanced options remove the check for optimization.

Also, for those of you with Photoshop, here are 2 Pro Watermark tutorials made by

www.deviantart.com/deviation/3…
www.deviantart.com/deviation/3…

UPDATE--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
06-02-07 :iconAnnKirsten: sent me this comment this morning....

Found this article about another deviant who had her image stolen and placed on a Porno DVD.....you really need to read this! She belonged to deviantART. I was Apaulled!!www.flickr.com/photos/larajade…

OK. Had a look to see what he's currently selling on eBay and he isn't selling anything at the moment, so maybe they've caused him to stop - they don't always say someone is in trouble of any sort. He's been a member there for 7 years apparently, and based in USA! I wonder if he is a member at dA under some other name...

UPDATE--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also sent our thief an email and this was his response............................i pardon you, i will remove it.

sent an email, and this was the response..... I received an email from the seller and he said "I pardon you and I will remove it".

sent the thief a note on Ebay, an yesterday, received this response....

"i pardon you, i will remove it."............. I thought you would be interested in it. I told him that he was a THIEF and that stealing someone's property is against the law and that eBay was being contacted about his matter. I checked and the 'Fire Breathing Dragon cigarette case' has been removed.

UPDATE-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I HAVE MADE UNAVAILABLE A VERY LARGE PORTION OF MY GALLERY!!!!!!!!!!
It was a difficult decision to make dear friends and saddened me greatly

. I have deactivated over 1400 images from my gallery. I have left about 200...just couldn't bring myself to take them completely out. It is difficult to keep my images posted in good conscious with the latest response, or lack of response from DA. It is so important that ALL of our work is protected, and I personally feel that it is not only our responsibility, it is DA's responsibility to its members. So, I guess that this is my way of protesting! I will not be uploading my artwork for a while...until I can either come up with a watermark for my own stuff, or find another alternative that will work for me. I will still happily be posting the features and

ing your wondereful artwork...so do not fear, I will am not leaving.

UPDATE----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here you have it!!!! DA's Official Response............

Unfortunately deviantART is not empowered to assist you in these sorts of legal matters. I can direct you to :www.rightsforartists.com/ for some basic advice but in order to truly pursue this matter you may need to resort to consulting a copyright attorney.

My response to this was.......
What do you mean you are not empowered???? We the members are asking you to take the power and help us not to be ripped off! So, in other words, DA has no intention of making our art safe, or protecting the member's it solicits! Is this correct? DA will not even discuss adding special scripting so this does not continue to happen to its members...not even discuss alternatives with its members??? So DA feels it is acceptable for things like this to occur, and will not lift a finger to help in any way, but collect our membership fees and walk away. This is your official response? I was not asking you to take care of this issue, I was merely asking what you could do in the future to protect everyone here from ARTHEFT. I just want to make sure I understand "your official position."

Now lets see what eBay does to help.

And we wonder why our members leave. My dear friends, I have deactivated most of my gallery after I received DA's response to this issue. I cannot allow any more of my work to be stolen and sit by watching it happen while they profit from it. At the moment, I will no longer upload any more images....but will continue to do the spotlight and features for a time. It is the principle of the matter....values, morals.....you cannot preach one thing then do something else.

Would you believe I had to join eBay for my email to be sent. Not only that, but the fax number listed on their form does not work. Tried to send it for quite some time! At least now I can send that JERKOFF an nasty email personally! I sent him an email and asked him how long it took to make the image, and what program he used to make it. Be patient people......I am fishing at the moment! Cannot catch a fish without a little bait! Trust me......I am very good at this....

*STOLEN ARTWORK*

More ripped off artist's---->1footonthedawn.deviantart.com/…

silverecho-stock.deviantart.co… and evil-siren.deviantart.com/jour…

Also, there is another thread on several artist's who have been ripped off!!! Please check it out! news.deviantart.com/article/29…

05-22-07--------------------------------------------------------------------------It takes a lot to make me mad, but today, I received a note from another deviant telling me of the sale of one of "MY" works on eBay!!!!!! I should be flattered that someone thought my work was good enough to "STEAL IT" and make a "PROFIT" from it, but I am not..... Here is what the note said!

STRIKE 2
I'm sorry to say that I came across a person on eBay who is using your beautiful fractal dragon artwork and selling it as an image on a cigarette container here: cgi.ebay.com/Fire-Breathing-Dr…

There is a thread in the ripping forum on deviant art here discussing this particular seller if you are looking for more information: forum.deviantart.com/community… I didn't know for sure whether you gave this seller permission to sell your artwork or not, so I thought I should let you know just in case.

UPDATE--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The problem may be more widespread than we thought. Here is a disturbing note I received today from my friend

(Please note that neither of us gave our permission for our images to be placed here)

I found one of my images on this site (link below) and your "Fire Breathing Dragon".....don't know if you know. It appears to be a blog site and they give us credit and a link back to DA, but I did NOT give the person permission to post my fractal for downlaod and it torks me! I realize that when we post Wallpapers......we do so....so people can use them.....but ONLY on their own computers....nothing else!

It doesn't look like there has been a post to this site since the end of Dec. so I don't know how active it is, but wanted to let you know. Here's the link. customania.blogspot.com/2006_0…

Guess if I post any more Wallpapers, I will post a note in bold that says they are not to be posted on other sites for download! Sheesh!

is also going to use this notice when she uploads--she says if you want to use it that is fine with her, credit back to her is nice, but not necessary-----------------

"PLAIN ENGLISH COPYRIGHT NOTICE

This wallpaper is for your personal use on your home or office computer ONLY. It is NOT to be posted on any other internet site for download without my written permission. You may NOT claim this image as your own art and you may not change the title. You may NOT burn this image onto a CD and give or sell it to anyone. You MAY NOT earn money using my images in any way. This image is not to be changed, added to, cropped, used as a background for your art, or altered in any way unless you make a written request to me and I give you written permission.

My images are created only by me and DO NOT belong to the public domain.
My gallery and images in it are Copyrighted by me. ©2005-2007 1ArcticFox. All rights reserved."

IMPORTANT UPDATE---------------------------------------------------------------
Our thief has struck again...this time he stole the art of

---link to thief...cgi.ebay.com/Contagious-Though…

By the way....he is selling his cigarrette cases on another website if we want to get him there as well.........www.auctiva.com/stores/viewsto…
I am speechless and disgusted that this is continuing!!!!!

If anyone out there has a billiant idea or suggestion....please let me know otherwise I am considering deleting my entire gallery so that my work is not longer stolen. To think that someone is making a profit off of my work! F***ers!!!!!!! I will be sending a note to the "OFFENDERS" and will publish it here for all to see....including a response if I receive one.

Don't worry...everyone here is like my family. I am not going to leave, but I will seriously have to think about whether or not I post work in the future.

STRIKE 1
About 2 months ago, another deviant claimed to have seen my artwork advertised on the side of a building in Las Vegas. They were positive it was my work because of my signature. Here is an exerpt from that note.......

"My mother went to Vegas recently and said she saw some of your fractal work in a light display, writhing and entertwining and whatnot.
I told her she may have seen something similar to or resembling your stuff, but she was very certain, so.. I asked if it said "Deborah's Designs" underneath, like most of your fractals do, and she replied that it did.
So.. I am now saddened that I missed that, but I wanted to mention it to you."
I asked her if she can tell me where she saw it, but she said she could only remember it was on a large screen on one of the nice buildings.

I have submitted a news article about this--->news.deviantart.com/article/29…

UPDATE-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

HERE IS THE NOTE I SENT TO EBAY>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

To whom it may concern:

My name is Deborah Walker.  I am currently listed as a member of deviantART.com.  The reason for this email is to alert you that you have an art thief selling goods without the proper copyright consent or permissions.  You may ask how I know this...well, one of the art images that is being used belongs to me.  It is my work that is being sold without permission.  I have downloaded your forms and will be faxing them today.

Theft is a crime, and it should be understood that I am currently seeking legal remedies as well as possible suit against you, and against the person claiming my work as their own...your account holder.  It is wrong to  profit from the hard work of someone else without their knowledge.  If you will note, I am including a link to the original artwork, and if you will also note, underneath it is a copyright.www.deviantart.com/deviation/3….

I demand that this image be removed immediately as theft is a crime.  I also demand that this person be suspended from EBay post haste!  A response to this email is expected!

Sincerely,

Deborah Walker

My dear friends

, and

have made journals or linked to mine about this incident. Thank you so much friends for your support and assistance! It is greatly appreciated!!!

sss

I tried to fax eBay the forms they needed filled out....the number does not work...IT FIGURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you all for your support! I have carefully considered my options and your very helpful suggestions. It is much appreciated.

ssss What you can do if you choose is put a link to this journal in your journals to make everyone aware of the art theft! Only if we stand together can we right a wrong being done to all of us!!!!!
I have made a letter to send to DA should anyone wish to. It may not solve the problem, but it may help it. Please copy and paste it into an email to them so that we can begin addressing this issue and avoid others being ripped off!!!! Let me know if I have missed anything and I will fix it or add it.

TO:  ALL DA ADMINISTRATORS

There is an issue spreading throughout DA that we would like to discuss.  “Art Theft.”  There have been several instances where members of our community have been preyed upon and their works stolen.  Stealing is a crime.  What concerns us is that there seems to be little done by DA to help protect its members from this occurring.  In some cases others have profited from this, and no matter how you portray it, IT IS WRONG!

There are several ways in which DA could try to protect content! They could put an invisible object over the image, that has no real image to it and when someone tries to right click the image and hits "Copy Picture as" It actually copies the blank invisible image!  Possibly changing the site so that a certain type of image like .png for example could be uploaded.  We are aware that this technology exists as we have all been to websites where you were not able to download.

Please enable the watermark for ALL images that are uploaded to the site.  Make an area for members only to go download those images without the watermark should they choose to do so.  Or, add special scripting to your website that makes it possible for members/subscribers only to be able to download other artist’s work.  It may not solve the problem, but it would make it so that our work is protected by this site who solicits members to be a part of the community.

When our art is stolen, it is a crime.  Some people profit from our inventiveness eventhough the copyright appears underneath our work.  As responsible members of this community, we feel we want to bring your attention to this major issue.  It is important to all of us that we are respected and receive the proper recognition and gratuity for our work.

Thank you in advance for assisting us to solve this important problem

NOTICE
My gallery and images contained in it are Copyright ©2006-2007 DWALKER1047. All rights reserved. All the materials contained in my deviantART gallery may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted, borrowed, duplicated, printed, downloaded, or uploaded in any way without my express written permission. My images do not belong to the public domain.